WEBVTT - Political Cults, Part 2 Ft. Andrew: Spooky Week #5 0:00:01.720 --> 0:00:14.120 All the media. 0:00:11.360 --> 0:00:14.960 Welcomes it could happen here. I'm Andrew of Future Channel Anturism, 0:00:15.640 --> 0:00:18.880 and last time I was on here discussing political cults generally. 0:00:19.640 --> 0:00:22.440 Today I'm here once again with. 0:00:22.960 --> 0:00:26.279 Oh Garrison, Yes Hello. I am also here to talk 0:00:26.320 --> 0:00:29.440 about cults because Andrew told me. 0:00:29.400 --> 0:00:34.120 To Yes yes, and I'm the I'm the leader in 0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:34.919 this dynamic. 0:00:37.280 --> 0:00:39.279 In many ways, this zoom call is kind of a 0:00:39.280 --> 0:00:41.040 mini cult where you are the leader. 0:00:42.800 --> 0:00:45.920 Indeed, in need, there is nothing except this call. There's 0:00:45.960 --> 0:00:48.200 no outside world, there is no cat on your desk. 0:00:48.320 --> 0:00:53.040 It is just this the cult. The cat is a revisionist. 0:00:54.080 --> 0:00:59.560 So last episode, we discussed how cults operate, essentially the 0:00:59.760 --> 0:01:04.240 rule coaster emotional ride that individual's experience during cult recruitments, 0:01:04.400 --> 0:01:07.400 where their feelings and ideas are manipulated and they're drawn 0:01:07.440 --> 0:01:11.240 into an exclusive and isolating group. We explore the rigid 0:01:11.240 --> 0:01:15.360 belief system that's created, the immunity to falsification, the authoritarianism, 0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:20.080 arbitrary leadership, deification of leaders, intense activism, and the use 0:01:20.120 --> 0:01:23.440 of loaded language. We spoke about the contradictions within political 0:01:23.520 --> 0:01:31.480 cults and the conditions of ideological totalism, and today, as promised, 0:01:31.480 --> 0:01:34.000 we're going to look at one political cult leader in 0:01:34.040 --> 0:01:40.720 particular whose influence spanned left to right, self described Platonist, 0:01:41.240 --> 0:01:47.800 a presdential conspiracy theorist. The alleged targets of an assassination 0:01:47.960 --> 0:01:52.760 from Queen Elizabeth are once Trotskyist, the one and only, 0:01:53.320 --> 0:01:58.040 the infamous, the loathsome London LaRouche. 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:01.280 As soon as you said platon is, I knew we 0:02:01.280 --> 0:02:05.760 were in for just a horrible time, just just the worst. 0:02:06.160 --> 0:02:11.080 The only people who self described as Platonists are the worst. Actually, 0:02:11.680 --> 0:02:14.240 the last person I knew who self described as a 0:02:14.240 --> 0:02:19.280 Platonist was the target of an assassination because it was 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:25.399 the daughter of Alexander Dugan was at. 0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:29.520 Anyway, what an interesting cast of characters. 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:32.200 Indeed, indeed, and speaking of. 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:34.360 Cast of characters, by the way, I should note that 0:02:34.520 --> 0:02:38.200 Tim wall Fourth, one of the cool authors of the book, 0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:41.040 that this research was based on the book being on 0:02:41.080 --> 0:02:44.240 the edge particular cults left and right. Tim wall Fourth, 0:02:44.440 --> 0:02:49.200 the other author's tenant is Dennis Torrish was a Trotskyist 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:56.840 called leader at one point, oh like cult underling or whatever. 0:02:57.720 --> 0:02:59.800 But he was kicked out and then he needs a 0:02:59.800 --> 0:03:02.359 cool authored this book to call out some of their 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:05.480 cultish tendencies. If you need that sort of backstory to 0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:08.440 take some of this with the grain of salt, so 0:03:08.600 --> 0:03:10.800 be it. Because, as far as I can tell, Tim 0:03:10.840 --> 0:03:16.560 Warforth and Lynn and laruche actually crossed paths at one point. 0:03:17.160 --> 0:03:17.680 Interesting. 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:21.240 So, as always, let's start from the beginning and get 0:03:21.240 --> 0:03:25.360 an early portrait of this guy. Laroche was born in Rochester, 0:03:25.560 --> 0:03:30.240 New Hampshire, in nineteen twenty two, then moved to Lynn, Massachusetts. 