An actual field guide for normal people fighting fascism
January 30, 2025 9:30 AM Subscribe
A declassified World War II-era government guide to “simple sabotage” is currently one of the most popular open source books on the internet. The book, called “Simple Sabotage Field Manual,” was declassified in 2008 by the CIA and “describes ways to train normal people to be purposefully annoying telephone operators, dysfunctional train conductors, befuddling middle managers, blundering factory workers, unruly movie theater patrons, and so on. In other words, teaching people to do their jobs badly.”
My favorites are the “general devices for lowering morale and creating confusion,” which include:
- Report imaginary spies or danger to the Gestapo or police.
- Act stupid.
- Be as irritable and quarrelsome as possible without getting yourself into trouble.
- Stop all conversation when axis nationals or quislings enter a cafe.
- Cry and sob hysterically at every occasion, especially when confronted by government clerks.
My favorites are the “general devices for lowering morale and creating confusion,” which include:
- Report imaginary spies or danger to the Gestapo or police.
- Act stupid.
- Be as irritable and quarrelsome as possible without getting yourself into trouble.
- Stop all conversation when axis nationals or quislings enter a cafe.
- Cry and sob hysterically at every occasion, especially when confronted by government clerks.
Although a different book for a different fight (protecting old growth trees from clear cutting), the Earth First Direct Action Manual also has some interesting ideas.
posted by ensign_ricky at 9:49 AM on January 30 [11 favorites]
posted by ensign_ricky at 9:49 AM on January 30 [11 favorites]
Jokes on them, I don't need a guide to do my job badly
posted by gc at 9:52 AM on January 30 [59 favorites]
posted by gc at 9:52 AM on January 30 [59 favorites]
train normal people to be purposefully annoying telephone operators, dysfunctional train conductors, befuddling middle managers, blundering factory workers, unruly movie theater patrons, and so on. In other words, teaching people to do their jobs badly
Isn't that just Project 2025?
posted by flabdablet at 9:54 AM on January 30 [7 favorites]
Isn't that just Project 2025?
posted by flabdablet at 9:54 AM on January 30 [7 favorites]
Hang on a second.
From the book:
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:54 AM on January 30 [33 favorites]
From the book:
“Make ‘speeches.’ Talk as frequently as possible and at great length. Illustrate your ‘points’ by long anecdotes and accounts of personal experiences. Never hesitate to make a few appropriate ‘patriotic’ comments.”Is there a chance the GOP used this as a playbook for the Trump administration?
“Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible.”
“To lower morale and with it, production, be pleasant to inefficient workers; give them undeserved promotions. Discriminate against efficient workers; complain unjustly about their work.”
“Hold conferences when there is more critical work to be done.”
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:54 AM on January 30 [33 favorites]
I think sharing resources like this is fine and empowering for people that need clear, concise actions to take.
...But I do wonder what 80 years has done to the casual fascist. Especially for a young, angry, anti-social male population that has been raised on quick triggers for NPCs. I suspect the guide that comes from this generation will be more subtle. Just a guess.
posted by Reasonably Everything Happens at 9:57 AM on January 30 [2 favorites]
...But I do wonder what 80 years has done to the casual fascist. Especially for a young, angry, anti-social male population that has been raised on quick triggers for NPCs. I suspect the guide that comes from this generation will be more subtle. Just a guess.
posted by Reasonably Everything Happens at 9:57 AM on January 30 [2 favorites]
I'll be honest, I've always wondered whether this guide was more of a CIA inside joke than anything used in earnest.
posted by BungaDunga at 10:07 AM on January 30 [11 favorites]
posted by BungaDunga at 10:07 AM on January 30 [11 favorites]
- Cry and sob hysterically at every occasion, especially when confronted by government clerks.
Well, I do have to renew my driver's license in a couple weeks....
posted by mittens at 10:10 AM on January 30 [12 favorites]
Well, I do have to renew my driver's license in a couple weeks....
posted by mittens at 10:10 AM on January 30 [12 favorites]
I've been a fan of the SSFM and had it bookmarked for years now (since Chump I). Pro-tip: now that Chump's FCC has eliminated net neutrality, there's a fair chance that at some point online access to it will be blocked/removed or otherwise made difficult to find, so download it if you're interested.
posted by Pedantzilla at 10:14 AM on January 30 [7 favorites]
posted by Pedantzilla at 10:14 AM on January 30 [7 favorites]
Bungalow Dunga > I've always wondered whether this guide was more of a CIA inside joke than anything used in earnest
I don’t know about any of you, but no way in hell I’m associating my IP address with a download of it now.
