Survivalism

For other uses, see Survivalism (disambiguation).

Survivalism is a commonly used (and often mis-used) term for the preparedness strategy and subculture of individuals or groups anticipating and making preparations for future possible disruptions in local, regional or worldwide social or political order. Survivalists often prepare for this anticipated disruption by learning skills (e.g., emergency medical training), stockpiling food and water, preparing for self-defense and self-sufficiency, and/or building structures that will help them to survive or "disappear" (e.g., a survival retreat or underground shelter).

The specific preparations made by survivalists depend on the nature of the anticipated disruption(s), some of the most common scenarios being:

1. Natural disaster clusters, and patterns of apocalyptic planetary crises or Earth changes, such as Climate Change bringing on tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, blizzards, and severe thunderstorms, etc.
2. A disaster brought about by the activities of mankind: chemical spills, release of radioactive materials, war, or an oppressive government.
3. General collapse of society, resulting from the unavailability of electricity, fuel, food, and water.
4. Monetary disruption or Economic collapse, stemming from monetary manipulation, hyper-inflation or world-wide depression.
5. Widespread chaos, or some other unexplained apocalyptic event.

History

The roots of the modern survivalist movement in the United States and Britain can be traced to several sources, including government policies, threats of nuclear warfare, religious beliefs, writers warning of social or economic collapse, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction and climate change.

A Duck & Cover movie poster

A copy of Survival Under Atomic Attack, a Civil Defense publication

The Cold War era government Civil Defense programs promoted public atomic bomb shelters, personal fallout shelter, and training for children, such as the Duck and Cover films. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has long directed its members to store a year's worth of food for themselves and their families in preparation for such possibilities. Also, the Scout movement lives by the motto: "Be Prepared!"

1960s

With the increasing inflation of the 1960s and the impending US monetary Devaluation (predicted by Harry Browne in his 1970 book How You Can Profit from the Coming Devaluation), as well as the continuing concern with a possible nuclear exchange between the US and the Soviet Union, and the increasing vulnerability of urban centers to supply shortages and other systems failures, a number of primarily conservative and Libertarian thinkers began suggesting that individual preparations would be wise. Browne began offering seminars on how to survive a monetary collapse in 1967, with Don Stephens, an architect, providing input on how to build and equip a remote Survival retreat. He provided a copy of his original Retreater's Bibliography for each seminar participant.

Articles on the subject appeared in such small-distribution Libertarian publications as The Innovator and Atlantis Quarterly. It was also from this period that Robert D. Kephart began publishing Inflation Survival Letter (later renamed Personal Finance). The newsletter included a continuing section on personal preparedness by Stephens for several years. It promoted expensive seminars around the US on the same cautionary topics. Stephens participated, along with James McKeever and other defensive investing, "hard money" advocates.

1970s

In the next decade Howard Ruff also warned about socio-economic collapse in his 1974 book Famine and Survival in America. Ruff's book was published during a period of rampant inflation in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis. Most of the elements of survivalism can be found there, including advice on storage of food. The book also championed the claim that precious metals, such as gold (such as South African Krugerrands) and silver, have an intrinsic worth that makes them more usable in the event of a socioeconomic collapse than fiat currency. Ruff later published milder variations on the same themes, such as How to Prosper During the Coming Bad Years, a best-seller in 1979.

Newsletters and books on the topic of survival followed the publication of Ruff's first book. In 1975, Kurt Saxon began publishing a tabloid-size newsletter called The Survivor, which combined Saxon's editorials with reprints of 19th century and early 20th century writings on various pioneer skills and old technologies. Kurt Saxon used the term "survivalist" to describe the movement, and he claims to have coined the term.

In the previous decade, preparedness consultant, survival bookseller and author Don Stephens from California, had popularized the term "retreater" to describe those in the movement, referring to preparations to leave the cities for a remote place of haven or survival retreat when/if society breaks down. In 1976, before moving to the Inland Northwest, he and his wife authored and published The Survivor's Primer & Up-dated Retreater's Bibliography.