0:03:30.840 --> 0:03:33.760 He was the oldest of three children in a Quaker home, 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:36.320 where eventually his father would be expelled from the local 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:40.280 Quaker community for his alleged misuse of funds. He then 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:44.040 briefly attended Northeastern University in Boston and left in nineteen 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:47.560 forty two, at least partly because he believed his teachers 0:03:47.680 --> 0:03:51.360 quote lacked the competence to teach him on conditions he 0:03:51.480 --> 0:03:52.520 was willing to tolerate. 0:03:53.760 --> 0:03:56.760 Sure, sure, I'll take a first word on that one. Yeah. 0:03:56.840 --> 0:03:58.880 Yeah. 0:03:59.000 --> 0:04:02.320 At first, he was a conscientious objector to enlistment in 0:04:02.360 --> 0:04:05.560 World War Two, because you know, Quaker I Instead he 0:04:05.680 --> 0:04:09.480 joined a civilian public service camp in what is what 0:04:09.840 --> 0:04:12.600 you know, which is what conscientious objectors did at the time. 0:04:13.480 --> 0:04:16.039 But Eventually he would enlist with the US Army and 0:04:16.160 --> 0:04:19.080 serve with the Medical Corps in India and boomer which 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:22.560 is now Myanmar Ye. In nineteen forty six, aboard the 0:04:22.680 --> 0:04:26.760 s S, General Bradley Don Morrill met the young soldier 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:30.000 in Laruche and got into it with him about politics 0:04:30.200 --> 0:04:33.000 and particularly the political optimism of the post World War 0:04:33.000 --> 0:04:36.600 Two era what a time, the revolutionary spirit of the 0:04:36.600 --> 0:04:41.480 Indian subcontinent, and socialist ideas more broadly. Now, Laruche was 0:04:41.520 --> 0:04:45.479 already sympathetic towards Marx and Trotsky at this point. In fact, 0:04:45.720 --> 0:04:48.880 even in his preteens, he was a voracious reader philosophy, 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:56.920 particularly of the German polymath Godfred Wilhelm von leibnizbut leibnizbut 0:04:57.279 --> 0:05:01.400 or however that is pronounced. But ultimately, by the time 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:06.839 they returned to America, LaRouche was a Trotskyist. In brief, 0:05:06.960 --> 0:05:09.520 For those unaware, a Trotskyist is someone who hears the 0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:13.200 principles and politics of Leon Trotsky, who was a prominent 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:16.160 figure in the early Soviet Union and a key figure 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:20.000 in what I would call co optation of the Russian 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:25.919 Revolution of nineteen seventy. Trotskyism is distinct from mainstream Leninist 0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:29.840 and particularly Stalinist thought, most famously for their rejection of 0:05:29.880 --> 0:05:33.600 socialism in one country and their advocacy of permanent revolution. 0:05:35.120 --> 0:05:37.679 By the time Laruche had returned home in nineteen forty seven, 0:05:38.040 --> 0:05:42.320 he joined his hometown Lynn, Massachusetts, chapter of the Socialist Workers' 0:05:42.320 --> 0:05:48.640 Party s WP, which was the main American Trotskyist group. Interestingly, 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:52.279 he took on a party name which really reminds me 0:05:52.320 --> 0:05:56.159 of how religious missionaries would give those they converted Christian 0:05:56.240 --> 0:06:02.120 names baptism. So his party name was Lynn Marcus. You 0:06:02.160 --> 0:06:04.400 could just see it as a pseudonym for political work. 