Things done changed.
posted by Lemkin at 10:17 AM on January 30 [4 favorites]
I don’t know about any of you, but no way in hell I’m associating my IP address with a download of it now.
Things done changed.
posted by Lemkin at 10:17 AM on January 30 [4 favorites]
It was absolutely not a joke.
Months before the Allied invasion, 85 OSS officers, enlisted men, and civilians worked behind enemy lines in France as part of the SO/SOE effort to build secret circuits among the maquis that would serve as nuclei for an eventual uprising of Resistance at the time of the invasion.121 In the first six months of 1944, Resistance groups connected with the Allied agents sabotaged more than 100 factories producing war materials for the Germans, cut power lines, several railroad tracks, disabled more than a thousand locomotives and fomented strikes in coal mines.
OSS in Action The Mediterranean and European Theaters [from the National Park Service website]
Secret Agents, Secret Armies: The Short Happy Life of the OSS
posted by kitcat at 10:27 AM on January 30 [9 favorites]
Months before the Allied invasion, 85 OSS officers, enlisted men, and civilians worked behind enemy lines in France as part of the SO/SOE effort to build secret circuits among the maquis that would serve as nuclei for an eventual uprising of Resistance at the time of the invasion.121 In the first six months of 1944, Resistance groups connected with the Allied agents sabotaged more than 100 factories producing war materials for the Germans, cut power lines, several railroad tracks, disabled more than a thousand locomotives and fomented strikes in coal mines.
OSS in Action The Mediterranean and European Theaters [from the National Park Service website]
Secret Agents, Secret Armies: The Short Happy Life of the OSS
posted by kitcat at 10:27 AM on January 30 [9 favorites]
4. Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible.
5. Haggle over precise wordings of communications, minutes, resolutions.
6. Refer back to matters decided upon at the last meeting and attempt to re-open the question of the advisability of that decision.
It can also be used as a guide for participating in MetaTalk.
posted by box at 10:29 AM on January 30 [40 favorites]
5. Haggle over precise wordings of communications, minutes, resolutions.
6. Refer back to matters decided upon at the last meeting and attempt to re-open the question of the advisability of that decision.
It can also be used as a guide for participating in MetaTalk.
posted by box at 10:29 AM on January 30 [40 favorites]
“Unruly movie theater patrons” not so much.
Probably depends on the movie. Unruly patrons in The Brutalist wouldn't do anything, but in Yay America 2: Electric Boogaloo or something jingoistic? Sure.
And I wouldn't be surprised if there are a couple instances of people planning "demonstrations" in screenings of The Apprentice coming up.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:36 AM on January 30 [1 favorite]
Probably depends on the movie. Unruly patrons in The Brutalist wouldn't do anything, but in Yay America 2: Electric Boogaloo or something jingoistic? Sure.
And I wouldn't be surprised if there are a couple instances of people planning "demonstrations" in screenings of The Apprentice coming up.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:36 AM on January 30 [1 favorite]
Cry and sob hysterically at every occasion, especially when confronted by government clerks.
Done and done!
Be as irritable and quarrelsome as possible without getting yourself into trouble
Fifty-seven years of practice. I anticipate no problems.
posted by scratch at 10:36 AM on January 30 [16 favorites]
Done and done!
Be as irritable and quarrelsome as possible without getting yourself into trouble
Fifty-seven years of practice. I anticipate no problems.
posted by scratch at 10:36 AM on January 30 [16 favorites]
DO follow this advice when ICE comes to your place of business or you are asked to terminate funding to services that benefit women, LQBTQ, or minorities.
DON'T follow this advice when interacting with federal workers e.g. at the post office or county clerk's office, or medical staff at the doctor's office, already under enormous pressure to quit and be replaced by toadies and cronies.
Be kind to the Federal workers and health care workers who are holding the line against Trumpism.
posted by subdee at 10:41 AM on January 30 [44 favorites]
DON'T follow this advice when interacting with federal workers e.g. at the post office or county clerk's office, or medical staff at the doctor's office, already under enormous pressure to quit and be replaced by toadies and cronies.
Be kind to the Federal workers and health care workers who are holding the line against Trumpism.
posted by subdee at 10:41 AM on January 30 [44 favorites]
Is there a chance the GOP used this as a playbook for the Trump administration?
I don't know but I've decided my workplace is actually at the vanguard of resistance.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 10:44 AM on January 30 [5 favorites]
I don't know but I've decided my workplace is actually at the vanguard of resistance.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 10:44 AM on January 30 [5 favorites]
Might I also suggest From Dictatorship to Democracy.
posted by Agent_X_ at 11:01 AM on January 30 [9 favorites]
posted by Agent_X_ at 11:01 AM on January 30 [9 favorites]
I've been watching "What We Do in the Shadows" lately, the TV show (which is great), and all of this is just Colin Robinson's general playbook. Energy vampires are a defense against fascism, who knew?
