Rules for Radicals book review

In the prologue itself I have just about the whole thing highlighted. He talks about revolution and how "there are no rules for revolution but there rules for radicals who want to change their world."

He states "As an organizer I start from where the world is,as it is, not as I would like it to be. That we accept the world as it is does not in any sense weaken our desire to change it into what we believe it should be-". "Any revolutionary change must be preceded by a passive, affirmative, non-challenging attitude toward change among the mass of our people"

He is all about organizing by a revolution. To agitate, create disenchantment and discontent with the current values, to produce, if not a passion for change, at least a passive, affirmative, non-challenging climate,

One interesting quote: "Remember: once you organize people around something as commonly agreed upon as pollution, then an organized people is on the move. From there it's a short and natural step to political pollution, to Pentagon pollution." When I read this I automatically thought of Global Warming.

A few more quotes:

"Great dangers always accompany great opportunities."

"We are not here concerned with people who profess the democratic faith but yearn for the dark security of dependency where they can be spared the burden of decisions. Reluctant to grow up, or incapable of doing so, they want to remain children and be cared for by others."

In the first chapter he details the purpose of this book to "create mass organizations to seize power and give it to the people..."
This all sounds good at first but let's keep going. He wants to give power to what he calls the "Have-Nots", low income people. He says they seek revolutionary writing from the communists, both red and yellow (pg.8).

Now I am all for people of any class to have what they need and a little more but not to the extremes he advocates in this book.

This is all in the realm of politics. An organizer does not have a fixed truth (pg.10,11). He is a political relativist (pg.11). Is a politician without a "fixed truth" a good thing? A credo for which he would live and, if need be, die (pg.12) for is democracy. I challenge anybody to find the word democracy in the Constitution or any founding document of the United States.

Man-kind has been and is divided into three parts: the Haves, the Have-Nots, and the Have-a-Little, Want Mores. (pg.18)

A major revolution to be won in the immediate future is the dissipation of man's illusion that his own welfare can be separate from that of all others. (pg.23) Here we can see the communism in his writing. Communism is all for the redistribution of wealth and for the abolition of private property. He is beginning to learn that he will either share part of his material wealth or lose all of it.. (pg.23)

For this chp. I will post Alinsky's rules of the ethics of means and ends and various quotes.

Rules 1-11
-One's concern with the ethics of means and ends varies inversely with one's personal interest in the issue.
-That the judgment of the ethics of means is dependent upon the poitical position of those sitting in judgment.
-In war the end justifies almost any means.
-Judgment must be made in the context of the times in which the action occurred and not from any other chronological vantage point.
-Concern with ethics increases with the number of means available and vice versa.
-The less important the end to be desired, the more one can afford to engage in ethical evaluations of means.
-Generally succes or failure is a mighty determinant of ethics.
-The morality of a means depends upon whether the means is being employed at a time of imminent defeat or imminent victory.
-Any effective means is automatically judged by the opposition as being unethical.
-You do what you can with what you have and clothe it with moral garments.
-Goals must be phrased on general terms like "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity," "Of the Common Welfare," "Pursuit of Happiness," or "Bread and Peace."

Quotes;

"Ethics are determined by whether one is losing or winning." (pg.34)

"In organizing, the major negative in the situation has to be converted into the leading positive." (pg.42)

"Moral rationalization is indispensable at all times of action whether to justify the selection or the use of ends or means." (pg.43)

"All effective actions require the passport of morality." (pg.44)

In this chp. Alinsky comments on words and there meanings and how to twist the definitions.

"We repeatedly get caught in this conflict between our professed moral principles and the real reasons why we do things-to wit, our self-interest. We are always able to mask those real reasonsin words of beneficent goodness-freedon, justice, and so on."(pg.58)

You can see by this quote that dishonesty is a way of achieving ones goal as a community organizer. Another example is on pg.60 where he writes, "All definitions of words, like everything else, are relative. Definition is to a major degree dependent upon your partisan position."

"The organizer is in a true sense reaching for the highest level for which man can reach-to create, to be a "great creator," to play God."(pg.61) This shouldn't surprise anybody considering Alinsky holds Lucifer(satan) in such high regard.

"Conflict is the essential core of a free and open society."(pg.62)

Instead of going chapter by chapter I will give quotes and brief comments on items worthy of thought.

"The function of an organizer is to raise questions that agitate, that break through the accepted pattern." pg.72

"He (the organizer) detests dogma, defies any finite definition of morality, rebels against any repression of a free, open search for ideas no matter where they may lead. He is challenging, insulting, agitating, descrediting. He stirs unrest." pg.73

"Humor is essential to a successful tactician, for the most potent weapons known to mankind are satire and ridicule." pg.75

"The organizer must become schizoid, politically, in order not to slip into becoming a true believer." pg.78

"Moses did not try to communicate with God in terms of mercy or justice when God was angry and wanted to destroy the Jews: he moved in on a top value and outmaneuvered God." pg.89 This warrants a response. This shows the thinking of Alinsky. No respect for authority, in this case the ultimate Authority. No one can outmaneuver God. On pg.90 Alinsky says that Moses told God "...to cool it" and that Moses "...began to negotiate." Even if you don't believe in God you can read what the bible says and see that this is not what is happening.

"The job of the organizer is to maneuver and bait the establishment so that it will publicly attack him as a "dangerous enemy." pg.100

"The first step in community organization is community disorganization." pg.116

"When those prominent in the status quo turn and label you an "agitator" they are completely correct, for that is, in one word, your function-to agitate to the point of conflict." pg.117

"In the beginning the organizer's first job is to create the issues or problems." pg.119 This tactic is the same tactic from pg.116 (see above).

"..."community" means community of interest, not physical community." pg.120

These are Alinsky's rules for tactics:
-Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.
-Never go outside of the experience of your people..
-Wherever possible go outside of the experience of the enemy.
-Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules.
-Ridicule is man's most potent weapon.
-A good tactic is one that your people enjoy.
-A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.
-Keep the pressure on, with different tactics and actions. and utilize all events of the period for your purpose.
-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;...
-The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.
-Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.

This was an interesting book considering I have never read any socialist material before. Alinsky definitely has his agenda. The stories in the book that show his tactics in action are almost childlike and immature but they get the job done. You may be wondering, maybe not, why I would read a socialist book? It has been brought out into the public ear that President Obama taught these rules in Chicago as a community organizer. So I thought it would be wise to read the book myself and see if I can recognize any tactics and also to combat anybody that might try these tactics in or around my community. If this has caused interest in your mind I would recommend getting a copy for yourself.