Saul Alinsky

Poster for The LoveSong of Saul Alinsky

Saul David Alinsky (January 30, 1909 – June 12, 1972) was an author, activist, and left-wing community organizer and rabble-rouser in Chicago who developed a method of local organizing that was widely copied by Democrats, and influenced Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. He is credited with coining the term "community organizer." His most well-known accomplishment was the book Rules for Radicals. He wanted reform inside the system by pressuring government officials to take into account the needs and wants of neighborhood residents, and he believed that the end justified any means.

He was opposed by far-left radicals who wanted to destroy capitalism and who feared that Alinsky was strengthening it by resolving the issues most important to the poor, and was nicknamed "The Red" for his radicalism—his book was dedicated tongue-in-cheek to Lucifer, the first radical.[1]

## Contents

* 1 Early life
* 1.1 Family
* 1.2 Influence of University of Chicago
* 1.2.1 Illinois Institute of Juvenile Research
* 2 Community Organizer
* 2.1 Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council
* 2.1.1 Catholic Campaign for Human Development
* 2.2 Industrial Areas Foundation
* 2.2.1 Woodlawn Organization
* 2.2.2 Fred Ross
* 2.3 Later Organizing
* 3 Association with subversive organizations
* 4 Rules for Radicals
* 4.1 The Rules
* 5 Death and Legacy
* 6 Quotes
* 7 See also
* 8 Works
* 8.1 Books
* 8.2 Articles
* 8.3 Posthumous collections
* 9 Further reading
* 10 Documentaries about Saul Alinsky
* 11 References
* 12 External links

## Early life[edit]

Alinsky was born on January 30, 1909 in Chicago, Illinois, to Russian-Jewish[2] parents Benjamin and Sarah Tannenbaum Alinsky.[3] While living in Chicago, he attended Marshall High School.[4] His parents divorced when he was thirteen.[5] Early on, Alinsky was educated in an Orthodox Yeshiva,[6] where he learned the teachings of Rabbi Hillel.[7]

After moving to California with his Father and graduating from Hollywood High School,[8] he attended the University of Chicago, where he received a doctorate in archaeology. In addition, he was awarded a fellowship in sociology which he never completed.

When he finally graduated college it was in the midst of the Great Depression, and found it hard to find work in his field of study. He said: "Archaeologists were in about as much demand as horses and buggies. All the guys who funded the field trips were being scraped off Wall Street sidewalks."

### Family[edit]

While he was attending the University of Chicago, he met Helene Simon, his first wife.[9] They married in 1932, and remained married until her death in an accidental drowning in 1947.[10][11][12] They had two children, Kathryn and David.[13] In 1952, he married Jean Graham. After his divorce from Graham in 1969,[13] he married Irene McInnis in 1971.

### Influence of University of Chicago[edit]

Alinsky attended the University of Chicago from 1926 to 1932.[14] In his junior year he enrolled in a course on social pathology.[9]

During that time, he was heavily influenced by sociologists from the Chicago School of Sociology.[15] As a student, the two professors who had a most profound impact on him were Ernest Watson Burgess and Robert Ezra Park. Park in particular would become Alinsky's favorite professor.[16] Later as a graduate student, he would be influenced by the work of another University of Chicago sociologist, Clifford Shaw.[17]

Edward Chambers, a director for the Industrial Areas Foundation noted that Alinsky's principles for organizing are contained in his autobiography of John Lewis. By the time Alinsky reached the streets and started working with union activists like Lewis and Samuel Gompers, he had already developed his principles based on the teaching he received from his professors.[15]

#### Illinois Institute of Juvenile Research[edit]

In 1931, he went to work as a sociologist for the Institute of Juvenile Research (IJR), which was run by Shaw.[18] It was through this work that he attributed much of America's criminal activity to poverty.[19]

Clifford Shaw was a protege of Burgess, and the IJR is where Alinsky and Shaw would work to implement[18] the Chicago Area Project, a major effort by Burgess.[15][20][21]

## Community Organizer[edit]

The late Andrew Breitbart, in his book, Righteous Indignation, identifies Alinsky as the “first modern community organizer,” and a Communist, too, but a pragmatic one, and a realist who knew from experience what would work and what wouldn’t work in Western democracies. Alinsky took the pretentious ideas of the Frankfurt School and turned them into clear and actionable rules for war, a war with Judeo-Christian civilization, informed above all else by the maxim that the ends justify the means. Breitbart suggests that “if Marcuse was the Jesus of the New Left, then Alinsky was his Saint Paul, proselytizing and dumbing down Herbert Marcuse’s message, making it practical, and convincing leaders to make it the official religion of the United States, even if that meant discarding the old secular religion of the United States, the Constitution."[22]

Alinsky's approach to community organizing stressed "self interest as the generating reality of life." This view was solidified by his experiences in the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) as an organizer in the style of labor union leaders Samuel Gompers and John L. Lewis. Many of the CIO organizers that he worked with were card-carrying communists.[23]

Alinsky produced notable results like the Back of the Yard and the Woodlawn organizations in Chicago, which led him to spend the next decade spreading his methods across the entire nation, "from Kansas City and Detroit to the barrios of Southern California." The panic-stricken city council of Oakland, California, introduced a resolution banning him from the city.[24][25]

Using the funding from Marshall Field III, Alinsky and his Industrial Areas Foundation utilized confrontational tactics and dramatic protests to help members gain bargaining status and a larger share of the local pie. He disavowed with increasing vigor any national issue strategy or ideological outlook. The weakness of his emphasis on the organizer as a tactician only and the granting of control to those organized was that racist goals could be chosen by the membership as a whole.[26]

