ancient cities

organization, and then leave with the organization
able to sustain itself.
Alinsky has influenced a long line of community
organizers and the major national community
organizing networks operating today. Perhaps the
most important evidence of this is the faith-based
community networks that emerged out of his ideas.
Alinsky established the Industrial Areas Foundation,
which still exists. The Industrial Areas Foundation
has become a major faith-based community organizing
network. Other networks influenced directly
or indirectly by him include the PICO National
Network, the Direct Action & Research Training
Network, and the Gamaliel Foundation.
Alinsky’s influence can also be found in the
major secular national community organizing networks
such as the Association of Community
Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) and
National People’s Action. These organizations,
along with others, have been responsible for important
neighborhood victories and astounding
national policy victories such as the Community
Reinvestment Act (1977) that thwarted the practice
of redlining that prevented people in poor neighborhoods
from obtaining conventional home loans.
These organizations have been behind the push for
living wage laws, antidiscrimination legislation,
and citizen participation policies in many cities.
Alinsky’s influence has extended even into areas
one would not expect. One of Alinsky’s original
organizing staff members, Fred Ross, was working
in Southern California in the 1950s when he was
confronted by a young Latino man named César
Chávez. The confrontation led to a strong working
relationship and Chávez began organizing with
Ross. Chávez, of course, went on to organize the
United Farm Workers. Today there are thousands of
Alinsky-style organizations. There are others, such
as the Consensus Organizing Institute, that have created
an organizing model in direct contrast to the
Alinsky approach. Some organizing networks are
building new political parties, such as the Working
Families Party, rooted in ACORN’s organizing
efforts. Finally, they are empowering individuals
who could never have imagined themselves leading
any group or speaking in any public meeting and are
now winning victories for their communities.
See also Chicago, Illinois; Citizen Participation;
Community Organizing; Right to the City
Randy Stoecker
Further Readings
Allegory of Good Government
15
Alinsky, Saul. 1969. Reveille for Radicals. New York:
Vintage Books.
———. 1971. Rules for Radicals. New York:
Vintage Books.
The Democratic Promise: Saul Alinsky and His Legacy.
1999. Produced by Bob Hercules and Bruce Orenstein.
Media Process Educational Films and Chicago Video
Project.
Horwitt, Sanford D. 1989. Let Them Call Me Rebel:
Saul Alinsky, His Life and Legacy. New York:
Random House.
Al l e g o r y o f go o d
go v e r n m e n t
Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s frescoes on three walls of
the room known as either the Sala della Pace (Hall
of Peace, after one of the allegorical figures in the
frescoes) or the Sala dei Nove (Hall of the Nine,
the elected rulers of the city) in Siena’s Palazzo
Pubblico are often called the first large-scale secular
murals since antiquity. They both project an
ideal political landscape and document aspects of
contemporary daily life.
Before the Palazzo Pubblico became the home
of Siena’s elected officials and councils, town
meetings had been taking place everywhere from
the private palaces of influential citizens to the
cathedral. Having a dedicated, imposing public
building on a well-organized public space staked
out Siena’s claim to prominence as a powerful,
wealthy commune (i.e., a town ruled by elected
officials responsible for the common good).
The council of the Nine ruled Siena from 1287
to 1355. Following a period of government in
which the city had won its greatest, and last, victory
against the Florentines (at Montasperti,
1260) and completed building its cathedral, the
Nine not only built the Palazzo Pubblico and the
Piazza del Campo, they also began a vast project
to enlarge the duomo in rivalry with that of
Florence (aborted with the devastation of the
black death in 1348). The Nine were proportionally
related to the three districts of the city: The
Terzi (“thirds”) of Città, San Martino, and
Camollia corresponded to the three legs of the Y,
which defined the city’s plan, spread across the