Industrial Areas Foundation - History

History

Alinsky's first organizing project was the Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council, founded in 1939 as the Packinghouse Workers union was organizing Chicago's meatpacking industry. Based on his work with Back of the Yards, Alinsky laid out his vision for "People's Organizations" in his book Reveille for Radicals in 1946. After World War II Alinsky met Fred Ross in California, and in 1949 agreed to back his plan to organize the Community Service Organization in Mexican-American communities. Ross introduced house-meetings as an organizing technique, and built a network of 30 CSOs in California with energetic young organizers Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta.

In Chicago, Alinsky developed a team of organizers including journalist Nicholas von Hoffman, ex-seminarian Edward T. Chambers, and Tom Gaudette, who developed such groups as the Organization for the Southwest Community (1959 – 1972), The Woodlawn Organization (1961–present), and the Northwest Community Organization (1962 – present). The Woodlawn Organization (TWO) received national attention through Charles Silberman's best-selling Crisis in Black and White in 1964, which traced the roots of oppression and violence in northern inner city areas. In his concluding chapter, "The Revolt Against Welfare Colonialism," Silberman portrayed TWO as an example of poor blacks reclaiming their dignity through self-organization. Alinsky's experience in Rochester, New York from 1965 to 1969 with the organization FIGHT and its battle with Eastman Kodak company was more controversial and less successful.

In 1969 Alinsky was able to establish a formal IAF organizer training program, run by Chambers and Dick Harmon, with a grant from Gordon Sherman of Midas Muffler company. Alinsky published a successful book, Rules for Radicals, in 1971, updating his earlier vision. Alinsky died unexpectedly of a heart attack in June 1972.