ALINSKYISM AND TACTICAL DEXTERITY: BUILDING THE TEXAS CHICANO MOVEMENT, 1965–1978

This article examines internal processes that helped Alinskyism become a hegemonic style of organizing among Chicanos in Texas over New-Left and Marxist styles. I argue that Alinskyite Chicanos outmaneuvered rival activists through what I call tactical dexterity. Tactical dexterity illuminates how actors transpose cultural schemas with organizational knowledge to craft tactics that build political power, negotiate status, and expunge rivals to control resources. The Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO) and Raza Unida Party illustrate the political maneuverings of activists to organize Chicanos in Texas. Sewell’s framework of structuration illuminates how activists use creative flexibility in adopting tactics to prevail over rivals. This article illustrates the creativity of Alinskyite organizers in leveraging cultural schemas and institutional knowledge to force recognition of Chicanas and to remove Marxists from conventions. These moments provide an opportunity to reveal processes through which one style of organizing prevailed over others.

“The Magna Carta to Liberate Our Cities”

Starting in 1964, the U.S. federal government under President Lyndon Johnson passed an ambitious reform program that included social security, urban renewal, anti-poverty initiatives, and civil rights legislation. In cities like Los Angeles, these reforms fueled urban revitalization efforts in communities affected by economic decline. These reforms closed the gap between local residents and government officials in California and even subsequently brought the city’s African American and Mexican American population into greater political proximity. Looking closely at the impact of the Chicano Movement on the Model Cities Program, a federal initiative designed specifically for urban development and renewal, this article brings the role of U.S. government policy in shaping social justice priorities in Los Angeles, and the U.S. Southwest more broadly, into sharper view.