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Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals

Saul D. Alinsky

3.76 · Rating details · 6,545 ratings · 713 reviews

First published in 1971, Rules for Radicals is Saul Alinsky's impassioned counsel to young radicals on how to effect constructive social change and know “the difference between being a realistic radical and being a rhetorical one.” Written in the midst of radical political developments whose direction Alinsky was one of the first to question, this volume exhibits his style ...more

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Paperback, 196 pages

Published October 23rd 1989 by Vintage (first published December 12th 1969)

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Feb 02, 2010 Mike (the Paladin) rated it did not like it

Shelves: political

Freely admitting I did not read this "thing" in detail(please note I said "in detail" not that I hadn't read it)...this is not my first brush with this small yet putrid ~~tomb~~ oops, I mean tome. I graduated high school in 1970...was cursed for wearing my dress army greens...and had friends who bought/buy into the poison Alinsky (a hero to many of the current administration in the white house) spews. From the opening appeal to Lucifer through it's "the ends justify the means" attitude it turns my s Freely admitting I did not read this "thing" in detail(please note I said "in detail" not that I hadn't read it)...this is not my first brush with this small yet putrid ~~tomb~~ oops, I mean tome. I graduated high school in 1970...was cursed for wearing my dress army greens...and had friends who bought/buy into the poison Alinsky (a hero to many of the current administration in the white house) spews. From the opening appeal to Lucifer through it's "the ends justify the means" attitude it turns my stomach.

A quote:
"Means and ends are so qualitatively interrelated that the true question has never been the proverbial one, "does the End justify the Means?" but always has been "Does this particular end justify this particular means?""
page 47 in ISBN# 978-0-679-72113-0 (from back cover of book)

In spite of the reference to Thomas Paine at this book's opening the writer had little or no idea of what this country stands for and was meant to be. (The reference is apparently meant to be due to the fact that Paine was a "rabble rouser". The ideas expressed bear no resemblance to any espoused at America's founding). Like Walter Lippmann he appeals to a group that sees itself as an elite (ideally) ruling class. He buys into a "the end justifies the means" outlook and freely advises things like shutting your enemy up when you can't defeat their arguments.

I'm sure some will roll their eyes and shriek at my posting here expressing disgust at my "closed mindedness" and "provincial attitude"...right. Don't feel too bad, the government in power espouses and operates by the ideas expressed here. May we all survive it.

Yes I know that I usually walk a little more lightly when I disagree with the ideas a book expresses, but upon reflection I "thought and felt" that where this book is concerned that might not be the wisest way. After all, if you agree with this book, I doubt I'll change your mind. All I can do is try to make sure that anyone who reads it does it with an open and alert mind and doesn't go into it with the "dewy eyed outlook seeing it in the rosy glow" it's proponents project for it. I've dealt with the "if you disagree with us your weird (and yes other names and epithets)" attitude for years now...what's one more instance?

By the way, I do recommend a reading of this to at least get the ideas espoused. As I'm apparently part of what he refers to as "the enemy" I need to know the thoughts to some extent. My rating is for attitude and the amount of hate and condescension spewed here. ...more

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Jan 18, 2009 Jennifer rated it really liked it

I read Alinsky for the first time in graduate school, and pulled his books off the shelf again upon hearing that Barack Obama studied and was influenced by Alinsky in his days as a community organizer.

The book is as good as I remembered, and freshened upon re-reading by the ability to apply some of the discussion to Obama's campaign and early days in office. Alinsky was an organizer--a passionate pragmatist with a sense of humor, willing to compromise at any turn or use any means by which to ach ...more

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Oct 30, 2008 Luke rated it did not like it

Recommends it for: bleeding-hearts

Total hogwash. This is simply moral relativism clothed in political sophistry. Following the path of all relativistic philosophies, Alinsky contradicts himself constantly throughout the book. He argues the "duality of all phenomena" and then goes on to describe the status quo as intolerable. He makes statements like "He who fears corruption fears life" and then attacks the Pentagon for corrupt practices during the Vietnam war.

