Eric
Mann's Playbook for Progressives is
two books in one. The book wouldn't work
any other way. Mann is true to his title
and introduction, presentings a 74-page section on the roles of an
organizer. Included in this section are
12 specific yet overlapping responsibilities that are representative of
political organizers -- foot soldier, evangelist, recruiter, group builder,
strategist, tactician, communicator, political educator, agitator, fundraiser,
comrade & confidante, and cadre. The
second section of the book,"16 Qualities of a Successful Organizer,” takes the roles of the first section further by building
on the earlier descriptions with substantive portraits of “strategy and tactics” that are crucial for
successful radical, political, organizing.
Playbook for Progressives is not two books because it includes distinct sections,
but rather because Mann combines theory and action, with biography and
autobiography, to bring alive, through real lives, what radical organizing
means in the struggle against racism and class disparity in the United States
and throughout the world.
Eric Mann
one of the founders the Labor/Community Strategy Center (LCSC) in 1989, has
been the organization's Director since its inception. His earlier political work included being a
Field Secretary for The Congress of Racial Equality, an aboveground member of
Weatherman, and a radical, activist/organizer in automobile and airplane
production plants throughout the country.
Many of the examples of radical organizing in the book are the stories
of Mann and other organizers at LCSC.
Mann explains in the introduction of Playbook
for Progressives that the organization was launched as "an experiment
to reassert the powerful, positive impact of progressive ideology and
transformative organizing." As an aspect of the rationale for the Center,
Mann writes about 'activists' wanting seats at the tables of power -- an issue
that might be even more problematic at the present time.
Labor and community organizers began talking about
'empowerment' rather than power, 'a seat at the table' rather than concrete
demands and political independence, and 'public-private partnerships' rather
that a challenge to the profit motive and corporate power.
Throughout
the book there are also stories of many other organizers, some whose names we
know and others that we don't, but all examples of people fighting class
disparity and racism -- locally, nationally, and globally. LCSC's largest undertaking is the Bus Rider's
Union (BRU). Founded in 1992, BRU's
membership comprises mostly black people and Latina people who have organized
to fight against the two-tiered discriminatory system of the Los Angeles
Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and BRU's success is legendary
beginning with a 1994 suit against the MTA that concluded with the court
rescinding raised fares and bus passes.
The successes remain to this day -- of course the need for continuing
this particular struggle illustrates the necessity of ongoing activism and
organization. Much more can be read
about the BRU in Eric Mann's book. While
LCSC has various initiatives, the other one that I will highlight is the fight
against the school-to-prison pipeline.
Briefly, LCSC is part of a coalition that has fought to de-criminalize
truancy in Los Angeles -- again more of the story in Playbook for Progressives.
Mann is
clear on the hard work, discipline, human warmth, and expertise necessary for
progressive organizing. He is very
detailed describing and analyzing the theory and dispositions of radical
activism. "In the United States in
particular, and among organizers in general, there is a pragmatic,
antitheoretical tendency... The problem is that theory is an overview that
gives you a map as to where you are going." Mann's detail is important,
but the people's lives that he portrays wed the details to human actions. I want people to read and re-read Playbook for Progressives. Thus, until I come to this review's
conclusion, I will provide brief portraits of Eric and a small sample of the
other organizers he brings to his book.
As a
young man in the mid-sixties, Mann worked with the Newark Community Union
Project (NCUP) going door-to-door asking people to become involved in meetings
and protests against racism and oppression.
There were sobering moments that might still occur in 2013. Mann writes about one of the people he met:
She wanted to offer me food, but her refrigerator was almost
bare. She would bring me hot coffee, and
we would sit and talk. Once, perhaps
influenced by Martin Luther King Jr.'s metaphor, I asked her if she had a dream
of what her life could be like. She told
me, "My dream is that I am able to walk in front of a car and leave this
life and God will not punish me for abandoning my children.
This is
the "exceptional" United States of America.
And of
course, the above quote speaks to the importance of Playbook for Progressives. While talking of the successes of the
BRU, Mann speaks of four key elements for radical organizing. Before citing the list – Mann’s caveat is the Cabral quote, “Tell no lies and claim no easy victories."
