''Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals'' is a 1971 book by community

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

and writer Saul D. Alinsky about how to successfully run a movement for change. It was the last book written by Alinsky, and it was published shortly before his death in 1972. His goal was to create a guide for future

community organizers Community organizing is a process where people who live in proximity to each other or share some common problem come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest. Unlike those who promote more-consensual community bui ...

, to use in uniting

low-income Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little

income

communities, or "Have-Nots", in order for them to gain by any effective, non-violent means

social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives from ...

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studi ...

legal Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. ...

, and

economic An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with th ...

power.
Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals
' (1971) Random House, ; Vintage books paperback: Inside of it, Alinsky compiled the lessons he had learned throughout his experiences of community organizing from 1939 to 1971. He targeted these lessons at the current, new generation of radicals. Divided into ten chapters, ''Rules for Radicals'' provides ten lessons on how a community organizer can accomplish the goal of successfully uniting people into an active

grassroots organization A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to effect change at t ...

with the power to effect change on a variety of issues. Though targeted at community organization, these chapters also touch on other issues that range from

ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concer ...

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

communication Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inqui ...

, and symbol construction and

political philosophy Political philosophy or political theory is the philosophical study of government, addressing questions about the nature, scope, and legitimacy of public agents and institutions and the relationships between them. Its topics include politics, ...

. Though published for the new generation of

counterculture A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. H ...

-era organizers in 1971, Alinsky's principles have been applied by numerous

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...

labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, t ...

, and congregation-based organizations, and the main themes of his organizational methods have been recurring elements in

political campaign A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, by which representatives are chosen or referen ...

s in recent years.

Inspiration

The inspiration for ''Rules for Radicals'' was drawn from Alinsky's personal experience as a community organizer. It was also taken from the lessons he learned from his

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

professor, Robert Park, who saw communities as "reflections of the larger processes of an urban society". The methods Alinsky developed and applied were described in his book as a guide on future community organizing for the new generation of radicals emerging from the 1960s."Playboy Interview: Saul Alinsky". Playboy Magazine. March 1972. Alinsky believed in

collective action Collective action refers to action taken together by a group of people whose goal is to enhance their condition and achieve a common objective. It is a term that has formulations and theories in many areas of the social sciences including psyc ...

as a result of the work he did with the C.I.O. and the Institute for Juvenile Research in Chicago where he first began to develop his own, distinct method of community organizing. Additionally, his late work with the Citizens Action Program (CAP) provided some of his most developed practices in organizing through the empowerment of the poor. Alinsky saw community structure and the impoverished, together with the importance of their empowerment, as elements of community activism, and used both as tools to create powerful, active organizations. Also he used shared social problems as external

antagonist An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the chief foe of the protagonist. Etymology The English word antagonist comes from the Greek ἀνταγωνιστής – ''antagonistēs'', "opponent, competitor, villain, enemy, ri ...

s to "heighten local awareness of similarities among residents and their shared differences with outsiders". This was one of Alinsky's most powerful tools in community organizing; to bring a collective together, he would bring to light an issue that would stir up conflict with some agency to unite the group. This provided an organization with a specific "villain" to confront and made direct action easier to implement. These tactics as a result of decades of organizing efforts, along with many other lessons, were poured into ''Rules for Radicals'' to create the guidebook for community organization. On the 4th fly-leaf page, after a dedication to Alinsky's wife Irene and quotes from Rabbi Hillel and

Thomas Paine Thomas Paine (born Thomas Pain; – In the contemporary record as noted by Conway, Paine's birth date is given as January 29, 1736–37. Common practice was to use a dash or a slash to separate the old-style year from the new-style year. In th ...

, is the following text:

Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins— or which is which), 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

On the academic side, Alinsky quotes

Tocqueville Alexis Charles Henri Clérel, comte de Tocqueville (; 29 July 180516 April 1859), colloquially known as Tocqueville (), was a French aristocrat, diplomat, political scientist, political philosopher and historian. He is best known for his work ...

more than any other writer in both '' Reveille for Radicals'' and ''Rules for Radicals''. He uses and descends from Tocqueville both in his conceptualization of freedom and in his focus on the importance of the middle class, quoting Tocqueville himself to define it: the "have a little, want some more class."

