Saul Alinsky. Rules for Radicals. New York, Random House, 1971. ©Marcus Ranum, all rights reserved
Our book today comes from Marcus and I love the bright, quirky colours and design so typical of the 70’s.
Despite its age, this book is still relevant and contains Alinsky’s 13 Rules for Radicals which all political activists should be familiar with. Alinsky believed in working within the system and his philosophy was essentially one of non-violence. This book contains one of my favourite quotes:
“People cannot be free unless they are willing to sacrifice some of their interests to guarantee the freedom of others. The price of democracy is the ongoing pursuit of the common good by all of the people.” Saul Alinsky, via: Open Culture
Anyone who wants to organize the weak against the aggression of the strong is an Alinskyite!
I’ve always wondered why anyone would want to be anything other, but apparently “Alinskyite” is a swear word in some circles.
Going to have to read this. Sounds like something I could get behind.
Marcus
These days it feels like the strong are using the rules to wear down the weak. Or maybe it’s all just Machiavellian
Voyager@#3:
These days it feels like the strong are using the rules to wear down the weak. Or maybe it’s all just Machiavellian
They have arranged the rules to their advantage. Alinsky does not argue for playing by the rules; his view is that numbers matter and that consumers and workers -- between the two of them -- control the economy. That control is wrested from them by “the rules” and the corporations that control the means of production. He doesn’t use Marxist analysis but it’s very clear that he uses a strategic form of weaponized Marxism. That’s probably why the establishment hated him so much: the idea of the workers and consumers recognizing eachother as natural allies and acting in common interest is their worst nightmare. He was very good at explaining tactics to neighborhoods and unions but he was too old and cynical to imagine his neighborhood tactics would translate to a national stage.