The historical importance of Cabrini Green

Latest

Private contractors tear down public housing units at Cabrini Green Projects in Chicago in 2011, paving the way to build more housing for the wealthy. PHOTO/JOSEPH PEERY
Private contractors tear down public housing units at Cabrini Green Projects in Chicago in 2011, paving the way to build more housing for the wealthy.
PHOTO/JOSEPH PEERY

 
CHICAGO IL — Our cities are undergoing a profound transformation. Industrial manufacturing is being replaced by high-tech production. But while technology gives us the possibility of a brighter future, in the hands of the ruling class it has brought us poverty, a loss of jobs and lower wages. What follows is an increase in evictions, homelessness and gentrification. Public housing would solve a lot of those problems, but is being systematically dismantled. Few communities illustrate this process better than Cabrini Green on Chicago’s Near North Side.
Three-fourths of the Cabrini row houses remain vacant. Fences, cameras and security keep the homeless out. Homelessness, which has been increasing since the 2007 great recession, now numbers more than 125,000 persons according to the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. Wouldn’t now be the time for more public housing? In fact one of the reasons given for why Cabrini was originally constructed was to help World War I veterans who were made homeless by the great depression. So how is it that public housing is born under one set of circumstances and seems to be dying under very similar circumstances 80 years later?
The answer cannot be found in the partisan politics of Democrat versus Republican. Each president, starting with Ronald Reagan, has done their part to dismantle public housing, regardless of party affiliation. The answer lies in the cold hard economic facts of the job market.
When Cabrini was built after the passing of the 1935 Public Housing Act, real estate companies opposed it, calling it socialist, because it was “bad for their business.” However, industrial manufacturers supported it because, no matter how low the slave wages were they paid public housing residents, only 30% of that was charged for rent. This super exploitation brought them millions in higher profits.
As industrialization expanded so did Cabrini with the completion of the Cabrini extensions in 1957 and the William Green Homes in 1962. By the late 1960s, that expansion ended. The area just south of Cabrini became known as “Ghost Town” because of the blocks of empty buildings that once housed businesses and jobs. The invention of the microprocessor in 1971 paved the way for the permanent replacement of human labor by machines.  This was the beginning of the end for industrial manufacturing. One by one, companies like Montgomery Ward, Oscar Meyer and Turtle Wax either went out of business or left the area. Cheap Cabrini Green labor power was no longer needed.
This process is being repeated everywhere. Capitalism does not recognize a human right to housing and is unwilling to house anyone it does not need. So the ranks of the homeless swell alongside empty warm apartments. This same concept applies equally well to the other necessities of life like water, food, education and healthcare as well as ending police murder.
We must understand that when the system forces us to stand up and fight or lie down and die, what we are really actually fighting for is a whole new society that values human life. The new technology offers us the possibility of that bright future. It will begin to become a reality when enough of us become aware of that.

PT Logo collage
+ Articles by this author

Free to republish but please credit the People's Tribune. Visit us at www.peoplestribune.org, email peoplestribune@gmail.com, or call 773-486-3551.

The People’s Tribune brings you articles written by individuals or organizations, along with our own reporting. Bylined articles reflect the views of the authors. Unsigned articles reflect the views of the editorial board. Please credit the source when sharing: ©2024 peoplestribune.org. Please donate to help us keep bringing you voices of the movement. Click here. We’re all volunteer, no paid staff.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Featured

‘We Need Urgent Global Climate Action’

Eighty-nine percent of people worldwide want their governments to do more to address the global climate crisis. Conference on tipping points says situation is urgent. Meanwhile U.S. govt does more to boost fossil fuel forms of energy.

May Day 2025: United We Will Win

International Worker’s Day is celebrated on May 1st around the world. Today, the entire U.S. working class, of which immigrants comprise an integral part, is under attack. The defense of immigrants is vital to the defense of the entire working class.

White School Officer Pepper-sprayed and Kneed Black Beaumont, TX Student, Complaint says. Will Feds Act?

A 6-second video, recorded by a teacher and reviewed by the Texas Observer, shows an officer grabbing a student’s hair, kneeing her in the face, and knocking the 100-pound girl on her back.

Pope Francis Dies After Easter Plea to End War in Gaza

"In his final public message, Pope Francis decried the “terrible conflict” in Gaza.

Bring Union Brother Kilmar Home: His Deportation Is an Attack on All of Us

The deportation of union brother Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a gut punch to the labor movement, a slap in the face to every worker who dares to organize.

More from the People's Tribune