Saul Alinsky is the father of community organizing, His writings and tactics influenced community organizing, political parties, and even some social justice programs of the Catholic Church (such as Call to Action). Among the tactics he taught: demonizing foes, destroying them on a personal level, and taking adversarial approaches to issues and problems.
In an interview with Playboy shortly before he died he said:
ALINSKY: ... if there is an afterlife, and I have anything to say about it, I will unreservedly choose to go to hell.
PLAYBOY: Why?
ALINSKY: Hell would be heaven for me. All my life I've been with the have-nots. Over here, if you're a have-not, you're short of dough. If you're a have-not in hell, you're short of virtue. Once I get into hell, I'll start organizing the have-nots over there.
PLAYBOY: Why them?
ALINSKY: They're my kind of people.
His last book Rules for Radicals, contains the following epigram:
Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins — or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom — Lucifer.
— SAUL ALINSKY
— SAUL ALINSKY
The rules:
1. "Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have." Power is derived from main sources – money and people. "Have-Nots" must build power from flesh and blood.
2. "Never go outside the expertise of your people." It results in confusion, fear and retreat. Feeling secure adds to the backbone of anyone.
3. "Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy." Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty.
4. "Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules." If the rule is that every letter gets a reply, send 30,000 letters. You can kill them with this because no one can possibly obey all of their own rules.
5."Ridicule is man's most potent weapon." There is no defense. It's irrational. It's infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions.
6."A good tactic is one your people enjoy." They'll keep doing it without urging and come back to do more. They're doing their thing, and will even suggest better ones.
7."A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag." Don't become old news.
8."Keep the pressure on. Never let up." Keep trying new things to keep the opposition off balance. As the opposition masters one approach, hit them from the flank with something new.
9."The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself." Imagination and ego can dream up many more consequences than any activist.
10."The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition." It is this unceasing pressure that results in the reactions from the opposition that are essential for the success of the campaign.
11."If you push a negative hard enough, it will push through and become a positive." Violence from the other side can win the public to your side because the public sympathizes with the underdog.
12."The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative." Never let the enemy score points because you're caught without a solution to the problem.
13."Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it." Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions.
You see in these rules the roots of many of the tactics used in everything from community organizing to political campaigns - just think of how Rules 5 and 13 applied to the some recent Presidential elections.
In the book he also says "The third rule of ethics of means and ends is that in war the end justifies almost any means...." - clearly out of synch with Catholic teachings. Yet so many in the Church embraced his tactics. Sad.
Pax et bonum
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