You can certainly see how The One drew much of his campaign philosophi ...more

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Jan 05, 2009 Stephen Drake rated it it was amazing

The first time I read this book was when I was sixteen. Since then, I have given away and replaced the book several times. Alinsky, who was active in both Chicago (where I lived for over ten years) and Rochester, NY (where I grew up and live now), was a terrific community organizer. The language is a little dated - definitely sexist by today's definitions - but it's a great reminder to those of us who get discouraged about fighting on unlevel playing fields. The playing fields have never been le ...more

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Aug 04, 2007 Meg rated it liked it

Shelves: activism, non-fiction

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 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. ...more

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Jun 25, 2012 Ken rated it did not like it

It’s very appropriate for Alinsky to dedicate this book to Satan. Like Satan, Alinsky mixes God’s word with his own lies to craft his socialist evil.
He warns those he calls “Have’s” to watch out for their “Have Not” neighbor because they’ll kill him and take what he has. Then he says the “Have Not” is justified in doing so. Well Alinsky, based on your stupid logic, the “Have” is also justified in killing the “Have Not” in defense. Alinsky states just the opposite. His stupid logic also says not ...more

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May 11, 2010 Natalie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction, favorites

I've been meaning to get around to Alinsky for years, and am so glad I finally borrowed a copy of this book from a friend.

The thing I appreciate most about this book is that he is so practical. I often get impatient with philosophical/ethical discourses about right and wrong and actions and consequences. The fact of the matter is, people are motivated by self-interest, and if you want to bring about a successful movement for justice, you have to appeal to that.

I think it is important to balanc ...more

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Nov 14, 2008 Laura rated it liked it

Ah, for the simpler days of radicalism, when you could get your college friends together for an impromptu rally, and no one had an excuse why they couldn't come.

That's not really what this book is about, but, having been written in 1971, it did inspire in me a bit of nostalgia for the kind of activism that was widespread then and is now alive and well only in places like San Francisco.

Alinsky is not anywhere near that idealistic. He was a down-and-dirty--and extremely effective--organizer who ha Ah, for the simpler days of radicalism, when you could get your college friends together for an impromptu rally, and no one had an excuse why they couldn't come.

That's not really what this book is about, but, having been written in 1971, it did inspire in me a bit of nostalgia for the kind of activism that was widespread then and is now alive and well only in places like San Francisco.

Alinsky is not anywhere near that idealistic. He was a down-and-dirty--and extremely effective--organizer who had, I believe, little patience for the typical young, idealistic activist ubiquitous in the 1960s. He describes here the qualities it takes to be a good community organizer, the way to communicate with your people (of the utmost importance), and the tactics to use against the Establishment (whom he calls "the Haves"). He uses a lot of examples that draw in the reader and make things clear. He certainly was the man to write this book at the time he wrote it.

I have only one problem with the book, but it's a big one. Maybe it's my natural pessimistic and cynical outlook on life, and maybe I'm wrong, but I find it hard to believe that many of the sorts of tactics Alinsky describes, or, indeed, any tactics, would work against the military-industrial-congressional complex today. Both corporations and governments are so powerful today that they have almost unlimited ability to stonewall any attempt by the unwashed masses to change them. He talks about getting groups of people to go to Chicago's City Hall and make their demands. I don't know how it was in the '60s, but I very much doubt Richie Daley is going to let any group of citizens get close enough to him or his aldermen to make demands these days. He also talks about stockholders signing their proxies over to community groups so those groups can then attend shareholders' meetings. What major company in America would allow this sort of thing today, what with the Patriot Act and all to hide behind, even if the community groups could scrape together the required travel funds?

Don't get me wrong--I liked the book, and I like how Alinsky describes the mechanics of community organization, its strengths and its weaknesses. It just seems more of a historical document to me than one that can be truly helpful in today's fight against injustice. But then, I'm hardly out there on the front lines, so what the hell do I know?

