This is the first of a series of articles about the husband and wife, Richard Cloward and Frances Piven, who wrote Cloward-Piven strategy, the Bible of the extreme left activists. Both authors as a bridge between political activism and academic activities.

Richard A. Cloward, born in 1926, he served in the Navy during World War II. After the service, he worked as a social worker in a military prison in Pennsylvania. He believes the strain theory of criminal behavior is a “tension” negative relationship to the youth and its impact on crime. With fellow sociologists, Lloyd Ohlin, Cloward wrote “Delinquency and Opportunity: A Theory of gang offenders,” claiming that crime is a symptom of poverty and lack of alternative opportunities. He argued that social programs in the local community will help young people stay out of gang life and avoid evil.

Frances Piven Chicago to attend school, and after earning his doctorate, worked as city planner in New York. He is also known for his contributions to social theory and social activities. During his career, he has served on the board of the ACLU and the Democratic Socialist America.

In his book, “Regulating the Poor, Piven and Cloward argue that advances to the poor have made throughout history were directly proportional to the ability to change the institutions that depend on their cooperation. Trust is the foundation of the Cloward-Piven strategy emerged.

Piven study the registration of voters and, together with Cloward, working in the motor voter bill, which is designed to increase voter registration. In 1994, President Clinton signed the Voter Registration Act. demanded that the governments of the countries that allow voter registration when the rating applied for or renew your driver’s license or social services required. The purpose of the legislation is to promote greater access to voter registration for citizens who most need help registering to vote.

Inspired by the August 1965 Watts riots, where police used batons to subdue the Black man suspected of drunken driving, was an article entitled “Weight poor: a strategy to eliminate poverty.” In the article, said the ruling classes used welfare to weaken the poor. Instead of giving government hand-outs to the poor, and Piven Cloward believes that activists should work to sabotage and destroy the welfare system, which in turn, triggered a political crisis and financial … then the rest of society to accept the demands of the poor.