Based on a review of the main literature on community organizing in Quebec since the 1960s, this article presents a historical portrait of this professional practice and highlights some of its tensions. The first tension explored, examined from a political perspective, involves the ambivalent position of the community organizing at the junction of the relationship between the state and civil society groups. The second tension, considered from a theoretical perspective, refers to the differences between the approaches used, either conflictual or collaborative. We argue that these tensions are constitutive of the practice trajectory.