Alinsky's efforts were noticed by then governor Adlai Stevenson, who said his goals: "most faithfully reflect our ideals of brotherhood, tolerance, charity and dignity of the individual."[27]

### Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council[edit]

After parting ways with the Institute of Juvenile Research in 1939(some sources say that he was fired by Shaw[28]), he teamed up with Joseph Meegan[29] where they formed the Back-Of-The-Yards Neighborhood Council (BYNC), named after the Union Stockyards,[30] the meatpacking district of Chicago which was made infamous by Upton Sinclair's book The Jungle.[4] This was his first act of "community organizer," and cemented his position as a radical reformer. John Lewis' main organizer in the Back of the Yards was Herb March, who became good friends with Alinsky.[31]

In reviewing the BYN, Alinsky made the following observation:[32]

> A survey of the possibilities for community organization of the residents of the Back of the Yards neighborhood reveals two basic social forces which might serve as the cornerstone of any effective community organization which would, first, be representative of the people of the community and, second, by the very virtue of such representation, posesses the necessary strength to effect constructive changes in the life of the Back of the Yards neighborhood. These two elemental social institutions are, first, the Catholic church and second, organized labor.[33]

Alinsky's work in BYNC could not have been possible without his contacts among churches favorable to Christian socialism, the Social Gospel, and Social Justice. For his effective use of faith-based organizations, Alinsky's method has sometimes been referred to as Congregation-based Community Organizing.[34]

#### Catholic Campaign for Human Development[edit]

For a more detailed treatment, see Catholic Campaign for Human Development.

Several decades later, many of the early organizers who participated in the BYNC would go on to help establish the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. On August 25, 1995, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin gave a speech which began:

> It is fitting that we are gathered here because since the beginning, Chicago has been important to the Campaign and the Campaign has been important to Chicago. As you may know, Msgr. George Higgins of this Archdiocese wrote a Labor Day message that pointed the way to the Campaign; Auxiliary Bishop Michael Dempsey of Chicago was the CHD’s first spokesperson; Msgr. Jack Egan organised the 'Friends of CHD' in the mid-1970s, and for decades has been an inspiration to the Campaign's work; the great work of community-organising began in Chicago, and Chicago has many important networks and training centres; CHD enjoys a rich tradition of support here, both in the form of active and enthusiastic participation by people in organisations and projects funded by CHD, and in the generous donations to the annual CHD Collection.[35]

In these remarks, Bernardin highlights four points directly linked with Alinsky. George Higgins' Labor Day message was authored by a protege of Alinsky, P. David Finks. Alinsky's first priest intern was Jack Egan, and the "Friends of CHD" was modeled on an Alinsky strategy designed ten years earlier known as "Friends of FIGHT". Bernardin stated that the great work of community organizing began in Chicago, which is a reference to the BYNC, as is the reference to the "important networks" in the area - all of these organizations based their methodologies on the Alinsky model. Lastly, the "organizations and projects" funded by CHD are all of the left wing Alinsky-style organizations in the Chicago area that the Catholic Campaign had worked so hard to deliver funds to.[35]

Bernard J. Sheil, the auxiliary bishop of Chicago was made an honorary chairman of the BYNC, which "gave Alinsky and Meegan's campaign added visibility and luster".[36] Bishop Sheil made national headlines in 1954 for his public denunciations of Senator Joseph McCarthy.[37]

### Industrial Areas Foundation[edit]

Having demonstrated his proven abilities in organizing through his activities at BYNC, Alinsky was awarded funding from the Marshall Field Foundation.[38] Using this funding, the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) was born in 1940,[39] which was largely responsible for most of the liberal community groups throughout the country.

#### Woodlawn Organization[edit]

In the 1960s, the Temporary Woodlawn Organization (TWO) was formed on behalf of local churches to confront a plan by the University of Chicago to expand in the area, as well as work toward better neighborhood schools.[40][41] They consulted with Alinsky's Industrial Areas Foundation to help confront Mayor Richard J. Daley's secretary of education, Benjamin Willis.[42]

Woodlawn organized a series of protests, using negative publicity to its advantage. In once instance, residents brought their cameras into the schools and took pictures of unoccupied desks. during protests in front of the homes of white slumlords, black residents were bussed in where they held signs all the way up and down the streets distributing pamphlets and protesting to gather attention to the situation.[43]

#### Fred Ross[edit]

During the 1940s, Alinsky learned of the community organizing activities of Fred Ross. Ross and Alinsky met, and in 1947, Alinsky hired Ross to work at the Industrial Areas Foundation.[44]

With the aid of Alinsky and the IAF, Ross would go on to found the Community Service Organization (CSO) in Los Angeles, California, with his friend Edward R. Roybal.[45][46] CSO is well known for teaching others the Alinsky ways, such as Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta.[47]

### Later Organizing[edit]

Alinsky had a tendency to rub the sores of a community raw.[48] During the Great Society campaigns of Lyndon Johnson, he organized groups like FIGHT (Freedom, Integration, God, Honor, Today) in order to push the Eastman Kodak Company to hire more black workers.[49] Headed by the radical pastor Franklin Florence,[50][51] FIGHT chose to remain an exclusively black organization. In response, Friends of FIGHT was formed, in order to bring in the involvement of white progressives.[50]

One of the most well known strategies was the use of the "fart in", or "flatulent blitzkrieg".[52] Activists were to eat a large baked bean dinner, then attend the quiet Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra where the operation could be better heard.[53] Later, Alinsky threatened a "piss in" at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.[54] The plan was leaked to city officials that well-dressed black activists would stand in front of the urinals and occupying toilets in men's bathrooms, blocking patrons who actually needed to use the facility from doing so.[55] The plan was never implemented, as the city caved in to their demands.

