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I would encourage people to look around them in their community and find an organization that is doing something that they believe in, even if that organization has only five people, or ten people, or twenty people, or a hundred people. And to look at history and understand that when change takes place it takes place as a result of large, large numbers of people doing little things unbeknownst to one another. And that history is very important for people to not get discouraged. Because if you look at history you see the way the labor movement was able to achieve things when it stuck to its guns, when it organized, when it resisted. Black people were able to change their condition when they fought back and when they organized. Same thing with the movement against the war in Vietnam, and the women's movement. History is instructive. And what it suggests to people is that even if they do little things, if they walk on the picket line, if they join a vigil, if they write a letter to their local newspaper. Anything they do, however small, becomes part of a much, much larger sort of flow of energy. And when enough people do enough things, however small they are, then change takes place.

Howard Zinn#15

HistoryActivismCommunitySocial change

About this quote

What does it mean?
Small local groups matter because historical change often comes from many people doing small actions together. Studying past movements shows that organized resistance leads to real progress.
In plain terms
Find a small local group you believe in and remember that history shows big change happens when many people organize.
What can you take from it?
Join a local group and study past movements to stay motivated.

Where it applies

  • feeling discouraged about progress
  • looking for ways to help
  • studying social movements

Putting it to work

  • find a local organization
  • read labor history
  • organize neighbors

Questions to consider

  • What local cause aligns with your values?
  • How can small actions add up over time?

Another view

Small groups alone may not achieve major policy changes without broader coalition building.

More from Howard Zinn

  1. The term 'just war' contains an internal contradiction. War is inherently unjust, and the great challenge of our time is how to deal with evil, tyranny, and op…

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  2. Voting is easy and marginally useful, but it is a poor substitute for democracy, which requires direct action by concerned citizens.

    Permalink to quote #16
  3. We need to decide that we will not go to war, whatever reason is conjured up by the politicians or the media, because war in our time is always indiscriminate,…

    Permalink to quote #13

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