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Organized Religion Has Too Often Followed The Road Of Other People's Institutions. It Has Made Adjustments, Compromises, And Surrenders To A Materialistic Civilization For The Benefit Of Material Security In Spite Of Occasional Twinges Of Conscience And Moral Protests. The Result Has Been That Today Much Of Organized Religion Is Materialistically Solvent But Spiritually Bankrupt.

-Saul Alinsky

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Organized Religion Has Too

Saul Alinsky

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Organized Religion Has Too Often Followed The Road Of Other People's Institutions. It Has Made Adjustments, Compromises, And Surrenders To A Materialistic Civilization For The Benefit Of Material Security In Spite Of Occasional Twinges Of Conscience And Moral Protests. The Result Has Been That Today Much Of Organized Religion Is Materialistically Solvent But Spiritually Bankrupt.

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Keep The Pressure On, With Different Tactics And Actions, And Utilize All Events Of The Period For Your Purpose.

The Third Rule Of Ethics Of Means And Ends Is That In War The End Justifies Almost Any Means.

In This World Laws Are Written For The Lofty Aim Of "the Common Good" And Then Acted Out In Life On The Basis Of The Common Greed. In This World Irrationality Clings To Man Like His Shadow So That The Right Things Get Done For The Wrong Reasons - Afterwards, We Dredge Up The Right Reasons For Justification. It Is A World Not Of Angels But Of Angles, Where Men Speak Of Moral Principles But Act On Power Principles; A World Where We Are Always Moral And Our Enemies Always Immoral; A World Where "reconciliation" Means That When One Side Gets The Power And The Other Side Gets Reconciled To It.

One Acts Decisively Only In The Conviction That All The Angels Are On One Side And All The Devils On The Other.

The Fourth Rule Is: "make The Enemy Live Up To Their Own Book Of Rules." You Can Kill Them With This, For They Can No More Obey Their Own Rules Than The Christian Church Can Live Up To Christianity.

The Only Nonpartisan People Are Those Who Are Dead.

We Must Face The Bitter Fact That We Have Forsaken Our Great Dream Of A Life Of, For, And By The People; That The Burning Passions And Ideals Of The American Dream Lie Congealed By Cold Cynicism. Great Parts Of The Masses Of Our People No Longer Believe That They Have A Voice Or A Hand In Shaping The Destiny Of This Nation. They Have Not Forsaken Democracy Because Of Any Desire Or Positive Action Of Their Own; They Have Been Driven Down Into The Depths Of A Great Despair Born Of Frustration, Hopelessness, And Apathy. A Democracy Lacking In Popular Participation Dies Of Paralysis.

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Always Remember The First Rule Of Power Tactics; Power Is Not Only What You Have But What The Enemy Thinks You Have.

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The Ninth Rule Of The Ethics Of Means And Ends Is That Any Effective Means Is Automatically Judged By The Opposition As Being Unethical.

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To Say That Corrupt Means Corrupt The Ends Is To Believe In The Immaculate Conception Of Ends And Principles.

Never Do For Someone What They Can Do For Themselves.

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The Most Effective Means Are Whatever Will Achieve The Desired Results.

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It Is A World Not Of Angels But Of Angles, Where Men Speak Of Moral Principles But Act On Power Principles; A World Where We Are Always Moral And Our Enemies Always Immoral.

The Human Spirit Glows From That Small Inner Light Of Doubt Whether We Are Right, While Those Who Believe With Certainty That They Possess The Right Are Dark Inside And Darken The World Outside With Cruelty, Pain, And Injustice.

The Enemy Properly Goaded And Guided In His Reaction Will Be Your Major Strength.

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If You Push A Negative Hard Enough, It Will Push Through And Become A Positive.

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Organized Business Has Assumed That Greater Profits Would Be Pretty Much Of A Cure-all, And It Has To A Major Extent Ignored The Fact That The Welfare Of Business Rests Upon The Welfare Of The Consumers Of A Nation; That Business Or Free Enterprise Will Function In A Democracy Only So Long As The Democracy Functions.

