General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Martin Luther King, Jr. (with compatriots) take over a private building in Chicago in 1965. [View all]Robb
(39,665 posts)He advocated, as a means of establishing a collective bargaining chip, withholding rent altogether. The goal was to reduce rents, which were seen as overpriced and in too few hands. It didn't work, exactly, but rent control measures did come eventually, probably in no small part because of King's activism on that front.
The endgame, by the way, of this particular "seizure" was a two-part court injunction -- first ordering King not to collect rent, and secondly putting the building itself into receivership, with orders to improve the structure.
There were several "copycat" seizures in Cook County that year, but none of them resulted in receiverships.
For the record, it's worth noting King's biggest critics with regard to rent strikes (and the appurtenant demonstrations) were the Urban League and NAACP. In hindsight, they were still stinging from the violence of the summer of '66, but I expect it felt like a betrayal. I seem to recall Belafonte talking about how much that hurt Dr. King, and it's probably why he turned and focused himself on the Vietnam War.