In 1965, Syracuse University opened the Community Action Training Center (CATC) under the guidance of Professor Warren Haggstrom.[56] Haggstrom, who was a fan of Alinsky's ideals of community organizing,[56] received a grant from the federal government's Office of Economic Opportunity to open the CATC.[57] The grant was for the amount of $314,000.[58] Using this funding, Haggstrom hired Saul Alinsky as a consultant, who also brought in the assistance of Fred Ross. Using the available base of indoctrinated students at the University of Syracuse, the CATC sent "trained" students to go out into the neighborhoods and whip up the residents into a frenzy. It did not take long for the mayor of Syracuse, William F. Walsh, to point out that the purpose of the center was to "train agitators" and teach "Marxist doctrines of class conflict."[59] After Walsh and Haggstrom flew to Washington, D.C., to put pressure on the OEO, funding for the CATC was canceled.[56] No longer having the direct funding of government largess, Alinsky labeled Lyndon Johnson's "war on poverty" as a political pork barrel, as there was nothing left in it for him.

Alinsky's hard-knock, do-anything techniques rubbed many leaders the wrong way, and in 1967 he found himself without a contract. Alinsky would influence many activists in organizing, such as Wade Rathke, Michael Gecan, Greg Galuzzo,[32] Edward T. Chambers, and Ernesto Cortes, many of whom went on to become leaders in Alinsky's Industrial Areas Foundation. The Black Panther movement in the 1960s made it hard for Alinsky to organize the black populace; they had a difficult time dealing with white leadership. He finally settled with organizing middle-class white Americans to protest against the deterioration of the suburban markets. Alinsky is best known for his work around the city of Chicago, but he also traveled to other places to build up community organizing efforts in places like California, New York City, Michigan, and several other "trouble spots".

## Association with subversive organizations[edit]

The CPUSA newspaper, the Daily Worker named Alinsky as one of the sponsors of a dinner for Pearl Hart, a notorious communist fronter, arranged by the Midwest Committee for the Protection of the Foreign Born. Alinsky was identified in the Daily Worker as chairman of the Public Housing Association of Chicago Illinois. The American Committee for the Protection of the Foreign Born, with which the Midwest Committee was affiliated, was cited by the President Harry S. Truman's Attorney General Thomas Clark as subversive and Communist. It was also cited by the Special Committee on Un-American Activities as one of the oldest auxiliaries of the Communist Party of the United States.[60]

Speaking in an interview with Playboy Magazine, Alinsky explained the following:

> PLAYBOY: What was your own relationship with the Communist Party?

> ALINSKY: I knew plenty of Communists in those days, and I worked with them on a number of projects. Back in the Thirties, the Communists did a hell of a lot of good work; they were in the vanguard of the labor movement and they played an important role in aiding blacks and Okies and Southern sharecroppers. Anybody who tells you he was active in progressive causes in those days and never worked with the Reds is a goddamn liar. Their platform stood for all the right things, and unlike many liberals, they were willing to put their bodies on the line. Without the Communists, for example, I doubt the C.I.O. could have won all the battles it did. I was also sympathetic to Russia in those days, not because I admired Stalin or the Soviet system but because it seemed to be the only country willing to stand up to Hitler. I was in charge of a big part of fund raising for the International Brigade and in that capacity I worked in close alliance with the Communist Party.

> When the Nazi-Soviet Pact came, though, and I refused to toe the party line and urged support for England and for American intervention in the war, the party turned on me tooth and nail. Chicago Reds plastered the Back of the Yards with big posters featuring a caricature of me with a snarling, slavering fanged mouth and wild eyes, labeled, "This is the face of a warmonger." But there were too many Poles, Czechs, Lithuanians and Latvians in the area for that tactic to go over very well. Actually, the greatest weakness of the party was its slavish parroting of the Moscow line. It could have been much more effective if it had adopted a relatively independent stance, like the western European parties do today. But all in all, and despite my own fights with them, I think the Communists of the Thirties deserve a lot of credit for the struggles they led or participated in. Today the party is just a shadow of the past, but in the Depiession it was a positive force for social change. A lot of its leaders and organizers were jerks, of course, but objectively the party in those days was on the right side and did considerable good.[61]

Rules for Radicals

## Rules for Radicals[edit]

For more detailed treatments, see Rules for Radicals and Reveille for Radicals.

In Rules for Radicals, Alinsky wrote specifically to the 1960s generation of New Left radicals: "What follows is for those who want to change the world from what it is to what they believe it should be. 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."[62]

### The Rules[edit]

1. "Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have."
2. "Never go outside the expertise of your people."
3. "Whenever possible go outside the expertise of the enemy."
4. "Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules."
5. Ridicule is man's most potent weapon. There is no defense. It is almost impossible to counterattack ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, who then react to your advantage. (See: Irritating an opponent (military and political tactic)
6. "A good tactic is one your people enjoy."
7. "A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag."
8. "Keep the pressure on."
9. "The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself. "
10. "The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition."
11. "If you push a negative hard and deep enough it will break through into its counterside; this is based on the principle that every positive has its negative."
12. "The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative."
13. "Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. "

## Death and Legacy[edit]

Alinsky died of a heart attack on June 12, 1972 in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. He was 63 years old.[63] Time Magazine wrote of Alinsky that "It is not too much to argue that American democracy is being altered by Alinsky's ideas."[64] William F. Buckley, Jr. wrote of Alinsky on October 19, 1966 in the Chicago Daily News:

