November 2, 2023 • 40 mins
Andrew tells Garrison about the far-right Trotsky inspired cult leader Lyndon Larouche.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
All the media.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Welcomes it could happen here. I'm Andrew of Future Channel Anturism,
and last time I was on here discussing political cults generally.
Today I'm here once again with.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Oh Garrison, Yes Hello. I am also here to talk
about cults because Andrew told me.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
To Yes yes, and I'm the I'm the leader in
this dynamic.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
In many ways, this zoom call is kind of a
mini cult where you are the leader.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Indeed, in need, there is nothing except this call. There's
no outside world, there is no cat on your desk.
It is just this the cult. The cat is a revisionist.
So last episode, we discussed how cults operate, essentially the
rule coaster emotional ride that individual's experience during cult recruitments,
(01:04):
where their feelings and ideas are manipulated and they're drawn
into an exclusive and isolating group. We explore the rigid
belief system that's created, the immunity to falsification, the authoritarianism,
arbitrary leadership, deification of leaders, intense activism, and the use
of loaded language. We spoke about the contradictions within political
cults and the conditions of ideological totalism, and today, as promised,
(01:31):
we're going to look at one political cult leader in
particular whose influence spanned left to right, self described Platonist,
a presdential conspiracy theorist. The alleged targets of an assassination
from Queen Elizabeth are once Trotskyist, the one and only,
(01:53):
the infamous, the loathsome London LaRouche.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
As soon as you said platon is, I knew we
were in for just a horrible time, just just the worst.
The only people who self described as Platonists are the worst. Actually,
the last person I knew who self described as a
Platonist was the target of an assassination because it was
(02:18):
the daughter of Alexander Dugan was at.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Anyway, what an interesting cast of characters.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Indeed, indeed, and speaking of.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Cast of characters, by the way, I should note that
Tim wall Fourth, one of the cool authors of the book,
that this research was based on the book being on
the edge particular cults left and right. Tim wall Fourth,
the other author's tenant is Dennis Torrish was a Trotskyist
called leader at one point, oh like cult underling or whatever.
(02:57):
But he was kicked out and then he needs a
cool authored this book to call out some of their
cultish tendencies. If you need that sort of backstory to
take some of this with the grain of salt, so
be it. Because, as far as I can tell, Tim
Warforth and Lynn and laruche actually crossed paths at one point.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Interesting.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
So, as always, let's start from the beginning and get
an early portrait of this guy. Laroche was born in Rochester,
New Hampshire, in nineteen twenty two, then moved to Lynn, Massachusetts.
He was the oldest of three children in a Quaker home,
where eventually his father would be expelled from the local
Quaker community for his alleged misuse of funds. He then
(03:40):
briefly attended Northeastern University in Boston and left in nineteen
forty two, at least partly because he believed his teachers
quote lacked the competence to teach him on conditions he
was willing to tolerate.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Sure, sure, I'll take a first word on that one. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (03:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
At first, he was a conscientious objector to enlistment in
World War Two, because you know, Quaker I Instead he
joined a civilian public service camp in what is what
you know, which is what conscientious objectors did at the time.
But Eventually he would enlist with the US Army and
serve with the Medical Corps in India and boomer which
(04:19):
is now Myanmar Ye. In nineteen forty six, aboard the
s S, General Bradley Don Morrill met the young soldier
in Laruche and got into it with him about politics
and particularly the political optimism of the post World War
Two era what a time, the revolutionary spirit of the
Indian subcontinent, and socialist ideas more broadly. Now, Laruche was
(04:41):
already sympathetic towards Marx and Trotsky at this point. In fact,
even in his preteens, he was a voracious reader philosophy,
particularly of the German polymath Godfred Wilhelm von leibnizbut leibnizbut
or however that is pronounced. But ultimately, by the time
they returned to America, LaRouche was a Trotskyist. In brief,
(05:06):
For those unaware, a Trotskyist is someone who hears the
principles and politics of Leon Trotsky, who was a prominent
figure in the early Soviet Union and a key figure
in what I would call co optation of the Russian
Revolution of nineteen seventy. Trotskyism is distinct from mainstream Leninist
and particularly Stalinist thought, most famously for their rejection of
(05:29):
socialism in one country and their advocacy of permanent revolution.
By the time Laruche had returned home in nineteen forty seven,
he joined his hometown Lynn, Massachusetts, chapter of the Socialist Workers'
Party s WP, which was the main American Trotskyist group. Interestingly,
he took on a party name which really reminds me
(05:52):
of how religious missionaries would give those they converted Christian
names baptism. So his party name was Lynn Marcus. You
could just see it as a pseudonym for political work.
Of course, I mean, the CIA and the FBI were
very active in infiltrating these sorts of groups, so I
understand having like a pseudonym, But I mean, considering we're
(06:14):
talking about cul tendencies and political movements, I couldn't pass
up on that observation. You know, Don Morrill, who was
also from Lynn, Massachusetts, was also part of the SWP
and very active in their union organized and activities. LaRouche
Tho not so much. He was very intellectually oriented. He
wasn't very into the union scene, and he eventually left
(06:37):
Massachusetts in nineteen fifty two and settled down in New
York City. He got married, he had a son, and
he was focused in his career as an economic consultant
in the shoe industry, with a nice, nice apartment in
Central Park West. He didn't really have any ties to
the working class efforts of the s WP, So what now. Well,
(06:58):
eventually he and his wife separated and he moved in
with a fellow s WP member known sometimes as Carol White,
sometimes as Carol Schnitzer, and sometimes as Carol Larabie. And
then he decided that the WP leadership had the wrong idea.
Why they so obsessed with union organizing, Perhaps he should
(07:21):
be the one calling the shots. You have to understand
something about Laruche. You see, with little involvement or connection
to actual working class struggle and disconnection. You see, with
little involvement or connection to actual working class struggle and
disconnection from the party's activity, he had already begun making
a right word shift, even while still bearing the banner
(07:42):
of leftism. As an intellectual, he loved his books, including
Marxist Capital, Rota Luxembourg's The Accumulation of Capital and Hegeld's
Logic and his intellectualism naturally fed into his elitism, Drawing
for Lenin's what is to be Done larushe believes that
(08:03):
a select intellectual group, which I mean he was clearly
a part of. These professional revolutionaries held a pivotal role
in transforming society, would their task being to gain dominance
over the less intellectually developed masses. He also borrowed from
Gramacy's idea of hergemony. He saw himself in competition with
(08:26):
other intellectuals on the left for leadership over the hearts
and minds of the dommy masses to undermine the capitalists
hold on the working class. But unlike Gramcy, he didn't
believe the working class was capable of developing its own leaders.
He was that leader, and he also borrowed from George
Lucas's concept of class consciousness and the importance of thinkers.
(08:51):
Larush wasn't just a thinker. He saw himself as the thinker,
the one who would take power and lead the masses
to freedom. So he was fed up with the SWP
limiting his clearly elite intellect and ability, and so in
nineteen sixty five he left and joined a small Trotskise
(09:12):
group called the American Committee for the Fourth International. Yes,
associated with George Healy, who was another left wing cult leader.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
A lot of a lot of left wing cults came
out of the Fourth International, some of which are very cool,
some of which are not.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Very cool indeed indeed, but guess what, he didn't like
the Fourth International. He only stayed there for six months.
