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    Cover of Simple Sabotage Field Manual

    Simple Sabotage Field Manual

    United States. Office of Strategic Services., Sgt Wolf, Stratigic Services, The Director of Strategic Services · 1944

    From the text: This Simple Sabotage Field Manual Strategic Services (Provisional) is published for the information and guidance of all concerned and will be used as the basic doctrine for Strategic Services training for this subject. The contents of this Manual should be carefully controlled and should not be allowed to come into unauthorized hands. The instructions may be placed in separate pamphlets or leaflets according to categories of operations but should be distributed with care and not broadly. They should be used as a basis of radio broadcasts only for local and special cases and as directed by the theater commander.Among the other fine pieces of advice in this handy volume, one is encouraged to "switch address labels on enemy baggage", "let cutting tools grow dull", "forget to provide paper in toilets", and "change sign posts at intersections and forks; the enemy will go the wrong way and it may be miles before he discovers his mistakes."

    Politics & SocietyArts, Games & MediaDesign & UX
    Open LibraryAmazon
    Stats for nerds
    9recommend
    75mentions
    66people
    2010–2026years
    15% recommend85% neutral

    Mentions per year

    201020122014201620182020202220242026

    What Hacker News says

    1. hedoraSep 2026
      You’ll like the Simple Sabotage Field Manual too:

      https://archive.org/details/simplesabotagefi26184gut/page/n1...

      It helped the allies win WWII. It contains lots of good advice (and the white collar chapter should be required reading in corporate training).

      thread
    2. nisegamiAug 2026
      >An objection of conscience is definitely a right you have as a professional, but it's a neutral action, you refuse to do something, and you let someone else do it.

      Correct, and the lessons in the CIA's very own Simple Sabotage Field Manual are still as helpful as when they were written.

      thread
    3. JeremyNTMay 2026
      > These people are going to have a really hard time coming to grips with reality in the next few years. AI is here to stay, and it's expanding very rapidly. If you can't fight them, join them.

      I'm perfectly capable of hating this shit even while my employment situation demands that I use it.

      If you're working somewhere that's pushing this stuff, there's never been a better time to dust off your copy of the "Simple Sabotage Field Manual."

      thread
    4. kmeisthaxMar 2025
      The uniparty is absolutely real, but it can be defeated through the exercise of democratic power. To be clear, I don't mean voting. Voting is the thing you do at the end of the democratic process once your power is asserted and coordinated decision-making needs to be done.

      What you need is political action: organization, protests, strikes, infiltration, and targeted exercises of power. And, most importantly, discussion and coordination, especially among people outside your ideological bubble[0]. This is how you assert your democratic power. Get off social media and make friends[1].

      The uniparty thrives on an antisocial politics where the majority of people don't vote, most of each party's voting support is gimmies[2], and elections are decided by inches. That is, when people show up to vote and then just disappear from political life for the next 2 to 4 years. Ironically, the MAGA hats are better at democratic exercises of power, even though the end goal of their thought leaders is to dissolve democracy.

      You have to keep in mind that if there's two people in the room, Trump is telling them three different contradictory things. The MAGA coalition is stronger than, say, the "everything's fine" DNC one, but it's still full of contradictions that can't be reconciled. Actually listen to what the MAGA hats are saying - instead of getting into apoplectic fits over the dog whistles they spout - and you can start to spot the cleavages.

      Here's some examples of how that could work:

      - Do you have a neighbor that works for the government who got that weird Elon Musk fork offer e-mail? Maybe slip them a copy of the Simple Sabotage Field Manual.

      - Are you in a terrible workplace? Get to know your co-workers. Find time to talk with them when the boss isn't watching. Plan shit.

      - Take any opportunity you can to get to know people who work in service. Economic stratification and the lack of third spaces mean there are precious few opportunities for the "middle class[3]" and the rest of the working class to socialize and co-mingle.

      - If you have family members who have their head in the gaping maw of the MAGA cult, point out the contradictions between what they want and what Trump is doing. Don't try to disprove Trump with facts and logic. Just plant the seed in their minds.

      What you want is to build multiple overlapping coalitions of people who are willing to fight for their democratic rights in whatever way they can.

      [0] This means hold off on the purity tests. Those are for you, not your friends.

      [1] To be clear, I am not ruling out all computer-mediated communication; merely the kind of communication that is designed as a substitute for socialization. This means less political Twitter, Mastodon, or Facebook; and more IRC, SMS, or Discord.

      [2] In game design, gimmies are the portion of your score, tokens, or performance, that must be played for, but can safely be assumed to be taken by one player at the start of the game. This would be the person who's voted D or R all their life no matter who or what is running.

      [3] "Working class but in denial about it"

      thread
    5. brontosaurusrexJan 2023
      Some 'latest' books I actually enjoyed:

      Based on a True Story: (Not) A Memoir (Norm Macdonald - 2016) - Humor

      Deadlines Don’t Care if Janet Doesn’t Like Her Photo (David Thorne - 2021) - Humor (And other books by David Thorne)

      The Man from the Future: The Visionary Life of John von Neumann (Ananyo Bhattacharya - 2022) - Documentary

      Memory Machines - The Evolution of Hypertext (Belinda Barnet) - Kinda about how the web was born and about interesting dead branches

      Simple Sabotage Field Manual - really funny https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/26184

      thread
    6. hedoraJan 2023
      I suggest reading the Simple Sabotage Field Manual; the individual and organizational behaviors you are describing are indistinguishable from those of a skilled saboteur:

      https://archive.org/download/SimpleSabotageFieldManualStrate...

      thread

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