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A Tactic That Drags On Too Long Becomes A Drag.

Last Guys Don't Finish Nice.

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Spouting Quotes From Mao, Castro, And Che Guevara, Which Are As Germane To Our Highly Technological, Computerized, Cybernetic, Nuclearpowered, Mass Media Society As A Stagecoach On A Jet Runway At Kennedy Airport.

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Curiosity And Irreverence Go Together. Curiosity Cannot Exist Without The Other. Curiosity Asks, "is This True?" "just Because This Has Always Been The Way, Is The Best Or Right Way Of Life, The Best Or Right Religion, Political Or Economic Value, Morality?" To The Questioner, Nothing Is Sacred. He Detests Dogma, Defies Any Finite Definition Of Morality, Rebels Against Any Repression Of A Free, Open Search Of Ideas No Matter Where They May Lead. He Is Challenging, Insulting, Agitating, Discrediting. He Stirs Unrest.

Once You Accept Your Own Death, All Of A Sudden You're Free To Live. You No Longer Care About Your Reputation. You No Longer Care Except So Far As Your Life Can Be Used Tactically To Promote A Cause You Believe In.

They Have The Guns And Therefore We Are For Peace And For Reformation Through The Ballot. When We Have The Guns Then It Will Be Through The Bullet.

You Cannot Meet Today's Crisis Tomorrow.

The Prerequisite For An Ideology Is Possession Of A Basic Truth.

The Despair Is There; Now It's Up To Us To Go In And Rub Raw The Sores Of Discontent, Galvanize Them For Radical Social Change.

No Issue Can Be Negotiated Unless You First Have The Clout To Compel Negotiation.

Dogma, Whatever Form It Takes, Is The Ultimate Enemy Of Human Freedom.

A Good Tactic Is One That Your People Enjoy.

As An Organizer I Start From Where The World Is, As It Is, Not As I Would Like It To Be.

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The Thirteenth Rule Of Radical Tactics: Pick The Target, Freeze It, Personalize It, And Polarize It.

The Organizer Must Become Schizoid, Politically, In Order To Slip Into Becoming A True Believer. Before Men Can Act An Issue Must Be Polarized. Men Will Act When They Are Convinced Their Cause Is 100 Percent On The Side Of The Angels And That The Opposition Are 100 Percent On The Side Of The Devil. He Knows There Can Be No Action Until Issues Are Polarized To This Degree.

From The Moment An Organizer Enters A Community, He Lives, Dreams, Eats, Breathes, Sleeps Only One Thing, And That Is To Build The Mass Power Base Of What He Calls The Army.

Let The Liberal Turn To The Course Of Action, The Course Of All Radicals, And The Amused Look Vanishes From The Face Of Society As It Snarls, “that’s Radical!” Society Has Good Reason To Fear The Radical. Every Shaking Advance Of Mankind Toward Equality And Justice Has Come From The Radical. He Hits, He Hurts, He Is Dangerous. Conservative Interests Know That While Liberals Are Most Adept At Breaking Their Own Necks With Their Tongues, Radicals Are Most Adept At Breaking The Necks Of Conservatives.

Men Don't Like To Step Abruptly Out Of The Security Of Familiar Experience; They Need A Bridge To Cross From Their Own Experience To A New Way. A Revolutionary Organizer Must Shake Up The Prevailing Patterns Of Their Lives - Agitate, Create Disenchantment And Discontent With The Current Values, To Produce, If Not A Passion For Change, At Least A Passive, Affirmative, Non-challenging Climate.

The Cry Of The Have-nots Has Never Been "give Us Our Hearts," But Always "get Off Our Backs"; They Ask Not For Love But For Breathing Space.

Love And Faith Are Not Common Companions. More Commonly Power And Fear Consort With Faith....power Is Not To Be Crossed; One Must Respect And Obey. Power Means Strength, Whereas Love Is A Human Frailty The People Mistrust. It Is A Sad Fact Of Life That Power And Fear Are The Fountainheads Of Faith.

