N E W D E A L N E T W O R K
The Great Depression and the Arts
A Unit of Study for Grades 8-12
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One-Third of a Nation
A Living Newspaper by Arthur Arent
(First produced January 17, 1938)
Act 2, Scene 2D (Rent Strike)
(Music comes up.)
LOUDSPEAKER: Harlem Rent Strike: New York, October 11th, 1936. Four thousand march in fight on Harlem rent rise! East Side Rent Strike—New York, January 28th, 1933—Three hundred tenants picket landlord.
(Light on fourth floor. THREE WOMEN come out of the three doorways and stand in hallway.)
FIRST WOMAN (pointing to gap in balustrade): Three dollars a month more rent! Look at that banister!
SECOND WOMAN: It's been just like this ever since I moved in!
FIRST WOMAN: Some day somebody's going to get hurt.
THIRD WOMAN: Nobody did yet!
FIRST WOMAN: That's right—nobody did yet! So let's not do anything until someone falls and breaks his skull on the landing down there!
SECOND WOMAN: But what are we going to do?
FIRST WOMAN: Let's just sit back and pray.
THIRD WOMAN: But what can we do about it?
FIRST WOMAN: I'm not sure, but I've got an idea. . . .
[Blackout]
(Music comes up again.)
LOUDSPEAKER: Bronx Rent Strike New York, January 6th, 1933. Twenty families in Charlotte Street tenement picket landlord.
(THREE WOMEN rush down steps and into third-floor landing as light comes up. THREE OTHER WOMEN meet them.)
FOURTH WOMAN: I'm not going to pay it—that's what!
FIFTH WOMAN: Three dollars a month more, beginning October first!
FOURTH WOMAN: What about Mrs. MacNamara—where is she? (Calling) Mrs. MacNamara!
MRS. MACNAMARA (stepping out of shadows of landing): Here I am! And I just saw him!
FOURTH WOMAN: Are you going to pay it?
MRS. MACNAMARA: No!
FIFTH WOMAN: Are you going to move?
MRS. MACNAMARA: No!
FIFTH WOMAN: What are you going to do?
MRS. MACNAMARA: I'11 tell you what I'm going to do—I'm going to picket—and so are you—and you . . . (To SIXTH WOMAN) . . . and you, too!
SIXTH WOMAN: Picket? We Can't picket!
MRS. MACNAMARA: Why not? All you have to do is walk up and down!
SIXTH WOMAN: With signs?
MRS. MACNAMARA: With signs and banners and everything! Sure—if the men can do it—so can we!
[Blackout]
(Music comes up and continues throughout LOUDSPEAKER'S announcement.)
LOUDSPEAKER: Brooklyn Rent Strike. January l7th, 1933. Two hundred members of the Brooklyn Tenants' League picket the landlord.
(Lights come up on FIVE or SIX WOMEN and TENANTS' LEAGUE ORGANIZER in upper center cubicle.)
ORGANIZER: Do you know how much it'll cost him to evict each tenant? $25.00!—For forty apartments it'll cost him a thousand dollars!
FOURTH WOMAN: A thousand dollars! He'll never spend it! (There is a pause.)
FIRST WOMAN: But is it right for us to stay here without paying rent?
ORGANIZER: Is it right for him to raise rents when there's a housing shortage? For us to be thrown out on the street? Is it?
CHORUS OF VOICES: No!
ORGANIZER: And so, I'm proposing right now that we, members of the Tenants' League, declare a rent strike of all the tenants in this house. That nobody move and nobody pay rent until the landlord . . .
FOURTH WOMAN: Until the landlord is willing to let us stay for the old rent!
CHORUS OF VOICES: Right!
[Blackout]
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