Alinsky was (apparently) a master organizer--he flew by the seat of his pants but was always ready with a new and inspired tactic or a witty comeback to his detractors. I wish I could be like that, but I don't think I have the kind of optimism in the face of any odds that it takes to be an effective activist organizer. Maybe one of you out there does. ...more

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Jul 05, 2012 Ryan Holiday rated it it was amazing

Rules for Radicals is the 48 Laws of Power written for the power hungry with a conscience. Alinksy was the liaison for many civil rights, union and student causes in the late 50's and 60's and though most of his efforts were temporal, he immortalized the tactics in this book. He teaches how to implement your radical agenda without using radical tactics, how to disarm with words and media as opposed to arms and Utopian rhetoric.

What's most impressive about Alinsky is how his books become more rel ...more

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Jul 12, 2010 Della Scott rated it liked it

This is a book that I didn't want to read, but knew that I ought to read. During the 2008 presidential campaign, people were talking about it so much that one got the sense that maybe it wasn't necessary to read it--you already knew what was in it. But that's always a mistake. It's always better to go to the source. And actually, although the people on the talk radio stations that I listened to were taking about it a lot, people in mainstream media probably weren't talking about it enough, or el This is a book that I didn't want to read, but knew that I ought to read. During the 2008 presidential campaign, people were talking about it so much that one got the sense that maybe it wasn't necessary to read it--you already knew what was in it. But that's always a mistake. It's always better to go to the source. And actually, although the people on the talk radio stations that I listened to were taking about it a lot, people in mainstream media probably weren't talking about it enough, or else the 2008 elections might have turned out differently. Finally when I was toward the end of Sarah Palin's book, Going Rogue, and she mentioned a particular Alinsky tactic(numerous frivolous lawsuits to wear down an opponent) that had been used against her(or so she thought) I thought, "This is it. I have to get this book and read it, no more excuses." (As it turns out, I don't think that that particular tactic is from Alinsky, or at least from this book. It may be in his other book, Revielle for Radicals)

I had heard of Alinsky before. When I was in the libertarian movement, somebody--I don't remember who--that I heard speak quoted this book extensively. Looking back on it, it's hard to believe that a libertarian could share any common ground with Alinsky, in view of his apparent contempt for the free market. But I won't dwell on that now.

Sometimes one gets the sense of peoples' personalities from their books--their degree of honesty, genuineness, whether or not they would be a pleasant person to spend an evening with whether or not one agrees with them on everything. The sense that I get from Alinsky is that he was probably a fairly nasty man and even his allies did not care for him much personally. I could be wrong of course.

I gained some insights about Barack Obama and several of the Chicago machine members and others in this white house from this book. The first important point is that both of them are economically illiterate. So when Obama makes some of the truly incredible statements he does about jobs creation and so forth, it's because, evidently, he has come from a backgound where people, even leaders, know less about economics than a college sophomore who's had one basic economics class. That's right. Scary, isn't it? Alinsky's worldview is that the world is made up of haves, havenots, and what he calls have-a-little-want-mores, aka the middle class. I will say more about his view of the middle class in a moment, but it is also relevant to the Obama administration. Alinsky believes in zero-sum economics, that is. if somebody is rich it's because somebody else is poor, and vice-versa. When people believe that, it's easier to see how they fall for class warfare b.s. and redistribution of wealth schemes. As far as I could tell, from Alinsky's descriptions of his exploits, none of them involved actually creating anything, only glomming onto wealth created by others(kind of like the current administration's economic policies) He is deliberately vague about his specific beefs with Kodak, one of the companies he mau-maued, claiming it wasn't relevant.

Another striking thing about Alinsky is his naked contempt for the middle class. So when Obama makes some of his outrageous statements, the most famous probably being the one about "bitter" people "clinging to guns and religion", it's not hard to make the connection.