And apparently Healey did not even like him. I mean,
I wonder why, right, I know, I mean.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
He seems like a very agreeable fellow.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
And not only that, I mean, when have you ever
heard of cult leaders getting along? You know, call leaders
sent to view other cult leaders as threats to their
total control.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
You know, it would be funny if there was just
like a conference for leaders to like share like tactics
and they all have their dinner together.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
So laruche pus out of that party. And then he
joined the Spartassist League, which was another trot party, and
again he didn't stay for too long. He decided he
was going to put all those factions and leaders behind
him and declared himself the pioneer of the Fifth INTERNATIONALE. So,
for those unaware, the First Workers International from eighteen sixty
(10:31):
four to eighteen seventy six was a coalition of labor
and socialist groups seeking to promote workers' rights and international solidarity.
It split because of the irreconcilable differences and divisions between
the statists and the anarchists. Then in eighteen eighty nine
and from then unto nineteen sixteen, the Second Internationale was born.
(10:52):
That was an organization of socialists and labor parties, this
time no anarchists allowed, and it was aimed at fostering
cooperation among socialist globally, until it dissolved due to the
divisions related to World War One. And then in nineteen nineteen,
the Soviet Union founded the Third Internationale or the Common
Turn to promote worldwide communist revolution and aid communist parties,
(11:16):
but then it dissolved during World War Two due to
the Soviet German tensions, among other things. And then in
nineteen thirty eight, Trotsky, who was marginalized and persecuted by Stalin,
founded the Fourth International as an oppositional alternative to the
Stalin dominated comment tern. Technically, the Fourth International is still
(11:36):
active today, but it's always been fairly irrelevant beyond small
bi current sects and ever splinter in splinter groups and
more than one political cult. So for a Trotskyist like
Laruge to declare a Fifth International is like, you know,
here we go again. How is it going to match?
Do this? Nineteen sixty eight picture this a room with
(11:59):
about fility students sitting on the floor, all eyes fixed
on Lindon LaRouche. After playing a major role in the
students strike at Columbia University, these students were totally invested
in this man's every word. They were part of the
National Caucus of Labor Committees lc NCLC, which was affiliated
(12:21):
with the Students for Democratic Society SDS. Laruche held this
meet in for a whole seven hours, that's longer than
a church service, and he blended discussions of tactics with
educational presentations. The SDS had a lot of spirit and action,
but Larush believed that they were a bit short on theory,
(12:43):
so he was there to fill that void and a
bit more. The gathering marked the early stages of Wild
lad become a political cult center around Laruge, where he
served as an intellectual and political gurup, training his followers
as devoted disciples nach for me, making his disciples feel
like they were part of an elite club. They believe
(13:04):
they were the only ones who truly understood the era
they were in and had all the answers to fix
society's problems. In nineteen seventy, Larush wrote that you should
start with recruiting and educating our revolutionary intelligenzia, mainly young
intellectuals like these student radicals, rather than the working class,
because again laruthe thought the working class was stipid. He
(13:27):
wanted these elite recruits to commit to intensive study and activism,
particularly of his interpretation of ideas, so they'd lead the charge.
And I remember at this point Larush was pushing a
right wing form of Trotskyism. Like Marx, he believed that
capitalism had to keep growing to stay alive. Once it
hits his limits, it would go into crisis mode and
(13:48):
eventually collapse. He also shared Marx's idea that human activity
should be all about progress, particularly the growth of the
world's productive forces.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Do you know who's organizing the next International? Actually right now,
right now, it is in fact that the products and
service services that sponsor this podcast, So they're making the
great shift the same way anarchism was expunged from the
Second International. Now communism is going to be expunged from
this this next upcoming international, and it's just going to
(14:18):
be capitalists. So here, here, here are the sponsors organizing
the next, the next international.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Marx thought copalism was just a phase in human society,
as crises would paved the way for a working class revolution,
which would lead to socialism. Under socialism, the productive forces
would flourish. Thought those pesky copleist constraints. Laruche came up
with something he called the theory of re industrialization. He
(14:57):
claimed that copulism, in its third stage of realism, needed
fresh opportunities for capital investment. They even predicted that if
world leaders did not follow his advice, the system was
on the brink of collapse. Only he and his trained
followers under his lead, could prevent this catastrophe. By the
(15:17):
late sixties and early seventies, members were giving up their
jobs and devoting themselves wholly to the cause and the
leadership of Laruche. They were convinced that the world had
all the resources needed for an incredible economic transformation. But
they saw a big problem. They thought the nation's leaders
were clueless, and of course they didn't think too highly
(15:39):
the masses, so their solution was getting Linden and Laruxe
Junior into power or whether he's a junior, ah, but
their solution was getting Linden Laruz Junior into power as
soon as possible, and then he would lead the trade
unions that take over America. He expected their support and
(16:01):
if they were slacking in their activism, he would call
them out. Borrowing from the confrontational therapy with the new
age for psychology cults, Lrush began holding ego stripping sessions.
Anyone who failed in a political task was subjected to
pure psychological terror as everyone attacked them and tore apart
their past and personal life in front of the whole group.
(16:23):
And because cults, and because cults and sex and inevitable
combination like madness and badness, Larush also launched a campaign
against the sexual impotence of his membership. Apparently Carol left
him for a disciple of the movement. Interesting his name
(16:43):
was Christopher White, and they went to England to set
up a chapter of the NCLC. So that's probably why
he got a little bit unhinged. But that's not the
worst of it. I can't not mention Operation mop Up
in nineteen seventy three, Laruge fully shifted the group's political
(17:04):
stands from being far left to far right. Armed with bats,
chains and martial arts, Gale his supporters physically attacked members
of the Socialist Workers' Party and the Communist Party for
He declared that he intended to wipe these rival parties
off the map, going as far as to threaten their
families as well. But it didn't stop there. He extended
(17:26):
his attacks to groups like the Revolutionary Communist Party, the
October League, and the Progressive Labor Party. Essentially, Laruche want
to establish dominance through these physical confrontations. There were at
least six day reported assaults during this time, and the
whole operation only ended when the police stepped in and
(17:46):
arrested some of Larushe's followers. Interestingly, though, there weren't any convictions,
and Laruche insisted that his people were only acted in
self defense. But here's where get a little bit mokier.
Journalist and Laruse biographer Dennis King suggested that the FBI
may have played a role in stirring up trouble among
(18:08):
these groups. Do we have used tactics like sending anonymous
mailings to keep these groups in each other's throats, so
you know, plot thickens.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Yeah, I mean that way, that was very typical kind
of conel Pro stuff that was happening around this time period.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
That would not surprise me. Yeah, it's safe to say though,
in this period of Larush's life, all the folks on
the left were wondering if he was really still one
of their own. Back to nineteen seventy three, Carol and Christopher,
(18:45):
like I said, they were going to the UK to
set up their own version of the NCLC, but then
the Rush called them back to the US for a
national conference, and during the flight, Stepher lost it. He
started yelling that the CIA had plans to off Lwerby
(19:07):
and the Rouche, Carol, Larbie and the Rush. The plane
was an utter chaos. So Carol reached out to the
Rouge and they decided to work together to deprogram Christopher.
What we mean deprogrammed Christopher? I'm glad you asked.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
I think we have mentioned called deprogramming before, kind of
been passing, but never never too much on it.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
I think yes. What I mean in this instance, though,
is not that they were trying to inculcate him into
the cult or deprogram him from mainstream ideology. You see
in his Rantins and Ravens on the plane, Christopher claimed
he was a Manchurian candidate who had been tortured by
(19:59):
the CI and British intelligence in a London basement. He
then said he was programmed to do some stuff like
often his wife and setting up Laruge for a watery
demise by Cuba and exile frogmen. So that's the kind
of deep program and they intended to carry out Hmmm.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
I have some notes, but I suppose I'll just let
them do their thing.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Yeah. Yeah, So Christopher was saying that he was a
Manchurian candidate, and so then the whole group was in
a frenzy. LaRouche and his disciples were releasing statements left
and right, training their members and how to spot other
Manchurian candidates and how to handle CIA torture. And here's
(20:51):
what I guess, really crazy. One of the members, Alice Weitzman,
she made a critical mistake in a political cult. She doubted.
