The following are quotations
from the book by Lyn Marcus (pen name of Lyndon LaRouche) entitled The full version could be seen at http://www.ex-iwp.org/docs/1973/beyondpsychoanalysis.htm - it is no longer available. We have a copy here We have underlined sections in order to illustrate the method which aims to break down and strip away. Would this not be a description of mental pressure people constituting a mental attack? In Jeremiah Duggan’s lecture notes the words “Beyond Psycho-analysis “ appear as do the words: “Tavistock manipulating people”. There is extensive evidence from ex members that this method is used and that this book is important as their recruitment manual. Note where mention is made about “cleaning up the mess” relating to neurotic reactions to their methods of mass organizing. Behind the jargon are the phrases about “stripping away” the person’s identity and reducing them to a wretched state of little me. The title of this book was written down in Jeremiah’s lecture notes, found after his death. We know there are houses in France and in Germany where recruiters have “organized” young people using these methods and thereby brought them under the control of techniques which go “beyond Psychoanalysis” The full version is to be found at http://www.ex-iwp.org/docs/1973/beyondpsychoanalysis.htm - as it is no longer available there, we have a copy of it here [Printed in the LaRouche publication “The Campaigner”, Vol. 7, No. of Nov. 1, 1973] Over the period since September, 1972, organizations of the Labor Committees in North America and Western Europe have been given preliminary exposure to techniques more advanced in some aspects than have so far been known to professional psychology. These approaches are being developed as indispensable auxiliary means for directly overcoming the fatal internal flaw of all socialist organizations, Lenin's included, up to this time. The application of psychological knowledge in this process has been a means, not an independent end. Although the general basis for this has been identified in published items earlier and the program broadly detailed in Spring, 1973 internal transactions of the Labor Committees, several ends are served by a public account of the matter at this juncture. It is of relatively trivial significance that our report will remove credible basis for continuation of the sort of reckless, scandal-mongering speculation which the project has recently stirred up among certain nominally socialist groupings. More relevant, we provide qualified professionals with an adequate guide to their own contributing studies and reflections along the lines we outline. More important, we shall illuminate one of the most important, and hitherto fatally neglected problems of socialist organizations. Motives for the ProjectAlthough the writer's collateral work in related fields includes scattered projects over a period of a quarter century, the focusing of that background into the present project originated in the effort to solve certain critical problems of pedagogy in the teaching of dialectical method and Marxian economics. The elementary notion of a dialectical method itself and those Marxian economic conceptions subsumed by the notion of "extended reproduction" are ostensibly so difficult of comprehension that there has been no competent secondary writing on the dialectical method until recent years. Of all well-known Marxian economists, only Rosa Luxemburg attained a credible comprehension of Marx's notion of extended reproduction. From studies of the outstanding secondary literature and experience with well over a thousand students in the writer's course in Marxian economics, it was possible to isolate the form of the mental blockage which usually prevents comprehension of notions of that order. It was clear that remedial methods lay beyond the scope of curriculum design per se. A more immediate prompting for the current form of the project was developed out of work undertaken under such rubrics as "The German Ideology Today." Currently, in addition to the intensive continuing study since 1968 of the development of fascist movements out of "counter-culture" and anarcho-syndicalist ferment, for over a year Labor Committee task forces drawn from (presently) each of the major branches of Western national cultures have been critically examining the origins and dynamics of the special form of capitalist ideology more or less characteristic of the dominant working-class strata of each contemporary national language sector. Beyond Psychoanalysis Page 68 of 82The fallacy in this is that the love one extends to most people has the form of a predicate of a universal love for a class, etc. The quality of love appropriate to a paired love relationship among creative (e.g., revolutionary) individuals, is the universal act, in which all the predicates "dissolve" into their corresponding universality. The sexual act (or, a developing process of sexual acts as the sensuous distinction of a love relationship) is uniquely the act which corresponds to that universal feeling of creativity. The loving in the particular relationship to others already has its appropriate, necessary sensuous realization in the predicated particular act; to introduce sexual acts into this sort of predicated particular relationship is to introduce an act which nothing in healthy mental life demands, and which could therefore contribute nothing to a healthy mental life. However, it is obvious whence arises this argument in defense of casually loving "one's