This book, I think, also explains why Obama sat in Rev. Wright's church for 20 years. Alinsky has little respect for religion, believing that practitioners are largely hypocrites and that established faiths exist to keep the status quo.(This dovetails with his disdain for the middle class, much of which is churched, and this was certainly even more true in 1971 when this book was published.) But he did work with religious leaders on an ad hoc basis. So I think that Obama recognized that Wright was some kind of mover and shaker in Chicago(a sad commentary on Chicago)and that aligning with him could be useful. Later when he had presidntial aspirations, this was no longer the case. What most of us would see as blastant cynicism and hypocrisy, he just saw as strategy. Much was made of his "search" for a faith home in Washington DC. As Rush Limbaugh jokingly pointed out, maybe he couldn't find a pastor that sounded enough like Wright.

to be continued. ...more

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Mar 01, 2012 Chloe rated it liked it

Shelves: current-affairs, damn-the-man, politicaltheory

This book must have been recommended to me several dozen times over the course of the past year, from activists from either side if the ideological divide. Written by a rabid political organizer who cut his teeth organizing in the Depression-era south-side Chicago who makes no secret of the fact that he views a worker's revolution as inevitable and something that leftists should constantly work toward, and given that President Obama got his start organizing with the late Alinsky's group back in This book must have been recommended to me several dozen times over the course of the past year, from activists from either side if the ideological divide. Written by a rabid political organizer who cut his teeth organizing in the Depression-era south-side Chicago who makes no secret of the fact that he views a worker's revolution as inevitable and something that leftists should constantly work toward, and given that President Obama got his start organizing with the late Alinsky's group back in the 80s, it's understandable why Gingrich started slinging around Alinsky's name in the Republican debates. Union organizers I know swear by this book to no end, some hailing it as a bible for community organizers.

I wish I felt nearly as passionate after reading it this morning. Alinsky is fiercely passionate, of that there can be no doubt. He dedicated his life to organizing the lesser privileged in our society so that they could be better agents of their own freedom. He had a cunning tactical mind and his books are great attempts to try to share the lessons he learned in decades of organizing. Which really makes it such a shame that he comes off as such an asshole. Examples? I have a couple.

He makes an understandable point that groups you are organizing with need a win from time to time to minimize activist burnout and to show that change is possible. I find no fault with this- it is damned difficult to keep people enthusiastic in the face of constant setbacks and the unceasing apathy of those not involved. However, the tactic he uses as an example is very unsettling to me. In the heavily Catholic population of Chicago's south-side the churches had kicked out an Infant Welfare Society because it was rumored they were offering birth control. Of course, without the aid the society had offered, citizens noticed an uptick in infant mortality. Alinsky knew that all the citizens had to do was to simply ask the society to return, yet coordinated an exceptionally disingenuous march to the group's headquarters, stormed in, demanded that services be returned to this neighborhood, and refused to let the society's spokesperson say anything other than 'yes.' Sure, it was an easy win at a necessary time, but to deliberately mislead the group you are organizing is not an effective way to engender trust and a surefire way to get them to turn on you when your deception is discovered.

Still, there are numerous useful tips for readers willing to overlook Alinsky's less than desirable personality and more than a few things that I'm going to work to bring into my day-to-day work. It's definitely worth the read and easy to see why both the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street have embraced it as an instruction manual in their efforts to bring their concerns into the national dialogue. ...more

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Sep 03, 2010 Cwn_annwn_13 rated it liked it

Shelves: from-public-library

Alinsky was the left side of a two headed system approved Jewish Hydra operation out of Chicago. On one side you had Strausser who spawned the Neo-Con cabal that ruled the white house from 2000-2008. On the other side you had Alinsky who either influenced or in some cases out and out mentored people like Hilary Clinton, Cesar Chavez, Barry Satoro Obama, Bill Ayers, etc, etc. So their little globalist Marxist operation was quite succesful no doubt.

Alinsky for all his notoriety for rabblerousing ...more

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May 30, 2010 David rated it really liked it

Alinsky's classic about organizing in America is a fascinating work which is in many ways timeless. I found it inspiring and it definitely got me thinking about the often overlooked possibilities for creativity within collective action. In our modern era of letter-writing campaigns, call-in campaigns, and even protests, we can forget that "realistic radicals" have a much broader arsenal of rhetoric and media-grabbing actions (that can be more effective and more fun for their cadres to participat ...more

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Feb 17, 2008 Malcolm rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: social workers, activists

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

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Sep 22, 2014 Rich rated it did not like it

Shelves: post-law-school, essays-and-commentary

Alinsky's message was never received in a significant sense. The Tactics weren't employed. The goals were not achieved. There was no Movement or revolution for which he made these rules. I don't think the Tactics would be effective if they were employed. They might have some effect against some low-level bureaucrats in the 1970's but the powers that be are insulated from Alinsky and his ways.

