Saul Alinsky
Saul Alinsky
Saul David Alinskywas an American community organizer and writer. He is generally considered to be the founder of modern community organizing. He is often noted for his 1971 book Rules for Radicals...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionActivist
Date of Birth30 January 1909
CountryUnited States of America
religious political independence
I prize my own independence too much. And philosophically, I could never accept any rigid dogma or ideology, whether it's Christianity or Marxism…The greatest crimes in history have been perpetrated by such religious and political and racial fanatics, from the persecutions of the Inquisition on down to Communist purges and Nazi genocide.
political tactics shifting
Radicals must be resilient, adaptable to shifting political circumstances, and sensitive enough to the process of action and reaction to avoid being trapped by their own tactics and forced to travel a road not of their choosing.
ideas economic-value political
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.
order evil political
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.
airport highly jet kennedy quotes runway society
Quotes from Mao, Castro, and Che Guevara - are as germane to our highly technological, computerized society as a stagecoach on a jet runway at Kennedy airport
jobs issues firsts
In the beginning the organizer's first job is to create the issues or problems.
facts fountainhead rules-for-radicals
It is a sad fact of life that power and fear are the fountainheads of faith.
american-activist power
Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.
acceptance accepting sudden-death
Once you accept your own death, all of a sudden you are free to live.
long democracy would-be
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.
possession ideology prerequisites
The prerequisite for an ideology is possession of a basic truth.
tragedy faces looks
Human beings do not like to look squarely into the face of tragedy. Gloom is unpopular.
moral problem
Those who are most moral are farthest from the problem.
fear mean love-is
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.