1.
Listen
very carefully and let the person talk
2.
Show
a deep concern about very specific conditions people face
3.
Present
very concrete demands
4.
Frame
the conversation within an up-front worldview of those fights as part of a
larger social transformation
The
process is exemplified in Eric's meeting and continuing work with Eduardo
Fuentes in Wilmington, California where the toxic emissions of the oil
companies was causing serious and sometimes fatal health conditions for the
Latina (o) population. LCSC's project
was called Watchdog. Eduardo approached
Eric at a meeting and told him that his local organization, Parents Against
Pollution, shared the values of Watchdog.
As Eric attempted to build a coalition of the two groups he learned that
Eduardo was the group. "I asked him
how many parents were in the group and he said, 'One. Me.'" More importantly, Eduardo was reticent about
joining Watchdog. Eric had written a
book on the topic and the values and actions of LCSC on the issue clearly
corresponded to those of Eduardo Fuentes -- yet he was leery. As the two men met Eduardo asked about the action
part of Watchdog -- picketing, sit-ins.
He then explained that in his native Guatemala "the government,
with the support of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, kidnap and kill
indigenous peoples, union leaders, and revolutionaries." Eduardo was also
concerned about the anti-immigrant movement in the United States. But Eric Mann had followed all four of the
key elements of radical organizing cited above and spoke about the safeguards
for the 'undocumented' in Watchdog actions.
Not only did Eduardo Fuentes join the project, he became a local leader
in Wilmington.
Mann
writes of strategy and provides more real life examples. An illustration is the work of Manuel
Criollo, who directs the organizing at LCSC.
There are stories from the Bus Riders Union and that of Deloros Huerta,
the legendary United Farmworkers leader.
The third chapter of Section Two has the great title, “Sings with the Choir but Finds Her Own Voice,” the perfect mantra for organizing and a people’s socialism. Another
chapter, “Generosity of Spirit: Take
Good Care of Others,” tells the early 1960s
organizing story of The Newark Community Union Project, but also extends the
camaraderie to the present as group organizers, living throughout the country,
fight for the housing rights of Terry Jefferson, one of their comrades, now 87
years old. Mann tells the tale of his
activist work with Mark Masaoka at the Van Nuys General Motors plant in the
1980s. And finally, not really as there
are additional personal/political vignettes, Mann tells the story of the
coalition of New York Domestic Workers and Shalom Bayit – Jews for Racial and Economic Justice that culminated in
the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights.
Corresponding
to the peoples’ stories, Mann connects theory
and practice and the many intricacies and complexities that they include. The importance of the individual and the
group is connected to conversation and reflection.
At the Strategy Center, I am fortunate to have close
comrades who will take me aside, which I appreciate in itself, and explain to
me things I have done that were arrogant, chauvinist, insensitive. They will point out ways I have been
inconsistent and even vacillatory – changing my mind and
contradicting something I said only a few days ago without realizing it. They show me instances when I did not listen
to or respect the ideas of others and assumed I was right, when in fact they
understood the situation far better than I did.
Mann
suggests that commitment and hard work needs to be connected to expertise with both
national and global examples:
Organizers who are ill-informed about their issues can
speak only the general truths of the revolution and are outmatched by the
scientists and expert witnesses marshaled by their opponents. They are usually unpersuasive, unable to
effect actual change, and are used as caricatures by the system to discredit
the movement.
After
writing of expertise, and using more biographical and autobiographical
examples, Mann explores militancy, bravery, and courage as necessary elements
of radical organizing. After telling the
story of “Maria Guardado: Salvadorian
saint,” Mann explains: “The courageous example of individuals is critical, but
courage must be found in a collective context.”
Finally, Playbook for Progressives portrays the
deeds of more well-known struggle leaders such as Audre Lorde. Mann quotes Margaret Meade as a connector of
organizing and revolutionary theory and practice and the comrades whom he
portrays.
“Never doubut that a small
group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever
has.”
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