Rules for Radicals

by Saul Alinsky

Rules for Radicals

published	October 23rd 1989 by Vintage
binding	Paperback
isbn	0679721134 (isbn13: 9780679721130)
ebook
pages	224
description	This primers tells the "have-nots" how they can organize to achieve real political power for the practice of true democracy. [close] This primers tells the "have-nots" how they can organize to achieve real political power for the practice of true democracy. [close]
date added	02-14-07 edit book

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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 297)

Nicholas

Nicholas rated it:

07/27/08

bookshelves: internet, politics, war-theory

Read in June, 2007

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

This book teaches people how to achieve change within a system that actively opposes it. I read it awhile ago so all I've got are some residual ideas.

Like Seneca, he advocates hiding behind a perfectly normal face. Nothing overtly revolutionary. Nothing demanding counterproductive attention. Accept what you cannot change. Pick you battles and then give no ground. Does this end justify this means?

It reminds me of the 48 laws of power but with a moralistic bent. How to use it to mak...more

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Megan

Megan rated it:

08/09/07

bookshelves: activism, non-fiction

Read in August, 2007

There are definite aspects of Alinsky's book that are getting a little outdated. It's interesting to read the final chapters, and see his hope for what essentially has become the responsible investment movement - a large part of which is students on campuses getting their schools to divest from companies involved in business with unethical political regimes - and to know the limits of that movement, and its failure to cause 'a middle class revolution' like the one he envisions. But then, his hop...more There are definite aspects of Alinsky's book that are getting a little outdated. It's interesting to read the final chapters, and see his hope for what essentially has become the responsible investment movement - a large part of which is students on campuses getting their schools to divest from companies involved in business with unethical political regimes - and to know the limits of that movement, and its failure to cause 'a middle class revolution' like the one he envisions. But then, his hopes for the shareholder proxies movement is much more radical than responsible investment, and perhaps the problem is just that the latter was co-opted and transformed into the former.

I also feel that underlying Alinsky's whole outlook are patriarchal and hierarchical values, and a potentially harmful instrumentalist reasoning which, while perhaps realistic in its view of why humans often act in some of the negative ways that we do, obscures the source of much of the goodness in us. Also, a lot of his analysis stems from what are basically equivocations in terms. He rails against people who get bogged down in academic discussions of 'means and ends,' but that's no reason to get sloppy with one's thinking. Furthermore, a lot of his examples of 'ends' are really only a 'means' disguised as such... meaning they should be up for debate, and not taken for granted, as they seem to be. He also talks about nations as though they were individual actors, which is just oversimplistic and leads to some really shallow statements.

Obviously, however, for anyone familiar with the organizing work that he did in Chicago and elsewhere during the middle of the last century, Alinsky knows a lot about how to bring people together for social change. Rules for Radicals captures a lot of his thinking on how to organize people, much of which is still valuable. But as he says himself, some tactics can't be repeated once they become part of the experience of the establishment which you are fighting, and so many of his tactics have been used enough that I think they really don't have the potential to be as effective as they once were....less

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Ginnie

Ginnie rated it:

07/08/08

bookshelves: culture, economics, government, philosophy-ethics

I was suddenly reminded of this classic when I read that it had been a seminal book for Barak Obama during his early days in South Side Chicago. The pieties of '60s-era leftism -- from identity politics to the idea that, provided with the right social environment, people can be rendered peaceful, industrious and altruistic -- had become a kind of dogma. Alinsky's ruthless demolishing of these and other utopian illusions would have been even more bracing then than it was when Rules for Radicals ...more I was suddenly reminded of this classic when I read that it had been a seminal book for Barak Obama during his early days in South Side Chicago. The pieties of '60s-era leftism -- from identity politics to the idea that, provided with the right social environment, people can be rendered peaceful, industrious and altruistic -- had become a kind of dogma. Alinsky's ruthless demolishing of these and other utopian illusions would have been even more bracing then than it was when Rules for Radicals was first published, at the height of the counterculture's idealism.

Bravado aside, the Alinsky model observes some basic rules, such as focusing on concrete, achievable goals, especially at first, so that a demoralized group can build up a sense of its own power. An important Alinsky maxim is "never go outside the experience of your people." This means (among other things) not insisting on reforming a neighborhood's retrograde attitudes on issues such as race, gender, class, capitalism and sexual orientation before you try to get the toxic-waste dump cleaned up.

In Dreams From My Fatherr, Obama recalls that the organizer who trained him told him to interview neighborhood residents in order to "find out their self-interest. That's why people become involved in organizing -- because they think they'll get something out of it. Once I found an issue enough people cared about, I could take them into action. With enough actions, I could start to build power. Issues, action, power, self-interest. I like these concepts. They bespoke a certain hardheadedness, a worldly lack of sentiment; politics, not religion."

Being willing to cut a deal with the enemy is part of a practical, hardheaded political strategy; as Alinsky wrote, "To the organizer, compromise is a key and beautiful word." An activist I know told me that the strength of the Alinsky-model groups is that "they get things done," but (as a recent arrangement ACORN made with developers in Brooklyn, N.Y., illustrates) they also leave themselves open to charges of selling out.
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Malcolm

Malcolm rated it:

02/17/08

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in January, 1971

recommends it for: social workers, activists

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Daniel

Daniel rated it:

03/18/08

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in January, 2007

recommended to Daniel by: radical bill

Hillary Clinton was totally into this dude in the late 70s...

