Accompanying: Pathways to Social Change

by Staughton Lynd

In Accompanying , Staughton Lynd distinguishes two strategies of social change. The first, characteristic of the 1960s Movement in the United States, is “organizing.” The second, articulated by Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, is “accompaniment.” The critical difference is that in accompanying one another the promoter of social change and his or her oppressed colleague view themselves as two experts, each bringing indispensable experience to a shared project. Together, as equals, they seek to create what the Zapatistas call “another world.” Staughton Lynd applies the distinction between organizing and accompaniment to five social movements in which he has taken the labor and civil rights movements, the antiwar movement, prisoner insurgencies, and the movement sparked by Occupy Wall Street. His wife Alice Lynd, a partner in these efforts, contributes her experience as a draft counselor and advocate for prisoners in maximum-security confinement.

Genres: Activism, Labor, Nonfiction, Politics, History

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

The son of renowned sociologists Robert Staughton Lynd and Helen Lynd, Staughton Lynd grew up in New York City. He earned a BA from Harvard, an MA and PhD in history from Columbia. He taught at Spelman College in Georgia (where he was acquainted with Howard Zinn) and Yale University. In 1964, Lynd served as director of Freedom Schools in the Mississippi Summer Project. An opponent of the Vietnam War, Lynd chaired the first march against the war in Washington DC in 1965 and, along with Tom Hayden and Herbert Aptheker, went on a controversial trip to Hanoi in December 1965 that cost him his position at Yale.

In the late 1960s Lynd moved to Chicago, where he was involved in community organizing. An oral history project of the working class undertaken with his wife inspired Lynd to earn a JD from the University of Chicago in 1976. After graduating the Lynds moved to Ohio, where Staughton worked as an attorney and activist.

Reviews

[Kate Savage · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm less sure than ever about the proper "shape" organizing should take -- horizontal? centalized? thank god it's not up to me -- but it's always so nice to spend a little time with Staughton and Alice Lynd.

[Chance Grable · Rating 3 out of 5]

The vast majority of this book is narrative of actions partaken by the labor movement, civil rights movement, liberation theology movement, anti-prison movement and Occupy movements. Stoughton shows the ways in which these movements failed to adequately “accompany” each other in a and effective manner that led to liberation and the way that they failed to achieve this goal.
While these narratives are fascinating and do reveal useful insights, Lynd generally does not analyze them to a degree that was necessary to explain the broader idea of “accompanying.” Throughout the book Lynd does not articulate a concise definition of accompanying and then relate it back the histories in each chapter. It is generally up to the reader to pull meaning and judgments from these stories. Overall Accompanying is a good book but you should expect to do a lot of analysis yourself.

[Benjamin Fasching-Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Concise and well-structured, Accompanying returns to familiar Lynd territory but makes its points better than the Wobblies and Zapatistas book did. The chapter about Archbishop Romero was engrossing, and the last chapter and conclusion about the Lynds’ prisoner support work and Occupy Wall Street respectively, end on an optimistic, hopeful note that I need.

[Ally Perrin]

For R&R

[Joe Santone · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you read only one modern book “on the Left,” make it this one.

[Ash · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has one of the best short biographies of Archbishop Oscar Romerobthat I have seen

[Drick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Staughton Lynd and his wife, Alice, are lawyers who live in Youngstown, Ohio. In the 60's they were involved with SNCC in the voter registration efforts in Mississippi, and later supporting workers in the labor movements in Youngstown and today advocating for inmates in Youngstown super-max prison. Through all of those efforts they have learned to practice accompanying, being with people suffering oppression and injustice, and lending their legal and other expertise, by first listening and not coming in with a program to rescue people from their struggle but being with them in their struggle and helping where they can. In the book he shares his experiences of accompaniment, as well as relate historical examples from the Civil Rights movement, liberation theology of Oscar Romero in El Salvador and others. The book is both practical, ideological, and theological. While at times the book seems to ramble, it is only because the Lynds are telling their stories as they try to incorporate the stories of those with whom they have struggled over the years

[Spicy T AKA Mr. Tea · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid little book looking at the concept of accompaniment. Lynd has a beautiful way of keeping things digestible and accessible. He and his wife Alice, write about specific case studies that they have been apart of to tell the story of how to accompany--instead of writing a thick academic text where the writer deconstructs the concept and tosses out all the human connection with this simple and stunningly impact-ful social act that can change seemingly unchangeable systems of domination. Short, accessible, well written. A solid book.

[Scott Neigh]

Reviewed here.

[Sam Bahour · Rating 5 out of 5]

Narratives of struggle grounded in the natural humanity of people everywhere!