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 11:03 AM on January 30 [14 favorites]
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 11:03 AM on January 30 [14 favorites]
These techniques date back to well before WWII. In addition to literal sabot-age, the IWW and other union organisers taught similar methods to workers who weren't able to strike.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 11:47 AM on January 30 [6 favorites]
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 11:47 AM on January 30 [6 favorites]
I don’t know about any of you, but no way in hell I’m associating my IP address with a download of it now.
if this is a genuine worry and not a bit, get familiar with vpns.
posted by Sebmojo at 12:04 PM on January 30 [7 favorites]
if this is a genuine worry and not a bit, get familiar with vpns.
posted by Sebmojo at 12:04 PM on January 30 [7 favorites]
Citroën found a subtle way to sabotage Nazi truck production: change the markings on the dipsticks so they would run low on oil and fail more quickly.
posted by autopilot at 12:12 PM on January 30 [26 favorites]
posted by autopilot at 12:12 PM on January 30 [26 favorites]
4. Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible.
5. Haggle over precise wordings of communications, minutes, resolutions.
6. Refer back to matters decided upon at the last meeting and attempt to re-open the question of the advisability of that decision.
Pretty sure Atlassian JIRA has prior IP on this. Let me check.
posted by JoeZydeco at 1:32 PM on January 30 [6 favorites]
5. Haggle over precise wordings of communications, minutes, resolutions.
6. Refer back to matters decided upon at the last meeting and attempt to re-open the question of the advisability of that decision.
Pretty sure Atlassian JIRA has prior IP on this. Let me check.
posted by JoeZydeco at 1:32 PM on January 30 [6 favorites]
...It has just occurred to me that a secret, evil aim of the return to office order and pressure on workers who would have difficulty returning to the office to quit (with easy form resignation letter to take effect 8 months from now) is that the general public doesn't interact with these federal workers.
So it won't raise alarm when for example, the entire post office staff or county clerk staff you normally interact with is different. For people paying 0 attention (Trump's core base) they won't directly see that a large portion of the federal workforce has been replaced by cronies and they'll just be confirmed in their suspicions that the government was always terrible as everything gradually starts working less well.
And then they will say well this is why we need privatization of government services, of course.
On that vein, that letter from the airline pilot sounding the alarm about San Carlos airport having no one staffing the air traffic control tower as of Feb 1st because during Trump's first admin he privatized air traffic controlling and the company that won the contract is choosing not to staff the tower is worth its own post on here separate from the one about the recent tragedy in DC.
posted by subdee at 1:59 PM on January 30 [9 favorites]
So it won't raise alarm when for example, the entire post office staff or county clerk staff you normally interact with is different. For people paying 0 attention (Trump's core base) they won't directly see that a large portion of the federal workforce has been replaced by cronies and they'll just be confirmed in their suspicions that the government was always terrible as everything gradually starts working less well.
And then they will say well this is why we need privatization of government services, of course.
On that vein, that letter from the airline pilot sounding the alarm about San Carlos airport having no one staffing the air traffic control tower as of Feb 1st because during Trump's first admin he privatized air traffic controlling and the company that won the contract is choosing not to staff the tower is worth its own post on here separate from the one about the recent tragedy in DC.
posted by subdee at 1:59 PM on January 30 [9 favorites]
“Make ‘speeches.’ Talk as frequently as possible and at great length. Illustrate your ‘points’ by long anecdotes and accounts of personal experiences. Never hesitate to make a few appropriate ‘patriotic’ comments.”
“Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible.”
“To lower morale and with it, production, be pleasant to inefficient workers; give them undeserved promotions. Discriminate against efficient workers; complain unjustly about their work.”
“Hold conferences when there is more critical work to be done.”
This is just modern office culture. Have they been fighting nazis this whole time?
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 2:32 PM on January 30 [8 favorites]
“Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible.”
“To lower morale and with it, production, be pleasant to inefficient workers; give them undeserved promotions. Discriminate against efficient workers; complain unjustly about their work.”
“Hold conferences when there is more critical work to be done.”
This is just modern office culture. Have they been fighting nazis this whole time?
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 2:32 PM on January 30 [8 favorites]
In 2015 during the before times, I previously posted "Toxic Workspace or CIA Sabotage?" about the same CIA document (on cia.gov).