(Prologue) "What I have to say in this book is not the arrogance of unsolicited advice. It is the experie ...more

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Dec 01, 2008 Lisa rated it liked it

Shelves: nonfiction-political

In an amazing start to his book, Alinsky acknowledges "the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom--Lucifer." While I wouldn't put Alinsky in the same category as Lucifer, it does make me wonder why he would put radicals in the same category. I guess he has his reasons, and certainly those bomb throwers (Alinsky speaks against) belong to Lucifer.
Parts of the book were pretty slow (the first half.) It seems l In an amazing start to his book, Alinsky acknowledges "the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom--Lucifer." While I wouldn't put Alinsky in the same category as Lucifer, it does make me wonder why he would put radicals in the same category. I guess he has his reasons, and certainly those bomb throwers (Alinsky speaks against) belong to Lucifer.
Parts of the book were pretty slow (the first half.) It seems like he spent a lot of time debating, "Do the ends justify the means?" He says yes in too many words. He spends a lot of time explaining how to gain the trust of the community that one is trying to organize. He describes how to involve the community in the discussion of what to do and how to do it.
I kept waiting for the tactics. Alinsky definitely knows how to irritate people into doing what he wants and he has a sense of humor. He understands what motivates people--the communities he organizes and the groups he is trying to change. One tactic involved buying up some upscale cultural event tickets. Getting together a bunch black people before hand to eat beans for 3 hours and then giving them the tickets to cause a legal disturbance and stink the place up. Just letting news of this idea leak out will cause a disturbance and you may not even have to go through with it. Suddenly the holders of the cultural purse will find money for arts for the disadvantaged youth.
I could tell ACORN leaders had read this book. Another tactic was to picket the slum lord's own home in suburbia, complete with signs stating the tenets' complaints. The neighbors would be all over the this guy to fix up/get heat to his public housing units--not that they cared about the tenets, but they want this mob out of their neighborhood. If you don't have any heat and this guy is taking government money supposedly to provide decent living conditions, that might be a good idea. ACORN took it too far by picketing homes of bankers that would not loan money to bad credit risks. Thanks ACORN for helping to topple our financial industry--you weren't the biggest factor but this is not right.
Alinsky also talks about unions--not just for the trades as had pretty much been the case when Alinsky started organizing. If you take a look at Detroit, you can see that the unions have taken their organizing tactics to the hilt and toppled the car industry.
This book was interesting to read, but I hope the radical organizers don't throw the baby out with the bath water. ...more

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Jun 03, 2010 Larry Bassett rated it it was amazing

Shelves: social-action, political

Newt Gingrich is criticizing Barack Obama by associating him with Saul Alinsky. Read this book if you want to know what Mr. Alinski thought and how he organized people without power to make their lives better.

I am not sure if Saul said, "Power to the people!" but I am sure that is what he meant. This book is a classic for community organizing.

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Jun 27, 2007 Missy rated it it was amazing

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

Shelves: bestreadsever

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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Jun 27, 2009 Douglas Wilson rated it it was ok

Shelves: politics

Alinsky was a tactical genius, but when it gets to foundational issues he is beyond sophomoric. A hard leftist, who did not know where he was going or why, but he was the kind of driver who knew how to make good time.

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Dec 11, 2009 Susan rated it really liked it

Shelves: political, resource

Rating this GOOD is not accurate. But it is a Must Read unless what's going on now in America os not affecting you, or you don't care.
This is a reread from years ago in my social activist days. Amazing how one can see these techniques in use if our eyes are open.

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Nov 08, 2018 Darran Mclaughlin rated it it was amazing

Shelves: american, politics

A really extraordinary book. I remember hearing about Alinsky for the first time years ago when I read Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama, when Obama referred to the fact that he had learned from Alinsky and been influenced by him when he worked as a community organiser in Chicago. I recall having my interest piqued because his work was described as being in the line of Machiavelli and Nietzsche, which is a very unusual thing to hear about a book on political organising. Well the comparisons ...more

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Jul 07, 2020 K rated it liked it

It started strong and then by the end it kind of felt like he was rambling about whatever was on top of his mind. Required reading for organizers though imo and there were a lot of gems once you look past the fact that it was written by a white guy born in 1909.

