Jonathan Smucker: Jonathan Smucker has worked as an organizer, consultant, and trainer for two decades within a breadth of organizations and social movements. He is co-founder of Beyond the Choir, an organization providing strategic support and organizational development to social justice organizations. Jonathan has been published in Berkeley Journal of Sociology, The Sociological Quarterly, and contributed chapters to We Are Many (AK Press, 2012) and Beautiful Trouble (O/R Books, 2012).
Praise for Hegemony How-To: "A powerful, rigorous, and clear-eyed
guide to building social justice movements." --Publishers Weekly
"Smucker brings hard-won wisdom, theoretical heft, and a welcoming
style to this book, helping us think through the most important
question of our time: how do we build enough collective power to
not only demand a better world, but actually create one?" --Naomi
Klein, author of This Changes Everything and The Shock Doctrine "As
the world faces the horrors of a Trump presidency, many good people
are asking, 'What can I do?' Jonathan Smucker's book provides an
urgent field manual for answering that question. Drawing on twenty
years of grassroots organizing experience, Smucker has written a
modern version of Saul Alinsky's classic, Rules for Radicals. By
bypassing the vapid debate over who to vote for in a system that
offers only two choices, Smucker focuses on the need for a
dedicated commitment to social change that begins in each of our
own backyards. He deftly weaves together ideas for tactical
organizing with personal stories of their real life application. We
live in a time of endless wars and a government rigged to serve
only the few -- fueled by both Democrats and Republicans. Smucker
challenges us to think big and to carefully embrace a form of
collectivism that, if taken seriously, could well change the
world." --Jeremy Scahill, author of the international bestsellers
Blackwater and Dirty Wars "Jonathan Smucker asks the important
question: How can the movements on which we rely in our pursuit of
a more just and democratic world be sustained and enlarged over
time? And he engages us because he writes so well, and because he
draws in part on his own fascinating biography in his search for
answers. Most valuable to me, Smucker insists on regarding
movements not only as expressions of collective anguish or desire,
but as strategic interventions aimed at changing the world."
--Frances Fox Piven, author of Challenging Authority and Poor
People's Movements "One of the most creative organizers in the
country has eloquently articulated the next generation's Rules for
Radicals. A must read!" --Sally Kohn, political commentator at CNN
"If Bernie Sanders' 2016 campaign showed anything, it's a broad
appetite for deep change. But turning that hope into effective
action will require thinking about social movements and how they
work (and don't). There's much grist for the organizer's mill in
these pages." --Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy "Hegemony
How-To challenges the Left to fight to win. After years of being on
the defensive, much of the Left has accepted that little can be
done other than awaiting a spontaneous eruption. Smucker suggests
that there is a pro-active role, but it depends on the Left getting
outside of its comfort zones and fox holes and, instead, deepening
itself among the dispossessed. This book is as compelling as it is
insightful. I thought that I could skim it but instead I read it
page by page and loved it." --Bill Fletcher, Jr., talk show host
and author of Solidarity Divided "Principles + Pragmatic Organizing
= People Power. That's the pithiest summation of Jonathan Smucker's
argument -- but he's quick to show that radicals too often
fetishize principle, disdain pragmatism, and eschew real power, and
so never really change anything. Smucker wants to actively heal
society; if that's you, too, study this fantastic book." --Ian
Haney López, author of Dog Whistle Politics "Jonathan Smucker
grapples in a deeply theoretical and also practical way with the
question of how power is exercised in American society -- and why
movements must take questions of state power much more seriously.
Thoroughly grounded in modern political theory, and rooted in years
of work in radical grassroots movements, Smucker's book is a
critical contribution to the debate about how recent social
upsurges like Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter can
translate their movement energy into political power that will
produce enduring social change." --Bob Master, Legislative &
Political Director, District One, Communications Workers of America
"In Hegemony-How To, Jonathan Smucker gives a powerful and personal
account of how the radical left often undermines its own political
aims. But rather than just offering a critique, Smucker also
recommends practical and constructive ways forward. The book
reminds us that movements for change must meet the social world
where it is, while also avoiding insularity and
self-marginalization. Written in an elegant, engaging style,
Smucker's book is a must-read for all those seeking progress in our
troubled world today." --Erica Chenoweth, co-author of Why Civil
Resistance Works "Jonathan Smucker is one of the most insightful
strategists and communicators in progressive politics today. In
Hegemony How-To, he pushes us to challenge our assumptions about
what it takes to win and warns us against the pitfalls that limit
the potential of our movements. Smucker's approach to movement
building will help us refocus on what it takes to win big. Mixing
his own personal experience with political theory and study of
social movements, he has given us a book we can nerd out with, take
practical pointers from, and carry with us into the struggle."
--Scott Roberts, Senior Campaign Director at Color of Change "At
least 60% of the American people consistently favor progressive
solutions to our current crisis. Yet we have almost no influence on
policy. Jonathan Smucker bravely combines his decades of organizing
experience with profound philosophical and psychological
reflections to help us understand what needs to be done to attain
political power and transform society. Here are practical
suggestions on how we build a mass movement to replace the dominant
and debilitating individualism of the last 40 years with the
"common sense" of social solidarity. And Smucker's inside view of
Occupy Wall Street is absolutely not to be missed. Aspiring
change-makers please take note." --Mark Rudd, author of
Underground: My Life with SDS and the Weathermen "Smucker's
theoretically informed and passionate discussion of leaderlessness
will pave the way for a new understanding and practice of
organization. This insider's critique will also incite scholars
touched by poststructuralism to rethink their strong suspicion of
collective power." --Cihan Tugal, author of Passive Revolution
"Hegemony is a big word. Making revolutionary change is an even
bigger task. Hegemony How-To doesn't cower from hard work. By
grappling with big ideas in a rigorous and historical way, Jonathan
Smucker pushes the next Left to take itself seriously, to combine
action with theoretical clarity, and to build movements powerful
enough to change the world." --Steve Williams, co-author of Towards
Land, Work & Power "Hegemony How-To is a homage to our ancestors
and the path they have walked in the struggle for racial justice,
peace, and Native sovereignty... His insights will be a guide for
generations who follow that path. Hawwih!" --Judith LeBlanc, member
of the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, Director of Native Organizers
Alliance "Smucker shows how we might turn popular disaffection into
a powerful force for change. This book is desperately needed."
"--Astra Taylor, director of Zizek! and Examined Life "Jonathan
Smucker is a critical voice within an important emerging political
project whose aim is to move the next Left generation from symbolic
and often self-marginalizing strategies toward approaches that can
lead to effective main-stage intervention."--Max Elbaum, author of
Revolution in the Air "If Saul Alinsky and Antonio Gramsci somehow
had a bastard lovechild, he might be named Jonathan Smucker.... He
has trained thousands of grassroots activists in campaign strategy
concepts and leadership skills, and now he's finally breaking it
all down in a book that wrestles with moral, strategic, and
practical questions about power."--Andrew Boyd, co-editor of
Beautiful Trouble: A Toolbox for Revolution. "This is a valuable
book for organizers for exactly this moment, when we need hope for
the way ahead. Smucker provides so many important insights."
--Heather Booth, founding Director and President of the Midwest
Academy
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