"With Hillary Clinton poised to win the Democratic nomination for president, questions about her intellectual and moral education abound. One of the major intellectual influences – perhaps an emotional one was well – was radical social philosopher and activist Saul Alinsky. As this story shows, Alinsky was both the ladder Hillary climbed to gain new perspectives on society – specifically the poor – and then, once there...more

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Chris

Chris rated it:

05/28/08

Read in May, 2008

recommends it for: Progressives

I'm reading this right now as a part of discourse analysis study to compare it to Lakeoff's Thinking Points, which is another rule book for progressives. The beginning of the book grabbed me when he says "The Prince was written by Machiavelli for the Haves on how to hold power. Rules for Radicals is written for the Have-Nots on how to take it away." He's very obviously affected by having been through the Red Scare and the McCarthy days. Funny how much some of it reminds me of the situa...more

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Monte

Monte is currently reading it

08/05/08

bookshelves: currently-reading

Just started reading this today. Immediately before I read George Orwell's "Why I Write." The two books compliment one another very nicely, looking at essencially the same issue - assessing when conditions are ripe for mass movement - but in two very different locations in time and space. I assume (hope) that I'll be moved to write a sunstantive review when I finish.

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David

David rated it:

05/29/07

alinsky has misled two or more generations now into getting street lights and stop signs put in. microscopic victories are no revolution. not even heading in that direction.

on the positive side, alinsky is funny. and i agree, activists should spend six months in jail, to sit and reflect rather than simply drive themselves into the ground.

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1 comments

skye

skye rated it:

05/23/07

Read in February, 2007

Very useful for radical understanding of politics. Alinsky is one of the core community organizers of the 20th century, and made big noise to get social/political/economic change from the ground up. He tells great stories about the tactics he used (often hilarious) to push for change against segregation, etc. Very inspirational.

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Missy

Missy rated it:

06/27/07

bookshelves: bestreadsever

Read in January, 2003

recommends it for: The Young and those who need their fire lit

This is just one of those books that people who are young and on fire should read. It is inspiring and thought provoking if not a little contreversial at times- especially when it was published I imagine.

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Theresa

Theresa rated it:

10/05/07

bookshelves: currently-reading

Read in August, 2007

recommends it for: Erica VanAucken, Gabe Tilove

In midst of reading it, after doing some work with it over the summer with the PIRGs. The book was written during Vietnam, but definitely applicable for today. Also cool: He was like 80 or something when he wrote it, but has the narrative voice of an early twenty-something. More to come...

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erin

erin rated it:

08/04/07

Read in July, 2007

recommends it for: everyone

is the phrase, "phantasmagoria of the nether regions" (applied to power) enticement enough? it gets even better. seriously, just read it. re-read this to get some clarity, but it made less sense than it did when i was 20, which i think means i'm devolving.

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Phineas

Phineas rated it:

02/24/08

bookshelves: currently-reading

Read in January, 2006

Extremely clear. Inspiring. It set the standard for the generation who changed the world most effectively. It can be a very quick read or long, depending on how much you decide to stop and chew on the words. I hope more twenty-somethings read it.

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Emma

Emma rated it:

02/03/08

Read in January, 2008

I can't say I agreed with everything Alinsky had to say but there were certainly some really insightful and interesting points raised. Isn't that the point of books like this, to get you thinking in the first place? Overall, very good.

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1 comments

Stephen

Stephen rated it:

08/14/08

bookshelves: non-fiction, politics, sociology

Read in April, 2008

Saul Alinsky best known work. This book is a fantastic book for anyone interested in Community Organising. While it shouldnt be used as a handbook, it is a handy primer for ideas and methods, but not to be followed rigidly.

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Laura

Laura rated it:

08/18/07

Read in January, 2003

A book that really shaped the compromises and ideals any organizer needs to make to face themselves, and the best way to go about setting your goals.

Plus, it was my Grandpa's favorite book!

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James

James rated it:

01/07/08

bookshelves: community-organizing

Read in July, 2004

So much of SA is out of date, and it is easy to find fault with a lot of his methods. But any organizer or activist in the US should at least read it. Gotta know the "rules" to break them.

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Paul

Paul rated it:

04/20/07

Read in March, 2007

Really exciting ideas and stories from Saul Alinski about community organizing, and why he thinks everyone else is doing things wrong. This is right at the end of his life.

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Yochi

Yochi rated it:

10/23/07

Has a copy to sell/swap

saul alinsky, i owe my job to you. thanks for perfecting modern progressive organizing. your book is kinda dense, but that's ok because you started the midwest academy.

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Ashanan

Ashanan rated it:

(review of isbn 0394717368)

01/26/08

Read in January, 2008

I've been looking for a book like this for a long time, I didn't really think it actually existed. I couldn't put it down. Also, Alinsky is a fucking badass.

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