For a time in the 1970s, the terms "survivalist" and "retreater" were used interchangeably. While the term "retreater" eventually "fell below the public radar", many who subscribed to it saw "retreating" as the more rational, conflict-avoidance, remote "invisibility" approach. "Survivalism", on the other hand, tended to take on a more media-sensationalized, combative, "shoot-it-out-with-the-looters" image.

Another important newsletter in the 1970s was the Personal Survival Letter published by Mel Tappan, who also authored the books Survival Guns and Tappan on Survival. Newsletters functioned as important networking tools for the survivalist movement before the information age.

In 1980, John Pugsley published the book The Alpha Strategy. It was on the New York Times bestseller list for nine weeks in 1981. Even after 28 years in circulation, The Alpha Strategy is considered a standard reference on stocking up on food and household supplies as a hedge against inflation and future shortages. This has made the book popular with survivalists.

In addition to hard copy newsletters, in the 1970s survivalists got their first online presence with BBS and Usenet forums dedicated to survivalism and survival retreats.

1980s

Interest in the first wave of the survivalist movement peaked in the early 1980s, on the momentum of Ruff's How to Prosper During the Coming Bad Years and the publication in 1980 of the book Life After Doomsday by Bruce D. Clayton. Clayton's book, coinciding with a renewed arms race between the United States and Soviet Union, marked a shift in emphasis in preparations made by survivalists away from economic collapse, famine, and energy shortages which were concerns in the 1970s, to nuclear war. Also in the early 1980s, science fiction writer Jerry Pournelle was an editor and columnist for Survive, a survivalist magazine, and he was considered influential in the survivalist movement. Ragnar Benson's 1982 book Live Off The Land In The City And Country suggested rural survival retreats as both a preparedness measure and as a conscious change of lifestyle.

1990s

Interest in the movement peaked again in 1999 in its second wave, triggered by fears of the Y2K computer bug. Although extensive efforts were made to rewrite computer programming code in response, some writers such as Gary North nonetheless anticipated widespread power outages, food and gasoline shortages, and other emergencies to occur. While a range of authors responded to this wave of concern, two of the most survival-focused offerings were Boston on Y2K (1998) by Boston T. Party, and The Hippy Survival Guide to Y2K by Mike Oehler. The latter is an Underground living advocate, who also authored The $50 and Up Underground House Book.

2000-present

The third and most recent wave of the Survivalist movement began after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York in 2001 and similar attacks in Bali, Spain, and London. This resurgence of interest in survivalism appears to be as strong as the first wave in the 1970s. The fear of a war or jihad against the West, combined with an increase in awareness of environmental disasters and global climate change, energy shortages resulting from peak oil, coupled with the vulnerability of humanity after the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean and Hurricane Katrina on the U.S. Gulf Coast and avian influenza has once again made survivalism popular. Preparedness is once more paramount in the concerns of many people, who now seek to stockpile or cache supplies, gain useful skills, develop contacts with others of similar outlooks and gather as much advice and information as possible.

Many books have been published in the past few years offering survival advice for various potential disasters, ranging from an energy shortage and crash to nuclear or biological terrorism. In addition to reading the 1970s-era books on survivalism, blogs (such as SurvivalBlog) and Internet forums are popular ways of disseminating survivalism information. Online survival websites and blogs discuss survival vehicles, survival retreats and emerging threats, and list survivalist groups.

Economic troubles emerging from the credit collapse triggered by the 2007 US subprime mortgage lending fiasco and global grain shortages have prompted a wider cross-section of the populace to get prepared. James Wesley Rawles, the editor of SurvivalBlog was quoted by the New York Times in April of 2008 that "interest in the survivalist movement 'is experiencing its largest growth since the late 1970s'”.

Common preparations

Common preparations sometimes include preparing a clandestine or defensible 'retreat' or 'safe place' (Bug Out Location or BOL) and stockpiling non-perishable food, water, water-purification equipment, clothing, seed, defensive weapons, ammunition, and agricultural equipment. Some survivalists do not make such extensive preparations but instead incorporate a "Be Prepared" outlook into their everyday life.