Times have changed since then.
posted by ShooBoo at 2:54 PM on January 30 [9 favorites]
Times have changed since then.
posted by ShooBoo at 2:54 PM on January 30 [9 favorites]
“Make ‘speeches.’ Talk as frequently as possible and at great length. Illustrate your ‘points’ by long anecdotes and accounts of personal experiences. Never hesitate to make a few appropriate ‘patriotic’ comments.”
“Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible.”
"We can't bust heads like we used to, but we have our ways. One trick is to tell 'em stories that don't go anywhere - like the time I caught the ferry over to Shelbyville. I needed a new heel for my shoe, so, I decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on 'em. Give me five bees for a quarter, you'd say. Ah, there's an interesting story behind that nickel. In 1957, I remember it was, I got up in the morning and made myself a piece of toast. I set the toaster to three: medium brown.Now where were we? Oh yeah: the important thing was I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. They didn't have white onions because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones..."
—Abe Simpson, pro-union saboteur?
posted by PlusDistance at 4:52 PM on January 30 [11 favorites]
“Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible.”
"We can't bust heads like we used to, but we have our ways. One trick is to tell 'em stories that don't go anywhere - like the time I caught the ferry over to Shelbyville. I needed a new heel for my shoe, so, I decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on 'em. Give me five bees for a quarter, you'd say. Ah, there's an interesting story behind that nickel. In 1957, I remember it was, I got up in the morning and made myself a piece of toast. I set the toaster to three: medium brown.Now where were we? Oh yeah: the important thing was I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. They didn't have white onions because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones..."
—Abe Simpson, pro-union saboteur?
posted by PlusDistance at 4:52 PM on January 30 [11 favorites]
unruly movie theater patrons,
I didn't realize Inglorious Bastards was based on a true story.
posted by Reyturner at 6:22 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]
I didn't realize Inglorious Bastards was based on a true story.
posted by Reyturner at 6:22 PM on January 30 [2 favorites]
"Toxic Workspace or CIA Sabotage" link for Shooboo's comment
Yeah, that rings a loud bell for me, and friends, I don't know what to think
posted by JoeXIII007 at 7:27 PM on January 30 [4 favorites]
Yeah, that rings a loud bell for me, and friends, I don't know what to think
posted by JoeXIII007 at 7:27 PM on January 30 [4 favorites]
> I don’t know about any of you, but no way in hell I’m associating my IP address with a download of it now.
Do the ultimate obfuscation of your download...get all of Project Gutenberg as a ZIM file (and get Wikipedia while you're at it). kiwix.org has the links and the software for you.
Seriously, resources like this already are or soon will be under attack. Wikipedia is already being undermined by the right and corrupted by AI. Having a local copy you can share with friends and family might not be a bad idea.
posted by lhauser at 8:17 PM on January 30 [4 favorites]
Do the ultimate obfuscation of your download...get all of Project Gutenberg as a ZIM file (and get Wikipedia while you're at it). kiwix.org has the links and the software for you.
Seriously, resources like this already are or soon will be under attack. Wikipedia is already being undermined by the right and corrupted by AI. Having a local copy you can share with friends and family might not be a bad idea.
posted by lhauser at 8:17 PM on January 30 [4 favorites]
Being afraid to download a PDF is paranoid at this juncture and in the same general ballpark as obeying in advance. We need as many people as possible to be as loudly anti fascist as possible and show that they can't do much about it.
posted by subdee at 4:29 AM on January 31 [5 favorites]
posted by subdee at 4:29 AM on January 31 [5 favorites]
There's no need to download it; the full text is posted on Project Gutenberg.
posted by kitcat at 6:40 AM on January 31 [2 favorites]
posted by kitcat at 6:40 AM on January 31 [2 favorites]
I missed lhauser's comment above. I mean, maybe there is a need to download stuff. But if you just want to look at the text online today, you can.
posted by kitcat at 6:41 AM on January 31 [1 favorite]
posted by kitcat at 6:41 AM on January 31 [1 favorite]
could get was those big yellow ones..."
—Abe Simpson, pro-union saboteur?
thank you, thank you for this I mean thats a flag as fantastic and it should be but it's perfect.
only a pastiche shall do it justice.
"Al-Von, ya gots ya fight, it's yet got-given Dooty!
posted by clavdivs at 5:49 PM on January 31
—Abe Simpson, pro-union saboteur?
thank you, thank you for this I mean thats a flag as fantastic and it should be but it's perfect.
only a pastiche shall do it justice.
"Al-Von, ya gots ya fight, it's yet got-given Dooty!
posted by clavdivs at 5:49 PM on January 31
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“Unruly movie theater patrons” not so much.
posted by Lemkin at 9:47 AM on January 30 [8 favorites]