> For a fee ALINSKY contracts to come into your city and, so to speak, bust up the joint. His purposes, needless to say, are like the Jacobins in France who sought to break up the power structure so as to release the energies and increase the opportunities of the lower class. ALINSKY is twice formidable. For one thing, he is very close to being an organizational genius. For another he has a way of making practical idealists feel sort of foolish - by pushing aside their efforts to help the poor or the racial minorities as ventures in facility.
>  ALINSKY cannot abide men of reason or conciliation. He thrives on strife, the more the better, and especially relishes the opposition when it is tough. Add to all this a penetrating sense of irony. "An integrated neighborhood" he once observed, "is defined as the length of time between arrival of the first Negro and the departure of the last white."[65]

In addition, Buckley noted that one of Alinsky's favorite tactics was to employ left wing priests and ministers, because police have a built in reluctance to tossing them into a jail cell.[65] On the December 11, 1967 broadcast of his show Firing Line, William Buckley interviewed Alinsky in a discussion known as "Mobilizing The Poor."[66]

Obama was influenced by Alinsky

Several conservative talk radio hosts, such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, and Michael Savage, attribute many of the strategies of the Democratic Party to Alinsky's Rules For Radicals. Hillary Clinton's senior honors thesis was an analysis of the works of Saul Alinsky and the effect that they have on politics today. Barack Obama can also trace his roots to the teachings of Saul Alinsky[67] and the use of them at the Alinskyite organization ACORN.[68][69] Obama had a passion for Alinsky's work. In 1988 while he was still at Harvard, Barack wrote "Problems and promise in the inner city",[70] which became a chapter in the book "After Alinsky: Community Organizing in Illinois."[70] Under the tutelage of an Alinsky admirer John L. McKnight, Obama says he got the "best education I ever had, better than anything I got at Harvard Law School." [1]

His most well known book "Rules for Radicals", in addition to its influence among leftists, became a useful tool for members of the Tea Party Movement. Organizations like FreedomWorks handed out copies of the book to members of its leadership and would use it to train activists all across the country.[71][72]

Alinsky has played a role in several presidential elections. In the Presidential Election 2012, candidate Newt Gingrich declared that President Obama "is legitimately and authentically a Saul Alinsky radical", routinely bringing up Alinsky during the primaries.[73][74][75][76] It was also learned that Mitt Romney's father George Romney knew Alinsky and was sympathetic to his views.[77][78] Governor Romney said in 1968: "I think you ought to listen to Alinsky."[79]

During the 2016 presidential election, then candidate Ben Carson urged Americans to read the book Rules for Radicals to get a better grasp on the tactics used by community organizers.[80] Carson again brought up Alinsky at the RNC, pointing out that Hillary Clinton's "Hero" is Saul Alinsky.[81][82]

Comparisons during the 2016 election revealed that Michelle Obama plagiarized Alinsky for one of her speeches during the United States Presidential Election, 2008.[83]

Alinsky did an interview with Playboy Magazine shortly before he died, which has become a primary source of information about Alinsky's views first hand. In the interview, he revealed how he learned many of his tactics from mafia bosses like Frank Nitti, who was Al Capone's number two man.[84] Alinsky was less interested in the wealth of the mob than he was their ability to keep an iron fist on power in the community. Additionally, during the interview he discussed his view of the afterlife:

> 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.

Dinesh D’Souza took aim at several of the left's big names in his movie America: Imagine a World Without Her,[85][86] including Alinsky, including video not seen by most American audiences.

The Diocese of Davenport awarded Alinsky with its Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award in 1969.[87]

Two documentaries have been produced about the life and influence of Saul Alinsky. In 1999, a documentary titled The Democratic Promise: Saul Alinsky and His Legacy was produced,[88] and 2016 the EWTN released a second documentary titled A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing.[89][90]

## Quotes[edit]

* Rule 1: Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have.

* Rule 2: Never go outside the experience of your people.

* Rule 3: Whenever possible, go outside the experience of the enemy.

* Rule 4: Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules.

* Rule 5: Ridicule is man's most potent weapon.

* Rule 6: A good tactic is one that your people enjoy.

* Rule 7: A tactic that drags on for too long becomes a drag.

* Rule 8: Keep the pressure on.

* Rule 9: The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.

* Rule 10: The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition.

* Rule 11: If you push a negative hard enough, it will push through and become a positive.

* Rule 12: The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.

* Rule 13: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.

* "Much of the time, though, the organizer will have a pretty good idea of what the community should be doing, and he will want to suggest, maneuver, and persuade the community toward that action. He will not ever seem to to tell the community what to do; instead, he will use loaded questions."[91]

* "THAT PERENNIAL QUESTION, "Does the end justify the means?""[92]

* "The end is what you want, and the means is how you get it."

