Anti-fascist Friday - How to sabotage your workplace, part one

With the rise of fascism across the United States, it’s time to revisit the Simple Sabotage Field Manual, a book that everyone should become very well acquainted with.

The Office of Strategic Services, a precursor to the CIA, first published and distributed the sabotage manual in 1944. Its purpose is to teach the average civilian how to slow down an overbearing and genocidal government.

So here we are!

The section published here gives tips on how to do general interference with organizations or conferences. Turns out, the worst co-worker you know has secretly been an anti-fascist all along:

• Insist on doing everything through “channels.” Never permit short-cuts to be taken in order to expedite decisions
• 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.
• When possible, refer all amatters to committees for further study and consideration.” Attempt to make the committees as large as possible – never less than five.
• Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible.
• Haggle over precise wordings of communications, minutes, resolutions.
• Refer back to matters decided upon at the last meeting and attempt to re-open the questions of the advisability of that decision.
• Refer back to matters decided upon at the last meeting and attempt to re-open the question of the advisability of that decision.
• Advocate “caution.” Be “reasonable” and urge your fellow-conferees to be “reasonable” and avoid haste which might result in embarassments or difficulties later on.
• Be worried about the propriety of any decision – raise the question of whether such action as is contemplated lies within the jurisdiction of the group or whether it might conflict with the policy of some high echelon.

Next week, I’ll show managers and supervisors how they too, can be anti-fascist.