She didn't believe the whole CIA story that Christopher was pushing,
and Larush didn't like that she didn't believe, and so
(21:13):
Larush was like, oh, you don't believe that the CIA
is infiltrating us right now, then you must be a
CIA agent. So he sends a squad of six members
of his cult to Wisman's apartment and they held her
a hostage and cranked up Beethoven music to deafening levels.
(21:36):
Why because Laruche believed that Beethoven's tunes could somehow deprogram
Manchurian candidates. Whitesman managed to toss out a note through the
window and a passerby picked it up and alerted the police,
so she was rescued, but then she chose not to
press charges against her captives. Larusha turned this party at
(22:02):
this point, with one thousand members in three seven offices
in North America and twenty six in Europe and Latin America,
into an extreme right, anti Semitic organization, despite the presence
of Jewish members. In fact, Carol herself was Jewish and
she stuck around Dennis King. The biographer's book called Earlier
(22:26):
found a deep connection between LaRouche and fascist and United groups.
Nearly eighties. Laruche used a Strategic Defense Initiative or star
Wars to bring together far right forces from Europe and America.
He was even promoting like Revanism and defending Nazi war criminals.
(22:47):
And he was known for blending his usual conspiracy theories
with anti Semitism, particularly towards the British. He blamed the
Rothschild for running Great Britain, and he was a typical
Holocaust denial. Yeah, I really, I generally wonder why Carol
left him, but I also wonder why she stuck around
(23:08):
in the group. Anyway. The Anti Defamation League labeled the
Rushes NCLC as the closest thing to an American fascist party,
and well, it begs the question what was life like
in that party?
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (23:23):
I mean I remember you Garrison describing a good party
as a color and.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
See, I think part of part of the problem is
when you know, a house party turns into a political
party and then.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Turns into a fascist party.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Yeah, that never ends.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
Yea.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
So Larush was using these really sneaky tactics to drive
a wedge between Laruge members and their families, partners, and spouses.
There were members of Laruciu's elite who convinced one person
that their own dad was laundering money secret leave for
the drug trade. This organization was telling their members where
(24:04):
they could live, what carter buy, went to quit their jobs,
what they should read, what they should watch, how to
scam their parents out of money, how and when to
break up with their partners.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
Yeah, that's a.
Speaker 4 (24:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
And then while all this is going on, lari movement
is also swapping out the red flags of Trotskyism for
good old or red, white and blue. Members were soon
educated with the ideas of Alexander Hamilton.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
Right, oh god.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Hamilton's economic policies were basically the American version of what
Marx represented in Europe, according to Laruge, And forget about Marx.
They're not reading Marx anymore. Now, they're reading Plato and Dante.
In nineteen eighty they even told the members to vote
for Reagan.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
Yeah, cool stuff, cool stuff, cool stuff. They dropped their
left platonist philosopher Ronald Reges.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Yeah. They basically dropped any ven air of left lean
in in their recruitment tactics. And then they started doing
things like soliciting people at airports and bus terminals. And
these members they were caught in this whirlwind. They didn't
have time to read, to think, to get a decent
night's sleep. They were working twelve hour shifts and getting
paid peanuts, like one hundred dollars one hundred and twenty
(25:24):
five dollars a week, and sometimes they'd even get paid
at all. They were in a constant state of mobilization,
living an adrenaline ready for anything, And finally, in nineteen
eighty one, around three hundred and six hundred people decided
they had had enough and left the organization. Some of
them were formal leftists, but not all those who stuck
(25:45):
around with the die hard cult members completely under Larusia's control.
Would it surprise you gun to learn that the Rush
(26:06):
was a scammer?
Speaker 3 (26:08):
Oh, you're saying that the person involved in in running
the cult was also a prolific grifter, as someone who
tried to scam other people are really really.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
Yeah, A lot of people don't know this, but cult
leaders and scammers actually go hand in hand.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
Ah yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
The Rush was a master of operating through a network
of front organizations. He created the Fusion Energy Foundation, getting
support from nuclear and aerospace industries to run a private
intelligence to this focusing on terrorists and drug cartels. Get this.
He even met with top officials from the National Security
(26:48):
Council and the CIA in the eighties. Despite his parannoy
about the CIA, and he somehow managed to get White
House access.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
What yeah, yeah, why how.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Yeah. He eventually infiltrated the Democratic Party and ran for
president several times, and he launched the Proposition sixty four
initiative in California in the eighties, aimant to impose strict
public health policies for AIDS, which public health officials rejected.
But basically he was instrumental and spreading a lot of
(27:24):
unnecessary fear about AIDS. In fact, he was advocating for
lynch mobs to deal with the AIDE crisis.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
Oh so he wasn't like spreading good health information when
everyone was ignoring the problem. He was being like, we should,
we should just killed everybody.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Yeah, pretty much?
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Okay, I got h But you know.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Every scammer has their day, and one of his scams
got him in the pen. You see, laruche had a
knack for recruit in the offspring of the wealthy and
separating them from their money. To put it euphemistically, One
of his most famous fruits was Lewis DuPont Smith A
(28:04):
DuPont here that DuPont who gave a whop in two
hundred and twelve thousand dollars to Laruge. He even moved
close to Laruge, but eventually the DuPont family intervened, had
him declared mentally ill and put him on a monthly stipend.
Still Laruche was making a royal bank. His empire was growing.
(28:27):
He had one hundred and seventy two acre as state
in Virginia serving as his center of operations, which had
phone banks, offices, a printing plant guarded twenty four to
seven by armed individuals. But the Empire of LaRouche eventually
went into a decline. This lost for publicity caught the
attention of the public and federal officials, and his phone
(28:49):
bank operator started making an unauthorized credit card withdrawals.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
I mean he he was like going to the White House.
How did he how did he? He like trying to
stay under the federal radar. He was literally in the
in the one spot, the one.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Place exactly exactly. It's it's baffling, But Dennis Kidding has
a book all about it, so you could check it out.
In nineteen eighty seven, he faced a trial on credit
card fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice, which ended in
a mistrial. Then a subsequent trial convicted him out in
(29:30):
various charges, and he ended up in a federal penitentiary
in nineteen eighty nine. And what do all great cult leaders,
or what do many great cult leaders do when they
in jail? Some of them write book books.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
Yeah, all right, all right, I'm back on now. Okay.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
So Lurci decided to write a book called In Defense
of Common Sense. It's a mix of obscure geometric illustrations,
defense of Platonism, attributes to the seventeenth century astronomer Johannes Kepler,
and some heavy denunciations of philosophers like Kan't and most
(30:11):
philosophers post Plato. In fact, as far as Larus was concerned,
every philosopher after Plato sucked.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
That's so funny, that's really funny.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Incredibly, But at its core his book In Defense of
Common Sense was laruse re stating his modernist, somehow marks
inspired worldview. We argue that scientific and technological progress set
humanity apart from all other creatures, and it naturally leads
to increased population density. In Larucie's eyes, there's no room
(30:43):
for any entropic view that suggests a limit to human
technology and population growth. Even coined the term neganthropic to
advocate for ongoing industrial and population expansion no matter what.