* "It should be remembered that you can threaten the enemy and get away with it. You can insult and annoy him, but the one thing that is unforgivable and that is certain to get him to react is to laugh at him."[93]

* "Moral rationalization is indispensable at all times of action whether to justify the selection or the use of ends or means."[94]

* "A People's Organization is dedicated to an eternal war. It is a war against poverty, misery, delinquency, disease, injustice, hopelessness, despair, and unhappiness. They are basically the same issues for which nations have gone to war in almost every generation. A war is not an intellectual debate, and in the war against social evils there are no rules of fair play."[95]

* "Power goes to two poles: to those who've got money and those who've got people."[96]

* "There can be no such thing as a successful traitor, for if one succeeds he becomes a founding father."[97]

* "Nothing can be lifted or moved except through power."[98]

* "To the organizer, compromise is a key and beautiful word. It is always present in the pragmatics of operation. It is making the deal, getting that vital breather, usually the victory. If you start with nothing, demand 100 per cent, then compromise for 30 per cent, you’re 30 per cent ahead."[99]

* "We must believe that it is the darkness before the dawn of a beautiful new world; we will see it when we believe it."[100]

* "In the beginning the organizer's first job is to create the issues or problems."[101]

* "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."[102]

* "The greatest enemy of individual freedom is the individual himself."[103]

* "The organizer dedicated to changing the life of a particular community must first rub raw the resentments of the people of the community; fan the latent hostilities of many of the people to the point of overt expression. He must search out controversy and issues, rather than avoid them, for unless there is controversy people are not concerned enough to act."[104]

* "Whenever anyone asks me my religion, I always say - and always will say - Jewish"

* "Change means movement. Movement means friction. Only in the frictionless vacuum of a nonexistent abstract world can movement or change occur without that abrasive friction of conflict."[105]

* "History is a relay of revolutions; the torch of idealism is carried by the revolutionary group until this group becomes an establishment, and then quietly the torch is put down to wait until a new revolutionary group picks it up for the next leg of the run. Thus the revolutionary cycle goes on."[106]

* "The answer I gave the young radicals seemed to me the only realistic one"Do one of three things. One, go find a wailing wall and feel sorry for yourselves. Two, go psycho and start bombing - but this will only swing people to the right. Three, learn a lesson. Go home, organize, build power and at the next convention, you be the delegates.""[103]

* "Action comes from keeping the heat on. No politician can sit on a hot issue if you make it hot enough."

* "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."[107]

* "Tactics must begin within the experience of the middle class, accepting their aversion to rudeness, vulgarity, and conflict. Start them easy, don't scare them off."[108]

* "All this and more must be grasped and used to radicalize parts of the middle class."[109]

* "I have on occasion remarked that I felt confident that I could persuade a millionaire on a Friday to subsidize a revolution for Saturday out of which he would make a huge profit on Sunday even though he was certain to be executed on Monday."[110]

* "Nitti took me under his wing. I called him the Professor and I became his student. Nitti’s boys took me everywhere, showed me all the mob’s operations, from gin mills and whorehouses and bookie joints to the legitimate businesses they were beginning to take over. Within a few months, I got to know the workings of the Capone mob inside out."[111]

## See also[edit]

* Attorney General's list
* List of military strategies and concepts
* Andrew Breitbart

* Bill Ayers
* Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now
* Frank Marshall Davis
* Far left

* Margaret Sanger
* Frances Fox Piven
* The People's Cube
* Volodymyr Zelensky

|
|

## Works[edit]

### Books[edit]

* Reveille for Radicals, 1946
* John L. Lewis: An Unauthorized Biography, 1949
* Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals, 1971
* The Philosopher and the Provocateur: The Correspondence of Jacques Maritain and Saul Alinsky edited by Bernard E. Doering (1994), 118pp. Maritain was a conservative Catholic theologian

### Articles[edit]

* "Community Analysis and Organization", American Journal of Sociology 46 (1941): 798.
* "From Citizen Apathy to Participation", Paper presented at the 6th Annual Fall Conference, Association of Community Councils of Chicago, Chicago, October 19, 1957, Box 32, file 523, Industrial Areas Foundation Archive, University of Illinois at Chicago

### Posthumous collections[edit]

* The Philosopher and the Provocateur: The Correspondence of Jacques Maritain and Saul Alinsky, Bernard Doering, 1994
* Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals, Narrated by Scott Lange, 2015 (Unabridged Audiobook)
* Thirteen Tactics for Realistic Radicals: from Rules for Radicals, 2016

## Further reading[edit]

* Bailey, Robert, Jr. "Radicals in Urban Politics: The Alinsky Approach." 1974. 187 pp.
* Billson, Janet M. "Saul Alinsky: The Contributions of a Pioneer Clinical Sociologist" Clinical Sociology Review, 2, 7-11
* Engel, Lawrence J. "Saul D. Alinsky and the Chicago School" The Journal of Speculative Philosophy New Series, Vol. 16, No. 1 (2002), pp. 50–66
* Engel, Lawrence J. "The Influence of Saul Alinsky on the Campaign for Human Development" Theological Studies 59 (December 1998) 636
* Finks, David, P. "The Radical Vision of Saul Alinsky" 1984.
* Horwitt, Sanford D. "Let Them Call Me Rebel: Saul Alinsky: His Life and Legacy" (1992), 595pp
* Levine, Charles F. "Understanding Alinsky, Conservative Wine In Radical Bottles." American Behavioral Scientist 1973 17(2): 279-284.

