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Alinsky was the subject of ]'s senior honors thesis at ], '']''. <ref name="WPOST"> by Peter Slevin, ], ]</ref><ref name="NPR"></ref> Rodham commented on Alinsky's "charm," but noted that "one of the primary problems of the Alinsky model is that the removal of Alinsky dramatically alters its composition." <ref name="NPR"></ref> Later, in her 2003 biography, '']'' Clinton notes that although she agreed with some of his ideas, "particularly the value of empowering people to help themselves" they had a fundamental disagreement: "He believed you could change the system only from the outside. I didn't." <ref name="NPR"></ref> Once Hillary Rodham Clinton became ], the ] asked ] to restrict access to the thesis.<ref></ref> Alinsky was the subject of ]'s senior honors thesis at ], '']''. <ref name="WPOST"> by Peter Slevin, ], ]</ref><ref name="NPR"></ref> Rodham commented on Alinsky's "charm," but noted that "one of the primary problems of the Alinsky model is that the removal of Alinsky dramatically alters its composition." <ref name="NPR"></ref> Later, in her 2003 biography, '']'' Clinton notes that although she agreed with some of his ideas, "particularly the value of empowering people to help themselves" they had a fundamental disagreement: "He believed you could change the system only from the outside. I didn't." <ref name="NPR"></ref> Once Hillary Rodham Clinton became ], the ] asked ] to restrict access to the thesis.<ref></ref>

Thirteen years after Alinsky died, some of his former students hired ] to a $13,000 a year job as a community organizer in ]. In a few years he became very skilled in the Alinsky Method of community organizing and became an instructor and teacher of the Alinsky Method to other community organizers.<ref name="WPOST"> by Peter Slevin, ], ]</ref> <ref name="IVD"> Community Organizer in Chief, Investors Business Daily, Posted Tues., Sept. 16, 2008</ref> <ref>], by Dr. Jerome Corsi </ref><ref name="WHY ORGANIZE"> by Barack Obama</ref>


==Published works== ==Published works==

Revision as of 23:56, 22 September 2008

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Saul David Alinsky (January 30, 1909, Chicago, Illinois - June 12, 1972, Carmel, California) is generally considered to be the founder of community organizing.

Biography and work

Alinsky was born in Chicago in 1909, the only son of Russian Jewish immigrant parents. He was educated first in the streets of that city and then in its university. He did graduate work at the University of Chicago in the field of criminology. His ideology and concepts of mass organization and work in organizing the poor has been internationally recognized.

In the 1930s, Alinsky organized the Back of the Yards neighborhood in Chicago (made infamous by Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle for the horrific working conditions in the Union Stock Yards). He went on to found the Industrial Areas Foundation while organizing the Woodlawn neighborhood, which trained organizers and assisted in the founding of community organizations around the country. In Rules for Radicals (his final work, published in 1971 one year before his death), he addressed the 1960s generation of radicals, outlining his views on organizing for mass power. In the first chapter, opening paragraph of the book Alinsky writes, "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". The documentary, "The Democratic Promise: Saul Alinsky and His Legacy," claims that "Alinsky championed new ways to organize the poor and powerless that created a backyard revolution in cities across America."

In Rules for Radicals, Alinsky outlines his strategy in organizing, writing,

"There's another reason for working inside the system. Dostoevski 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. To bring on this reformation requires that the organizer work inside the system, among not only the middle class but the 40 per cent of American families - more than seventy million people - whose income range from $5,000 to $10,000 a year . They cannot be dismissed by labeling them blue collar or hard hat. They will not continue to be relatively passive and slightly challenging. If we fail to communicate with them, if we don't encourage them to form alliances with us, they will move to the right. Maybe they will anyway, but let's not let it happen by default.."

Alinsky codified and wrote a clear set of rules for community organizing. His rules for radicals are now used as key tactics to learn in the training of new community organizers.

Alinsky is often credited with laying the foundation for the grassroots political organizing that dominated the 1960s. Later in his life he encouraged stockholders in public corporations to lend their votes to "proxies", who would vote at annual stockholders meetings in favor of social justice. While his grassroots style took hold in American activism, his call to stockholders to share their power with disenfranchised working poor only began to take hold in U.S. progressive (social liberalism) circles in the 1990s, when shareholder actions were organized against American corporations.

