I think it must be said that Frances Piven was not advocating physical violence as much as violence to a system she thought of as corrupt. I would assume that she thought there was little chance of changing the system so her strategy was to
collapse it.
Quote:
proposed to create a crisis in the current welfare system – by exploiting the gap between welfare law and practice – that would ultimately bring about its collapse and replace it with a system of guaranteed annual income"
Group conflict, spelling political crisis for the local party apparatus, would thus become acute as welfare rolls mounted and the strains on local budgets became more severe
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Of course if the idea had been successful, the result could very well have been physical violence. From the clips I've seen of her I have the feeling she wouldn't shrink from violence in the name of her cause. I bet it is a big surprise to her that her ideas have been resurrected lately.