The Standards Of Judgment Must Be Rooted In The Whys And Wherefores Of Life As It Is Lived, The World As It Is, Not Our Wished-for Fantasy Of The World As It Should Be.

In This World Laws Are Written For The Lofty Aim Of "the Common Good" And Then Acted Out In Life On The Basis Of The Common Greed.

The Democratic Ideal Springs From The Ideas Of Liberty, Equality, Majority Rule Through Free Elections, Protection Of The Rights Of Minorities, And Freedom To Subscribe To Multiple Loyalties In Matters Of Religion, Economics, And Politics Rather Than To A Total Loyalty To The State. The Spirit Of Democracy Is The Idea Of Importance And Worth In The Individual, And Faith In The Kind Of World Where The Individual Can Achieve As Much Of His Potential As Possible.

Life Is There Ahead Of You And Either One Tests Oneself In Its Challenges Or Huddles In The Valleys Of A Dreamless Day-to-day Existence Whose Only Purpose Is The Preservation Of A Illusory Security And Safety. The Latter Is What The Vast Majority Of People Choose To Do, Fearing The Adventure Into The Known.

The Seventh Rule Of The Ethics Of Means And Ends Is That Generally Success Or Failure Is A Mighty Determinant Of Ethics. The Judgment Of History Leans Heavily On The Outcome Of Success Or Failure; It Spells The Difference Between The Traitor And The Patriotic Hero. There Can Be No Such Thing As A Successful Traitor, For If One Succeeds He Becomes A Founding Father.

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.

The Organized Labor Movement As It Is Constituted Today Is As Much A Concomitant Of A Capitalist Economy As Is Capital. Organized Labor Is Predicated Upon The Basic Premise Of Collective Bargaining Between Employers And Employees. This Premise Can Obtain Only For An Employer-employee Type Of Society. If The Labor Movement Is To Maintain Its Own Identity And Security, It Must Of Necessity Protect That Kind Of Society.

Capitalist Economy

The Classic Statement On Polarization Comes From Christ: 'he That Is Not With Me Is Against Me.' (luke 11:23) He Allowed No Middle Ground To The Moneychangers In The Temple. One Acts Decisively Only In The Conviction That All The Angels Are On One Side And All The Devils On The Other.

A Revolution Without A Prior Reformation Would Collapse Or Become A Totalitarian Tyranny. A Reformation Means That Masses Of Our People Have Reached The Point Of Disillusionment With Past Ways And Values. They Don't Know What Will Work But They Do Know That The Prevailing System Is Self-defeating, Frustrating, And Hopeless. They Won't Act For Change But Won't Strongly Oppose Those Who Do. The Time Is Then Ripe For Revolution

Once You Accept Your Own Death, All Of A Sudden You Are Free To Live.

The Very First Radical Known To Man Who Rebelled Against The Establishment And Did It So Effectively That He At Least Won His Own Kingdom -- Lucifer.

Never Let A Crisis Go To Waste

It Is A Sad Fact Of Life That Power And Fear Are The Fountainheads Of Faith.

Rules For Radicals

The Only People Who Become Disillusioned Are People Who Have Illusions.

Organization For Action Will Now And In The Decade Ahead Center Upon America's White Middle Class. That Is Where The Power Is. ... Our Rebels Have Contemptuously Rejected The Values And The Way Of Life Of The Middle Class. They Have Stigmatized It As Materialistic, Decadent, Bourgeois, Degenerate, Imperialistic, War-mongering, Brutalized And Corrupt. They Are Right; But We Must Begin From Where We Are If We Are To Build Power For Change, And The Power And The People Are In The Middle Class Majority.

From The Moment The Organizer Enters A Community He Lives, Dreams... Only One Thing And That Is To Build The Mass Power Base Of What He Calls The Army. Until He Has Developed That Mass Power Base, He Confronts No Major Issues.... Until He Has Those Means And Power Instruments, His Tactics Are Very Different From Power Tactics. Therefore, Every Move Revolves Around One Central Point: How Many Recruits Will This Bring Into The Organization, Whether By Means Of Local Organizations, Churches, Service Groups, Labor Unions, Corner Gangs, Or As Individuals.