All right, So then if you didn't, okay, maybe you
listen to this and you're like, none of this is
all dramatic and wild or whatever. Here's where it gets
(31:07):
even wilder. This is where we get to the intersection
of Lynn Laruche and Elon Musk that we colonize Mars.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
Well, I mean, honestly the whole his other what was
the term he just said, like ner Trup, Yeah, that
that is pretty similar to Musk's ideology as well, though
pretty much.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
Yeah, And so LaRue says, let's go, let's colonize Mars,
and what's that's done? In about forty years according to
his estimation, then his philosophical standpoint will clearly rule all
of humanity for all of time. But while the Rush
is deep in thought, behind bars his followers, they're not
(31:55):
twiddling their thumbs. They joined forces with other anti war
demonstrators pose the Gulf War in nineteen ninety nineteen ninety one.
And you know, it's interesting to note that the NCLC
was not the only voice from the right among those
left wing demonstrators. Pat Buchanan the Populist Party, the Liberty Lobby,
and other ultra right and other ultra right and neo
(32:17):
isolationist groups formed a sort of united front with elements
of the left in terms of that opposition to the
Gulf War and Laruche was eventually released on parole in
nineteen ninety four, and by nineteen ninety eight, during the
economic crisis, the Rush was demanding that Bill Clinton appoint
(32:39):
him immediately as an economic advisor.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
Sounds like a good idea. Yeah, now he seems, he
seems well qualified.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
And I coulte it was now time to abandon crisis
management and Chile Shaian in other words, democracy. Laruge believed
in the inherent tendency of popular opinion towards me mediocrity.
The very tendency to rely upon collective decisions rather than
decisions based upon foundation of principle is itself a wellspring
(33:09):
of mediocrity, he fully explained to proposed as symbol of
virtual rabel decision makers, usually featuring those parties who are
still advocates of the policies which have caused and advocated
the crisis, is scarcely a noble enterprise, nor a fruitful one.
Some relatively few in the position to influence directives must
preempt the situation, just in case there should be any
(33:31):
question as to Laruci's concept of governance. He declared China
to be probably one of the best governments in the
world to be in terms of quality of leadership, the
kind of leadership required to get through crisis. Laruche, like
Mussolini and Hitler before him, borrowed from Marx and then
changed his theories completely.
Speaker 3 (33:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
Yeah, Marx's internationalist outcolook was abandoned in favor of the
nation state. Marx's goal of abolish and capitalism replaced by
a model of a tutalitarian state that is still primarily
in the hands of private corporations and their owners, who,
by the way, would have to take orders from the rouge. Now.
(34:13):
Hitler called his national so his schema national socialist socialism interesting, curious.
Larusha was a fan, but he was like, you know,
let's add a little spice, let's give it some American branded.
So Larush called his system and ideology the American system.
Speaker 3 (34:35):
It's a little bit less catchy.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
I gotta say, yeah, I mean, that's that's the story.
Other than the rush.
Speaker 3 (34:43):
He died obviously, most people do. There's there's only a
few that have not died Enoch and I think I
think like one or two others, but most people, most
people do do in fact die.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
Yeah. Yeah, he was quite the guy. He died into
onto nineteen by.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
The way, Oh no, that that recent.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Yeah, yeah, he lived a really long time. He had
He lived for a hundred years for Cornald.
Speaker 3 (35:10):
Load did not realize he was still kicking around so
so recently.
Speaker 4 (35:16):
Yeah, gone too soon him a right, yeah, yeah, absolutely,
at least at least now he's in heaven with Ruth
Bader Ginsburg.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
That's that's yeah, that's why.
Speaker 2 (35:28):
Why do the good die young? You know?
Speaker 3 (35:32):
Oh, he was just a kid.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
So as we conclude our journey and the enigmatic will
live in the rouge, I think we left with more
questions and answers. How did a man on the fringe
of radical politics end up in the White House?
Speaker 3 (35:53):
Yeah? That is that is That is one question I
actually still have thinking about his What what were the
conditions to his White House visits and.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
What led to his transformation from a committed leftist to
a fascist. I mean I think we could see the
science of that right early.
Speaker 3 (36:09):
Yeah, yes, yeah, in.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
The sixties, the Rouge displayed egotism and hints of instability,
but he was also an intelligent individual who attracted serious intellectuals.
His ideas, well sometimes peculiar, were generally rational because the
adulation of students allowed him to gather a following around
his ideas and personality. The collapse of student radicalism the
(36:35):
seventies that the stage from his shift from left to
right and the unwavering loyalty of his followers likely reinforced
his increasingly psychotic worldview and perception of his role in it.
The Rush was convinced that he deserved worship, that he
was an intellect. He was fueled by his ideology of catastrophism,
(36:55):
that he, as the elite, would play a significant role
as savior of mnity. The practices of his organization resembled
many of the extreme religious thought control groups UH. The
practice of ideological totalism is very clear, The authoritarian structure
is very clear. The paranoia foster to create a clear
(37:16):
boundaries in the group and the outside world don't be likely.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
The l aruche please please.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
And watch out for his I want to be is
I feel like Mopin is the Laroche of this generation.
Speaker 3 (37:33):
I mean, yeah, I mean, I hope. I don't see
Mappin getting invited to the White House anytime soon, nor
other characters like like Chairman Bob. Yeah, I don't know.
We live in a different time. I think because of
how the Internet works, there's a lot there's there's much
(37:54):
more cult leaders just dispersed everywhere all the time.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
But it's almost it's almost the democratization of cult leadership.
Speaker 3 (38:02):
Yeah, but it's also made them more or less isolated
to the Internet with occasional flare ups in the real world,
which kind of which kind of limits their engagement with
you know, normal people, so to speak. It's kind of.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
Help cults, right, they can't even communicate with people outside
of them anymore.
Speaker 3 (38:23):
Yeah, And I think part of part of that is
definitely happening here on on on on the Internet, where
there's just so many of them that they they're all
very small, they're all very isolated, and they don't ever
really break out of their bubble, which which you know
is common with with with a lot of a lot
of cults.
Speaker 4 (38:41):
Right.
Speaker 3 (38:41):
The ones that we only really know about or hear
about are the ones that you know, ended up doing
some big, big horrific thing at some point you know,
in that that generated you know a lot of eyeballs
on them. But for every for every Heaven's Gate, there's like,
you know, a dozen New Age holds that just fly
right under the radar that are still like horribly horribly abusive.
Speaker 2 (39:04):
They just still going on to this day.
Speaker 3 (39:06):
Yeah, they just they just might not be tied to
like a horrific act of like mass murder and mass suicide.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
And that's a scary thoughts. You know how many cults
have not yet break broken containment as it will.
Speaker 3 (39:21):
Yeah, Yeah, it's uh, it's a fun time to to
be alive.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
Surely indeed, So yeah, I mean, I hope, I hope
that the audience has enjoyed this cautionary tale, a reminder
of the profound and sometimes dangerous paths the ideology can
take individuals and groups down. Once again, I'm Andrew, and Andrew.
(39:48):
This is Garrison of Garrison of of myself. Yes, and
this has been it can happening.
Speaker 1 (39:56):
Peace, It could happen here as a production of cool
Zone Media. For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit
our website coolzonemedia dot com, or check us out on
the iHeartRadio, app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts,
you can find sources for It could happen here, Updated
monthly at coolzonemedia dot com, slash sources. Thanks for listening.