Many survivalists also have a bag of gear that is often referred to as a Bug Out Bag (BOB) or Get Out of Dodge (G.O.O.D.) kit, holding basic necessities and useful items weighing anywhere up to as much as the owner can carry.

Survivalists aim to remain self-sufficient for the duration of the breakdown of social order, or perhaps indefinitely if the breakdown is predicted to be permanent (a "Third Dark Age"), a possibility popularized in the 1960s by Roberto Vacca of the Club of Rome. Survivalists allow for the contingency that they cannot prevent this breakdown, and prepare to survive in small communal groups ("group retreats") or "covenant communities."

Changing concerns and preparations

Survivalists' concerns and preparations have changed over the years. During the 1970s, survivalists feared economic collapse, hyperinflation, and famine, and prepared by storing food and constructing survival retreats in the country which could be farmed. Some survivalists stockpiled precious metals and barterable goods (such as common caliber ammunition) because they assumed that paper currency would become worthless. During the early 1980s, nuclear war became a common fear, and some survivalists constructed fallout shelters.

In 1999, many people purchased electric generators, water purifiers, and several months or years worth of food in anticipation of widespread power outages because of the Y2K computer-bug. Instead of moving or making such preparations at home, many people also make plans to remain in their current locations until an actual breakdown occurs, when they will-in survivalist parlance- "bug out" or "get out of Dodge" to a safer location.

Religious beliefs

Other survivalists have more specialized concerns, often related to an adherence to apocalyptic religious beliefs. Some New Agers anticipate a forthcoming arrival of catastrophic earth changes and prepare to survive them. Some evangelical Christians hold to an interpretation of Bible prophecy known as a post-tribulation rapture, in which Christians will have to go through a seven-year period of war and global dictatorship known as the "Great Tribulation." Jim McKeever helped popularize survival preparations among this branch of evangelical Christians with his 1978 book Christians Will Go Through the Tribulation, and How To Prepare For It (ISBN 0-931608-02-3).

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has an official policy of food storage for its members. This is more of a precaution for emergencies rather than in preparation for some apocalyptic event. Some very small religious sects have also been known for their belief in a coming apocalypse and the adoption of some survivalist practices. Among the best known of these groups are the Branch Davidians, an offshoot of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Mainstream emergency preparations

People who are not part of survivalist groups or apocalyptic-oriented religious groups also make preparations for emergencies. This can include, depending on the location, preparing for earthquakes, floods, power outages, blizzards, avalanches, wildfires, nuclear power plant accidents, hazardous material spills, tornadoes, and hurricanes. These preparations can be as simple as following Red Cross and FEMA recommendations by keeping a first aid kit, shovel, and extra clothes in the car, or maintaining a small kit of emergency supplies in the home and car, containing emergency food, water, a space blanket and other essentials.

Mainstream economist and financial adviser Barton Biggs is a proponent of preparedness. In his 2008 book Wealth, War and Wisdom, Biggs has a gloomy outlook for the economic future, and suggests that investors take survivalist measures. In the book, Biggs recommends that his readers should “assume the possibility of a breakdown of the civilized infrastructure.” he goes so far as to recommend setting up survival retreats: “Your safe haven must be self-sufficient and capable of growing some kind of food,” Mr. Biggs writes. “It should be well-stocked with seed, fertilizer, canned food, wine, medicine, clothes, etc. Think Swiss Family Robinson. Even in America and Europe there could be moments of riot and rebellion when law and order temporarily completely breaks down.”

Extremist groups

Some survivalists take a militaristic approach and have a strong concern about government involvement in their affairs. This is most common (though still rare compared to the total population) in rural parts of the Western United States, where a world view occasionally develops that growing interference from the federal government and the United Nations (perceived to be, or to be aiming for, a world government), is best countered through distancing oneself from society, adopting a survivalist stance, and the acquisition of suitable small arms. However, not all who take military matters into their own hands are survivalists.

Kurt Saxon, who besides publishing a survival newsletter is also the author of a book on improvised weapons, The Poor Man's James Bond, is perhaps the best known proponent of this approach to survivalism. Saxon's writings on survival tend toward social Darwinism, with survivalism defined by Saxon as "Looking out for #1" and a need to be sufficiently armed to defend one's refuge and belongings from hungry people who might demand that others share them if society breaks down.