Themes

''Rules for Radicals'' has various themes. Among them is his use of symbol construction to strengthen the unity within an organization. He would draw on loyalty to a particular church or religious affiliation to create a structured organization with which to operate, the reason being that symbols by which communities could identify themselves created structured organizations that were easier to mobilize in implementing

direct action Direct action originated as a political activist term for economic and political acts in which the actors use their power (e.g. economic or physical) to directly reach certain goals of interest, in contrast to those actions that appeal to oth ...

. Once the community was united behind a common symbol, Alinsky would find a common enemy for the community to be united against. The use of common enemy against a community was another theme of ''Rules for Radicals'', as a uniting element in communities. Alinsky would find an external antagonist to turn into a "common enemy" for the community within which he was operating. Often, this would be a local politician or agency that had some involvement with activity concerning the community. Once the enemy was established, the community would come together in opposition of it. This management of conflict heightened awareness within the community as to the similarities its members shared as well as what differentiated them from those outside of their organization. The use of conflict also allowed for the goal of the group to be clearly defined. With an established external antagonist, the community's goal would be to defeat that enemy. Symbol construction helped to promote structured organization, which allowed for nonviolent conflict through another element in Alinsky's teaching,

. Direct action created conflict situations that further established the unity of the community and promoted the accomplishment of achieving the community's goal of defeating their common enemy. It also brought issues the community was battling to the public eye. Alinsky encouraged over-the-top public demonstrations throughout ''Rules for Radicals'' that could not be ignored, and these tactics enabled his organization to progress their goals faster than through normal bureaucratic processes. Lastly, the main theme throughout ''Rules for Radicals'' and Alinsky's work was empowerment of the poor. Alinsky used symbol construction and nonviolent conflict to create a structured organization with a clearly defined goal that could take direct action against a common enemy. At this point, Alinsky would withdraw from the organization to allow their progress to be powered by the community itself. This empowered the organizations to create change.

The Rules

# "Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have." # "Never go outside the expertise of your people." # "Whenever possible go outside the expertise of the enemy." # "Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules." # "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon. There is no defense. It is almost impossible to counterattack ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, who then react to your advantage." # "A good tactic is one your people enjoy." # "A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag." # "Keep the pressure on." # "The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself. " # "The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition." # "If you push a negative hard and deep enough it will break through into its counterside; this is based on the principle that every positive has its negative." # "The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative." # "Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. "

Criticisms

Alinsky received criticism for the methods and ideas he presented. Robert Pruger and Harry Specht noted that much of his instruction has only been effective in urban, low-income areas. The authors also criticized Alinsky's broad statement that ''Rules for Radicals'' is a tool for organizing all low-income people. Further, Alinsky's use of artificially stimulated conflict has been criticized for its ineffectiveness in areas that thrive on unity. According to Judith Ann Trolander, in several Chicago areas in which he worked, his use of conflict backfired and the community was unable to achieve the policy adjustments they were seeking. Pruger and Specht also questioned the philosophy of community organization found in ''Rules for Radicals'' as overly ideological. Alinsky believed in allowing the community to determine its exact goal. He would produce an enemy for them to conflict with, but the purpose of the conflict was ultimately left up to the community. Pruger and Specht criticized this idea due to the conflicting opinions that can often be present within a group. They viewed Alinsky's belief that an organization can create a goal to accomplish as highly optimistic and contradictory to his creation of an external antagonist. By producing a common enemy, Alinsky is creating a goal for the community, the defeat of that enemy. To say that the community will create their own goal seemed backwards to them considering Alinsky creates the goal of defeating the enemy. Thus, his belief can be seen as too ideological and contradictory because the organization may turn the goal of defeating the common enemy he produced into their main purpose. Alinsky-style organizing has also been criticized by Susan Stall and Randy Stoecker as ineffective, and even destructive, to communities and public perceptions of community organizing for its: # Hardened focus upon the expertise of an outsider who views communities as muddled sheep waiting to be organized (and not capable groups with existing social-psychological networks and ties), # Gendered authoritarianism that fetishizes conflict as panacea, which evaluates feminist perspectives as irrelevant, and # An overly simplistic focus on perceptions of power. Stall and Stoecker describe these issues between the public and private split in community organizing, and gendered organizing tactics as the difference between ''community organizing'' (Alinsky/masculinist) and ''organizing community'' (feminist).

Legacy

The scope of influence for ''Rules for Radicals'' is a far-reaching one as it is a compilation of the tactics of Alinsky. It has been influential for policymaking and organization for various communities and agency groups, and has influenced politicians and activists educated by Alinsky and the IAF, and other

grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to effect change at t ...

movements.

