"One man, one family driven from the land; this rusty car creaking along the highway to the west. I lost my land, a single tractor took my land. I am alone and I am bewildered. And in the night one family camps in a ditch and another family pulls in and the tents come out. The two men squat on their hams and the women and children listen. Here is the node, you who hate change and fear revolution. Keep these two squatting men apart; make them hate, fear, suspect each other. Here is the anlage of the thing you hate--'We lost our land.' The danger is here, for two men are not as lonely and perplexed as one. And from this 'we' there grows a still more dangerous thing: 'I have a little' plus 'I have none.' If form this problem, the sum is 'We have a little food,' the thing is on its way, the movement has direction. Only a little multiplication now, and this land, this tractor are ours." John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath About Us (A few notes from the 49th St. Underground) Download this statement as a pamphlet here The 49th St. Underground is an anticapitalist group based in Chicago. Founded with little pomp but much circumstance late in 2004, we have sought to bring together people from different perspectives and different places, with the common goal of replacing capitalism with something better. Why the "49th St. Underground"? "49th St." because we began meeting in the Blackstone Public Library on the corner of 49th St. and Lake Park, on Chicago's South Side. "Underground" because we met in the library's basement. But also because we wanted to offer a mysterious hint at a world to come, which we hope to help build, now, underground, while moving ever nearer to the surface. "Underground" also, perhaps, to clue in the Feds to our subversive nature, to make the authorities afraid and to make us feel important, however amiable and harmless we might appear without the cloak and dagger of our name. And because it's really hard to find a good name. Sorry. Why the 49th St. Underground? Different people have come to us for different reasons. Some with hopes of overcoming division and sectarianism on the revolutionary left. Some in order to give discussion and direction to activist projects, and to connect radical theorizing with action. Some to help build and disseminate revolutionary culture. Some to add excitement to our Wednesday nights. Some think we should start finding common ground, like the roadside families in The Grapes of Wrath, and start organizing ourselves now in the way we'd like to live "after the revolution..." We have no wish to replace existing groups. You might think there are already too many groups on the left, or perhaps too few. We are glad for this diversity, and only hope that these groups will begin to work together a bit more than they have already done. Many members of the 49th St. Underground also belong to long-standing organizations of resistance, autonomy, and revolution. Others of us are independent activists. Other participants in our events are simply interested people, with a will to learn and to discuss the misery and hope that surrounds us. What do we think? We have no program or party line. We have nothing against programs or party lines either, necessarily, and we are not afraid to take clear positions. But we value the differences of opinion that exist among us and which drive our debates. If we take a position, no one should assume that the entire group agrees. We are against capitalism. But you don't have to be a convinced revolutionary to come to our meetings. We are against exploitation, hierarchy, inequality, bureaucracy, and all forms of oppression. We are for freedom, solidarity, and a society in which we have collective and personal control over our lives. But there are many different theories of oppression and freedom, inequality and solidarity. Tell us yours. What do we do? The 49th St. Underground does whatever its members decide. So far, we have organized bi-weekly discussions on current events; activism to defend public transportation in Chicago; public forums on issues like labor and education; agit-prop in city parks. If you wish we did more of something else, then come and tell us; we can do it together. What are we doing there in Chicago? Can't we find some place better? Our underground networks may extend far and wide. We have planted seeds of revolt in Paris and Berlin, Caracas and Kosice. But we have appeared publicly only in Chicago. It's a shame, perhaps. Why don't you found our first extra-Chicagoan branch? Maybe you can give it a better name than our too. What next? It is true that our imaginations are often larger than our abilities and longer than our hours off of work. But the (un)fair City of Chicago should not grow complacent. The 49th St. Underground could rise at any moment to engulf a public square in our participatory performances, to cover a reactionary statue with our outfits of justice, to fill a quiet park with our words and songs... Many struggles lie ahead. We are ruled over by a dirty sky, a powerful economy, a rusty grid of streets, and an iron-fisted political machine.(*) We are surrounded by sprawling suburbs, turning ever dimmer the prospect of escape. But we are surrounded by many comrades and much activity, and we push ahead. Parts of this introduction were taken from an article about us in AREA magazine. *Note: Not all members of the 49th St. Underground dislike Chicago as much as the author of these notes, who himself tends to exaggerate such things for rhetorical effect.