Blueprint for Revolution: How to Use Rice Pudding, Lego Men, and Other Nonviolent Techniques to Galvanize Communities, Overthrow Dictators, or Simply Change the World

by Srdja Popovic

The successful salt march, of course, didn’t bring Gandhi’s quest for Indian independence to fruition, and seventeen more years of civil disobedience would be necessary before His Majesty’s servants handed over control of their most lucrative colony to its inhabitants. But those years were progressively easier for Gandhi. That’s because he’d already been marked by the salt march as a leader who could finish what he started and who delivered results. For those reasons, he enjoyed unprecedented prestige among Indians. He wasn’t just a moral authority. He wasn’t just an advocate of good ideas and a giver of great speeches. He was—and you will pardon the highly technical terms here—a dude who knew how to get shit done. And once you’ve gotten down all the basics, like defining your cause, coming up with your symbols, identifying the pillars of power, and making oppression backfire, knowing how to get shit done at the higher levels of nonviolent action means knowing when to declare victory and move on.