How you recruit followers and gain support all depends on the type of organization you wish to start. Adolf Hitler was successful because he offered the promise of a stable and functional government during a time of near anarchy. Germany was in complete chaos, and Hitler made promises of stability, work and food for everyone, and most of all he catered to Germany's bruised ego. They had just been beaten quite badly in WWI and to top it all off all kinds of economic sanctions were made against Germany. Hitler promised that wouldn't happen again. He also won support by demonizing a minority. The Jews provided a target for Germany's people's aggression. Al Capone was successful because he perpetrated the idea that he was just a simple working class friend of the people who could also get results. He provided for and ensured the safety of those under his control, winning the support of the very people he was extorting. And I'm not trying to kick up any shit, but L. Ron Hubbard was successful because his religion was specifically tailored to the downtrodden masses. Scientology is a religion for the lower class, people who often times feel unappreciated for what they do. You don't see many upper-class rich folks following the belief that if you live your life doing what you think you should then you gain control over your own destiny.
To recruit, you need a specific target such as a class of people, a certain race, religion, whatever. What you offer has to be exactly what they want.
Once you get a core of very dedicated core followers, the masses of fringe followers will come. And the most important rule of attracting followers is you have to provide results. Say your a revolutionary organization intent on overthrowing the American government. If you want a following you will have to make major steps in harming the government. Once you have proven that you are willing and capable, followers will come by the boatloads. A modern example is Al Qaeda. Do you think that they would be very successful at all if they weren't able to scare us? They infiltrate the people claiming us to be an enemy to the people. Then the use our fear as an example of their results. The very people are rallying around Al Qaeda, being told that we are the evil oppressors and that they are the righteous liberators.
To sum it up, the type of people that you should target depends on the situation and the type of results you want. Al you really need to offer is promises, then results. Offering money and power is useless if your an ineffective leader. You prove that you can do what you claim and people will rally around you and bring their friends.
|