Practical Radicals: Seven Strategies to Change the World

by Deepak Bhargava, Stephanie Luce

A clear, expert, and inspiring guide to social change, based on case studies of grassroots movements that won, from two leading community and labor experts

“Our movements must seek and win governing power to achieve our visions for a more just society. This book is a vital resource for progressives who want to win.” —Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), chair, Congressional Progressive Caucus

How do underdogs, facing far stronger opponents, sometimes win? In the tradition of Saul Alinsky’s  Rules for Radicals  and Sun Tzu’s  The Art of War , Deepak Bhargava and Stephanie Luce’s  Practical Radicals  offers winning strategies, history, and theory for a new generation of activists.

Based on interviews with leading organizers, this groundbreaking book describes seven strategies to bring about transformative change. It incorporates stories of organizations and movements that have won, including Make the Road NY, the St. Paul Federation of Educators, the welfare rights movement, the Working Families Party, New Georgia Project, Occupy Wall Street, 350 .org, the Fight for 15, and Gay Men’s Health Crisis. Two overarching case studies anchor the the brilliant techniques used by enslaved people and their allies to end slavery, and the sinister but effective ways elites imposed our current system.

Practical Radicals  offers insights on strategy used by business, military, and political elites, addresses the challenges of overcoming conflict within organizations and movements, and concludes with a discussion of how our movements must adapt to meet new challenges in the twenty-first century.

A book for activists, organizers, and anyone hoping to win the fight for a better society,  Practical Radicals  is a deeply informed resource designed to help us win on the big issues of our time.

Genres: Nonfiction, Activism, Politics, Social Justice

480 pages, Hardcover

First published November 7, 2023

Reviews

[jennifer]

Weird there are so few reviews of this. I ultimately found it to both provide a helpful framework and to spark a lot of useful insights and threads to follow (after some opening portions that read a little oddly, prob from involving pastiched grad student research). The push towards more rigorous strategy as well as advancing understanding of the effective interplay of different strategic approaches tracks closely with my experience and conclusions I’ve drawn from years of advocacy work. Since it’s dense and in some ways may function best as reference, a few of the summary chapters towards the end give a good overview — and the companion podcast is a rich resource as well.

[EllaHoulihan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone should have this on their shelf. Not necessary to read cover to cover but necessary to have as a reference. Leftists continue to reinvent the wheel and get lost in ideological battles- this book offers a way out of that loophole. Beautifully illustrates and outlines theories of change and how to enact them. I will continue to go back to the charts, prompts, and activities in the toolkit.

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a reference book every activist should have in their library.

It's full of excellent strategies based on both study and experience. I learned so much from this book, and can't recommend it highly enough.

[Evan Stein · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s fine but holy shit we get it this book could be 1/4 the length

[Peter Z. · Rating 1 out of 5]

If human garbage like Pramila Jayapal likes it, you know it's bad for our country. Don't cast shade upon the wisdom of Sun Tzu by even mentioning the name of his book in your advertising.

Anyone who would read this book (other than to steal the element of surprise, or possibly to adapt tactics to put to better use), is probably incapable of actually reading and understanding Sun Tzu.

[R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reads like a business book with buzzwords, superficial recipes, and vignettes supporting each “strategy.” I skimmed most of the book. I’ll give it 3 ⭐️ rather than 2 in case my skimming did not do it justice.

[Niral · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional resource

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been craving ways to make the implicit assumptions in my work more explicit and to tie them more closely to strategy, history and theory. This book did all of that!

[Harlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was assigned for one of my university classes. It is well written and extremely insightful.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book for grass-roots organizers who want to develop a framework for understanding different movement strategies for changing the world. It will probably be most helpful to leaders.