Rent Strike! From Flour Bombs to Rolling Strikes: A History of Tenant Power
pplpod · pplpod
Audio is streamed directly from the publisher (content.rss.com) as published in their RSS feed. Play Podcasts does not host this file. Rights-holders can request removal through the copyright & takedown page.
Show Notes
What happens when tenants collectively refuse to pay? In this episode of pplpod, we explore the history and strategy of the rent strike—a method of direct action where tenants withhold rent to gain bargaining power against landlords,. We examine the evolution of this tactic, from 15th-century peasant resistance to the "rolling rent strikes" designed to delay court proceedings,,.
We discuss historic battles for housing justice, including:
• The 1915 Glasgow Rent Strikes: How "Mrs. Barbour’s Army" used flour bombs and physical resistance to stop bailiffs during WWI, ultimately forcing the UK government to pass rent restriction laws.
• The "Broom Strike" of 1907: A massive anarchist-led movement in Argentina involving over 100,000 tenants.
• The Civil Rights Connection: Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1966 "End Slums" campaign in Chicago and the Black Panther Party’s radical direct actions in New York,.
• Global Struggles: How rent strikes were used to fight Apartheid in South Africa and protest internment in Northern Ireland,.
Join us as we analyze the risks of eviction, the role of tenant unions, and how withholding rent has successfully forced repairs and lowered costs for over a century,,.