Testing the Waters
Just Where Are We In the Process of Building the Movement We Need?
In organizing contexts, a “structure test” typically refers to an evaluation method used to assess whether an organizing campaign or initiative has sufficient organizational capacity and strategic positioning to succeed before moving to more intensive phases of action.
The structure test examines key elements like:
Organizational Capacity:
Do you have enough committed people to carry out the campaign?
Are leaders developed and ready to take action?
Is there sufficient organizational infrastructure (communications, decision-making processes, etc.)?
Strategic Positioning:
Is the campaign winnable given current conditions?
Do you have leverage over the target (decision-maker)?
Are your tactics appropriate for your power relative to the opposition?
Member Engagement:
Are people genuinely committed to the cause, or just casually interested?
Will members take meaningful action when called upon?
Is there broad enough support to sustain pressure?
The “test” often involves deliberately escalating actions or demands to see if the organization can maintain unity, follow through on commitments, and effectively pressure targets. It’s a way of stress-testing your organizing infrastructure before committing to major campaigns that could fail if the foundation isn’t solid.
This concept is common in community organizing, labor organizing, and social movement strategy - essentially asking “are we actually ready to win this fight?” before fully engaging.
Here are historical examples of effective structure tests in mass movement and mobilization building:
Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-1956)
The Montgomery Bus Boycott demonstrates perhaps the most comprehensive structure test in civil rights history. Before Rosa Parks’ arrest, organizers had been systematically building capacity:
Pre-Existing Infrastructure: The Women’s Political Council had begun in 1946, after just dozens of Black people had been arrested on the buses for segregation purposes. By 1955, we had members in every elementary, junior high, and senior high school, and in federal, state, and local jobs. Wherever there were more than ten Blacks employed, we had a member there. We were prepared to the point that we knew in a matter of hours, we could corral the whole city.
Testing Organizational Readiness: A year after the WPC's meeting with Mayor Gayle, a 15-year-old named Claudette Colvin was arrested for challenging segregation on a Montgomery bus. Seven months later, 18-year-old Mary Louise Smith was arrested for refusing to yield her seat to a white passenger. Neither arrest, however, mobilized Montgomery's black community like that of Rosa Parks later that year. These earlier incidents served as structure tests that revealed the movement wasn't quite ready.
Demonstration of Capacity: Over 70% of the cities bus patrons were African American and the one-day boycott was 90% effective. The successful one-day test proved the organization could sustain a longer campaign. Instead of riding buses, boycotters organized a system of carpools, with car owners volunteering their vehicles or themselves driving people to various destinations.
Nashville Lunch Counter Sit-Ins (1960) - Strategic Preparation
The Nashville campaign exemplifies how systematic training creates organizational strength:
Extensive Training Program: In 1959, Rev. James Lawson founded the Nashville Student Movement and began teaching workshops on nonviolent protests to students from our historically Black colleges and universities. Among those who participated in Lawson's intensive training were students Diane Nash, James Bevel, Bernard Lafayette, Marion Barry, C.T. Vivian.
Gradual Escalation: On Feb 13, 1960, 124 college students conducted sit-ins at the lunch counter of three stores in downtown Nashville. The students dressed in their Sunday best and brought books to occupy themselves. The disciplined behavior demonstrated their training.
Structure Test Under Pressure: On February 27 the students' principles of nonviolence were tested in the face of real violence. A large mob of vocal and violent counterprotestors formed at each of the sit-in locations. White mobs threw food at the protestors, poured drinks down their shirts, put out cigarettes in their hair, yelled obscenities and racial slurs, and beat them. Police did not restrain or arrest the attackers.. The fact that protesters maintained discipline under extreme provocation proved their organizational strength.
Proven Results: Nashville was the first city to desegregate its lunch counters, and the long months of sit-ins served as a testament to the efficacy of peaceful protests.
March on Washington Movement (1940s) - Strategic Leverage
Perhaps the most notable, and important, initiative of this new labor-based civil rights movement was the wartime March on Washington Movement, a brainchild of A. Philip Randolph. Randolph threatened a mass march on Washington unless President Roosevelt banned discrimination in defense industries. The threat alone - backed by demonstrated organizational capacity from the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters - forced Roosevelt to issue the Fair Employment Practice Committee order without actually having to hold the march. This was a successful structure test that proved the movement's power without requiring full mobilization.
CIO Industrial Organizing (1930s-40s) - Capacity Building
And with the emergence in the mid-1930s of the CIO came a union federation committed to industrial unionization and the organization of black workers. In much of basic industry – automobile manufacturing, steel, rubber, meatpacking, and the like – the CIO succeeded, by the early 1940s, in winning union representation elections and attracting substantial black support. The CIO's approach involved systematic workplace organizing, building worker committees, and testing member commitment through work actions before calling major strikes.
Key Elements of Effective Structure Tests:
Pre-existing Networks: All successful movements built on established organizations and relationships before testing their strength.
Gradual Escalation: Rather than jumping to major confrontations, effective organizers tested capacity through smaller actions first.
Training and Discipline: Successful movements invested heavily in preparing participants for the psychological and physical challenges they would face.
Strategic Patience: Montgomery possessed three features that are not found in other movements or efforts: 1. It was organized; used existing institutions as foundations so that all social strata of the community were involved.
Learning from Failures: Early unsuccessful tests (like Claudette Colvin's arrest) provided valuable information about organizational readiness.
These historical examples show that structure tests aren't just about having enough people - they're about proving your organization can maintain unity, discipline, and strategic focus under pressure while effectively leveraging power against opponents.