Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals

Tactics are the choices that humans make to “live with each other and deal with the world” (126). In considering the proper tactics to bring about a revolution, many rules need to be followed. First, power is about more than what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have. Second, the community’s experience should center the conversation and plan of action. Third, one must always try to operate outside the experience of the enemy.

Fourth, the enemy should be made to live up to their own rules and expectations; this is a good means of demonstrating their hypocrisy and impotence. Fifth and sixth respectively: ridicule is a fantastic weapon, all the more so if it is a tactic that your community enjoys. Seventh, any tactic must be quick, for drawn-out tactics result in apathy. Eighth, tactics must keep the pressure on. And ninth, the threat of action is usually more effective than the action itself.

The final four rules are these: plans need to keep pressure on the enemy; every positive comes with a negative; any attack needs to come with an alternative attack; and finally, the target of any attack needs to be chosen, personalized, and polarized.