## Documentaries about Saul Alinsky[edit]

* The Democratic Promise: Saul Alinsky & His Legacy, ITVS, (1999)
* A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, Eternal Word Television Network, (2016)

## References[edit]

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Guess who recommended Obama to enter Harvard Worldnetdaily, September 24, 2008
2. ↑ Saul David Alinsky
3. ↑ American Social Leaders and Activists
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Let Them Call Me Rebel: Saul Alinsky, His Life and Legacy, p. 551
5. ↑ The 100 Greatest Americans of the 20th Century: A Social Justice Hall of Fame
6. ↑ Judaism and Justice: The Jewish Passion to Repair the World
7. ↑ Prophetic Encounters: Religion and the American Radical Tradition
8. ↑ American Social Leaders, p. 12
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Encyclopedia of leadership: A-E, Volume 1
10. ↑ Saul Alinsky, community organizing and rules for radicals
11. ↑ Mrs. Alinsky Drowns After Saving 2 Girls, Chicago Tribune, Sept. 4th, 1947
12. ↑ IT NEVER HURTS TO HAVE A FEW ENEMIES, The New York Times
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, p.
14. ↑ Community Organizing: Addams and Alinsky
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Saul D. Alinsky and the Chicago School
16. ↑ The Radical Vision of Saul Alinsky
17. ↑ Collective Action for Social Change: An Introduction to Community Organizing
18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 The Ecology of Prevention: Illustrating Mental Health Consultation
19. ↑ Alinsky, Saul. Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals. 1\. 1971.
20. ↑ The Chicago School of Sociology: Institutionalization, Diversity, and the Rise of Sociological Research
21. ↑ The Chicago Area Project, by Ernest W. Burgess, Joseph D. Lohman, and Clifford R. Shaw, 1937
22. ↑ https://www.cgg.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Audio.details/ID/4939/Marxism-Academia-Origins-Political-Correctness.htm
23. ↑ Organization Man, Saul Alinsky`s Legacy Is Alive, Well And Living In The Neighborhoods, Chicago Tribune, by P. David Finks
24. ↑ Saul Alinsky & Rules for Radicals Ultimate Collection
25. ↑ Oakland Split on Presbytery Bid to Alinsky, Chicago Tribune, May 3rd, 1966
26. ↑ Alan S. Miller, "Saul Alinsky: America's Radical Reactionary." Radical America 1987 21(1): 11-18. 0033-7617
27. ↑ Reclaiming the Strike Zone: Do it American
28. ↑ The Origins of American Criminology
29. ↑ Joseph Meegan, Back Of Yards Council Co-founder, Chicago Tribune
30. ↑ Remediation of Former Manufactured Gas Plants and Other Coal-Tar Sites
31. ↑ Encyclopedia of Activism and Social Justice
32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 John Podesta, the Center for American Progress, and the Communist-friendly Modern Progressive Movement
33. ↑ Community Analysis and Organization, by S. D. Alinsky
34. ↑ Saul Alinsky Goes to Church
35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 The Influence of Saul Alinsky on the Campaign for Human Development
36. ↑ Let Them Call Me Rebel: Saul Alinsky, His Life and Legacy, p. 70
37. ↑ LIFE Apr 19, 1954
38. ↑ The Possibility of Popular Justice: A Case Study of Community Mediation in the United States
39. ↑ Poverty in the United States: A - K., Volume 1
40. ↑ Urban Neighborhoods in a New Era: Revitalization Politics in the Postindustrial City
41. ↑ Residents of Woodlawn seeing improvements, as a 40-year rebuilding effort starts to pay off
42. ↑ Power to the Poor: Black-Brown Coalition and the Fight for Economic Justice, 1960-1974
43. ↑ Chicago Portraits: New Edition
44. ↑ The Practice of Macro Social Work
45. ↑ Black Cuban, Black American: A Memoir
46. ↑ Rethinking the Chicano Movement
47. ↑ Ask President Obama to award Presidential Medal of Freedom to Cesar's mentor, Fred Ross Sr.
48. ↑ Who is Saul Alinsky?, CBS News
49. ↑ Hearing(s) Held in Rochester, New York, September 16-17, 1966, Volumes 35-962
50. ↑ 50.0 50.1 The Mid-Atlantic Region
51. ↑ JULY ‘64, PBS
52. ↑ Radical: A Portrait of Saul Alinsky
53. ↑ Pursuing Justice: Traditional and Contemporary Issues in Our Communities and the World
54. ↑ Saul Alinsky: A Complicated Rebel, National Review
55. ↑ Radical: A Portrait of Saul Alinsky
56. ↑ 56.0 56.1 56.2 Syracuse University: The Tolley Years, 1942-1969
57. ↑ The Urban Racial State: Managing Race Relations in American Cities
58. ↑ The Battle for Welfare Rights: Politics and Poverty in Modern America
59. ↑ The Post-Standard from Syracuse, New York · Page 7, May 30, 1966
60. ↑ Reports of the Commission on Subversive Activities of the Territory of Hawaii, p. 12 pdf.
61. ↑ Interview with Saul Alinsky, Part Ten
62. ↑ Know Thine Enemy, The New York Times
63. ↑ Encyclopedia of Activism and Social Justice
64. ↑ Essay: Radical Saul Alinsky: Prophet of Power to the People
65. ↑ 65.0 65.1 Report, United States Department of Justice - Federal Bureau of Investigation, pp. 41-42
66. ↑ Firing Line Mobilizing the Poor, National Review
67. ↑ Democrats and the Legacy of Activist Saul Alinsky (audio file), NPR
68. ↑ What This Community Organizer Really Did, Human Events
69. ↑ Why Do Catholics Keep Funding the Radical Left?, American Thinker
70. ↑ 70.0 70.1 Why Organize
71. ↑ FreedomWorks doing Alinsky strategy training
72. ↑ Two Ways to Play the 'Alinsky' Card, Wall Street Journal
73. ↑ Newt Gingrich: President Barack Obama is "Legitimately and Authentically a Saul Alinsky Radical" (Video), Gateway Pundit
74. ↑ Sarah Palin defends Newt against "cannibal" GOP, CBS News
75. ↑ Bill Moyers, Progressive Propagandist, American Thinker
76. ↑ CNN Bypasses Obama-Alinsky Ties, but Links Tea Party to Alinsky, Media Research Center
77. ↑ Saul Alinsky and the Romneys' Progressive Activism
78. ↑ When Liberal Governor George Romney Met Saul Alinsky
79. ↑ Romney's Way: A Man and an Idea
80. ↑ Why Is Dr. Ben Carson Urging Americans to Read Saul Alinsky’s 'Rules for Radicals'?, The Blaze
81. ↑ Carson: We Need to Inform People About Hillary Clinton's Radical Hero
82. ↑ Who Is Saul Alinsky? Ben Carson Claims He Was Hillary Clinton's 'Role Model', NBC News
83. ↑ Look who Michelle Obama was CAUGHT plagiarizing DNC speech from...
84. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `playbook`
85. ↑ Dinesh D'Souza's 'America' Offers Fresh Look at Saul Alinsky, Far-Left Bromides, Breitbart.com
86. ↑ D’Souza’s America, National Review
87. ↑ Pacem In Terris Past Recipients
88. ↑ Review of The Democratic Promise: Saul Alinsky and His Legacy
89. ↑ Saul Alinsky: a wolf in sheep's clothing
90. ↑ A WOLF IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING - Official Trailer
91. ↑ Rules for Radicals, page 91
92. ↑ Rules for Radicals, page 24
93. ↑ Rules for Radicals, page 137-138
94. ↑ Rules for Radicals, page 43
95. ↑ Reveille for Radicals, page 133
96. ↑ Rules for Radicals, page 127. See footnote
97. ↑ Rules for Radicals, page 34
98. ↑ Reveille for Radicals, page 22
99. ↑ Rules for Radicals, page 59
100. ↑ Rules for Radicals, page 196
101. ↑ Rules for Radicals, page 119
102. ↑ Rules for Radicals, page 117
103. ↑ 103.0 103.1 Rules for Radicals, Prologue, page xxiv
104. ↑ Rules for Radicals, page 116-117
105. ↑ Rules for Radicals, page 21
106. ↑ Rules for Radicals, page 22
107. ↑ Rules for Radicals, page 61
108. ↑ Rules for Radicals, page 195
109. ↑ Rules for Radicals, page 186
110. ↑ Rules for Radicals, page 150
111. ↑ Playboy interview

