Tips for Organizing at the Big Rally

Here are some organizing rules of thumb. They may be useful in many circumstances, but in this article, I will focus on multi-issue or Democratic Party-led protests. The “Hands-Off” protest or the Sanders/AOC revival meetings are so useful to the Democrats that they are not about to go away.

No matter our focus, our strategic goal should be to build opposition movements. These methods and rules of thumb will help us engage a larger audience regardless of the setting.

Two considerations at the outset: Organizers often work at cross purposes to official leadership. What follows is an exercise in the “workaround.” I know from my own experience that workarounds become necessary when the “leaders” are beyond repair and most successful when we have a base we can relate to.  The second is this: never underestimate the power of the Democrats and their array of loyal institutions to absorb and divert dissenting activity into safe channels that perpetuate the system.

That said, here are some organizing methods that can help you stay on the straight and narrow path to building a true opposition movement.

Plan the Work and Work the Plan 

An action plan must link goals to resources and capacity. If you do not do this, your strategy will be nothing more than a “wish list. This is where most strategic planning fails. Make-believe is very big right now with loyalists, but we cannot afford to be driven by the desire for redemption or other warm feelings. If you don’t have adequate resources, then your plan should be to get them. 

Know yourself and your organization/team, and don’t bite off more than you can chew. Focus. There will be well-meaning people among us who want to lash out in ten directions at once or push today’s hot button. This may work for short-term agitation, but it will not necessarily lead to long-term organizing. Avoid the tendency to be strictly reactive.

Initial plans almost never survive contact with the millions (or the enemy), so you must have a high tolerance for failure and frustration. Sorry, but we call it the struggle for good reason. But, planning the work and working the plan starts you from the best possible position.

Both/And not Either/Or

Tactics and strategies do change, sometimes quickly. I generally use a “both/and” rather than an “either/or” approach to tactics, otherwise known as tactical diversity. If you don’t want to touch demonstrations like Hands Off, I can’t say as I blame you. There are plenty of other opportunities — just dig in somewhere else. Join the ICE resistance, mutual aid,  rank and file caucuses in your union, Stop Cop City, or military counter-recruitment with the kids — just to mention a few. 

What does an opposition movement do when faced with an irredeemably corrupt electoral system? Boycott or engage? Both/And. Hands-off, and the Sanders revival are GOTV operations designed, like the electoral system itself, to redirect dissent into harmless partisan channels. Still, we should free ourselves to boycott or engage as our capacity and inclinations tell us.

We should not get lost in internal debates about what to do—the opposition is small, and our own limits are usually the deciding factor. Be wary of “analysis paralysis.” If your group has ten good ideas, quickly whittle the list down to three, then choose one. One well-executed idea (even if it’s far from perfect) is worth ten that never get beyond the wish list phase.  

Remember: The most influential organizers help people identify what matters most to them and then assist them in taking action.

Assessment Comes First

Organizing begins with assessment. We can loosely apply the rule of thirds. The rule of thirds is usually accurate in union drives but less so in other settings. Still, accept that most of the protestors at a Democrat-led event are not ready to hear you — the pro-war movement has kept them in line. But about a third may be. Same with Republicans, by the way. We can find people ready for a broader perspective, but it takes direct engagement. 

There is simply no way to engage contemporary political behavior without recognizing just how deep partisan loyalty runs—deeper than principles or ideas, I am afraid. My assessment is that most people allow the ruling class, its ruling parties, and their media allies to organize their political consciousness.

There is one partial but huge exception to this, but we are unlikely to find them at a Hands-Off rally or Sanders revival. Over 80 million eligible voters did not vote in 2024, giving “none of the above” a landslide victory. Approximately 7 million who previously voted for Democrats stayed home, many because of war crimes in Gaza or economic issues. These people made an important first step, and we should be helping them make another. The challenge: their behavior is still governed by ideas about “reality” that prop up the existing order — namely, that the ruling parties are sacrosanct.  

We should reject the idea that these people are irrational or apathetic. They are far more rational than loyalists and lesser evil voters. A significant proportion have lost faith in the electoral system — who could blame them? A larger, more active peace movement would be a possible vehicle for reaching this crucial group. 

The ‘Ask” and a Positive Program.

No organizing encounter is complete without the “ask.” The classic ask is for joining the union, but there are other asks for movement building outside the workplace. We cannot have an ask unless we have a project, so a positive program embodied in a project is essential. 

We will need an organizing instrument. Pass out a flier calling people to a peace demonstration, a petition for a ceasefire in Palestine, a BDS-style pledge card to boycott corporations involved in genocide, or even a “people’s survey” with a few key questions.  Don’t mistake the real action here: whatever you think about boycotts, protests, or petitions is beside the point. We need organizing instruments to structure our encounters, although it’s hard to argue with a simple banner drop sometimes.

Ask people to sign your pledge card and listen to their responses—they will reveal themselves. Then, you will know whether to back off and move on or continue the conversation. 

Listening is the single best organizing technique. Then, inform people of your ideas and projects with an ask, but remember, organizing is not a debate. Our time is precious; leave the hard cases for later. 

This process gets easier after just 10 or 20 encounters. What you learn — for better or worse — is that there is a very limited universe of discourse. Between the assumption baked into the dominant culture and the steady stream of propaganda, most people say the same few things over and over. You will quickly learn to respond. 

Fighting War and Austerity 

We know that there is a significant pro-war tendency among loyal Democrats and the Hands Off leaders. Still, the moral imperative of stopping genocide and the crucial strategic role of the peace movement leave us no choice but to lead with this issue.

Even the considerable pushback on Trump’s austerity attacks, while good and necessary, too often encourages a limited vision. We cannot win the long struggle against austerity without taking on the institutions of corporate power, which include the Democrats. They want to replace the big story—half a century of austerity that redistributed 79 trillion from the poor and the rich—with the defense of the substandard social programs we currently have and an attack on the oligarchy they imply just sprang fully formed from the head of Trump. 

Pass out a flyer based on the recent RAND report and see how workers react. 79 trillion is a shocker since their unions rarely talk about institutional austerity, but it might be the shock treatment they need. When Shawn Fein spoke at the DNC, he invited workers to a world of make-believe where the Democratic Party champions the working class. Instead, we have to focus on the historical, institutional, and structural causes of austerity. If we do, we will help workers see that class solidarity is a far better idea than partisan loyalty.

To Raise an Army

The main goal at this point is to find other activists willing to join in building an opposition. Sorry for the logging metaphor, but cut the trees closest to the road; don’t trek over peaks and valleys. We need to raise an army of activists. Be vigilant and never forget the hard reality: Democrats specialize in disarming activists. If you are going to wade in, be prepared. Work in teams, focus on the most important issues and avoid wasting time on the hard cases.

Have courage and thank yourself: Talking to strangers about politics is a revolutionary act.

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