Re: [Marxism] leaflet and program

[Bill O'Connor <billyoc@xxxxxxxxx>]

"Ruthless Critic of All that Exists" <ok.president+marxml@xxxxxxxxx>
writes:

> A useful initiative would be to set up local hotlines which people
> facing eviction can call. Roving  anti-foreclosure brigades could be
> organized, which could show up at the time of the eviction and stage
> protests (non-violent protests a la the civil disobedience of the
> civil rights movement, perhaps?)

We have a precise historical precedent for this:

During the fall of 1930, Communists added to their credibility in Harlem
by initiating a  strategy to deal with eviction  for nonpayment of rent.
The  Harlem   Unemployment  Council,  which   had  previously  mobilized
Harlemites for  demonstrations at  City Hall, now  organized interracial
defense  squads to  return the  furniture  of evicted  tenants to  their
apartments.   Although the  tactic  did no  always  succeed in  stopping
evictions, it attracted broad support--and sometimes participation--from
Harlem residents.  The /Amsterdam News/ described one instance where the
landlord tried a second eviction  after the "reds" had earlier moved the
furniture  back.  When  the city  marshals arrived,  a crowd  of several
hundred was gathered at the  scene, carrying banners with the legend "No
Work,  No  Rent,"  and  tried  to  interfere with  the  removal  of  the
furnishings.   Four Unemployed  Council  activists, two  whites and  two
blacks, were arrested in the incident and sentenced to ten days in jail.
On  several   other  occasions,   the  Unemployed  Council   sent  large
delegations to court with people  who had received dispossess notices to
try to  persuade judges to  stop the evictions,  and if that  failed, to
warn  them  that  the  evictions  would be  resisted.   In  the  chaotic
atmosphere  of the  Depression,  with court  calendars  packed and  city
marshals overextended, these methods  kept some unemployed Harlemites in
their apartments.

Mark Naison's "Communists in Harlem During the Depression", pg. 41

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