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:06.680 Of course, I mean, the CIA and the FBI were 0:06:06.760 --> 0:06:10.840 very active in infiltrating these sorts of groups, so I 0:06:10.920 --> 0:06:14.360 understand having like a pseudonym, But I mean, considering we're 0:06:14.400 --> 0:06:17.520 talking about cul tendencies and political movements, I couldn't pass 0:06:17.600 --> 0:06:21.279 up on that observation. You know, Don Morrill, who was 0:06:21.320 --> 0:06:23.960 also from Lynn, Massachusetts, was also part of the SWP 0:06:24.440 --> 0:06:28.920 and very active in their union organized and activities. LaRouche 0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:34.120 Tho not so much. He was very intellectually oriented. He 0:06:34.160 --> 0:06:37.120 wasn't very into the union scene, and he eventually left 0:06:37.120 --> 0:06:39.839 Massachusetts in nineteen fifty two and settled down in New 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:43.640 York City. He got married, he had a son, and 0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:47.000 he was focused in his career as an economic consultant 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:50.200 in the shoe industry, with a nice, nice apartment in 0:06:50.279 --> 0:06:53.080 Central Park West. He didn't really have any ties to 0:06:53.120 --> 0:06:58.120 the working class efforts of the s WP, So what now. Well, 0:06:58.720 --> 0:07:02.200 eventually he and his wife separated and he moved in 0:07:02.240 --> 0:07:06.360 with a fellow s WP member known sometimes as Carol White, 0:07:06.760 --> 0:07:12.680 sometimes as Carol Schnitzer, and sometimes as Carol Larabie. And 0:07:12.720 --> 0:07:17.160 then he decided that the WP leadership had the wrong idea. 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:21.400 Why they so obsessed with union organizing, Perhaps he should 0:07:21.400 --> 0:07:24.920 be the one calling the shots. You have to understand 0:07:24.960 --> 0:07:28.480 something about Laruche. You see, with little involvement or connection 0:07:28.600 --> 0:07:32.360 to actual working class struggle and disconnection. You see, with 0:07:32.480 --> 0:07:36.280 little involvement or connection to actual working class struggle and 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:39.920 disconnection from the party's activity, he had already begun making 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:42.760 a right word shift, even while still bearing the banner 0:07:42.800 --> 0:07:48.000 of leftism. As an intellectual, he loved his books, including 0:07:48.040 --> 0:07:53.600 Marxist Capital, Rota Luxembourg's The Accumulation of Capital and Hegeld's 0:07:53.680 --> 0:07:59.840 Logic and his intellectualism naturally fed into his elitism, Drawing 0:07:59.880 --> 0:08:03.160 for Lenin's what is to be Done larushe believes that 0:08:03.200 --> 0:08:06.480 a select intellectual group, which I mean he was clearly 0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:11.920 a part of. These professional revolutionaries held a pivotal role 0:08:12.000 --> 0:08:15.640 in transforming society, would their task being to gain dominance 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:21.160 over the less intellectually developed masses. He also borrowed from 0:08:21.200 --> 0:08:26.080 Gramacy's idea of hergemony. He saw himself in competition with 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:29.600 other intellectuals on the left for leadership over the hearts 0:08:29.600 --> 0:08:33.640 and minds of the dommy masses to undermine the capitalists 0:08:33.640 --> 0:08:37.280 hold on the working class. But unlike Gramcy, he didn't 0:08:37.280 --> 0:08:40.240 believe the working class was capable of developing its own leaders. 0:08:41.320 --> 0:08:44.680 He was that leader, and he also borrowed from George 0:08:44.720 --> 0:08:50.559 Lucas's concept of class consciousness and the importance of thinkers. 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:56.080 Larush wasn't just a thinker. He saw himself as the thinker, 0:08:56.720 --> 0:08:59.520 the one who would take power and lead the masses 0:08:59.800 --> 0:09:03.720 to freedom. So he was fed up with the SWP 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:08.319 limiting his clearly elite intellect and ability, and so in 0:09:08.400 --> 0:09:12.160 nineteen sixty five he left and joined a small Trotskise 0:09:12.200 --> 0:09:16.000 group called the American Committee for the Fourth International. Yes, 0:09:16.080 --> 0:09:20.679 associated with George Healy, who was another left wing cult leader. 0:09:23.440 --> 0:09:25.760 A lot of a lot of left wing cults came 0:09:25.800 --> 0:09:29.280 out of the Fourth International, some of which are very cool, 0:09:29.559 --> 0:09:30.760 some of which are not. 0:09:30.920 --> 0:09:36.280 Very cool indeed indeed, but guess what, he didn't like 0:09:36.320 --> 0:09:38.520 the Fourth International. He only stayed there for six months. 