All the media.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Welcomes it could happen here. I'm Andrew of Future Channel Anturism,
and last time I was on here discussing political cults generally.
Today I'm here once again with.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Oh Garrison, Yes Hello. I am also here to talk
about cults because Andrew told me.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
To Yes yes, and I'm the I'm the leader in
this dynamic.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
In many ways, this zoom call is kind of a
mini cult where you are the leader.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Indeed, in need, there is nothing except this call. There's
no outside world, there is no cat on your desk.
It is just this the cult. The cat is a revisionist.
So last episode, we discussed how cults operate, essentially the
rule coaster emotional ride that individual's experience during cult recruitments,
(01:04):
where their feelings and ideas are manipulated and they're drawn
into an exclusive and isolating group. We explore the rigid
belief system that's created, the immunity to falsification, the authoritarianism,
arbitrary leadership, deification of leaders, intense activism, and the use
of loaded language. We spoke about the contradictions within political
cults and the conditions of ideological totalism, and today, as promised,
(01:31):
we're going to look at one political cult leader in
particular whose influence spanned left to right, self described Platonist,
a presdential conspiracy theorist. The alleged targets of an assassination
from Queen Elizabeth are once Trotskyist, the one and only,
(01:53):
the infamous, the loathsome London LaRouche.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
As soon as you said platon is, I knew we
were in for just a horrible time, just just the worst.
The only people who self described as Platonists are the worst. Actually,
the last person I knew who self described as a
Platonist was the target of an assassination because it was
(02:18):
the daughter of Alexander Dugan was at.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Anyway, what an interesting cast of characters.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Indeed, indeed, and speaking of.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Cast of characters, by the way, I should note that
Tim wall Fourth, one of the cool authors of the book,
that this research was based on the book being on
the edge particular cults left and right. Tim wall Fourth,
the other author's tenant is Dennis Torrish was a Trotskyist
called leader at one point, oh like cult underling or whatever.
(02:57):
But he was kicked out and then he needs a
cool authored this book to call out some of their
cultish tendencies. If you need that sort of backstory to
take some of this with the grain of salt, so
be it. Because, as far as I can tell, Tim
Warforth and Lynn and laruche actually crossed paths at one point.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Interesting.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
So, as always, let's start from the beginning and get
an early portrait of this guy. Laroche was born in Rochester,
New Hampshire, in nineteen twenty two, then moved to Lynn, Massachusetts.
He was the oldest of three children in a Quaker home,
where eventually his father would be expelled from the local
Quaker community for his alleged misuse of funds. He then
(03:40):
briefly attended Northeastern University in Boston and left in nineteen
forty two, at least partly because he believed his teachers
quote lacked the competence to teach him on conditions he
was willing to tolerate.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Sure, sure, I'll take a first word on that one. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (03:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
At first, he was a conscientious objector to enlistment in
World War Two, because you know, Quaker I Instead he
joined a civilian public service camp in what is what
you know, which is what conscientious objectors did at the time.
But Eventually he would enlist with the US Army and
serve with the Medical Corps in India and boomer which
(04:19):
is now Myanmar Ye. In nineteen forty six, aboard the
s S, General Bradley Don Morrill met the young soldier
in Laruche and got into it with him about politics
and particularly the political optimism of the post World War
Two era what a time, the revolutionary spirit of the
Indian subcontinent, and socialist ideas more broadly. Now, Laruche was
(04:41):
already sympathetic towards Marx and Trotsky at this point. In fact,
even in his preteens, he was a voracious reader philosophy,
particularly of the German polymath Godfred Wilhelm von leibnizbut leibnizbut
or however that is pronounced. But ultimately, by the time
they returned to America, LaRouche was a Trotskyist. In brief,
(05:06):
For those unaware, a Trotskyist is someone who hears the
principles and politics of Leon Trotsky, who was a prominent
figure in the early Soviet Union and a key figure
in what I would call co optation of the Russian
Revolution of nineteen seventy. Trotskyism is distinct from mainstream Leninist
and particularly Stalinist thought, most famously for their rejection of
(05:29):
socialism in one country and their advocacy of permanent revolution.
By the time Laruche had returned home in nineteen forty seven,
he joined his hometown Lynn, Massachusetts, chapter of the Socialist Workers'
Party s WP, which was the main American Trotskyist group. Interestingly,
he took on a party name which really reminds me
(05:52):
of how religious missionaries would give those they converted Christian
names baptism. So his party name was Lynn Marcus. You
could just see it as a pseudonym for political work.
Of course, I mean, the CIA and the FBI were
very active in infiltrating these sorts of groups, so I
understand having like a pseudonym, But I mean, considering we're
(06:14):
talking about cul tendencies and political movements, I couldn't pass
up on that observation. You know, Don Morrill, who was
also from Lynn, Massachusetts, was also part of the SWP
and very active in their union organized and activities. LaRouche
Tho not so much. He was very intellectually oriented. He
wasn't very into the union scene, and he eventually left
(06:37):
Massachusetts in nineteen fifty two and settled down in New
York City. He got married, he had a son, and
he was focused in his career as an economic consultant
in the shoe industry, with a nice, nice apartment in
Central Park West. He didn't really have any ties to
the working class efforts of the s WP, So what now. Well,
(06:58):
eventually he and his wife separated and he moved in
with a fellow s WP member known sometimes as Carol White,
sometimes as Carol Schnitzer, and sometimes as Carol Larabie. And
then he decided that the WP leadership had the wrong idea.
Why they so obsessed with union organizing, Perhaps he should
(07:21):
be the one calling the shots. You have to understand
something about Laruche. You see, with little involvement or connection
to actual working class struggle and disconnection. You see, with
little involvement or connection to actual working class struggle and
disconnection from the party's activity, he had already begun making
a right word shift, even while still bearing the banner
(07:42):
of leftism. As an intellectual, he loved his books, including
Marxist Capital, Rota Luxembourg's The Accumulation of Capital and Hegeld's
Logic and his intellectualism naturally fed into his elitism, Drawing
for Lenin's what is to be Done larushe believes that
(08:03):
a select intellectual group, which I mean he was clearly
a part of. These professional revolutionaries held a pivotal role
in transforming society, would their task being to gain dominance
over the less intellectually developed masses. He also borrowed from
Gramacy's idea of hergemony. He saw himself in competition with
(08:26):
other intellectuals on the left for leadership over the hearts
and minds of the dommy masses to undermine the capitalists
hold on the working class. But unlike Gramcy, he didn't
believe the working class was capable of developing its own leaders.
He was that leader, and he also borrowed from George
Lucas's concept of class consciousness and the importance of thinkers.
(08:51):
Larush wasn't just a thinker. He saw himself as the thinker,
the one who would take power and lead the masses
to freedom. So he was fed up with the SWP
limiting his clearly elite intellect and ability, and so in
nineteen sixty five he left and joined a small Trotskise
(09:12):
group called the American Committee for the Fourth International. Yes,
associated with George Healy, who was another left wing cult leader.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
A lot of a lot of left wing cults came
out of the Fourth International, some of which are very cool,
some of which are not.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Very cool indeed indeed, but guess what, he didn't like
the Fourth International. He only stayed there for six months.
