stjorthotic Chapter 10 Bread and Ideals
Chapter 10 Bread and Ideals
The morning after the alliance was formed, Leo was awakened by hunger.
His stomach was contracting; the conversation that had changed his life last night was now being squeezed into a corner of his consciousness by his most primal physiological needs.
He sat up from the creaking bed, with a sliver of hope remaining, and walked to the refrigerator.
Open the refrigerator door.
The dim light inside illuminated three things.
A carton of milk that expired four days ago.
Half a bottle of tomato sauce.
There was also a small piece of butter on the door shelf that was starting to harden.
The harsh reality instantly washed away all the lofty ambitions built up the night before.
He closed the refrigerator door, leaned against it, and felt a wave of dizziness.
He finally couldn't help but ask the question in his mind to that great president.
"Mr. President, we don't even have the money to buy a piece of luncheon meat for our next lunch."
His voice echoed in my mind.
"Before we consider the future of Pittsburgh, I'm afraid I should seriously think about the question of 'my lunch today'."
This is an unavoidable problem.
The flames of revolution also need calories to burn.
Roosevelt's voice echoed in his mind, tinged with amusement.
"Leo, a good politician must know how to solve money problems. This is the most basic and most important lesson."
"But our first money must never come from the generosity of a banker or a secret donation from some entrepreneur. That would put shackles around your neck from the very first day you step onto the battlefield. Once you take their money, you become their servant."
"Our first sum of money must, and can only, come from the people you are about to serve."
Leo felt a sense of absurdity.
"The people?" he retorted. "But I'm nothing to them now, a nobody, a recently unemployed PhD student. Why would they give me money? To listen to me recount the history of the New Deal?"
"Of course not." Roosevelt's voice became persuasive. "Before you ask the people for a single penny, you must first do something for them. Do something that they can see, that they can feel, that they can trust you."
"Moreover, this wasn't about money, but about winning their trust. Trust is the only hard currency in the political world."
"Then what should we do?" Leo felt even more confused.
"Go to the places closest to the people, to the places where contradictions are most acute, to the places where current politicians avoid them like the plague." Roosevelt was like an experienced hunter teaching his young apprentice how to find prey.
"In those places, both your enemies and your future supporters reside."
He paused for a moment, his tone becoming more relaxed.
"And I guarantee you'll have your lunch there today."
Under Roosevelt's guidance, Leo abandoned the idea of continuing the standoff with the empty refrigerator.
He sat back down in his chair and turned on his computer.
He began searching local Pittsburgh news websites, outdated community forums with numerous bots, and local Facebook groups.
He filtered out boring community event announcements, secondhand goods listings, and lost cat and dog notices.
He was looking for contradictions.
It is a conflict between the community and the government, between tenants and landlords, and between ordinary citizens and large companies.
He spent the entire morning immersed in this sea of trivial but real information.
It wasn't until the afternoon, when hunger was making him dizzy, that he found a notice in an inconspicuous corner of the Pittsburgh city government website.
That was a list of properties subject to forced auctions due to overdue property taxes.
He scrolled down the list with the mouse wheel; it mostly contained abandoned houses and closed-down small shops.
Then, a name made him stop.
Steelworkers Community Center.
He knew this place; it was less than ten blocks from his apartment.
It was an old brick building that had once been a branch of the Steelworkers Union.
After the collapse of the steel industry, the place was transformed into a non-profit organization to help unemployed families, seniors, and children in the community.
There are after-school tutoring classes, free legal advice, skills training for the unemployed, and even shelter for the homeless in the winter.
That was the last little fortress built by old workers like his father for themselves and their neighbors after being abandoned by the times.
And now, this fortress is going to be auctioned off.
The notice clearly states that the Steelworkers Community Center will be forcibly auctioned off by the city hall next week due to tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid property taxes.
Leo's heart sank.
He immediately opened a new browser tab and began searching for all information about the matter.
He found a short report on a local news website.
The report mentioned that the head of the community center, an elderly man named Frank Kowalski, had been working on this issue for several months. He tried to apply for a tax exemption from the mayor's office and also tried to raise funds from the community, but all attempts failed.
Leo's search did not stop.
He then found the information of the registered bidders for this auction on the municipal government's public records website.
There was only one bidder.
A real estate company called "Peak Development Group".
The name made Leo frown.
He seemed to have seen him somewhere before.
He launched a new search, this time pairing "Summit Development Group" with another name—Pittsburgh's current mayor, Martin Cartwright.
The search results helped him understand the whole story.
Summit Development Group was one of Cartwright’s biggest financial backers during his mayoral campaign.
Moreover, in the past few years, the company has acquired several prime locations from the municipal government at extremely low prices for the development of high-end apartment projects.
Their business model is crystal clear: demolish old neighborhoods, build new apartments, and then sell them to wealthy professionals working downtown.
Leo could almost picture what was going to happen next.
Peak Development Group will acquire the community center site at the reserve price.
Then, that old building, filled with the memories of Pittsburgh's working class, will be bulldozed to the ground.
A gleaming luxury apartment building with floor-to-ceiling windows and a gym will rise from the ground.
Those elderly people, children, and the unemployed who once relied on community centers for help will completely lose their last refuge.
Leo leaned back in his chair, looking at the interwoven information on the screen.
He felt a surge of anger, but also a surge of excitement.
Roosevelt's voice echoed in his mind.
"Do you see that, child?"
"A perfect battlefield."
"Corrupt politicians, greedy capital, and the ruthlessly harmed interests of ordinary people. All the elements are there."
"Go."
"Your first job is here."