From the Playboy interview with Saul Alinsky in 1972.
PLAYBOY: How close was the country to revolution during the Depression?
ALINSKY: A lot closer than some people think. It was really Roosevelt’s reforms that saved the system from itself and averted total catastrophe. You’ve got to remember, it wasn’t only people’s money that went down the drain [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Saul Alinsky’
Saul Alinsky. Organizing in the Depression. And you thought things were turbulent now
Saul Alinsky. Rules for Radicals. Means vs. ends
(Part 5 of a 5-part series this week about Alinsky)
From Rules for Radicals.
He says the eternal question of does the end justify the means is meaningless and the real and only question is, “Does this particular end justify this particular means?”
He has little use for those who sit on the sidelines and moralize.
They are passionately [...]
Saul Alinsky. Back of the Yards organizing
(Part 4 of a 5-part series this week about Alinsky)
Alinsky started organizing Back of the Yards in Chicago in the 30’s, and invented community organizing in the process. From the Playboy interview in 1972.
ALINSKY: It was the area behind the Chicago Stockyards that Upton Sinclair wrote about in The Jungle at the turn of the [...]
Saul Alinsky. Rules for Radicals
(Part 3 of a 5-part series this week about Alinsky)
From Rules for Radicals, Alinsky’s now-famous rules for organizing.
Rule 1: Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have. Power has always derived from two main sources, people and money. Lacking money, the Have-Nots must always build power from their own [...]
Saul Alinsky. On organizing the middle class
(Part 2 of a 5-part series this week about Alinsky)
From the Playboy interview with Saul Alinsky in 1972.
First, two quotes that maybe show who he was.
When “Rules for Radicals” was first published and received glowing reviews, Alinsy told his staff, “Don’t worry, boys, we’ll weather this storm of approval and come out as hated as [...]
Saul Alinsky, Rules for Radicals. Introduction
(This is the first of five posts about Saul Alinsky appearing this week)
Saul Alinsky invented community organizing in Chicago in the 1930’s in an area known as Back Of The Yards. It was the first time organizing had been done in a geographical area rather than in a union or industry. He was successful [...]
Saul Alinsky quotes
Alinksy is considered the founder of community organizing and his book, Rules for Radicals, has been widely read by organizers from all over the political spectrum. He started organizing in Chicago in the 1930’s in Back of the Yards, which he organized by forming a partnership with the Catholic Church. He was not Marxist, had [...]
Incoherent dreams. G20 protests
Incoherent Dreams by Edward Hadas says, yes, the empire is crumbling, new leaders are needed, but the protests so far have been, well, lame.
A great age of protest should be dawning. The global mismanagement of the financial system has led to a deep recession. Intellectual paralysis has gripped the authorities and their policy response has [...]
Working within the system vs. revolutionary change
Saul Alinsky organized Back of the Yards in Chicago in the 1930’s, which brought together poor East Europeans who worked at the meat packing plants into a genuine force. Their lives got better. In doing so, Alinsky also invented community organizing. He started other groups, one of which was in East L.A. In [...]