Alinsky was a critic of a passive and ineffective mainstream liberalism. In Rules for Radicals, he argued that the most effective means are whatever will achieve the desired ends, and that an intermediate end for radicals should be democracy because of its relative ease to work within to achieve other ends of social justice. In 1969, he was awarded the Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award.

Saul Alinsky shows his dark, irreverent, and mischievous sense of humor in his book, Rules for Radicals: "Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins -- or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom -- Lucifer."

Alinsky's Influence

Many important community and labor organizers came from the "Alinsky School," including Ed Chambers and Tom Gaudette. Fred Ross, who worked for Alinsky, was the principal mentor for Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta. Alinsky formed the Industrial Areas Foundation in 1940. Chambers became its Executive Director after Alinsky died. Since its formation, hundreds of professional community and labor organizers and thousands of community and labor leaders have attended its workshops. Also, several prominent national leaders have been influenced by Alinsky's teachings.

Alinsky was the subject of Hillary Rodham's senior honors thesis at Wellesley College, "There Is Only The Fight...": An Analysis of the Alinsky Model. Rodham commented on Alinsky's "charm," but noted that "one of the primary problems of the Alinsky model is that the removal of Alinsky dramatically alters its composition." Later, in her 2003 biography, Living History Clinton notes that although she agreed with some of his ideas, "particularly the value of empowering people to help themselves" they had a fundamental disagreement: "He believed you could change the system only from the outside. I didn't." Once Hillary Rodham Clinton became First Lady of the United States, the White House asked Wellesley College to restrict access to the thesis.

Thirteen years after Alinsky died, some of his former students hired Barack Obama to a $13,000 a year job as a community organizer in South Chicago. In a few years he became very skilled in the Alinsky Method of community organizing and became an instructor and teacher of the Alinsky Method to other community organizers.

Published works

Biographies and works on Alinsky

  • ' Let Them Call Me Rebel: Saul Alinsky: His Life and Legacy, by Sanford D. Horwitt, (1989) Alfred Knopf, ISBN 039457243-; Vintage Books paperback: ISBN 067973418X
  • The Democratic Promise: Saul Alinsky and His Legacy, 1999, Chicago Video Project, co-produced by Bruce Orenstein.
  • The Professional Radical: Conversations with Saul Alinsky by Marion K. Sanders, (New York: Harper & Row, 1970).

In pop culture

Author Robert Greene quotes heavily from Alinsky's Rules for Radicals in his book The 48 Laws of Power and cites him as an influence.

The 2006 album The Avalanche by Sufjan Stevens includes a song, titled "The Perpetual Self, Or 'What Would Saul Alinsky Do?'".

The 2006 album The Sufferer & the Witness by Rise Against includes an excerpt from the book in the back of the CD case.

The 2005 album It's Time to Decide by At All Cost includes a song titled "The Return" which mentions Saul Alinsky and Allen Ginsberg's contributions to radical revolution.

References

  1. Alinsky's childhood and some informtion about his parents.
  2. Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky
  3. Purpose for writing Rules for Radicals per Alinsky
  4. ^ The Democratic Promise: Saul Alinsky and His Legacy
  5. Dostoevsky/Dostoevski
  6. Saul Alinsky, The Latter Rain.
  7. Summary list of Alinsky's rules for power tactics from his book Rules for Radicals
  8. Lucifer, the very first radical per Alinsky
  9. ^ For Clinton and Obama, a Common Ideological Touchstone by Peter Slevin, The Washington Post, 2007-03-25 Cite error: The named reference "WPOST" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  10. A Trailblazing Organizer's Organizer by Dick Meister
  11. ^ NPR Democrats and the Legacy of Activist Saul Alinsky All Things Considered, May 21, 2007 Cite error: The named reference "NPR" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  12. Rural Communities by Cornelia Butler Flora, Jan L. Flora, Susan Fey, page 335
  13. ACORN: A Community Organizing Organization
  14. ^ Saul Alinsky’s son: "Obama learned his lesson well" Community Organizer in Chief, Investors Business Daily, Posted Tues., Sept. 16, 2008
  15. ^ Why Organize? Problems and Promise in the Inner City by Barack Obama
  16. Rhode Island's Future
  17. MSNBC
  18. The Obama Nation, by Dr. Jerome Corsi (page 133)

External links

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