Riessman on Alinsky: Again

Frank Riessman has been conducting a vendetta against Saul Alinsky for some time: first an article in Transaction and now one in Dissent (“The Myth of Saul Alinsky,” July—August 1967).

Riessman’s articles are objectionable because he represents them as scholarship although he has made no first-hand study of Alinsky-guided community organizations, has distorted journalistic accounts when to do so has suited his purposes, has selectively chosen available accounts to document his charges, and has offered hearsay as facts.

Beyond the question of Riessman’s evidence, there is the logic of his analysis, for his criticisms of Alinsky in Dissent involve more than the miscellane...