Though the origins of U.S. community development practice are contested, the 1960s and 70s are universally accepted as an important era for the institutionalization of the field. While community development integrated aspects of this era—grassroots empowerment, local participation, and a focus on community assets—much of the more radical elements of the time never took root. As such, this paper revisits the Marxist roots of cultural and political movements of the era to understand the utility of Marxist Theories—traditional Marxism, neo-Marxism, Marxist geography, and racial capitalism—for community development research and practice. Based on my work as a scholar-practitioner in housing, this paper illuminates how Marxist concepts and theories—such as alienation, real community, the intelligentsia, right to the city, and more—push community development researchers and practitioners to think more deeply about the systemic nature of urban and rural challenges, the path toward equitable, democratic, and sustainable change, and their own role in that change.