An Organizer Working In And For An Open Society Is In An Ideological Dilemma To Begin With, He Does Not Have A Fixed Truth - Truth To Him Is Relative And Changing; Everything To Him Is Relative And Changing.... To The Extent That He Is Free From The Shackles Of Dogma, He Can Respond To The Realities Of The Widely Different Situations.

If People Don't Think They Have The Power To Solve Their Problems, They Won't Even Think About How To Solve Them.

The First Step In Community Organization Is Community Disorganization. The Disruption Of The Present Organization Is The First Step Toward Community Organization. Present Arrangements Must Be Disorganized If They Are To Be Displace By New Patterns.... All Change Means Disorganization Of The Old And Organization Of The New.

Humor Is Essential To A Successful Tactician, For The Most Potent Weapons Known To Mankind Are Satire And Ridicule.

Change Means Movement. Movement Means Friction.

Whenever Possible, Go Outside The Expertise Of The Enemy.

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Ridicule Is Man's Most Potent Weapon. It Is Almost Impossible To Counterattack Ridicule. Also It Infuriates The Opposition, Who Then React To Your Advantage.

In A Fight Almost Anything Goes. It Almost Reaches The Point Where You Stop To Apologize If A Chance Blow Lands Above The Belt.

The Price Of A Successful Attack Is A Constructive Alternative.

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The Establishment Can Accept Being Screwed, But Not Being Laughed At

A Marxist Begins With His Prime Truth That All Evils Are Caused By The Exploitation Of The Proletariat By The Capitalists. From This He Logically Proceeds To The Revolution To End Capitalism, Then Into The Third Stage Of Reorganization Into A New Social Order Of The Dictatorship Of The Proletariat, And Finally The Last Stage -- The Political Paradise Of Communism.

The Organizers First Job Is To Create The Issues Or Problems, And Organizations Must Be Based On Many Issues. The Organizer 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. . . . An Organizer Must Stir Up Dissatisfaction And Discontent.

Power Just Goes To Two Poles — To Those Who've Got Money, And Those Who've Got People.

Tactics Mean Doing What You Can With What You Have.

The Greatest Enemy Of Individual Freedom Is The Individual Himself.

A Free And Open Society Is An Ongoing Conflict, Interrupted Periodically By Compromises.

My Only Fixed Truth Is A Belief In People, A Conviction That If People Have The Opportunity To Act Freely And The Power To Control Their Own Destinies, They'll Generally Reach The Right Decisions.

Asking A Sociologist To Solve A Problem Is Like Prescribing An Enema For Diarrhea.

A Racially Integrated Community Is A Chronological Term Timed From The Entrance Of The First Black Family To The Exit Of The Last White Family.

Black And White

Theres Another Reason For Working Inside The System. Dostoevsky Said That Taking A New Step Is What People Fear Most. Any Revolutionary Change Must Be Preceded By A Passive, Affirmative, Non-challenging Attitude Toward Change Among The Mass Of Our People. They Must Feel So Frustrated, So Defeated, So Lost, So Futureless In The Prevailing System That They Are Willing To Let Go Of The Past And Change The Future. This Acceptance Is The Reformation Essential To Any Revolution.

The End Is What You Want And The Means Is How You Get It.

The End Is What You Want, The Means Is How You Get It. Whenever We Think About Social Change, The Question Of Means And Ends Arises. The Man Of Action Views The Issue Of Means And Ends In Pragmatic And Strategic Terms. He Has No Other Problem; He Thinks Only Of His Actual Resources And The Possibilities Of Various Choices Of Action. He Asks Of Ends Only Whether They Are Achievable And Worth The Cost; Of Means, Only Whether They Will Work. ... The Real Arena Is Corrupt And Bloody.

Human Beings Do Not Like To Look Squarely Into The Face Of Tragedy. Gloom Is Unpopular.

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