Rules for Revolutionaries: How Big Organizing Can Change Everything by Becky Bond, Zack Exley

Rules for Revolutionaries: How Big Organizing Can Change Everything by Becky Bond is a book that offers a comprehensive look at how big organizing revolutionizes campaigns and other grassroots organizations across the country.

In Rules for Revolutionaries, Becky Bond and Zack Exley, two long-time grassroots organizers and movement strategists, explain how big organizing is making a difference in today’s social movements and campaigns. Using lessons from the Obama campaign and other high-profile organizations, they demonstrate how to manage a successful big organizing effort. The book reveals how to harness the power of technology, how to craft effective messages that mobilize people, and how to make it easier for participants to take meaningful actions.

The authors show readers how to cultivate an organization that is both effective and replicable, that can scale up with increasing efficiency. They provide insight into the organizing process from start to finish, from determining what issues to focus on to setting goals, to crafting messages and organizing tactics, to managing people and evaluating outcomes.

The book is written in a friendly and personable style, and it contains a lot of specific and tangible advice that activists, organizers, and social justice advocates can put into practice. Bond and Exley provide details on what goals to set and how to measure success, when and how to use technology, and how to create an empowering environment for organizers and activists.


The authors also offer ways to train people in big organizing and use data to assess success. They show how to engage volunteers and adapt strategies to changing conditions, and provide multiple examples of successful campaigns. Aspiring organizers and campaign managers will find this book an invaluable resource.

Throughout the book, Bond and Exley share stories and anecdotes from their own experiences, making the book an inspiring read. Moreover, the authors emphasize the importance of diversity and inclusion, and address the need for ethical organizing practices.

The book is an excellent resource for anyone interested in social movements, campaigns, and grassroots organizing. It gives readers a detailed and comprehensive outlook on big organizing and shows how to utilize it in order to create social change. Bond and Exley’s approach of combining a big-picture perspective with tips and tactics is sure to help anyone interested in making a difference in their community or the world.