Direct impact

After Alinsky died in California in 1972, his influence helped spawn other organizations and policy changes. ''Rules for Radicals'' was a direct influence that helped to form the

United Neighborhood Organization The United Neighborhood Organization (UNO) is a non-profit organization in Chicago, Illinois. UNO's mission is to lead the transformation of the Hispanic community toward an educated, powerful and prosperous citizenry by engaging and challenging i ...

in the early 1980s. Its founders Greg Galluzzo, Mary Gonzales, and Pater Martinez were all students of Alinsky. The work of UNO helped to improve the hygiene, sanitation, and education in southeastern Chicago. Additionally, the founders of Organization of the North East in Chicago during the 1970s applied Alinsky's principles to organize multiethnic neighborhoods in order to gain greater political representation. ''Rules for Radicals'' have been dispersed by Alinsky's students who undertook their own community organizing endeavors. Students of Alinsky's such as

Edward T. Chambers Edward Thomas Chambers (April 2, 1930 – April 26, 2015) was the executive director of the Industrial Areas Foundation from 1972 to 2009, a community organizing group founded by Saul Alinsky. Chambers was born in Clarion, Iowa Clarion is a city in ...

used ''Rules for Radicals'' to help form the

Industrial Areas Foundation The Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) is a national community organizing network established in 1940 by Saul Alinsky, Roman Catholic Bishop Bernard James Sheil and businessman and founder of the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' Marshall Field III. The IAF p ...

, the Queens Citizen
Organization
and the Communities Organized for Public Service. Another student of Alinsky's, Ernesto Cortes, rose to prominence in the late 1970s in San Antonio while organizing

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...

neighborhoods. His use of congregation-based organizing received much acclaim as a popular method of Alinsky's by utilizing "preexisting solidary neighborhood elements, especially church groups, so that the constituent units are organizations, not individuals." This congregation-based organizing and symbol construction was taught to him by Edward Chambers and the IAF during his time studying under both. The methods and teachings of ''Rules for Radicals'' have also been linked to the Mid-America Institute, the

National People's Action People's Action is a national progressive advocacy and political organization in the United States made up of 40 organizations in 30 states. The group's stated goal is to "build the power of poor and working people, in rural, suburban, and urban ...

, the

National Training and Information Center People's Action is a national progressive advocacy and political organization in the United States made up of 40 organizations in 30 states. The group's stated goal is to "build the power of poor and working people, in rural, suburban, and urban ...

, the Pacific Institute for Community Organizations, and the

Community Service Organization The Community Service Organization (founded 1947) was an important California Latino civil rights organization, most famous for training Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta. It was founded in 1947 by Fred Ross, Antonio Rios and Edward Roybal and was ...

Later influence

The methods from ''Rules for Radicals'' have been seen in modern American politics. The use of congregation-based organizing has been linked to

Jesse Jackson Jesse Louis Jackson (né Burns; born October 8, 1941) is an American political activist, Baptist minister, and politician. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as a shadow U.S. senato ...

when he was organizing his own political campaign. The book was disseminated by the Tea Party conservative group

FreedomWorks FreedomWorks is a conservative and libertarian advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. FreedomWorks trains volunteers, assists in campaigns, and encourages them to mobilize, interacting with both fellow citizens and their political representat ...

during

Dick Armey Richard Keith Armey (; born July 7, 1940) is an American economist and politician. He was a U.S. Representative from Texas's (1985–2003) and House Majority Leader (1995–2003). He was one of the engineers of the "Republican Revolution" of t ...

's tenure as chairman.

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

wrote her college thesis regarding Alinsky's mobilizing model, but found the strategies of only limited use to the conflicts of the time. When confronted with the post-college choice of either further education, a

Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

in India, or joining Alinsky's new training institute, Clinton chose

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by '' U.S. News & World ...

. The book also informed the rhetorical strategy of the white supremacist

Andrew Anglin Andrew Barret Anglin (born July 27, 1984) is an American neo-Nazi and conspiracy theorist, and editor of the website ''The Daily Stormer''. Through this website, Anglin uses elements of Nazism combined with Internet memes originating from 4cha ...

Publication data

*
Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals
' (1971) Random House, ; Vintage books paperback:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rules For Radicals 1971 non-fiction books American political books Books in political philosophy Random House books Works about community organizing