Such a militaristic approach is not shared by many survivalists, and is indeed condemned by many survivalists. Nevertheless, its prominence in popular depictions results in the term "survivalism" being sometimes used interchangeably with right-wing reactionarism. In particular, the mainstream media tends to loosely label many militants and miscellaneous extremists as "survivalists", whether or not they are actively preparing to survive.

Government preparedness efforts and training

Some governments have encouraged citizens to prepare for emergency situations, including a situation which would result in breakdown of the infrastructure. The government of Switzerland with its long-standing militia system, mandatory construction of fallout shelters in all newly-constructed multi-unit housing, and its network of reduit fortresses is one of the best prepared. An earlier civil defense effort in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s fell into disrepair by the 1970s. These included the designation of structures as official fallout shelters, and duck and cover drills in schools. A booklet released by the office of the Executive Office of the President of the United States shortly after the start of the cold war called Survival Under Atomic Attack depicts the nature of the early civil defense initiatives.

The U.S. government civil defense program was minimal during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, despite efforts by a few including Christian Dominionist writer Gary North to lobby the government to resume civil defense efforts and build fallout shelters. Gary North co-wrote a book, Fighting Chance to advocate for the return of the civil defense program. A renewal of U.S. government interest in preparedness and training did not happen until after the September 11th attacks and Hurricane Katrina. This renewed interest is typified by Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) organizations.

Official government preparedness training has often been ridiculed or discounted by those in the survivalist movement. This goes in particular for the 1950s/1960s era duck and cover drills. One main tenet of the survivalist movement has been that people should prepare on their own or with like-minded people, not rely on the government to take care of them in emergencies. On the other hand, there is a growing body of thought in favor of community based efforts, widespread involvement in CERTs, and working together with first responders. Many of those in favor of this approach reject the term "survivalist" because they see preparing in conjunction with government agencies, and preparing completely apart from the government, as two separate things; also because they emphasize that they do not anticipate any permanent or long-term breakdown of society which they say survivalists do.

Survivalism worldwide

Survivalist groups and forums--both formal and informal--are popular worldwide, most visibly in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany (often organized under the guise of "paintball" and "adventuresport" clubs), New Zealand, Sweden, and the United States.

Other groups related to survivalism

Adherents of the back-to-the-land movement, which has been sporadically popular in the United States, especially in the 1930s inspired by Helen and Scott Nearing, and more recently in the 1970s, as exemplified by The Mother Earth News magazine, share many of the same interests in self-sufficiency and preparedness with survivalists. They differ from most survivalists in that they have a greater interest in ecology, and sometimes the counterculture, than most survivalists do. The Mother Earth News was, as a result, widely read by survivalists as well as back-to-the-landers during that magazine's early years, and there was some overlap between the two movements.

In fiction

Novels

Earth Abides by George R. Stewart (1949), deals with one man who finds most of civilization has been destroyed by a plague. Slowly a small community forms around him as he struggles to start a new civilization and preserve knowledge and learning.

John Wyndham's 1951 novel The Day of the Triffids is the story of the survival of a small group of people in a post-apocalyptic world dominated by carnivorous plants.

Philip Wylie's novel Tomorrow (1954) is the story of two American cities weathering a nuclear attack. One was prepared with an extensive civil defense plan while the other was not.

Robert A. Heinlein used survivalism as a theme in much of his science fiction. Tunnel in the Sky (1955) explores issues of survivalism and social interactions in an unfamiliar environment. Farnham's Freehold (1964) begins as a story of survivalism in a nuclear war. Heinlein also wrote essays such as How to be a Survivor which provide advice on preparing for and surviving a nuclear war.

Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank (1959) is a story dealing with life in Florida after a nuclear war with the USSR. Pat Frank also authored the non-fiction book How To Survive the H Bomb And Why. (J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, 1962.)

Malevil by French writer Robert Merle (1972) describes refurbishing a medieval castle, and its use as a survivalist stronghold in the aftermath of a full-scale nuclear war. The novel was adapted into a 1981 film directed by Christian de Chalonge and starring Michel Serrault, Jacques Dutronc, Jacques Villeret and Jean-Louis Trintignant [2].