0:09:38.520 --> 0:09:42.600 And apparently Healey did not even like him. I mean, 0:09:42.640 --> 0:09:45.160 I wonder why, right, I know, I mean. 0:09:45.080 --> 0:09:47.560 He seems like a very agreeable fellow. 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:50.600 And not only that, I mean, when have you ever 0:09:50.640 --> 0:09:53.400 heard of cult leaders getting along? You know, call leaders 0:09:53.400 --> 0:09:55.640 sent to view other cult leaders as threats to their 0:09:55.640 --> 0:09:56.400 total control. 0:09:56.480 --> 0:09:58.760 You know, it would be funny if there was just 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:02.839 like a conference for leaders to like share like tactics 0:10:02.880 --> 0:10:04.280 and they all have their dinner together. 0:10:06.520 --> 0:10:06.760 Yeah. 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:09.560 So laruche pus out of that party. And then he 0:10:09.640 --> 0:10:13.080 joined the Spartassist League, which was another trot party, and 0:10:13.160 --> 0:10:16.120 again he didn't stay for too long. He decided he 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:19.160 was going to put all those factions and leaders behind 0:10:19.200 --> 0:10:27.360 him and declared himself the pioneer of the Fifth INTERNATIONALE. So, 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:31.000 for those unaware, the First Workers International from eighteen sixty 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:33.880 four to eighteen seventy six was a coalition of labor 0:10:33.920 --> 0:10:37.560 and socialist groups seeking to promote workers' rights and international solidarity. 0:10:38.320 --> 0:10:42.800 It split because of the irreconcilable differences and divisions between 0:10:42.840 --> 0:10:47.800 the statists and the anarchists. Then in eighteen eighty nine 0:10:48.120 --> 0:10:52.120 and from then unto nineteen sixteen, the Second Internationale was born. 0:10:52.520 --> 0:10:55.840 That was an organization of socialists and labor parties, this 0:10:56.000 --> 0:10:59.319 time no anarchists allowed, and it was aimed at fostering 0:10:59.440 --> 0:11:02.880 cooperation among socialist globally, until it dissolved due to the 0:11:02.920 --> 0:11:06.680 divisions related to World War One. And then in nineteen nineteen, 0:11:07.440 --> 0:11:11.360 the Soviet Union founded the Third Internationale or the Common 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:16.160 Turn to promote worldwide communist revolution and aid communist parties, 0:11:16.880 --> 0:11:18.760 but then it dissolved during World War Two due to 0:11:18.840 --> 0:11:23.040 the Soviet German tensions, among other things. And then in 0:11:23.120 --> 0:11:27.880 nineteen thirty eight, Trotsky, who was marginalized and persecuted by Stalin, 0:11:28.360 --> 0:11:32.280 founded the Fourth International as an oppositional alternative to the 0:11:32.320 --> 0:11:36.880 Stalin dominated comment tern. Technically, the Fourth International is still 0:11:36.920 --> 0:11:41.640 active today, but it's always been fairly irrelevant beyond small 0:11:41.679 --> 0:11:45.439 bi current sects and ever splinter in splinter groups and 0:11:45.760 --> 0:11:48.800 more than one political cult. So for a Trotskyist like 0:11:48.880 --> 0:11:52.360 Laruge to declare a Fifth International is like, you know, 0:11:52.400 --> 0:11:54.560 here we go again. How is it going to match? 0:11:54.679 --> 0:11:59.559 Do this? Nineteen sixty eight picture this a room with 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:03.640 about fility students sitting on the floor, all eyes fixed 0:12:03.720 --> 0:12:07.040 on Lindon LaRouche. After playing a major role in the 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:11.480 students strike at Columbia University, these students were totally invested 0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:15.160 in this man's every word. They were part of the 0:12:15.320 --> 0:12:21.200 National Caucus of Labor Committees lc NCLC, which was affiliated 0:12:21.200 --> 0:12:25.839 with the Students for Democratic Society SDS. Laruche held this 0:12:25.920 --> 0:12:29.280 meet in for a whole seven hours, that's longer than 0:12:29.320 --> 0:12:34.760 a church service, and he blended discussions of tactics with 0:12:34.960 --> 0:12:39.880 educational presentations. The SDS had a lot of spirit and action, 0:12:40.520 --> 0:12:43.040 but Larush believed that they were a bit short on theory, 0:12:43.120 --> 0:12:45.600 so he was there to fill that void and a 0:12:45.640 --> 0:12:49.360 bit more. The gathering marked the early stages of Wild 0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:52.880 lad become a political cult center around Laruge, where he 0:12:52.960 --> 0:12:56.920 served as an intellectual and political gurup, training his followers 0:12:56.960 --> 0:13:02.040 as devoted disciples nach for me, making his disciples feel 0:13:02.040 --> 0:13:04.559 like they were part of an elite club. They believe 0:13:04.600 --> 0:13:07.040 they were the only ones who truly understood the era 0:13:07.160 --> 0:13:09.720 they were in and had all the answers to fix 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:14.000 society's problems. In nineteen seventy, Larush wrote that you should 0:13:14.040 --> 0:13:19.600 start with recruiting and educating our revolutionary intelligenzia, mainly young 0:13:19.640 --> 0:13:23.040 intellectuals like these student radicals, rather than the working class, 0:13:23.120 --> 0:13:27.360 because again laruthe thought the working class was stipid. He 0:13:27.440 --> 0:13:31.520 wanted these elite recruits to commit to intensive study and activism, 0:13:31.960 --> 0:13:36.800 particularly of his interpretation of ideas, so they'd lead the charge. 0:13:36.920 --> 0:13:39.120 And I remember at this point Larush was pushing a 0:13:39.320 --> 0:13:43.400 right wing form of Trotskyism. Like Marx, he believed that 0:13:43.440 --> 0:13:46.199 capitalism had to keep growing to stay alive. Once it 0:13:46.280 --> 0:13:48.280 hits his limits, it would go into crisis mode and 0:13:48.360 --> 0:13:52.480 eventually collapse. He also shared Marx's idea that human activity 0:13:52.520 --> 0:13:55.800 should be all about progress, particularly the growth of the 0:13:55.800 --> 0:13:57.280 world's productive forces. 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:01.640 Do you know who's organizing the next International? Actually right now, 0:14:01.720 --> 0:14:04.040 right now, it is in fact that the products and 0:14:04.080 --> 0:14:08.120 service services that sponsor this podcast, So they're making the 0:14:08.160 --> 0:14:11.680 great shift the same way anarchism was expunged from the 0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:15.160 Second International. Now communism is going to be expunged from 0:14:15.320 --> 0:14:18.360 this this next upcoming international, and it's just going to 0:14:18.360 --> 0:14:22.000 be capitalists. So here, here, here are the sponsors organizing 0:14:22.480 --> 0:14:24.320 the next, the next international. 0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:40.200 Marx thought copalism was just a phase in human society, 0:14:40.760 --> 0:14:43.400 as crises would paved the way for a working class revolution, 0:14:43.840 --> 0:14:48.160 which would lead to socialism. Under socialism, the productive forces 0:14:48.160 --> 0:14:53.200 would flourish. Thought those pesky copleist constraints. Laruche came up 0:14:53.200 --> 0:14:57.200 with something he called the theory of re industrialization. He 0:14:57.320 --> 0:15:01.360 claimed that copulism, in its third stage of realism, needed 0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:05.240 fresh opportunities for capital investment. They even predicted that if 0:15:05.360 --> 0:15:08.320 world leaders did not follow his advice, the system was 0:15:08.360 --> 0:15:12.760 on the brink of collapse. Only he and his trained 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:17.280 followers under his lead, could prevent this catastrophe. By the 0:15:17.360 --> 0:15:20.400 late sixties and early seventies, members were giving up their 0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:23.320 jobs and devoting themselves wholly to the cause and the 0:15:23.400 --> 0:15:27.640 leadership of Laruche. They were convinced that the world had 0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:32.080 all the resources needed for an incredible economic transformation. But 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:35.440 they saw a big problem. They thought the nation's leaders 0:15:35.480 --> 0:15:39.360 were clueless, and of course they didn't think too highly 0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:43.920 the masses, so their solution was getting Linden and Laruxe 0:15:44.040 --> 0:15:47.640 Junior into power or whether he's a junior, ah, but 0:15:49.080 --> 0:15:52.440 their solution was getting Linden Laruz Junior into power as 0:15:52.480 --> 0:15:56.320 soon as possible, and then he would lead the trade 0:15:56.400 --> 0:16:01.280 unions that take over America. He expected their support and 0:16:01.360 --> 0:16:03.720 if they were slacking in their activism, he would call 0:16:03.760 --> 0:16:07.440 them out. Borrowing from the confrontational therapy with the new 0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:12.160 age for psychology cults, Lrush began holding ego stripping sessions. 