Talk:Saul Alinsky

This page is highly incomplete by not showing the ties between the gangster Frank Nitti and Alinsky. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 179.186.143.9 (talk) 17:39, 7 February 2021 (UTC)

This entire article is written like a 10th grade English assignment, filled with awkward quotes and folksy anecdotes.

Do quotes like these belong in a Wikipedia article?

The rabbi looked at him for a moment and said quietly, "You think you're a man because you do what everybody does. But I want to tell you something great: 'where there are no men, be thou a man'".

he hung out with Chicago's Al Capone mob (as they "owned the city", they felt they had little to hide from a "college kid"). "Among other things" about the exercise of power, what they taught him was "the terrific importance of personal relationships".

Alinsky said that he "knew the day of sit-ins had ended" when the executive of a military contractor showed him blueprints for the new corporate headquarters. "'And here', the executive said, 'is our sit-in-hall. [You will have] plenty of comfortable chairs, two coffee machines and lots of magazines . . . '". "You are not going to get anywhere", Alinsky concluded

FIGHT began to think of some "far-out tactics along the lines of our O'Hare shit in." This included a "fart-in" at the Rochester Philharmonic, Kodak's "cultural jewel." It was a proposal Alinsky considered "absurd rather than juvenile. But isn't much of life kind of a theater of the absurd?" No tactic that might work was "frivolous." — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.47.233.127 (talk) 08:42, 11 February 2022 (UTC)

Your argument here is with Alinsky himself. These "folsky anecdotes" wouldn't belong in a Wikipedia article if they weren't his own. They betray his manner as a writer and as speaker which, no matter how we might ourselves judge them, is valid and important information for the reader.ManfredHugh (talk) — Preceding undated comment added 22:27, 23 November 2022‎ (UTC)

Last month, to do justice to Alinsky, I inserted the category of 'Articles' under the heading of 'Further reading'. Doubtless those who are more familiar with Alinsky's legacy than myself will know that many more articles that have cited him have been published. I decided to stop citing articles arbitrarily, when I felt that I had cited enough of them. Perhaps other Wikipedians might have an opinion about whether it is appropriate to preface the articles that I have cited with a related disclaimer and/or to delete undeserving articles in favour of deserving ones. I should be very grateful for anyone's advice. John Desmond (talk) 09:53, 5 July 2023 (UTC)

Is that a division at Illinois state university or the Illinois government? If state, then "state" word should be deleted. If university, it needs a link. Seananony (talk) 23:27, 19 July 2024 (UTC)

Should have read "Illinois, Division of the State Criminologist"~~~ ManfredHugh (talk) 20:08, 25 July 2024 (UTC)

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

• Saul Alinsky.jpg

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 04:53, 17 September 2025 (UTC)

Why has this image been nominated for deletion? ManfredHugh (talk) 22:35, 1 October 2025 (UTC)