comrade" sexually. This is nothing but the pornographic "sexual liberation" otherwise seen in the "sexual delicatessen" practices of the happily defunct Weatherman SDS cult. This is nothing but a rationalization for the "community of women," the pathological bourgeois impulse so aptly discredited by Marx in his 1844 Manuscripts. Indeed, it cannot be considered accidental that the socialists of otherwise demonstrable creative potentials lose those creative capacities during the period they are committed to "liberated" sexual behavioral outlooks, and that these powers can be rather readily reestablished once the individual liberates himself, through appropriate self-examination, from the bourgeois ideological fetish of "sexual freedom." Because of the importance of the sense of identity in the dynamics of creative mentation, it is urgent that the socialist (individuals and group) insist on the best standard of paired mating relationships. Specifically, there must be a sharing of mutual struggle to realize identity for one's creative powers, which as an array of predicates of particular creative activity, demand the corresponding Gestalt of universal creativity. The healthy internal life and outward functioning of a socialist group demands a socialist standard of paired relationships, in which the sense of identities involved is premised on the mutual struggle to realize the creative potentialities in oneself and the other, not as a pedagogical relationship of teacher to pupil, but as a relationship in which each is drawing upon the creative ferment in the other and realizing himself or herself in stimulating and receiving that ferment in the other. The Psychology of Mass OrganizingIn political mass organizing, the socialist propagandist and individual organizer in effect strips away a critical aspect of the persona of the worker, and so momentarily implicitly reduces that worker to the wretched state of a "little me." The general possibility of that (negative aspect) of mass organizing work varies in effect to the extent that the practical habits of the workers' bourgeois ideology have ceased to work. Trade union forms, for example, have ceased to provide efficient means (within themselves) for securing the worker the circumstances which coincide with his bourgeoisified illusions. More generally, depression conditions, unpopular wars, etc., have undermined the authority of those apparent "fixed laws" which correspond to the workers' bourgeois-ideological "respect for law." The anxiety which the workers have experienced through the failure of acts corresponding to their bourgeoisified ego ideal has weakened their sense of identity (passivity) and has undermined the authority of the bourgeois-ideological ego ideals. These are circumstances in which aspects of the persona may be more readily stripped away. Beyond Psychoanalysis Page 69 of 82Stripping away such elements of the persona, by itself, obviously does not produce socialist impulses in workers. Quite the opposite; it produces an alternation between pathetic passivity and wild, imbecilic heteronomic rage. Oppressive conditions, etc., absolutely do not make workers class-conscious, revolutionary, etc. Nor could stripping away the persona in itself accomplish this. Socialist organizing is directed to the mobilization of workers around a new sense of social identity replacing the "little me," a new sense of identity which the propagandist and organizer must (synthesize). What is to be done is, in effect, to realize to the extent possible the possibility for reconstructing an actually human individual from an adult accultured by capitalist society. The partial stripping away of the persona is at best merely a precondition for the positive work; moreover, this stripping away should be carried out only to the extent that the debridement is accompanied by the beginnings of a new sense of social identity in the worker. This new sense of social identity is an approximation of the creative identity. The object of organizing is to replace the old persona determining ego ideals with new criteria, formally identifiable by the concepts of (class-for-itself) and of (socialist expanded reproduction). This transformation cannot be accomplished by a mere pedagogical relationship to the workers involved in this program of personal reconstruction. The advancement of the process depends upon the individual's acting in such a way as to establish such criteria through acts which approximate the realization of class-for-itself and expanded reproduction. The new qualities of the worker's identity can be developed only as his developing human powers for actualizing those qualities in the outer world. The solution to this apparent difficulty appears in the understanding of the point that all abstract (formal) ideas, to the extent they reflect or are susceptible of actuality, are nothing but concentrated social relations. In this view of the tasks of mass organizing, the two conceptions, class for itself and socialist expanded reproduction, reduce to a single process conception as follows. The immediate practical basis for developing rudiments of the class-for-itself conception in the worker is that otherwise identified by the term (motion). The socialist cadre induces the scintilla of a change in the individual worker, who replicates that by inducing a scintilla of change in other workers. The spread of this process, under the conditions that the affected individual workers are being brought together to "reinforce" the tendency by unifying their