I was introduced to the theory of community organizing by Cameron Levin when we were part of a student group called STAND that was fighting against tuition hikes at NYC's public colleges. I am grateful to him for teaching me the difference between activism and organizing.
Before that I was an activist, first fighting against the reinstatement of the death penalty in NYS and then working against the cuts to social service programs in NYC in the mid-90's under Giuliani and the introduction of workfare and the dismantling of workfare. Long before that, I was an a-political, political science major who had done work for pay on some political campaigns using my writing skills.
But the deeper truth is that organizing is in my blood. My great grandfather was a union organizer with the Brass Pipe Fitters. He was one of the signatories to the original (failed) convention to bring together the AFL and the CIO. He rose to become a Vice President of his union and was honored by them after they merged with the Steel Workers. He went on to take a job with Tamany Hall in NYC in order to raise his kids, but his writing continues to express a belief in equality (his union was among the first to allow women to hold leadership positions and there were several) and social justice. He was also a phenomenal organizer according to family legend. He would travel up and down the northeast, look up all of the Flynn's, ask them to have a drink with him and bring their friends. By the end of the day, it is said that he had every brass worker signed up in the town.
My great uncle was a doctor who led the fight for an early version of the patient's bill of rights. There is a photo in the NY Times with him and then Gov. Rockefeller at the bill's signing.
My father, although he had different politics then me since he was deeply Catholic, also proved to be adept at membership building as proven in his leadership at his local Knights of Columbus chapter. When he took over, he realized that the membership was all agining. They needed younger people to join in order to stay alive. By talking to the local workers (police, fire, sanitation) and finding out their shift schedules and then rearranging the cheap bar price schedules to coincide with that shift change, followed by meetings, he turned their chapter around from one of the smallest to one of the largest in the state.
Of course, the values that I learned from my family an
I appreciate the methodology of organizing-prioritizing the how we work, and not just the winning itself. As an activist I was always left questioning our tactics and our energy. With organizing, something beautiful happens every day and it feels right.