Ernest Callenbach's 1975 novel Ecotopia, about the secession of the Pacific Northwest from the United States to form a new country based on environmentalism, named the political party governing the new country the Survivalist Party. However in his 1981 sequel to the book, Ecotopia Emerging, he qualified that choice of name by having the party leader state that the name Survivalist referred to the survival of the planet's ecosystems, rather than to people who prepare for an economic or political collapse.

Lucifer's Hammer by Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven (1977) is about a cataclysmic comet hitting the Earth, and various groups of people struggling to survive the aftermath in southern California. Their similarly themed "Footfall" (1985) is about aliens bombarding Earth using controlled meteorite strikes to exterminate life.

Edward Abbey's 1980 novel Good News is about small bands of people in the Phoenix, Arizona area trying to fend off the rise of a military dictatorship after the collapse of the economy and government.

The Survivalist is the title of a series of 29 paperback novels by Jerry Ahern first published between 1981 and 1993.

The Postman by David Brin (1985) is set in a time after a massive plague and political fracture result in a complete collapse of society. It gives a very unflattering portrayal of survivalists as one of the causes behind the collapse. The quasi-survivalist "Holnist" characters are despised by the remaining population. The Holnists follow a totalitarian social theory idolizing the powerful who enforce their perceived right to oppress the weak. However later Brin stated that when he was writing the book survivalist was the best term to describe the militia movement.

Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse by James Wesley Rawles (1998) is a novel about a full-scale socio-economic collapse and subsequent invasion of the US. The novel describes in detail how the lead characters establish a self-sufficient survival retreat in north-central Idaho.

Dies the Fire, the first book in the Emberverse Series of post-apocalyptic fiction by alternate history author S.M. Stirling. The story takes shape in a universe where electricity, guns, explosives, internal combustion engines, and steam power no longer work. More books follow in the series and flesh out the story-line in a survivalist post-Change world of agriculture, clan-based life and conflict.

"World Made By Hand" by James Howard Kunstler (2008) is a "cosy catastrophe" set in upstate New York. The time is the near future, and the novel depicts an America that has economically collapsed as a result of the combined impact of peak oil, global warming, influenza epidemic, and nuclear terrorism. The characters struggle to reclaim lost skills, maintain order, and redevelop a pre-industrial revolution lifestyle in an agrarian village. In part, the novel explores the question of what happens when modern technology, based on electricity, is no longer available.

Television programs

Two made-for-TV movies made during the 1980s, The Day After in the US and Threads in the UK, portray a nuclear war and its aftermath of social chaos and economic collapse. Both movies were, at the time, among the most controversial ever made for television.

"24" is a TV series about a federal agent named Jack Bauer and his attempts foil terrorist plots in Los Angeles. During Season 2 Jack's daughter, Kim Bauer, is on the run from the law and finds shelter with a survivalist.

Jericho (2006) is a TV series that portrays a small town in Kansas after a series of nuclear explosions across the United States. In the series, the character Robert Hawkins uses his prior planning and survival skills in preparation of the attacks. Most of the episodes center around the sudden collapse of American society resulting in a six way split of the country. The town usually must fight an outside enemy in order to preserve their food and supplies.

Lost, a group of crash survivors are stranded on an island with little food and only the remains of the aircraft and baggage to survive with. Over the course of the series, the survivors adapt to life on the jungle isle while some even welcome it. One of the main characters of the series, John Locke, appears to be a survivalist even before the events of the crash, both carrying knives with him as baggage, hunting and tracking skills, and was part of a pseudo-survivalist commune earlier in life.

The BBC TV series Survivors from 1975-1977 suggested a UK view of survivalism with a small band of survivors emerging from a biological apocalypse. Following the success of the new series of Doctor Who the BBC are rumoured to be looking at Terry Nation's other works and are considering a remake of the show.

Survivor (2000-present) is a reality television game show which places a group of contestants in remote location and awards a prize to the one which lasts the longest. Generally, the game is structured such that a player's social skills are more important to winning than survival skills.