0:16:12.800 --> 0:16:15.720 Anyone who failed in a political task was subjected to 0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:19.840 pure psychological terror as everyone attacked them and tore apart 0:16:19.880 --> 0:16:23.200 their past and personal life in front of the whole group. 0:16:23.480 --> 0:16:28.640 And because cults, and because cults and sex and inevitable 0:16:28.680 --> 0:16:32.800 combination like madness and badness, Larush also launched a campaign 0:16:32.880 --> 0:16:39.480 against the sexual impotence of his membership. Apparently Carol left 0:16:39.520 --> 0:16:43.480 him for a disciple of the movement. Interesting his name 0:16:43.520 --> 0:16:46.760 was Christopher White, and they went to England to set 0:16:46.840 --> 0:16:51.400 up a chapter of the NCLC. So that's probably why 0:16:51.440 --> 0:16:55.120 he got a little bit unhinged. But that's not the 0:16:55.120 --> 0:16:59.320 worst of it. I can't not mention Operation mop Up 0:17:00.720 --> 0:17:04.639 in nineteen seventy three, Laruge fully shifted the group's political 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:08.960 stands from being far left to far right. Armed with bats, 0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:13.160 chains and martial arts, Gale his supporters physically attacked members 0:17:13.160 --> 0:17:16.359 of the Socialist Workers' Party and the Communist Party for 0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:18.880 He declared that he intended to wipe these rival parties 0:17:18.960 --> 0:17:21.400 off the map, going as far as to threaten their 0:17:21.440 --> 0:17:26.520 families as well. But it didn't stop there. He extended 0:17:26.520 --> 0:17:29.520 his attacks to groups like the Revolutionary Communist Party, the 0:17:29.560 --> 0:17:34.320 October League, and the Progressive Labor Party. Essentially, Laruche want 0:17:34.359 --> 0:17:39.359 to establish dominance through these physical confrontations. There were at 0:17:39.480 --> 0:17:43.280 least six day reported assaults during this time, and the 0:17:43.320 --> 0:17:46.439 whole operation only ended when the police stepped in and 0:17:46.560 --> 0:17:52.360 arrested some of Larushe's followers. Interestingly, though, there weren't any convictions, 0:17:53.280 --> 0:17:56.359 and Laruche insisted that his people were only acted in 0:17:56.359 --> 0:17:59.480 self defense. But here's where get a little bit mokier. 0:18:00.280 --> 0:18:05.440 Journalist and Laruse biographer Dennis King suggested that the FBI 0:18:06.119 --> 0:18:08.320 may have played a role in stirring up trouble among 0:18:08.359 --> 0:18:12.240 these groups. Do we have used tactics like sending anonymous 0:18:12.240 --> 0:18:15.359 mailings to keep these groups in each other's throats, so 0:18:15.760 --> 0:18:17.200 you know, plot thickens. 0:18:17.400 --> 0:18:20.600 Yeah, I mean that way, that was very typical kind 0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:24.080 of conel Pro stuff that was happening around this time period. 0:18:25.320 --> 0:18:29.280 That would not surprise me. Yeah, it's safe to say though, 0:18:29.359 --> 0:18:32.560 in this period of Larush's life, all the folks on 0:18:32.560 --> 0:18:34.520 the left were wondering if he was really still one 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:43.760 of their own. Back to nineteen seventy three, Carol and Christopher, 0:18:45.720 --> 0:18:48.600 like I said, they were going to the UK to 0:18:48.640 --> 0:18:53.639 set up their own version of the NCLC, but then 0:18:53.680 --> 0:18:55.280 the Rush called them back to the US for a 0:18:55.359 --> 0:19:03.119 national conference, and during the flight, Stepher lost it. He 0:19:03.160 --> 0:19:06.240 started yelling that the CIA had plans to off Lwerby 0:19:07.480 --> 0:19:13.320 and the Rouche, Carol, Larbie and the Rush. The plane 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:16.639 was an utter chaos. So Carol reached out to the 0:19:16.760 --> 0:19:21.200 Rouge and they decided to work together to deprogram Christopher. 