You can download this Guide to Simple Sabotage, created in the 1940’s by the US Government (before they turned all pro-facism)
How to Push Back Against a Corrupt Government
When bad leaders take over, they often try to control people by making life harder—cutting services, spreading fear, and making it difficult to trust others. But ordinary people have power. Even small actions can make a difference when many people do them. Here are some ways to protect yourself and your community.
A WWII-Era Guide to Resistance
During World War II, the U.S. government created a secret booklet called Simple Sabotage. It was written to help ordinary people in enemy-controlled areas quietly disrupt the government without putting themselves in danger. Instead of fighting openly, they were taught to slow things down, make bad leaders less effective, and keep life moving for regular people.
Today, some of the lessons from Simple Sabotage can help people resist a corrupt government in their own country. The goal isn’t destruction—it’s survival. It’s about making life easier for your community while making it harder for bad leaders to control you.
1. Keep Your Community Strong
- Stay connected. Talk to neighbors, family, and friends. A strong community can share food, resources, and support.
- Trade and share. If the government is making it harder to survive, work together. Swap skills, food, and supplies instead of relying on broken systems.
- Create safe spaces. If public places are unsafe, organize meetups in homes, churches, or other private spaces.
2. Be Smarter Than Their Rules
- Know your rights. Learn the laws they might use against you and how to work around them. Carry printed copies of important rights, like how to handle police encounters.
- Stay off their radar. If corrupt leaders are using government systems against people, avoid giving them more information than necessary. Keep important conversations private and be careful about what you post online.
- Use their own rules against them. If they rely on confusing laws, learn them better than they do. Slow them down by demanding exact legal processes, filing appeals, and making them follow their own red tape.
3. Make Their Job Harder (Without Breaking the Law)
- Don’t help them. If the government is hurting people, don’t make their job easier. Follow the rules exactly as written, even if it slows things down.
- Clog up bad systems. If they create unfair programs, overwhelm them with questions, complaints, and requests for help.
- Expose their failures. If their systems don’t work, help people see it. Document problems and share them widely.
4. Build a Life They Can’t Control
- Be less dependent on them. Grow food, learn basic repairs, and keep emergency supplies so you need them less. Cooperate with your neighbors and barter for skills/resources
- Use cash and local businesses. If they track everything through banks and big companies, try to support local stores and trade in ways they can’t monitor.
- Find trusted information. If they spread lies, seek out reliable sources. Support independent journalists and keep printed copies of important facts.
The ideas in Simple Sabotage were designed for a different time, but the core message is the same: When bad leaders take power, good people can still find ways to resist. The more people work together and take small actions, the harder it is for a corrupt system to control them.
Originally, this book taught ordinary people how to slow down enemy governments without using weapons. The goal was to make the enemy’s job harder by causing small problems that added up over time.
If a country were taken over by bad leaders, these same ideas could help regular people resist in quiet ways. Some ways to do this include:
Making the Government Slow and Confusing
- Follow every rule exactly – even when it doesn’t make sense. Ask lots of questions and take a long time to do simple things.
- Hold too many meetings – Make sure decisions take forever by discussing tiny details that don’t matter.
- Lose important papers – If the government depends on files and paperwork, “accidentally” misplacing things can slow them down.
Causing Small Problems at Work and in Daily Life
- Work very slowly – Take longer than usual to finish tasks.
- Make little mistakes – Mess things up just enough that they have to be fixed.
- Mix up orders – If you’re supposed to send supplies somewhere, get them slightly wrong.
Helping People See the Truth
- Share real information – If leaders are lying, help people find out what’s really happening.
- Make leaders argue with each other – If the people in charge don’t trust each other, they won’t work well together.
- Refuse to help bad leaders – If lots of people stop cooperating, the government won’t be able to control everything.
These tricks work best when lots of people do them together. Instead of fighting, they make the government weak by filling it with problems.