In the HBO TV series Six Feet Under, one of the characters' (George Sibley) delusions manifests itself as a form of survivalism, and he becomes terrified that a number of apocalyptic or damaging events, ranging from nuclear war and the disappearance of water to earthquakes, are imminent and takes precautions against it, much to the horror of his wife- who realizes that it is beyond cautious and is becoming obsessive.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008) is a science fiction show involving time travel with lead characters that take survivalist steps to prepare for, or possibly prevent, a future nuclear war.

Films

The 1962 movie Panic in Year Zero! starring Ray Milland, Jean Hagen, Frankie Avalon and Mary Mitchel portrays the Baldwin family's attempt to flee the Los Angeles area for a rural location after a nuclear war between the US and the USSR.

The 1970 movie No Blade of Grass starring Nigel Davenport, based on the book by John Christopher, features an apocalyptic scenario in England.

Deliverance, both the 1970 novel and the 1972 film adaptation, feature elements of survivalism, and one of the main characters, Lewis Medlock (played in the film by Burt Reynolds), is a self-proclaimed survivalist, who at one point briefly explains his apocalyptic worldview: "Machines are going to fail, and the system is going to fail. And then...survival. Who has the ability to survive. That's the game, survival."

In the 1983 made for TV movie Packin' it In, the main character Gary Webber (Richard Benjamin) moves his family from suburban L.A. to the wilderness of Oregon. The family moves in to a small rural community where most of the residents are survivalists.

In the 1983 film The Survivors, Robin Williams plays a man who becomes obsessed with the survivalist culture after being robbed. Walter Matthau costars as Williams' more level-headed companion.

The 1984 movie Red Dawn portrays Colorado high school students who take to the hills after a fictional invasion of the US by the Soviet Union. The students survive with supplies gathered at the beginning of the invasion, by hunting, and by ambushing Soviet patrols and supply convoys.

In the Tremors film and television franchise the character Burt Gummer (Michael Gross) is a self-admitted survivalist. In the first film he and his wife are preparing for social upheaval. Later in the series Burt shifts his focus towards the "graboids" that infest the soil of his home valley.

The Postman, a movie based upon the above mentioned novel, depicts a post-apocalyptical future in America in which a survivalist militia preys on weaker communities.

In Mad Max, a global oil shortage causes a total socioeconomic collapse and depopulation. The few scattered survivors in the Australian Outback are depicted fighting for survival, with precious "guzzoline" as their main object.

In Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) John Connor's mother, Sarah Connor stores weapons in an underground shelter in the desert, as instructed by Kyle Reese, John's father, in preparation for an apocalypse precipitated by computerized machines.

Games and other formats

Fallout is a role-playing video game set in a post-nuclear apocalypse world, 70 years after a global nuclear war. The gameplay is centered around the character's own survival instinct and skills, and communities of survivalists.

In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, a mission involves stealing a harvester from a survivalist farm. The survivalists are portrayed as extremely violent and aggressive individuals.

In Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri the Spartan Federation faction is run by a survivalist.

The concept album Year Zero by industrial rock group Nine Inch Nails, is based around the theme of a hypothetical oppressive US government in the year 2022, and contains a single entitled "Survivalism" and a group named "Art is Resistance".

See also

• Retreat (survivalism)
• Self-sufficiency
• Survival kits
• Intentional Community
• Blast shelter
• Fallout shelter
• Jeff Cooper
• Howard Ruff
• James Wesley Rawles
• Kurt Saxon
• Joel Skousen
• Mel Tappan

Classic survival books

The text of some classic survival books and other writings from the 1950s through the 1980s can be found online:

• Fallout Protection (1961)
• Nuclear War Survival Skills by Cresson Kearny (1979, updated 1987 version)
• Possum Living by Dolly Freed (1978)
• PDF of The Alpha Strategy by John Pugsley (1980)
• Survival Under Atomic Attack (1950)
• Tappan on Survival by Mel Tappan (1981)
• Textfiles.com archive of articles that circulated online during the BBS era, includes several Kurt Saxon articles from his old newsletter.