(November 6, 2012 at 10:09 pm)cato123 Wrote: I get the distinct impression that you are now arguing with yourself.NOOO your in a cult and now I'm telling you about it? why? are you fucking stupid or just blind?
Quote:The story of how Lyndon LaRouche transformed himself from Marxist theoretician to red-white-and-blue conservative in 10 years is a tale of a political chameleon.
He has taken with him on his ideological journey a worldwide organization that follows his every instruction and mimics his every political twist and turn, according to interviews with former LaRouche associates and experts on the group, as well as the group's internal documents.
LaRouche "leads what may well be one of the strangest political groups in American history," the conservative Heritage Foundation said in a report. "LaRouche has managed to attract a small but fanatical following to his conspiratorial view of the world."
"It's a seven-day-a-week, 24-hour-a-day total immersion," said a recent dropout, who, like other ex-members interviewed, did not want to be identified for fear of retribution. "It's a situation where people wouldn't have any private lives anymore . . . . Everyone's got to march to the same tune."
"He demands sycophantic obedience," the former member said. "He repeatedly tells the members he is in total control of the organization."
LaRouche was "eccentric and odd," a "mysterious character" who told a range of stories about his past and "stayed up for 24 hours at a stretch, talking nonstop," the ex-associate said.
The article said the group would enter Communist meetings to accomplish this. "We destroy the CP," it went on, "because it is an absolutely necessary step to ensure that the working class in the USA and Western Europe is prepared with competent leadership . . . ."
In the following months, there were about 40 fights at gatherings of Communists and others, according to former associates of LaRouche and published reports. Many people were injured, and some LaRouche supporters were arrested, but there apparently were no convictions.
"Mobile squads of helmeted, club-wielding goons invaded bookstores and offices of the CPUSA, Socialist Workers Party and Peking-line groups, attacking their members there and on the street," said the study by journalist Rees.
Former members said some attacks were in retaliation for assaults by Communists, and others were unprovoked. LaRouche said in an interview that his supporters fought only when attacked.
At the time, LaRouche berated his followers for not being tough enough and criticized those who tried to avoid participating in the fights, according to ex-members and persons knowledgeable about the group.
"There was a tremendous emphasis on being psychologically ruthless: 'Can you guys really take it?' " another said. "Mop-up" started the organization's move toward being a "security-conscious, paranoid, 24-hour-a-day thing . . . . It changed the organization psychologically."
The members are "rank-and-file automatons" devoted to LaRouche, according to one member's resignation letter several years ago.
"There are about 200 predictions about the collapse of the world economy, each of which didn't add up," one ex-member said. "Amnesia is one of the necessary qualificiations for membership."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nat...e/main.htm
