Saul Alinsky vis-à-vis Noam Chomsky – The Difference Between
a Dedicated Radical and a Hypocritical Opportunist
No one can accuse Saul Alinsky of being ingenuous. He had "hung out" with
Al Capone's gang in his youth for two years, presumably, as he claims, to learn
about crime from within.
He was a shrewd and cool operator who
knew how to manipulate the poor in the slums of America and the slumlords and politicians who created the slums
alike. Alinsky's style of self-expression is
generously described as that of a "stevedore" by Eric Norden who interviewed him for PLAYBOY in 1972.
This is the introduction to that
interview entitled: "Empowering
People, Not Elites":
"To
find out more about why Alinsky is doing what he's
doing, and to probe the private complexities of the public man, PLAYBOY sent
Eric Norden to interview him. The job, Norden soon discovered, was far
from easy: "The problem was that Alinsky's
schedule is enough to drive a professional athlete to a rest home, and he seems
to thrive on it. I accompanied him from the East Coast to the West and into Canada, snatching
tape sessions on planes, in cars and at airport cocktail lounges between
strategy sessions with his local organizers, which were more like military
briefings than bull sessions. My first meeting with him was in TWA's Ambassador Lounge at Chicago's O'Hare
Airport. He was dressed in a navy-blue blazer, buttondown
[sic] oxford shirt and black knit tie. His first words were a growled
order for Scotch on the rocks; his voice was flat and gravelly, and I found it
easier to picture him twisting arms to win Garment District contracts than
organizing ghettos. As we traveled together and I struggled to match his pace,
I soon learned that he is, if nothing else, an original. (Alinsky
to stewardess: 'Will you please tell the captain I don't give a f--- what our
wind velocity is, and ask him to keep his trap shut so I can get some work
done?')"
"Nat Hentoff
wrote last year, 'At 62, Saul is the youngest man I've met in years,' and I
could see what he meant. There is a tremendous vitality about Alinsky, a raw, combative ebullience, and a consuming
curiosity about everything and everyone around him. Add to this a mordant wit,
a monumental ego coupled with an ability to laugh at himself
and the world in general, and you begin to get the measure of the man.
"And yet late at night, in a Milwaukee motel room,
his face was gray, haggard and for once he showed the day's toll (three cities,
two speeches, endless press conferences and strategy sessions). A vague sadness
hung around him, as if some barrier had broken down, and he began to talk --
off the record -- about all the people he's loved who have died. There were
many, and they seemed closer at night, in airport Holiday Inn rooms, sleeping
alone with the air conditioner turned high to drown out the roar of the planes.
He talked on for an hour, fell abruptly silent for a minute, then sprang to his
feet and headed for the door. 'We'll really f--- 'em
tomorrow!' The race was on again."
Norden began the
interview by asking Alinsky about his latest and most
ambitious campaign: to organize nothing less than America's white middle
class."
Saul Alinsky
didn't pretend to be a refined, gentleman. He grew up in squalor at the hands
of a cruel father. Those marks stayed with him for life. He made no attempt to
gloss over them or go to some sort of "finishing school".
Yet this, in contradistinction to Noam Chomsky's preening and boasting of his academic
achievements, perks and social standing in CHOMSKY ON ANARCHISM, this is the
decision that Alinsky took about his personal future.
He said:
"The crunch came when I
was offered a job as head of probation and parole for Philadelphia at a salary
of $8000 a year, with the added bonus of a visiting lectureship at the
University of Pennsylvania for $2400 a year and a weekly column in the
Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger on how to keep your kiddies on the straight
and narrow. Remember, $10,400 then was equal to $30,400 now [in 1972; that's
over $100,000 today]. So this was the turning point for me. I could picture
myself in a nice house in the suburbs, just two hours from New York, with all its theaters and concerts, with money in
the bank, a car, all the goodies. And I could already
hear the rationalizations I'd make: "I'd better not jeopardize this setup.
After all, I can do so much more for the cause by stimulating students than by
getting personally involved. I can write speeches or papers and put the real
message between the lines or in footnotes, and really have an impact." Or:
"This will give me the financial freedom to participate effectively."
Bullshit. Once you get fat and comfortable and reach the top, you want to stay
there. You're imprisoned by your own so-called freedoms. I've seen too many
lean and hungry labor leaders of the Thirties grow fat-bellied and fat-headed.
So I turned down the job and devoted myself to full-time activity in the
radical movement."
Source: http://www.progress.org/2003/alinsky7.htm
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan
[email protected]