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Mar 08, 2009 Brian Napoletano rated it liked it

Saul Alinsky presents those of us who talk about change without acting on it with an uncomfortable challenge: you are either actively opposing the establishment or you are siding with it. This challenge struck home with me and inspired me to invest more effort into connecting to local activists and engaging in direct action.

On the other hand, I found Alinsky's discussion of ends and means rather troubling. Alinsky tends to judge actions solely by their ends, and is so certain of the righteousnes ...more

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Apr 17, 2015 Gordon Hilgers rated it really liked it

All the right wing hullabaloo over Saul Alinsky's "Rules For Radicaals", published in 1971, is what made me decide to read this--horrors!--book about community organizing. Since I have been involved in community organizing before, it only seemed logical to see if I could find some of the things I learned on the fly in Alinsky's book. And you know what? I did. Accident and necessity sometimes become crossing points where you act before you develop a rationale, and I remember interviewing a Dallas ...more

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Dec 02, 2017 Misha rated it it was amazing

Surprisingly full of wacky hijinks, this book still manages to be a fundamentally rationalist primer on how to bring people together, find out what they want, and how to get them to work together to get it. Entertaining and educational.

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Feb 17, 2014 Jeanne rated it liked it

Shelves: literary-society-reads

I liked this book. It was filled with some really great information and truths, as well as many false ideas, some of which might sound true.

I understand how young persons could be swept away by his rhetoric. As he states in the prologue--this book is for those who ask the greatest question: "Why am I here?" The reason why Alinsky must write this book is because the atheists have thrown out the purpose of life, which all end in Jesus Christ.

Christians don't need a mortal handbook to try to help ...more

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Feb 12, 2020 Zachary Brown rated it it was ok

Honestly, I wanted to like this. I just think Alinsky might come from a different time. All the truths he lays down seem self-evident, and he spams quotes from famous people as if they will somehow make him feel smarter. I think the onslaught of quotes really detracts from some things he might have had to say. I don't know what kind of hero to the working class this guy was, but he writes like he's jerking himself off. He has a chapter where he talks about how cool it is to have all the magic tr ...more

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May 19, 2020 Laszlo Szerdahelyi rated it liked it

Shelves: pol

I once had a debate with a fundamentalist Christian conservative, conspiracy theorist, well debate is a heavy word, I was enjoying myself mocking and undermining his tinfoil hat theories, oscillating between vaccines and flat earth, with humor and mockery. He accused me of being a slave of Alinsky's theories, a servant of this Luciferian Lord. So, here I am...fulfilling his prophecy...

Well, ''radical'' is a big word, Alinsky is by no means a radical, his tactics, approaches and refusal to see th I once had a debate with a fundamentalist Christian conservative, conspiracy theorist, well debate is a heavy word, I was enjoying myself mocking and undermining his tinfoil hat theories, oscillating between vaccines and flat earth, with humor and mockery. He accused me of being a slave of Alinsky's theories, a servant of this Luciferian Lord. So, here I am...fulfilling his prophecy...

Well, ''radical'' is a big word, Alinsky is by no means a radical, his tactics, approaches and refusal to see the connections outside of the communities he is organizing and the complexities of the world that need underrmining, make him at best a reformist. His advice and positionings vary from common-sense and practical to simplistic, to fantasy land i.e proxy tactics with corporations, yeah good luck doing that with today's Wall Street companies.

His style is reminiscent of some 40s journalist, chomping on cigars and spitting words at a fast pace on a typewriter while rapid firing a diatribe to his secretary, or at least that's how it sounded to me reading his words, which are actually really endearing; he's relaxed, colloquial and funny and makes for an easy and entertaining read. Plus, he has a mass of experience, I feel this book in its length does not do justice to his actual work on the ground, although it contains some germs of the knowledge and know-how he has acquired through his work.