And apparently Healey did not even like him. I mean,
I wonder why, right, I know, I mean.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
He seems like a very agreeable fellow.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
And not only that, I mean, when have you ever
heard of cult leaders getting along? You know, call leaders
sent to view other cult leaders as threats to their
total control.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
You know, it would be funny if there was just
like a conference for leaders to like share like tactics
and they all have their dinner together.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
So laruche pus out of that party. And then he
joined the Spartassist League, which was another trot party, and
again he didn't stay for too long. He decided he
was going to put all those factions and leaders behind
him and declared himself the pioneer of the Fifth INTERNATIONALE. So,
for those unaware, the First Workers International from eighteen sixty
(10:31):
four to eighteen seventy six was a coalition of labor
and socialist groups seeking to promote workers' rights and international solidarity.
It split because of the irreconcilable differences and divisions between
the statists and the anarchists. Then in eighteen eighty nine
and from then unto nineteen sixteen, the Second Internationale was born.
(10:52):
That was an organization of socialists and labor parties, this
time no anarchists allowed, and it was aimed at fostering
cooperation among socialist globally, until it dissolved due to the
divisions related to World War One. And then in nineteen nineteen,
the Soviet Union founded the Third Internationale or the Common
Turn to promote worldwide communist revolution and aid communist parties,
(11:16):
but then it dissolved during World War Two due to
the Soviet German tensions, among other things. And then in
nineteen thirty eight, Trotsky, who was marginalized and persecuted by Stalin,
founded the Fourth International as an oppositional alternative to the
Stalin dominated comment tern. Technically, the Fourth International is still
(11:36):
active today, but it's always been fairly irrelevant beyond small
bi current sects and ever splinter in splinter groups and
more than one political cult. So for a Trotskyist like
Laruge to declare a Fifth International is like, you know,
here we go again. How is it going to match?
Do this? Nineteen sixty eight picture this a room with
(11:59):
about fility students sitting on the floor, all eyes fixed
on Lindon LaRouche. After playing a major role in the
students strike at Columbia University, these students were totally invested
in this man's every word. They were part of the
National Caucus of Labor Committees lc NCLC, which was affiliated
(12:21):
with the Students for Democratic Society SDS. Laruche held this
meet in for a whole seven hours, that's longer than
a church service, and he blended discussions of tactics with
educational presentations. The SDS had a lot of spirit and action,
but Larush believed that they were a bit short on theory,
(12:43):
so he was there to fill that void and a
bit more. The gathering marked the early stages of Wild
lad become a political cult center around Laruge, where he
served as an intellectual and political gurup, training his followers
as devoted disciples nach for me, making his disciples feel
like they were part of an elite club. They believe
(13:04):
they were the only ones who truly understood the era
they were in and had all the answers to fix
society's problems. In nineteen seventy, Larush wrote that you should
start with recruiting and educating our revolutionary intelligenzia, mainly young
intellectuals like these student radicals, rather than the working class,
because again laruthe thought the working class was stipid. He
(13:27):
wanted these elite recruits to commit to intensive study and activism,
particularly of his interpretation of ideas, so they'd lead the charge.
And I remember at this point Larush was pushing a
right wing form of Trotskyism. Like Marx, he believed that
capitalism had to keep growing to stay alive. Once it
hits his limits, it would go into crisis mode and
(13:48):
eventually collapse. He also shared Marx's idea that human activity
should be all about progress, particularly the growth of the
world's productive forces.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Do you know who's organizing the next International? Actually right now,
right now, it is in fact that the products and
service services that sponsor this podcast, So they're making the
great shift the same way anarchism was expunged from the
Second International. Now communism is going to be expunged from
this this next upcoming international, and it's just going to
(14:18):
be capitalists. So here, here, here are the sponsors organizing
the next, the next international.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Marx thought copalism was just a phase in human society,
as crises would paved the way for a working class revolution,
which would lead to socialism. Under socialism, the productive forces
would flourish. Thought those pesky copleist constraints. Laruche came up
with something he called the theory of re industrialization. He
(14:57):
claimed that copulism, in its third stage of realism, needed
fresh opportunities for capital investment. They even predicted that if
world leaders did not follow his advice, the system was
on the brink of collapse. Only he and his trained
followers under his lead, could prevent this catastrophe. By the
(15:17):
late sixties and early seventies, members were giving up their
jobs and devoting themselves wholly to the cause and the
leadership of Laruche. They were convinced that the world had
all the resources needed for an incredible economic transformation. But
they saw a big problem. They thought the nation's leaders
were clueless, and of course they didn't think too highly
(15:39):
the masses, so their solution was getting Linden and Laruxe
Junior into power or whether he's a junior, ah, but
their solution was getting Linden Laruz Junior into power as
soon as possible, and then he would lead the trade
unions that take over America. He expected their support and
(16:01):
if they were slacking in their activism, he would call
them out. Borrowing from the confrontational therapy with the new
age for psychology cults, Lrush began holding ego stripping sessions.
Anyone who failed in a political task was subjected to
pure psychological terror as everyone attacked them and tore apart
their past and personal life in front of the whole group.
(16:23):
And because cults, and because cults and sex and inevitable
combination like madness and badness, Larush also launched a campaign
against the sexual impotence of his membership. Apparently Carol left
him for a disciple of the movement. Interesting his name
(16:43):
was Christopher White, and they went to England to set
up a chapter of the NCLC. So that's probably why
he got a little bit unhinged. But that's not the
worst of it. I can't not mention Operation mop Up
in nineteen seventy three, Laruge fully shifted the group's political
(17:04):
stands from being far left to far right. Armed with bats,
chains and martial arts, Gale his supporters physically attacked members
of the Socialist Workers' Party and the Communist Party for
He declared that he intended to wipe these rival parties
off the map, going as far as to threaten their
families as well. But it didn't stop there. He extended
(17:26):
his attacks to groups like the Revolutionary Communist Party, the
October League, and the Progressive Labor Party. Essentially, Laruche want
to establish dominance through these physical confrontations. There were at
least six day reported assaults during this time, and the
whole operation only ended when the police stepped in and
(17:46):
arrested some of Larushe's followers. Interestingly, though, there weren't any convictions,
and Laruche insisted that his people were only acted in
self defense. But here's where get a little bit mokier.
Journalist and Laruse biographer Dennis King suggested that the FBI
may have played a role in stirring up trouble among
(18:08):
these groups. Do we have used tactics like sending anonymous
mailings to keep these groups in each other's throats, so
you know, plot thickens.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Yeah, I mean that way, that was very typical kind
of conel Pro stuff that was happening around this time period.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
That would not surprise me. Yeah, it's safe to say though,
in this period of Larush's life, all the folks on
the left were wondering if he was really still one
of their own. Back to nineteen seventy three, Carol and Christopher,
(18:45):
like I said, they were going to the UK to
set up their own version of the NCLC, but then
the Rush called them back to the US for a
national conference, and during the flight, Stepher lost it. He
started yelling that the CIA had plans to off Lwerby
(19:07):
and the Rouche, Carol, Larbie and the Rush. The plane
was an utter chaos. So Carol reached out to the
Rouge and they decided to work together to deprogram Christopher.
What we mean deprogrammed Christopher? I'm glad you asked.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
I think we have mentioned called deprogramming before, kind of
been passing, but never never too much on it.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
I think yes. What I mean in this instance, though,
is not that they were trying to inculcate him into
the cult or deprogram him from mainstream ideology. You see
in his Rantins and Ravens on the plane, Christopher claimed
he was a Manchurian candidate who had been tortured by
(19:59):
the CI and British intelligence in a London basement. He
then said he was programmed to do some stuff like
often his wife and setting up Laruge for a watery
demise by Cuba and exile frogmen. So that's the kind
of deep program and they intended to carry out Hmmm.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
I have some notes, but I suppose I'll just let
them do their thing.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Yeah. Yeah, So Christopher was saying that he was a
Manchurian candidate, and so then the whole group was in
a frenzy. LaRouche and his disciples were releasing statements left
and right, training their members and how to spot other
Manchurian candidates and how to handle CIA torture. And here's
(20:51):
what I guess, really crazy. One of the members, Alice Weitzman,
she made a critical mistake in a political cult. She doubted.
