SAUL ALINSKY

01 RULES FOR
RADICALS

A REPORT BY RAFFY FLANDES FOR SW 143

 AGENDA

11:00 AM Plans and Goals

02 12:45 PM Break
1:30 PM Chat with Investors and Partners
2:00 PM Community Stories
2:30 PM Fun Activities

Mintmade Designs | Opening Ceremonies

 SAUL ALINSKY
1909-1972

Father of Modern Community

WHO Organizing

WAS
Born and studied in
03 SAUL Chicago

ALIN
Did graduate work at
SKY? University of Chicago and
Joliet State Prison

Work is internationally
recognized
 Dedicated his life to
fight for people's rights

Was jailed from time to

time
WHAT
DID Had a Training Institute
03 for organizers
ALINS
KY DO Organized the:
Back of the Yards area
in Chicago
Black ghetto of
Rochester, New York
Mexican American
barrios of California
 HAVES HAVE-NOTS
THE RICH THE POOR
Live in luxury Live in suffering
Fewest in number Most in number/masses
Secure in food and money Low-paying jobs
Powerful Change status quo
Maintain status quo THE
04
TRINITY
 HAVE-A-LITTLE,
WANT-MORES
THE MIDDLE CLASS
Caught in the middle
Great world leaders
Do-Nothings
THE
04
TRINITY
 ALINSKY'S
PHILOSOPHY

05

KEY OF CONVERSES ANCHORED IN OF MEANS AND ENDS

OPTIMISM
Everything has a There are 11 rules
counterpart to itself Optimism brings hope. to means and ends,
according to
Alinsky.
 ONE'S CONCERN WITH MEANS AND ENDS VARIES
INVERSELY WITH ONE'S PERSONAL INTEREST
IN THE ISSUE

THE JUDGEMENT OF THE ETHICS OF MEANS

IS DEPENDENT UPON THE POLITICAL
POSITION OF THOSE SITTING IN JUDGEMENT

OF MEANS IN WAR, THE END JUSTIFIES ALMOST

06
ANY MEANS
AND ENDS
JUDGEMENT 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, SUCCESS OR FAILURE IS A MIGHTY

DETERMINANT OF ETHICS

THE MORALITY OF A MEANS DEPENDS ON WHETHER THE

MEANS IS BEING EMPLOYED AT A TIME OF IMMINENT
DEFEAT OR IMMINENT VICTORY
OF MEANS
06
ANY EFFECTIVE MEANS IS AUTOMATICALLY JUDGED BY AND ENDS
THE OPPOSITION AS BEING UNETHICAL

YOU DO WHAT YOU CAN WITH WHAT YOU HAVE AND

CLOTHE IT WITH MORAL GARMENTS

GOALS MUST BE PHRASED IN GENERAL TERMS LIKE

"LIBERTY, EQUALITY, FRATERNITY, "OF THE COMMON
WELFARE,""PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS," OR "BREAD AND
PEACE."
 OF MEANS
AND ENDS
06
 VOCABULARY OF AN
ORGANIZER

POWER
Words that are soft do not
work.
07
SELF INTEREST
"The myth of altruism as a
motivating factor in our
behavior could arrive and
survive only in a society
bundled in the sterile gauze
of New England puritanism and
Protestant morality"
COMPROMISE
"If you start with nothing,
demand 100 percent, then
compromise for 30 percent, you're
30 percent ahead."
EGO
Not to be confused with egotism
CONFLICT
Is core to a free and open society
 EDUCATION OF AN
ORGANIZER

02
CURIOSITY IRREVERENCE IMAGINATION

ORGANIZED
HUMOR PERSONALITY EGO
 PRINCIPLES OF CO

IDEOLOGICAL DILEMMA
You begin with an ideological
dilemma
RESILIENT
07 DYNAMIC Must be able to adapt to the
In the early phase, everything situation
is relative and dynamic
MEANS AND ENDS
Must be practical and strategic

NON-USE OF MEANS
Downright unethical
 PRINCIPLES OF CO

TACTICS
Plot to take away power from the
Haves
BUILD POWER
Change comes from power and
AGITATE
07 power comes from organizing. Bring about conflict

POWER TACTICS
Without power, you cannot have
power tactics

PURPOSE AND PROCESS

Purpose is not completely different
from process, they are on the same
line
 STRATEGIES OF AN
ORGANIZER

STIR UP THE OPPOSITION

IDENTIFY ISSUES
02 DISSATISFACTION IS EVIL

CREATE A PARTICIPATE TRAIN COMMUNITY

MECHANISM MEMBERS
10
TACTICS FOR
COMMUNITY
ORGANIZATION
 RULE # 1

power is not only what

you have but what the
08

enemy thinks you have

 RULE # 2

never go outside the

experience of your
08

people
 RULE # 3

wherever possible, go
outside of the
08

experience of the enemy

 RULE # 4

make the enemy live up

to their own book of
08

rules
 RULE # 5

ridicule is mans most

potent weapon
08
 RULE # 6

a good tactic is one

that your people enjoy
08
 RULE # 7

a tactic that drags on

too long becomes a drag
08
 RULE # 8

keep the pressure on

08
 RULE # 9

the threat is usually

more terrifying than the
08

thing itself
 RULE # 10

the major premise for tactics

08
is the development of
operations that will maintain
a constant pressure upon the
opposition
 RULE # 11

if you push a negative

hard and deep enough, it
08

will break through into

its counterside
 RULE # 12

the price of a
successful attack is a
08

constructive alternative
 RULE # 13

pick the target, freeze

it, personalize it, and
08

polarize it
 THE MIDDLE CLASS
A CALL TO ACTION

09
we must
organize
 08
/
07

REFERENCES
REFERENCES

https://randomthots.org/2012/05/29/rules-for-radicals-by-saul-
alinsky-the-way-ahead/
11
https://randomthots.org/2012/04/16/rules-for-radicals-by-saul-
alinsky-a-word-about-words/

http://epgp.inflibnet.ac.in/epgpdata/uploads/epgp_content/S0005
73AE/P001814/M028420/ET/1522042781Content_SaulAlinskeysmodelofc
ommunityorganizationpractice.pdf