0:19:24.320 --> 0:19:29.400 What we mean deprogrammed Christopher? I'm glad you asked. 0:19:31.000 --> 0:19:35.359 I think we have mentioned called deprogramming before, kind of 0:19:35.359 --> 0:19:38.439 been passing, but never never too much on it. 0:19:38.480 --> 0:19:42.240 I think yes. What I mean in this instance, though, 0:19:42.440 --> 0:19:46.040 is not that they were trying to inculcate him into 0:19:46.080 --> 0:19:51.359 the cult or deprogram him from mainstream ideology. You see 0:19:51.680 --> 0:19:55.880 in his Rantins and Ravens on the plane, Christopher claimed 0:19:55.920 --> 0:19:59.639 he was a Manchurian candidate who had been tortured by 0:19:59.640 --> 0:20:03.560 the CI and British intelligence in a London basement. He 0:20:03.640 --> 0:20:06.439 then said he was programmed to do some stuff like 0:20:06.760 --> 0:20:10.440 often his wife and setting up Laruge for a watery 0:20:10.480 --> 0:20:16.840 demise by Cuba and exile frogmen. So that's the kind 0:20:16.880 --> 0:20:22.880 of deep program and they intended to carry out Hmmm. 0:20:23.200 --> 0:20:27.439 I have some notes, but I suppose I'll just let 0:20:27.520 --> 0:20:28.320 them do their thing. 0:20:29.359 --> 0:20:32.040 Yeah. Yeah, So Christopher was saying that he was a 0:20:32.040 --> 0:20:35.440 Manchurian candidate, and so then the whole group was in 0:20:35.480 --> 0:20:41.639 a frenzy. LaRouche and his disciples were releasing statements left 0:20:41.680 --> 0:20:44.880 and right, training their members and how to spot other 0:20:45.400 --> 0:20:50.960 Manchurian candidates and how to handle CIA torture. And here's 0:20:51.000 --> 0:20:55.520 what I guess, really crazy. One of the members, Alice Weitzman, 0:20:57.640 --> 0:21:03.040 she made a critical mistake in a political cult. She doubted. 0:21:05.680 --> 0:21:08.840 She didn't believe the whole CIA story that Christopher was pushing, 0:21:10.080 --> 0:21:13.480 and Larush didn't like that she didn't believe, and so 0:21:13.720 --> 0:21:17.199 Larush was like, oh, you don't believe that the CIA 0:21:17.320 --> 0:21:20.560 is infiltrating us right now, then you must be a 0:21:20.560 --> 0:21:25.720 CIA agent. So he sends a squad of six members 0:21:25.800 --> 0:21:29.560 of his cult to Wisman's apartment and they held her 0:21:29.560 --> 0:21:35.399 a hostage and cranked up Beethoven music to deafening levels. 0:21:36.560 --> 0:21:42.800 Why because Laruche believed that Beethoven's tunes could somehow deprogram 0:21:43.000 --> 0:21:49.639 Manchurian candidates. Whitesman managed to toss out a note through the 0:21:49.680 --> 0:21:52.119 window and a passerby picked it up and alerted the police, 0:21:52.119 --> 0:21:55.639 so she was rescued, but then she chose not to 0:21:55.680 --> 0:22:02.640 press charges against her captives. Larusha turned this party at 0:22:02.640 --> 0:22:06.840 this point, with one thousand members in three seven offices 0:22:06.840 --> 0:22:09.680 in North America and twenty six in Europe and Latin America, 0:22:10.280 --> 0:22:15.320 into an extreme right, anti Semitic organization, despite the presence 0:22:15.320 --> 0:22:21.560 of Jewish members. In fact, Carol herself was Jewish and 0:22:21.680 --> 0:22:25.119 she stuck around Dennis King. The biographer's book called Earlier 0:22:26.119 --> 0:22:30.920 found a deep connection between LaRouche and fascist and United groups. 0:22:31.640 --> 0:22:36.080 Nearly eighties. Laruche used a Strategic Defense Initiative or star 0:22:36.160 --> 0:22:40.000 Wars to bring together far right forces from Europe and America. 0:22:41.200 --> 0:22:46.520 He was even promoting like Revanism and defending Nazi war criminals. 0:22:47.720 --> 0:22:51.160 And he was known for blending his usual conspiracy theories 0:22:51.400 --> 0:22:55.840 with anti Semitism, particularly towards the British. He blamed the 0:22:55.920 --> 0:22:59.959 Rothschild for running Great Britain, and he was a typical 0:23:00.200 --> 0:23:04.919 Holocaust denial. Yeah, I really, I generally wonder why Carol 0:23:05.000 --> 0:23:08.520 left him, but I also wonder why she stuck around 0:23:08.560 --> 0:23:13.680 in the group. Anyway. The Anti Defamation League labeled the 0:23:13.720 --> 0:23:17.520 Rushes NCLC as the closest thing to an American fascist party, 0:23:18.400 --> 0:23:22.399 and well, it begs the question what was life like 0:23:22.440 --> 0:23:23.120 in that party? 