## External links[edit]

* FBI files on Saul Alinsky, 1
* FBI files on Saul Alinsky, 2
* William F Buckley Jr & Saul Alinsky - Mobilizing The Poor
* Alinski's Rules: Must Reading In Obama Era, by Phyllis Schlafly, February 2, 2009
* Problems and promise in the inner city, by Barack Obama
* SAUL ALINSKY, Discover the Networks

v • d • e

Liberal Characteristics and Traits

Ideology|

Atheism • Evolutionism • Eugenics • Globalism • Global warming alarmism • Hollywood values • Moral relativism • New age movement • Open borders • Population control • Postmodernism • Professor values • Scientology • Socialism • Transgenderism • Values • Wicca

Policy|

Abortion • Birth control • Affirmative action • Election fraud • Gun control • Homosexual agenda • Income redistribution • March through the institutions • Nanny State • Nationalization • Obamacare • Politically correct • Prayer censorship • Social Justice • Statism

Tools|

Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals" • Biased grading • Brainwashing • Cancel culture • Censorship • Cloward and Piven Strategy • Critical race theory • DARVO • Fake news • Hate speech • Judicial activism • Judicial supremacy • Lies • Liberal intolerance • Liberal logic • Mainstream Media • Myths • Network abuse • Obfuscation • Pay to play • Rectification • Redefinition • Revisionism • Scientific fascism • Slander • Traps • Tricks • Vandalism • Video game industry

Traits|

Anti-Asian hate crime • Arrogance • Bias • Bigotry • Bullying • Class warfare • Cronyism • Deceit • Double standard • Denial • Hypocrisy • Journalistic malpractice • Propaganda • Race baiting • Stupidity • Style • Systemic racism •Troll • Uncharitableness • Virtue signalling • Whining

Other|

Democrat plantation • Green New Deal • Labor Unions • Liberals and friendship • Media elite • George Soros • Liberal quotient • Nihilism • Pornography • Public schools • 1619 Project

v • d • e

Communism

Topics|

Abolish ICE • Atheism and communism • Belt and Road Initiative • Bernie Bros • Biden/Harris domestic policy • Biden/Harris regime foreign policy • Biden/Harris regime propaganda apparatus • Biden Junta • Biden Putsch • Big Tech • Black bloc • Black liberation theology • Build Back Better • CCP propaganda war • Center for Tech and Civic Life • Chan Zuckerberg Initiative • CHAZ • Chinese Cold War • Cloward-Piven Strategy • Cold War I • Communism • Community organizing • Comintern • Coronavirus • Critical theory • Critical race theory • Cultural Marxism • Defund the Police • Democide • Democrat plantation • Democrat urban issues • Direct action • DNC • Doctrine of inevitability • Environmentalism • Feminism • Ferguson riots • Forced abortion • For the People Act • Frankfurt School • Front organization • Green New Deal • Individual mandate • Iron Curtain • Juche • Liberal hate speech • Long March through the institutions • Maoism • Marxism • Marxism-Leninism • Medicare for All • National Liberation Movement • New Left • No cash bail • Obama administration • Obama riots • Obamunism • Occupy Democrats • Occupy Wall Street • People's Republic of China • Progressive • Rectification • Rules for Radicals • Socialized medicine • Stalinism • The 1619 Project • The Squad • Trotskyism • U.S. Color Revolution • Vanguardism • Venona project • War on Freedom • War on Sovereignty • White privilege • Wolf warrior diplomacy • Young mass murderers • 1983 United States Senate bombing • 2020 Democrat issues • 2020 Leftwing riots • 2020 Voter fraud timeline • 610 Office •

