Saul Alinsky's "Rules For Radicals" explainedUnion organizers are often highly trained. In many unions this training includesindoctrination in Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals."Saul Alinsky was a ruthless radical organizer. He would stop at nothing to win.Before he passed away in 1972 he published a book called "Rules for Radicals" inwhich he outlined his power tactics and questionable ethics.Anyone interested in staying, or becoming, Union Free, whether in an organizingcampaign or in a decertification or deauthorization election, ought to becomefamiliar with these rules.This can be very valuable information. As one expert observer points out "Rulesfor Radicals are reversible and can be used against the Left."Here's a brief summary of the rules. We are indebted to the Public ServiceResearch Foundation for this information.Rules for Power Tactics:1. Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.2. Never go outside the experience of your people.3. Whenever possible, go outside of the experience of the enemy.4. Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules.5. Ridicule is man's most potent weapon.6. A good tactic is one that your people enjoy.7. A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.8. Keep the pressure on with different tactics and actions, and utilize all eventsof the period for your purpose.9. The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.10. The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that willmaintain a constant pressure upon the opposition.11. If you push a negative hard and deep enough, it will break through into itscounterside.12. The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.13. Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.Because Alinsky was sensitive to criticism that he wasn't ethical, he alsoincluded a set of rules for the ethics of power tactics. You can see from thesewhy his ethics were so frequently questioned.Rules to test whether power tactics are ethical:1. One's concern with the ethics of means and ends varies inversely with one'spersonal interest in the issue.2. The judgment of the ethics of means is dependent upon the political position ofthose sitting in judgment.3. In war the end justifies almost any means.4. Judgment must be made in the context of the times in which the action occurredand not from any other chronological vantage point.5. Concern with ethics increases with the number of means available and viceversa.6. The less important the end to be desired, the more one can afford to engage inethical evaluations of means.7. Generally, success or failure is a mighty determinant of ethics.8. The morality of means depends upon whether the means is being employed at atime of imminent defeat or imminent victory.