Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals

Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals is authored by community activist Saul D. Alinsky. The book was originally published in 1971.

Alinsky provides an outline and action plan for those without power to attain it, and to leverage power to bring about change in the social and political spheres. According to Alinsky, most problems that exist in organizing movements lie in a gap between generations. The gap exists between classes of people that are separated by unequal access to capital and influence.

Summary

According to Alinsky, revolution, far from being a communist ideal, is the only means by which power is transferred from one group to another. America itself sprang from an act of revolution. The shifting evolution of ideas require that periodic revolutions take place for societies and cultures not to become stagnant. Radicals bring about change. They see the world for what it really is and wish to change it into their own image for the sake of the common good. Perceiving the world as it is—and not as they wish it to be—allows the radical to start at the right beginning and move to a definite goal.