* * *

People|

Saul Alinsky • Jacinda Ardern • Bill Ayers • Karen Bass • Ian Bassin • Xavier Becerra • T.A. Bisson • Richard Blumenthal • Chesa Boudin • Muriel Bowser • Kathy Boudin • Rosa Brooks • Earl Browder • Cori Bush • Fidel Castro • Nicolae Ceausescu • Konstantin Chernenko • Chou En-lai • Judy Clark • Patrisse Cullors • Carl Davidson • Angela Davis • Frank Marshall Davis • Walter Duranty • Jenny Durkan • Keith Ellison • Friedrich Engels • Linda Evans • Jane Fonda • Kim Gardner • Alicia Garza • David Gilbert • Nils Gilman • Antonio Gramsci • Che Guevara • Tom Hayden • George Jackson • Ho Chi Minh • Erich Honecker • Enver Hoxha • Noel Ignatiev • Rev. Jim Jones • Van Jones • Kim Il-sung • Kim Jong-Il • Kim Jong-un • Joseph P. Lash • Barbara Lee • Vladimir Lenin • Mao Zedong • Nicolás Maduro • Herbert Marcuse • Karl Marx • Michael Moore • Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez • Ilhan Omar • David Plouffe • Jen Psaki • Ayanna Pressley • Pol Pot • Susan E. Rice • Paul Robeson • Susan Rosenberg • Assata Shakur • Joseph Stalin • Eric Swalwell • Rashida Tlaib • Opal Tometi • Leon Trotsky • Dalton Trumbo • Xi Jinping • Yang Jiechi

* * *

Deep State|

John Abt • Solomon Adler • Josef Berger • Joe Biden • Bill de Blasio • John Brennan • Frank Coe • Judith Coplon • Lauchlin Currie • Anita Dunn • Eric Garcetti • Tashina Guahar • Kamala Harris • Alger Hiss • Mary Jane Keeney • Charles Kramer • Trude Lash • Owen Lattimore • Lori Lightfoot • Harry Magdoff • David Niles • Barack Hussein Obama • J. Robert Oppenheimer • Victor Perlo • Samantha Power • Susan Rice • Bernie Sanders • Nathan Gregory Silvermaster • Michael Whitney Straight • Cass Sunstein • Sylvester Turner • Henry Wallace • Bill Weisband • Harry Dexter White •

* * *

Media|

CBC • CCTV • CGTN • CNN • Global Times • MSNBC • National Guardian • New Masses • New York Times • NPR • PBS • People's World • Political Affairs • Snopes.com • Washington Post • Wikipedia

* * *

Victims|

Alexander Alekhine • Horace Lorenzo Anderson • Philip Anderson • Atheistic communism and torture • Ashli Babbitt • Berlin Wall • Davell Gardner, Jr. • Black Genocide • Cambodian genocide • Communist racism • Communism and religious persecution • Cultural Revolution • CCP global pandemic • Aaron Danielson • Dayton nightclub shooting • Death toll of communism • Doctor's plot • David Dorn • Michael T. Flynn • Davell Gardner, Jr. • Jake Gardner • Falun Gong • James V. Forrestal • Eric Greitens • Great Purge • Holodomor • Hungarian uprising • Jonestown Massacre • Katyn Massacre • Lee Keltner • Kulaks • Kuomintang • Li-Meng Yan • Mark McCloskey • Joseph Cardinal Mindszenty • Andy Ngo • Carter Page • George Papadopoulos • Prague Spring • Kyle Rittenhouse • Roger Stone • Michael Strickland • Tacoma suicide bomber attack • Three Years of Disasters • Tiananmen Square massacre • Bernell Tremmell • Secoriea Turner • Patrick Underwood • Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation

* * *

Organizations|

ACORN • ActBlue • Adbusters • Alliance for Global Justice • Antifa • Black Lives Matter • Bohai Harvest RST • Brand New Congress • Center for American Progress • Chinese Communist Party • Code Pink • Committees of Correspondence for Democratic Socialism • Communist Party of Cuba • Communist Party USA • Congressional Progressive Caucus • Democracy Defense Nerve Center • Democratic Socialists of America • Dominion Election Systems • Electronic Frontier Foundation • FARC • FMLF • Green Party • Left Inside/Outside Project • IPS • Justice Democrats • Liberation Road • Media Matters • MoveOn.org • National Lawyers Guild • NEA • New Consensus • NextGen America • Nike, Inc. • OFA • Our Revolution • Party for Socialism and Liberation • PFLP • PKK • Priorities USA • Refuse Fascism • Revolutionary Communist Party • Rosemont Seneca • Sandinistas • São Paulo Forum • Socialist Alternative • Socialist Unity Party • Sunrise Movement • Thousand Currents • Transition Integrity Project • United Front Work Department • Workers' Party of Korea • Workers World Party • 50 cent army

* * *

Defunct organizations|

ANSWER • Armed Forces of National Liberation • Black Panther Party • Communist Party of Great Britain • Communist Party of the Soviet Union • Democracy Integrity Project • FLQ • Khmer Rouge • League of American Writers • League for Industrial Democracy • M19CO • New Party • NION • Peoples Temple • Progressives for Obama • Red Brigades • Socialist Unity Party (East Germany) • Students for a Democratic Society • Symbionese Liberation Army • Union of Soviet Socialist Republics • Viet Minh • Weather Underground