Saul Alinsky
Saul Alinsky
Saul David Alinskywas an American community organizer and writer. He is generally considered to be the founder of modern community organizing. He is often noted for his 1971 book Rules for Radicals...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionActivist
Date of Birth30 January 1909
CountryUnited States of America
facts fountainhead rules-for-radicals
It is a sad fact of life that power and fear are the fountainheads of faith.
radical rules-for-radicals written
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.
people tactics enjoy
A good tactic is one that your people enjoy.
people healthcare rules-for-radicals
Control healthcare and you control the people
organization humanist rules-for-radicals
Change comes from power, and power comes from organization.
ideas economic-value political
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.
target tactics radical
The thirteenth rule of radical tactics: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.
issues firsts negotiation
No issue can be negotiated unless you first have the clout to compel negotiation.
luxury decision doe
The practical revolutionary will understand Goethe's 'conscience is the virtue of observers and not of agents of action'; in action, one does not always enjoy the luxury of a decision that is consistent both with one's individual conscience and the good of mankind.
laughter adventure passion
Life is an adventure of passion, risk, danger, laughter, beauty, love; a burning curiosity to go with the action to see what it is all about, to go search for a pattern of meaning, to burn one's bridges because you're never going to go back anyway, and to live to the end.
change mean movement
Change means movement. Movement means friction.
enemy reactions rules-for-radicals
The enemy properly goaded and guided in his reaction will be your major strength.
can-do
Never do for someone what they can do for themselves.
airports mao runway
Quotes from Mao, Castro, and Che Guevara... are as germane to our highly technological, computerized society as a stagecoach on a jet runway at Kennedy airport.