Like the settlement house movement of the Progressive Era, the neighborhood organizations of the 1960s spoke of great democratic ideals. Both the New Left and the civil rights movement questioned the future of democratic participation in America. This quest for a more democratic society is apparent in both the New Left's idea of participatory democracy and the civil rights movement's emphasis on integrationist nonviolent direct action. At the same time, an older organizing tradition experienced a revival. Created by Saul Alinsky years earlier, this method strove to put power back in the hands of ordinary people by building community organizations. Each of these methods sought democracy in different institutions and forms.
In this dissertation, I examine the democracies of three groups in Chicago: the New Left organization, JOIN; Alinsky's The Woodlawn Organization (TWO); and a civil rights group, the Coordinating Council of Community Organizations (CCCO). The conditions in Chicago produced by a rediscovery of poverty, the momentous civil rights revolution, and a powerful political machine tested these democratic forms. This dissertation examines the ideology each group espoused and compares it to the actual structure of the organization to provide a better understanding of the nature of community groups and the workings of democratic forms. In addition, a study of this nature helps us understand how community organizations adjust their ideology when confronted with issues of poverty, race, and hierarchical systems. Moreover, this dissertation explores the effects of community control in its successes and failures. From this, we can begin to understand which democratic methods succeeded in creating change and use that as a model for future community organizing and reform efforts at a local level.