An inside look at the work of the Communist Party-inspired Beck Street Block Committee in the East Bronx as they stop evictions, mount rent strikes, help food insecure neighbors, and organize the unemployed during the early years of the Great Depression from the Party’s internal bulletin. All still good ideas today.

‘How Our Block Committee Works’ by Joe Brandt from Party Organizer (Communist Party Internal Bulletin). Vol. 5 No. 5-6. May-June, 1932.

THE Beck Street Block Committee, although a young organization, has nevertheless showed the effectiveness of a block committee in a workers’ neighborhood. It came into existence about two months ago as a result of a struggle against an eviction case that took place in 592 Beck Street. Not only is it fighting for the immediate demands for the unemployed in that particular neighborhood, but it has also succeeded in developing its activities in other phases of the struggle. It is known not only on Beck Street, but on the surrounding blocks as well. Nearly every day workers from the surrounding blocks come before the committee with their grievances and ask the Beck Street Block Committee to lead them in a struggle against evictions, for lower rents, and for immediate relief for the needy cases. Many cases of needy families were taken by the Block Committee to the Home Relief Bureaus and the Bureaus were forced to give these cases some relief.

The Beck Street Block Committee is well known in the Home Relief Bureau and when the officials of the Home Relief Bureau see the committee they know they must give them attention, and accept their demands because they realize the strength of this committee. That is why in the whole neighborhood around Beck Street they respect the leaders of the Block Committee and rally in hundreds whenever a call is made by the Beck Street Block Committee for demonstrations or struggles led by the Unemployed Council. After the first victorious rent strike at 692 Beck Street, which amounted to two and three dollars reductions and also the forcing of the landlord not to evict any unemployed families, the tenants of 581 and 687 Beck Street, houses owned by the same landlord, followed the same example of house 592 and declared a rent strike. With the help of the house committee of house 692 and the Lower Bronx Unemployed Council, they succeeded in forcing the landlord to accept all their demands, which amounted to: (1) Two and three dollars reduction in rent; (2) No eviction of the unemployed; (3) Recognition of the house committees.

As soon as the Block Committee was formed, it began to realize that it was not enough to just win a rent strike and put the furniture of an evicted family back into the house. They began an educational campaign through leaflets, open air meetings, distribution and sale of literature, and began pointing out to the workers of the neighborhood, the role of the Unemployed Council and the Communist Party in the struggle of the unemployed workers. As a result, four of the best members of the Block Committee have already joined the Communist Party.

The workers of this committee are alert to every issue facing the workers in that neighborhood. About two weeks ago a committee found that in 986 St. John Avenue, an unemployed worker, a father of two children, one nine months, and the other three years old, was sick because of lack of food. The Block Committee immediately mobilized the workers of the neighborhood and went down to the Home Relief Bureau and forced them to call the Lebanon Hospital to take the workers to the hospital. Although the hospital did send an ambulance they demanded that the worker pay fifteen dollars for the ambulance. But since the block committee was on the spot well organized, they went to the Jewish Social Service and forced them to pay for the ambulance. This worker, Mr. Dewah, died of starvation on the second day in the hospital. The Block Committee immediately issued a leaflet to the workers in that neighborhood explaining the reason for this worker’s death. They held a demonstration protesting against the murder of this worker by the bosses.

In the demonstrations called by the Unemployed Councils, such as the empty-pot-and-pan demonstration on February 27 in front of Boro Hall, and the Open Air Open Hearing in front of Public School No. 54 on March 4, we found the tenants of the Beck Street neighborhood participating by selling literature, distributing leaflets, etc. Last week a grocery was opened on Beck Street. The owner tried to hire non-union help. As soon as the Block Committee found this out they forced the owner to go down to the Food Workers Industrial Union and get two union men from them.

As a result of this struggle the workers in this neighborhood, through the initiative taken by the Beck Street Block Committee have already organized a workers’ club in their neighborhood, which is called the East Bronx Workers’ Club. This club is already functioning as a semi-social and political organization of the workers in that neighborhood and is actively participating in the struggles of the workers in the Bronx.

Although very little work was done as yet in a struggle against the agents of the bosses, the Block-Aiders, nevertheless, when the captain of that block came over to one of the members of the Block Committee and asked him to become a captain for the Block-Aiders, this worker replied that the Block-Aiders will never get into that block as long as he is on the block committee. The Beck Street Block Committee is already making necessary preparations for exposing the Block-Aiders as agents for the bosses.

Nevertheless, there are some serious mistakes which must be pointed out for the benefit of the Block Committee so that they can better carry out their work.

1. The struggle for unemployment insurance has not been correctly linked up in their immediate struggles that they carried on thus far. This narrows down the struggle only to immediate demands and the workers will not see the importance of fighting for the main aim of the unemployed—unemployment insurance.

2. The struggle around the Home Relief Bureaus by the Block Committee was not of a mass character. Although quite a few cases were brought before the Relief Bureau, nevertheless all the needy cases in that neighborhood were not mobilized for a mass struggle around the Relief Bureaus.

3. In the course of their immediate struggles, the Block Committee has not correctly linked up the struggle of the unemployed with the struggle against war. Their leaflets and propaganda in most cases have not mentioned the fact that millions are being spent for war purposes and not one cent for the unemployed.

4. Because of the fact that four of the most active members of the Block Committee have joined the Communist Party, the work, instead of being carried on by the non-Party elements, is being carried out by the members of the Party primarily. The immediate task is to call a meeting of all the workers in the neighborhood and give them a report of the activity already carried out by the Block Committee. New elements should be drawn into the Block Committee. At this meeting the campaign against the Block Aiders should begin. The workers should be enlightened on the nature of the Block Aiders and an immediate campaign should be started, through leaflets, open air meetings, mass meetings, etc.

The Party Organizer was the internal bulletin of the Communist Party published by its Central Committee beginning in 1927. First published irregularly, than bi-monthly, and then monthly, the Organizer was primarily meant for the Party’s unit, district, and shop organizers. The Organizer offers a much different view of the CP than the Daily Worker, including a much higher proportion of women writers than almost any other CP publication. Its pages are often full of the mundane problems of Party organizing, complaints about resources, debates over policy and personalities, as well as official numbers and information on Party campaigns, locals, organizations, and periodicals making the Party Organizer an important resource for the study and understanding of the Party in its most important years.

PDF of issue (large file): https://files.libcom.org/files/Party%20Organizer%205.pdf