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person1940–1972

Saul Alinsky

Disciplines:
usa
chicago
sociology/community organizing
politics/rules for radicals

Summary

American community organizer from Chicago who wrote Rules for Radicals and Reveille for Radicals — the foundational texts of American left community organizing — whose tactical manual for power-building through local community organizations influenced generations of activists.

Core Contribution

Created the tactical manual for left community organizing — Rules for Radicals' argument that power concedes nothing without a demand and that organizers must use the tactics available to them (ridicule, moral jiu-jitsu, using the enemy's rules against them) provided the playbook for American left activism from the Great Society through Barack Obama.

Key Spikes & Highlights

  • Power Over Morality (Alinsky's organizing doctrine: the Have-Nots' first obligation is not to be moral but to be effective — 'The Prince was written by Machiavelli for the Haves; this is written for the Have-Nots' — and the means are validated by the ends; the thirteen tactics (ridicule is man's most potent weapon; never go outside the experience of your people; keep the pressure on) are amoral power tools)

Notable Works & Achievements

Reveille for Radicals

Rules for Radicals

Historical Influences

Catholic labor tradition Machiavelli

Intellectual Lineage

Chicago University of Chicago Back of the YardsIndustrial Areas Foundation

Contemporaries & Peers

Chicago political machineLabor movement

Minds Influenced

American left organizingBarack Obama Hillary Clinton History 102

Intellectual Posterity

Rules for Radicals Industrial Areas Foundation Community organizing Alinsky tactics

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