0:23:23.600 --> 0:23:23.800 Yeah? 0:23:23.960 --> 0:23:28.000 I mean I remember you Garrison describing a good party 0:23:28.840 --> 0:23:30.399 as a color and. 0:23:32.960 --> 0:23:34.680 See, I think part of part of the problem is 0:23:34.720 --> 0:23:37.720 when you know, a house party turns into a political 0:23:37.760 --> 0:23:39.000 party and then. 0:23:39.080 --> 0:23:40.359 Turns into a fascist party. 0:23:40.600 --> 0:23:43.000 Yeah, that never ends. 0:23:42.200 --> 0:23:42.320 Yea. 0:23:44.280 --> 0:23:47.120 So Larush was using these really sneaky tactics to drive 0:23:47.119 --> 0:23:51.600 a wedge between Laruge members and their families, partners, and spouses. 0:23:53.160 --> 0:23:57.040 There were members of Laruciu's elite who convinced one person 0:23:57.240 --> 0:24:00.280 that their own dad was laundering money secret leave for 0:24:00.320 --> 0:24:04.960 the drug trade. This organization was telling their members where 0:24:04.960 --> 0:24:08.400 they could live, what carter buy, went to quit their jobs, 0:24:08.600 --> 0:24:11.240 what they should read, what they should watch, how to 0:24:11.560 --> 0:24:14.480 scam their parents out of money, how and when to 0:24:14.520 --> 0:24:16.960 break up with their partners. 0:24:18.080 --> 0:24:18.560 Yeah, that's a. 0:24:20.119 --> 0:24:20.320 Yeah. 0:24:20.840 --> 0:24:23.320 And then while all this is going on, lari movement 0:24:23.400 --> 0:24:26.760 is also swapping out the red flags of Trotskyism for 0:24:26.880 --> 0:24:30.560 good old or red, white and blue. Members were soon 0:24:30.840 --> 0:24:34.560 educated with the ideas of Alexander Hamilton. 0:24:35.320 --> 0:24:36.520 Right, oh god. 0:24:36.960 --> 0:24:40.280 Hamilton's economic policies were basically the American version of what 0:24:40.359 --> 0:24:44.720 Marx represented in Europe, according to Laruge, And forget about Marx. 0:24:45.480 --> 0:24:48.520 They're not reading Marx anymore. Now, they're reading Plato and Dante. 0:24:50.040 --> 0:24:52.520 In nineteen eighty they even told the members to vote 0:24:52.520 --> 0:24:53.040 for Reagan. 0:24:54.119 --> 0:24:57.879 Yeah, cool stuff, cool stuff, cool stuff. They dropped their 0:24:57.920 --> 0:25:02.280 left platonist philosopher Ronald Reges. 0:25:03.160 --> 0:25:05.760 Yeah. They basically dropped any ven air of left lean 0:25:05.840 --> 0:25:08.480 in in their recruitment tactics. And then they started doing 0:25:08.520 --> 0:25:14.040 things like soliciting people at airports and bus terminals. And 0:25:14.080 --> 0:25:16.720 these members they were caught in this whirlwind. They didn't 0:25:16.720 --> 0:25:18.840 have time to read, to think, to get a decent 0:25:18.920 --> 0:25:21.879 night's sleep. They were working twelve hour shifts and getting 0:25:21.920 --> 0:25:24.720 paid peanuts, like one hundred dollars one hundred and twenty 0:25:24.720 --> 0:25:27.120 five dollars a week, and sometimes they'd even get paid 0:25:27.119 --> 0:25:30.600 at all. They were in a constant state of mobilization, 0:25:31.160 --> 0:25:35.480 living an adrenaline ready for anything, And finally, in nineteen 0:25:35.520 --> 0:25:38.399 eighty one, around three hundred and six hundred people decided 0:25:38.440 --> 0:25:42.159 they had had enough and left the organization. Some of 0:25:42.160 --> 0:25:45.359 them were formal leftists, but not all those who stuck 0:25:45.400 --> 0:25:50.840 around with the die hard cult members completely under Larusia's control. 0:26:03.440 --> 0:26:06.640 Would it surprise you gun to learn that the Rush 0:26:06.760 --> 0:26:07.320 was a scammer? 0:26:08.320 --> 0:26:13.919 Oh, you're saying that the person involved in in running 0:26:13.920 --> 0:26:18.320 the cult was also a prolific grifter, as someone who 0:26:18.720 --> 0:26:21.560 tried to scam other people are really really. 0:26:21.640 --> 0:26:23.760 Yeah, A lot of people don't know this, but cult 0:26:23.840 --> 0:26:26.080 leaders and scammers actually go hand in hand. 0:26:26.520 --> 0:26:28.560 Ah yeah. Yeah. 0:26:28.760 --> 0:26:31.720 The Rush was a master of operating through a network 0:26:31.800 --> 0:26:37.000 of front organizations. He created the Fusion Energy Foundation, getting 0:26:37.000 --> 0:26:40.800 support from nuclear and aerospace industries to run a private 0:26:40.840 --> 0:26:45.080 intelligence to this focusing on terrorists and drug cartels. Get this. 0:26:45.640 --> 0:26:48.800