Center for Food & Justice

A 20th century overview of Progressive Los Angeles

By Robert Gottlieb and Peter Dreier

Los Angeles in the 20th century has been a story of conflicting visions and agendas. There's the top-down tale: a story about corporate and political elites seeking to mold the city around their agenda of unregulated development, mindless boosterism, cheap labor, exploited immigrants, and endless sprawl. But there's a community-based history as well: a story of reformers and radicals who offered an alternative vision of economic and social justice and an agenda of reforming workplace conditions, ending racial and gender discrimination, creating a healthier environment, and making communities more livable. This vision and agenda-what we call "Progressive LA"-is less well-known. But it has at different times successfully influenced the social, economic, environmental, and political dynamics of the region and helped improve the daily life of its residents.

During much of this century, Progressive LA has resembled a crazy quilt of separate struggles about particular problems and issues. While progressives have won many specific victories, they have rarely built the momentum necessary to develop broader movements and unite diverse constituencies to gain the political power to carry out their agendas. There have been moments, however, when the different threads of this crazy quilt have come together, united by a common purpose and strategy in order to form a powerful force for change. Such a moment occurred in 1934 when Upton Sinclair ran for Governor on a radical platform to End Poverty in California. At that moment, the diverse threads of Progressive LA forged a common bond that transcended separate causes and extended the movement into new and far reaching corners. There have been other moments that led to important victories and the development of broad coalitions and new agendas.

Today, Progressive LA can be seen as another crazy quilt of movements and causes, with enough movement activists to fill Dodger Stadium. Yet what is needed once again is a common vision and a common agenda, to bring those movements and constituencies together to realize Progressive LA's shared goals and aspirations. Exploring and understanding those historical moments helps us identify how to forge a common vision and agenda today and in the years to come.

Learn more about this history decade by decade by clicking on the years in the right hand column.