That being said, Alinsky's advice, rules, indicators today are truly at best reformist, the world has changed, the middle class is a sea of, as he put it, ''corpses in clean shirts'' more so than ever, dying over and over again with each Amazon purchase and every plant or ''live, laugh, love'' sign they put up, the working-class, i.e the poor are shattered and ripped in the agony of a neoliberal world that has condemned them to damnation. There is value in Alinsky's words, but it has to be scrapped and glued together and put in a revolutionary and liberatory framework that recognizes the complexities of the world, its connections and the need to revolutionize it.

We need to be flexible and pragmatic and, the point i agreed with probably the most and which irked my tinfoiled interlocutor the most, we must have humor above all else, without drifting into irony and cynicism and face the enemy and his structure with the joy and creativity that only a free soul can muster. This we must remember to do, while acknowledging the horrors of injustice and oppression, a balancing act always to look out for. However, compromise, work within the system, use corporations against them? These are fantasies, class war has never been so intense as it is now, if as the quote from the book of Yob used in the book states ''All human life on earth is warfare'' it is trench warfare at Ypres, and we have everything at stake now.

The world is a mass of people in agony, pressured by the grinding wheel of neoliberal capitalism, distracted, stressed and burdened like never before in recent memory, we must bear this in mind and meet it with patience, love, compassion and understanding and always ready to sacrifice ourselves to achieve this, lest we all become entombed in the memory of the world as a failed experiment in consciousness. ...more

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Jun 18, 2017 Laura rated it liked it

Shelves: politics, government, being-human, civilization, history

Been hearing horrors about this book from the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy since at least last millennium. Since Hilary Clinton’s association with Saul Alinksy was raised by our Secretary of Housing and Urban Development at the Republican National Convention as one of the reasons we should Fear Her, I decided I should read it.

It’s a short little book recounting some of the things a particularly effective community organizer learned in his decades of trying to make America live up to the true mean ...more

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Oct 04, 2017 Alper Çuğun rated it liked it

At the same time quite dated and highly relevant. Some very interesting guidelines on community organizing (with a couple of digressions best skimmed).

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Somewhat dated but a must read for radicals	2	16	Nov 17, 2012 10:36AM
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About Saul D. Alinsky

Saul D. Alinsky

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Saul David Alinsky was an American community organizer and writer. He is generally considered to be the founder of modern community organizing. His organizing skills were focused on improving the living conditions of poor communities across North America.

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John L. Lewis: An Unauthorized Biography

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“Curiosity and irreverence go together. Curiosity cannot exist without the other. Curiosity asks, "Is this true?" "Just because this has always been the way, is the best or right way of life, the best or right religion, political or economic value, morality?" To the questioner, nothing is sacred. He detests dogma, defies any finite definition of morality, rebels against any repression of a free, open search of ideas no matter where they may lead. He is challenging, insulting, agitating, discrediting. He stirs unrest.” — 81 likes

“A word about my personal philosophy. It is anchored in optimism. It must be, for optimism brings with it hope, a future with a purpose, and therefore, a will to fight for a better world. Without this optimism, there is no reason to carry on. If we think of the struggle as aclimb up a mountain, then we must visualize a mountain with no top. We see a top, but when we finall yreach it, the overcast rises and we find ourselves merely on a bluff. The mountain continues on up. Now we see the "real" top ahead of us, and strive for it, only to find we've reached another bluff, the top still above us. And so it goes on, interminably.
Knowing that the mountain has no top, that it is a perpetual quest from plateau to plateau, the question arises, "Why the struggle, the conflict, the heartbreak, the danger, the sacrifice. Why the constant climb?" Our answer is the same as that which a real mountain climber gives when he is asked why he does what he does. "Because it's there." Because life is there ahead of you and either one tests oneself in its challenges or huddles in the valleys of a dreamless day-to-day existence whose only purpose is the preservation of a illusory security and safety. The latter is what the vast majority of people choose to do, fearing the adventure into the known. Paradocically, they give up the dream of what may lie ahead on the heighs of tomorrow for a perpetual nightmare - an endless succession of days fearing the loss of a tenuous security.” — 55 likes

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