Refection: Alinsky's Tactics

Class: Violence and Non-Violence

Instructor: Muvingi
By Carsten Kaefert (3012875)

Table of Contents
Refection: Alinsky's Tactics.............................................................................................................1
Abstract.......................................................................................................................................1
Ethics...........................................................................................................................................1
Practicality...................................................................................................................................3

Abstract
Saul D. Alinsky's Rules for Radicals provides the interested reader with a wide range of

tactics to be employed by “rational radicals.”1 These tactics are meant as a guideline towards any

kind of successful activism, although Alinsky states that due to the ever-changing nature of

activism they are not prescriptions for particular situations.2 These rules can be challenged in two

ways: Ethically, as to Alinsky everything useful to achieve a greater good is ethical 3, and in their

practicality, as the book nears its 40th birthday and thus some tactics can be considered obsolete.

Ethics
Alinsky puts activist's and reader's ethic to a hard test by declaring personal, subjective

ethics meaningless in comparison with the greater goal of the action.4 This is quite a tough

perspective, as it takes away all concern about the means as long as they serve the end. He even

goes as far as attacking people questioning this notion by calling them “non-doers”5 and accusing

1
Saul D. Alinsky, Rules for Radicals. A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals (New York: Random House,
1989), 1.
2
Ibid., 138.
3
Ibid., 25.
4
Ibid.
5
Ibid.
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them of not having the assumed radical political position.6 This purely utilitarian approach to

means and ends is ethically highly questionable. Martin Luther King states “that it is wrong to

use immoral means to attain moral ends.”7 Thus Alinsky's approach appears at least to bear a

significant potential for being unethical.

Out of this the question arises: are the tactics Alinsky suggests equally unethical? To put it

simple: they are not. Some of them might feel mean to the one upon whom they are enforced, but

then being beaten in any contest never feels good. In themselves tactics as trying to appear

stronger than you really are,8 not dragging any action on for too long,9 or choosing tactics

enjoyable to your own people10 are far away from being unethical. In fact, some of the rules seem

so self-evident that the question of ethics does not even come up, such as the rule of staying

within the experiences of your own people11 – they are just normal conduct in human interaction.

Ethically most controversial seems the thirteenth rule: “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it,

and polarize it.”12 This might seem unfair to a spectator, as this includes singling out persons,

declaring them enemies and mounting pressure on them, but ethics are about more than being

nice to everyone.

Altogether it can be said that Alinsky's tactics are not unethical by themselves. But his

whole approach carries a huge potential for becoming unethical. They might be coined ethically

undetermined: Neither ethical nor unethical by themselves, but with the potential to be employed

in both ways.
6
Ibid.
7
Martin Luther King. Letter from a Birmingham Jail [King, Jr.]. African Studies Center – University of
Pennsylvania. http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html [accessed on 2008-10-27].
8
Alinsky, Rules... 128.
9
Ibid.
10
Ibid.
11
Ibid., 127.
12
Ibid., 130.
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Practicality
What Alinsky provides us with is called “A Pragmatic Primer”, a result of his own practical

work in organizing protest movements, and as such can be expected be of quite some utility to

every wannabe or actual organizer in the field. And it lives up to this expectations – as mentioned

above, some of his tactics are so self evident, that they apply to everyday life. It is obvious that

one can most easily convince people by staying withing their experiences, as it is obvious that

surprising the opponent is a good idea.

Nevertheless, some tactics apply only in given situations. Ridicule may have beeen the

most powerful weapon in Alinsky's struggles,13 but it only works where freedom of speech is

guaranteed. On a similar note, beating the enemy with its own rules 14 is only effective when the

enemy follows any rules.

Other tactical rules are clearly well-intended, but still hard to follow: Of course the

pressure has to be kept on15 and of course one has to keep this in mind when devising a tactic,16

but just stating these rules is not very helpful in living up to them. Though the mere notion that

struggles mostly take longer than expected and a follow-up to any action should be at hand could

be useful to some organizers.

Keeping in mind that Alinsky himself states that he does not provide prescriptions,17 his

tactics should be useful in most circumstances. Reading this book not as a how-to for social

organizing, but as a collection of friendly reminders and a source of inspiration, it for sure has

immense practical use.

13
Ibid., 128.
14
Ibid.
15
Ibid.
16
Ibid., 129.
17
Ibid., 138.
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