The ConflicT
The Contract Buyers of Lawndale merged with south side contract buyers in the summer of '68 to form the
Contract Buyers League (CBL).
The Contract Buyers League worked diligently to thwart evictions and negotiate fair contracts for members. In the beginning, they would picket contract sellers at their offices until they agreed to meet for talks on negotiations. While these protests worked for a short period of time, it was dawning on the members that a new strategy was needed.
Contract Buyers League (CBL).
The Contract Buyers League worked diligently to thwart evictions and negotiate fair contracts for members. In the beginning, they would picket contract sellers at their offices until they agreed to meet for talks on negotiations. While these protests worked for a short period of time, it was dawning on the members that a new strategy was needed.
"I remember coming back from a CBL meeting one night, and things weren’t going as well. I walked into the apartment and said to a couple of the college students, ‘I think we need a payment strike… These guys know how to handle picketing and bad publicity. What they won’t know how to handle is something that hits their pocketbook.’"
-Jack Macnamara (The Chicago Tribune)
On December 1, 1968, the contract payments stopped.
Rather than directly paying the sellers, members set the money aside for future payment after the contract had been renegotiated.
Rather than directly paying the sellers, members set the money aside for future payment after the contract had been renegotiated.
"Nothing really happened until we had a payment strike. Every month they made a money order out to themselves in the amount of the payment. They would drop it off at the CBL [Contract Buyers League] office. They were able to say, 'It's not that we're unwilling to pay. We are paying, but we're not going to pay the seller.'"
- Jack Macnamara (The Atlantic)
By January, the CBL was gaining national attention. The CBL continued the strike, withholding money, picketing, and clashing with police and authorities. Despite numerous attempted mass evictions, the CBL held their ground and mostly succeeded.
"It was an extremely risky strategy, since sellers could easily evict the buyers and repossess their homes. But enacted en masse, it was also a brilliant strategy, since contract sellers still had mortgages on their own property; without the monthly payments, the sellers risked defaulting on their own mortgages."
-Beryl Satter, historian (Family Properties)
Although the Contract Buyers were very successful, they several run-ins with police in their unlawful assembly and refusal to listen to orders. (Chicago Tribune).
The payment strike continued to escalate for nearly an entire year, until sellers finally relented.