Seven - Alinsky revisited: ‘rubbing raw the resentments of the people’

Summary

Introduction

The renowned American community organiser, Saul D. Alinsky (1909–72), was under observation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on suspicion of being a communist or of preparing hate crimes and nurturing racial conflicts. These suspicions were at least partly based on his statements about ‘resentments’. It turns out that ‘resentments’ is one of his more important analytical terms to describe the powerlessness among disadvantaged and vulnerable people. This chapter analyses Alinsky's theoretical background and shows that his understanding of ‘resentment’ was drawn from the ethics of the Scottish philosopher Adam Smith and the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. It can be shown that Alinsky's conceptualisation of the ‘organiser’ is the antipode of Nietzsche's ‘ascetic priest’, who ‘first needs to hit the wounds that he is promising to heal’ (see Nietzsche, 1967: 126). ‘Rubbing raw the resentments’ and ‘to fan the sores of discontent’ are Alinsky's medical metaphors describing his technique to understand frustration and aggression, to cool down emotions and to transform its energy into common action and political negotiation. The ‘wounds’ – in the medical metaphor – should be healed. They were hit before the organisers came and the people have been unable to respond. He tried to empower the people by turning personal discontents and problems into public issues.

In contrast, populist agitators, and particularly right-wing agitators, avoid research clarifying the causes of discontent; they deny facts and create simple solutions. They seek power and money for themselves. They regularly try to intensify hate and aggression and then to direct it against scapegoats. These practices may also violate human rights and international agreements. For community development practice it is necessary to understand the difference between agitation as persuasion, research and support of critical thinking and agitation as seduction, manipulation and the practice of misleading others. In this regard it is important to understand the mechanism of ‘resentment’. Community development practitioners must deal with people who suffer from resentments and at the same time they need to unmask techniques and the people who create, amplify and make use of them.