She didn't believe the whole CIA story that Christopher was pushing,
and Larush didn't like that she didn't believe, and so
(21:13):
Larush was like, oh, you don't believe that the CIA
is infiltrating us right now, then you must be a
CIA agent. So he sends a squad of six members
of his cult to Wisman's apartment and they held her
a hostage and cranked up Beethoven music to deafening levels.
(21:36):
Why because Laruche believed that Beethoven's tunes could somehow deprogram
Manchurian candidates. Whitesman managed to toss out a note through the
window and a passerby picked it up and alerted the police,
so she was rescued, but then she chose not to
press charges against her captives. Larusha turned this party at
(22:02):
this point, with one thousand members in three seven offices
in North America and twenty six in Europe and Latin America,
into an extreme right, anti Semitic organization, despite the presence
of Jewish members. In fact, Carol herself was Jewish and
she stuck around Dennis King. The biographer's book called Earlier
(22:26):
found a deep connection between LaRouche and fascist and United groups.
Nearly eighties. Laruche used a Strategic Defense Initiative or star
Wars to bring together far right forces from Europe and America.
He was even promoting like Revanism and defending Nazi war criminals.
(22:47):
And he was known for blending his usual conspiracy theories
with anti Semitism, particularly towards the British. He blamed the
Rothschild for running Great Britain, and he was a typical
Holocaust denial. Yeah, I really, I generally wonder why Carol
left him, but I also wonder why she stuck around
(23:08):
in the group. Anyway. The Anti Defamation League labeled the
Rushes NCLC as the closest thing to an American fascist party,
and well, it begs the question what was life like
in that party?
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (23:23):
I mean I remember you Garrison describing a good party
as a color and.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
See, I think part of part of the problem is
when you know, a house party turns into a political
party and then.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Turns into a fascist party.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Yeah, that never ends.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
Yea.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
So Larush was using these really sneaky tactics to drive
a wedge between Laruge members and their families, partners, and spouses.
There were members of Laruciu's elite who convinced one person
that their own dad was laundering money secret leave for
the drug trade. This organization was telling their members where
(24:04):
they could live, what carter buy, went to quit their jobs,
what they should read, what they should watch, how to
scam their parents out of money, how and when to
break up with their partners.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
Yeah, that's a.
Speaker 4 (24:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
And then while all this is going on, lari movement
is also swapping out the red flags of Trotskyism for
good old or red, white and blue. Members were soon
educated with the ideas of Alexander Hamilton.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
Right, oh god.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Hamilton's economic policies were basically the American version of what
Marx represented in Europe, according to Laruge, And forget about Marx.
They're not reading Marx anymore. Now, they're reading Plato and Dante.
In nineteen eighty they even told the members to vote
for Reagan.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
Yeah, cool stuff, cool stuff, cool stuff. They dropped their
left platonist philosopher Ronald Reges.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Yeah. They basically dropped any ven air of left lean
in in their recruitment tactics. And then they started doing
things like soliciting people at airports and bus terminals. And
these members they were caught in this whirlwind. They didn't
have time to read, to think, to get a decent
night's sleep. They were working twelve hour shifts and getting
paid peanuts, like one hundred dollars one hundred and twenty
(25:24):
five dollars a week, and sometimes they'd even get paid
at all. They were in a constant state of mobilization,
living an adrenaline ready for anything, And finally, in nineteen
eighty one, around three hundred and six hundred people decided
they had had enough and left the organization. Some of
them were formal leftists, but not all those who stuck
(25:45):
around with the die hard cult members completely under Larusia's control.
Would it surprise you gun to learn that the Rush
(26:06):
was a scammer?
Speaker 3 (26:08):
Oh, you're saying that the person involved in in running
the cult was also a prolific grifter, as someone who
tried to scam other people are really really.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
Yeah, A lot of people don't know this, but cult
leaders and scammers actually go hand in hand.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
Ah yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
The Rush was a master of operating through a network
of front organizations. He created the Fusion Energy Foundation, getting
support from nuclear and aerospace industries to run a private
intelligence to this focusing on terrorists and drug cartels. Get this.
He even met with top officials from the National Security
(26:48):
Council and the CIA in the eighties. Despite his parannoy
about the CIA, and he somehow managed to get White
House access.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
What yeah, yeah, why how.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Yeah. He eventually infiltrated the Democratic Party and ran for
president several times, and he launched the Proposition sixty four
initiative in California in the eighties, aimant to impose strict
public health policies for AIDS, which public health officials rejected.
But basically he was instrumental and spreading a lot of
(27:24):
unnecessary fear about AIDS. In fact, he was advocating for
lynch mobs to deal with the AIDE crisis.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
Oh so he wasn't like spreading good health information when
everyone was ignoring the problem. He was being like, we should,
we should just killed everybody.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Yeah, pretty much?
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Okay, I got h But you know.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Every scammer has their day, and one of his scams
got him in the pen. You see, laruche had a
knack for recruit in the offspring of the wealthy and
separating them from their money. To put it euphemistically, One
of his most famous fruits was Lewis DuPont Smith A
(28:04):
DuPont here that DuPont who gave a whop in two
hundred and twelve thousand dollars to Laruge. He even moved
close to Laruge, but eventually the DuPont family intervened, had
him declared mentally ill and put him on a monthly stipend.
Still Laruche was making a royal bank. His empire was growing.
(28:27):
He had one hundred and seventy two acre as state
in Virginia serving as his center of operations, which had
phone banks, offices, a printing plant guarded twenty four to
seven by armed individuals. But the Empire of LaRouche eventually
went into a decline. This lost for publicity caught the
attention of the public and federal officials, and his phone
(28:49):
bank operator started making an unauthorized credit card withdrawals.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
I mean he he was like going to the White House.
How did he how did he? He like trying to
stay under the federal radar. He was literally in the
in the one spot, the one.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Place exactly exactly. It's it's baffling, But Dennis Kidding has
a book all about it, so you could check it out.
In nineteen eighty seven, he faced a trial on credit
card fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice, which ended in
a mistrial. Then a subsequent trial convicted him out in
(29:30):
various charges, and he ended up in a federal penitentiary
in nineteen eighty nine. And what do all great cult leaders,
or what do many great cult leaders do when they
in jail? Some of them write book books.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
Yeah, all right, all right, I'm back on now. Okay.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
So Lurci decided to write a book called In Defense
of Common Sense. It's a mix of obscure geometric illustrations,
defense of Platonism, attributes to the seventeenth century astronomer Johannes Kepler,
and some heavy denunciations of philosophers like Kan't and most
(30:11):
philosophers post Plato. In fact, as far as Larus was concerned,
every philosopher after Plato sucked.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
That's so funny, that's really funny.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Incredibly, But at its core his book In Defense of
Common Sense was laruse re stating his modernist, somehow marks
inspired worldview. We argue that scientific and technological progress set
humanity apart from all other creatures, and it naturally leads
to increased population density. In Larucie's eyes, there's no room
(30:43):
for any entropic view that suggests a limit to human
technology and population growth. Even coined the term neganthropic to
advocate for ongoing industrial and population expansion no matter what.
