Rules for radicals : a practical primer for realistic radicals / Saul D. Alinsky.

Originally published, in hardcover, by Random House, Inc., in 1971.

"On the Importance of Being Unprincipled," by John Herman Randall, Jr., is reprinted by permission of the publishers from 'The American Scholar', Volume 7, Number 2, Spring 1938. Copyright 1938 by the United Chapters of Phi Beta Kappa.

A selection from 'Industrial Valley,' by Ruth McKenney, Is reprinted by permission of Curtis Brown Ltd. Copyright 1939 by Ruth McKenney.

This resource contains an index, but no bibliography.

The purpose -- Of means and ends -- A word about words -- The education of an organizer -- Communication -- In the beginning -- Tactics -- The genesis of tactic proxy -- The way ahead.

"First published in 1971, Rules for Radicals is Saul Alinsky's impassioned counsel to young radicals on how to effect constructive social change and know “the difference between being a realistic radical and being a rhetorical one.” Written in the midst of radical political developments whose direction Alinsky was one of the first to question, this volume exhibits his style at its best. Like Thomas Paine before him, Alinsky was able to combine, both in his person and his writing, the intensity of political engagement with an absolute insistence on rational political discourse and adherence to the American democratic tradition." - From the back cover.

"Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals is the late work of community organizer Saul D. Alinsky, and his last book, published in 1971 shortly before his death. His goal for the Rules for Radicals was to create a guide for future community organizers to use in uniting low-income communities, or “Have-Nots”, in order to empower them to gain social, political, and economic equality by challenging the current agencies that promoted their inequality. Within it, Alinsky compiled the lessons he had learned throughout his personal experiences of community organizing spanning from 1939-1971 and targeted these lessons at the current, new generation of radicals. Divided into ten chapters, each chapter of Rules for Radicals provides a lesson on how a community organizer can accomplish the goal of successfully uniting people into an active organization with the power to effect change on a variety of issues. Though targeted at community organization, these chapters also touch on a myriad of other issues that range from ethics, education, communication, and symbol construction to nonviolence and political philosophy. Though published for the new generation of counterculture-era organizers in 1971, Alinsky's principles have been successfully applied over the last four decades by numerous government, labor, community, and congregation-based organizations, and the main themes of his organizational methods that were elucidated upon in Rules for Radicals have been recurring elements in political campaigns in recent years" - From online.