All right, So then if you didn't, okay, maybe you
listen to this and you're like, none of this is
all dramatic and wild or whatever. Here's where it gets
(31:07):
even wilder. This is where we get to the intersection
of Lynn Laruche and Elon Musk that we colonize Mars.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
Well, I mean, honestly the whole his other what was
the term he just said, like ner Trup, Yeah, that
that is pretty similar to Musk's ideology as well, though
pretty much.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
Yeah, And so LaRue says, let's go, let's colonize Mars,
and what's that's done? In about forty years according to
his estimation, then his philosophical standpoint will clearly rule all
of humanity for all of time. But while the Rush
is deep in thought, behind bars his followers, they're not
(31:55):
twiddling their thumbs. They joined forces with other anti war
demonstrators pose the Gulf War in nineteen ninety nineteen ninety one.
And you know, it's interesting to note that the NCLC
was not the only voice from the right among those
left wing demonstrators. Pat Buchanan the Populist Party, the Liberty Lobby,
and other ultra right and other ultra right and neo
(32:17):
isolationist groups formed a sort of united front with elements
of the left in terms of that opposition to the
Gulf War and Laruche was eventually released on parole in
nineteen ninety four, and by nineteen ninety eight, during the
economic crisis, the Rush was demanding that Bill Clinton appoint
(32:39):
him immediately as an economic advisor.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
Sounds like a good idea. Yeah, now he seems, he
seems well qualified.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
And I coulte it was now time to abandon crisis
management and Chile Shaian in other words, democracy. Laruge believed
in the inherent tendency of popular opinion towards me mediocrity.
The very tendency to rely upon collective decisions rather than
decisions based upon foundation of principle is itself a wellspring
(33:09):
of mediocrity, he fully explained to proposed as symbol of
virtual rabel decision makers, usually featuring those parties who are
still advocates of the policies which have caused and advocated
the crisis, is scarcely a noble enterprise, nor a fruitful one.
Some relatively few in the position to influence directives must
preempt the situation, just in case there should be any
(33:31):
question as to Laruci's concept of governance. He declared China
to be probably one of the best governments in the
world to be in terms of quality of leadership, the
kind of leadership required to get through crisis. Laruche, like
Mussolini and Hitler before him, borrowed from Marx and then
changed his theories completely.
Speaker 3 (33:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
Yeah, Marx's internationalist outcolook was abandoned in favor of the
nation state. Marx's goal of abolish and capitalism replaced by
a model of a tutalitarian state that is still primarily
in the hands of private corporations and their owners, who,
by the way, would have to take orders from the rouge. Now.
(34:13):
Hitler called his national so his schema national socialist socialism interesting, curious.
Larusha was a fan, but he was like, you know,
let's add a little spice, let's give it some American branded.
So Larush called his system and ideology the American system.
Speaker 3 (34:35):
It's a little bit less catchy.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
I gotta say, yeah, I mean, that's that's the story.
Other than the rush.
Speaker 3 (34:43):
He died obviously, most people do. There's there's only a
few that have not died Enoch and I think I
think like one or two others, but most people, most
people do do in fact die.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
Yeah. Yeah, he was quite the guy. He died into
onto nineteen by.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
The way, Oh no, that that recent.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Yeah, yeah, he lived a really long time. He had
He lived for a hundred years for Cornald.
Speaker 3 (35:10):
Load did not realize he was still kicking around so
so recently.
Speaker 4 (35:16):
Yeah, gone too soon him a right, yeah, yeah, absolutely,
at least at least now he's in heaven with Ruth
Bader Ginsburg.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
That's that's yeah, that's why.
Speaker 2 (35:28):
Why do the good die young? You know?
Speaker 3 (35:32):
Oh, he was just a kid.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
So as we conclude our journey and the enigmatic will
live in the rouge, I think we left with more
questions and answers. How did a man on the fringe
of radical politics end up in the White House?
Speaker 3 (35:53):
Yeah? That is that is That is one question I
actually still have thinking about his What what were the
conditions to his White House visits and.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
What led to his transformation from a committed leftist to
a fascist. I mean I think we could see the
science of that right early.
Speaker 3 (36:09):
Yeah, yes, yeah, in.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
The sixties, the Rouge displayed egotism and hints of instability,
but he was also an intelligent individual who attracted serious intellectuals.
His ideas, well sometimes peculiar, were generally rational because the
adulation of students allowed him to gather a following around
his ideas and personality. The collapse of student radicalism the
(36:35):
seventies that the stage from his shift from left to
right and the unwavering loyalty of his followers likely reinforced
his increasingly psychotic worldview and perception of his role in it.
The Rush was convinced that he deserved worship, that he
was an intellect. He was fueled by his ideology of catastrophism,
(36:55):
that he, as the elite, would play a significant role
as savior of mnity. The practices of his organization resembled
many of the extreme religious thought control groups UH. The
practice of ideological totalism is very clear, The authoritarian structure
is very clear. The paranoia foster to create a clear
(37:16):
boundaries in the group and the outside world don't be likely.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
The l aruche please please.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
And watch out for his I want to be is
I feel like Mopin is the Laroche of this generation.
Speaker 3 (37:33):
I mean, yeah, I mean, I hope. I don't see
Mappin getting invited to the White House anytime soon, nor
other characters like like Chairman Bob. Yeah, I don't know.
We live in a different time. I think because of
how the Internet works, there's a lot there's there's much
(37:54):
more cult leaders just dispersed everywhere all the time.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
But it's almost it's almost the democratization of cult leadership.
Speaker 3 (38:02):
Yeah, but it's also made them more or less isolated
to the Internet with occasional flare ups in the real world,
which kind of which kind of limits their engagement with
you know, normal people, so to speak. It's kind of.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
Help cults, right, they can't even communicate with people outside
of them anymore.
Speaker 3 (38:23):
Yeah, And I think part of part of that is
definitely happening here on on on on the Internet, where
there's just so many of them that they they're all
very small, they're all very isolated, and they don't ever
really break out of their bubble, which which you know
is common with with with a lot of a lot
of cults.
Speaker 4 (38:41):
Right.
Speaker 3 (38:41):
The ones that we only really know about or hear
about are the ones that you know, ended up doing
some big, big horrific thing at some point you know,
in that that generated you know a lot of eyeballs
on them. But for every for every Heaven's Gate, there's like,
you know, a dozen New Age holds that just fly
right under the radar that are still like horribly horribly abusive.
Speaker 2 (39:04):
They just still going on to this day.
Speaker 3 (39:06):
Yeah, they just they just might not be tied to
like a horrific act of like mass murder and mass suicide.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
And that's a scary thoughts. You know how many cults
have not yet break broken containment as it will.
Speaker 3 (39:21):
Yeah, Yeah, it's uh, it's a fun time to to
be alive.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
Surely indeed, So yeah, I mean, I hope, I hope
that the audience has enjoyed this cautionary tale, a reminder
of the profound and sometimes dangerous paths the ideology can
take individuals and groups down. Once again, I'm Andrew, and Andrew.
(39:48):
This is Garrison of Garrison of of myself. Yes, and
this has been it can happening.
Speaker 1 (39:56):
Peace, It could happen here as a production of cool
Zone Media. For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit
our website coolzonemedia dot com, or check us out on
the iHeartRadio, app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts,
you can find sources for It could happen here, Updated
monthly at coolzonemedia dot com, slash sources. Thanks for listening.
It Could Happen Here News
Hosts And Creators
Robert Evans
Garrison Davis
James Stout
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