forces on this basis, is the deliberate determination of a (movement) of social forces corresponding in principle to a mass strike process. The psychodynamics of the relationships among workers in this process are those of love (e.g., "comradeship"); the individual realizes his inner identity by positive developments in the conceptual powers of other workers, and depends upon them in turn, for development of his conceptual powers. These are not abstract conceptions as such, but sensuous conceptions, in the sense that the conceptions in themselves imply and demand appropriate collective action and represent the potential basis for common such actions otherwise impossible. In this process, up to a certain point, the process of organizing a broader force is itself the sensuous activity which feeds the development as a whole. The elementary laws of mental life demand superseding that condition. Beyond Psychoanalysis Page 70 of 82Since the failure to execute an appropriate collective act destroys the will and weakens the conceptions associated with new social identity, the organizing process under capitalism must become the basis for a strike process. The conception must be sensuously actualized. Once we consider the sensuous acts corresponding to this mass strike organizing process, the importance of the notion of Freedom/Necessity in this process becomes obvious. What is the conception that properly demands actuality? Essentially, the mass must act to realize the necessary acts corresponding to the potentiality of its actual powers. The mere impulse to "free" itself from the objective chains of capitalist oppression, which would ordinarily be an irresponsible, suicidal act, represents only the pathetic notion of the new creativity of the worker's identity. Freedom must be realized as a scientifically known means for developing the powers to overthrow existing, oppressive laws. The practical point for the socialist cadres is identified by noting the bourgeoisideological idiocy of the typical members of Progressive Labor, International Socialists, etc., which prompts them to limit their efforts to exciting the workers to greater militancy around (linear) slogan impulses. If one instructs the workers that militancy is what is wanted, then how can one restrain the militant group of isolated workers from undertaking almost any sort of premature, futile heteronomic act of suicidal desperation? The idea of mass organizing cannot be a simple linear notion of freedom; it must be introduced and constantly reestablished as a concept embracing Freedom/Necessity, such that the criteria of the mass act are presented as subsumed by the notion of Freedom and vice versa. Already, we have identified a rudimentary approximation of the tasks of organizing. We have eliminated the problem of the pathetic monad self by giving the worker the sensuous realization of the real inner self of his creative life. This is socially located (and thus reflected) for him, to become an actuality, through his activity of reciprocally advancing the conceptual grasp of the situation with a growing number of workers. Instead of "little me," as a fixed monad, the worker begins to locate his inner self as the socially reflected (self perfecting) activity of increasing his mental sensuous powers. In practice, he begins to realize this advancement in his mental and social life by working in concert with socialist cadres to effect the rudiments of similar changes in other workers. The instant this begins to occur, the worker becomes virtually class-conscious and revolutionary. The instant he breaks with the notion of his inner self as a monad like thing, he has also broken with the "organic" epistemological outlook on the world around him as a world of (fixed laws). He is open to judging possible ways of effecting even sweeping changes in the way society is organized, the way "things are done." The change which occurs in this way is efficiently illustrated by reviewing the bourgeois myth that the axiomatic principle of individual human behavior is "individual material greed." It should be obvious that the person who accepts such a false axiom is giving prima facie evidence of his own state of internal mental life; he obviously has a bourgeois character structure, with its reductionist monad persona dynamics and its cohering reductionist outlook on the universe of the monad's Beyond Psychoanalysis Page 73 of 82To express the problem most concisely, the characteristic neurotic behavior of the petit bourgeois socialist cadre is summed up by the notion of "passing one's classroom recitations and quizzes." Success in life, to the petit bourgeois, is largely restricted to the task of being heard by the right people reciting the proper phrases. This more fundamental form of characteristic petit bourgeois disorder is often maintained by internalized images of actual or synthetic academic authorities or peer groups; the victim of this pathology is constantly looking over his shoulder, even when he is apparently addressing a worker, to reflect on the increase or diminution of status in the eyes of those academic authorities and peer groups, should these authorities and peer groups witness his performance in front of the worker. In addition to academic authorities and peer groups as such, the typical such petit bourgeois cadre is also "conscience stricken" respecting the relationship between his academic status and the ego ideals developed in the family. The neurotic behavior immediately controlled by reference to these internalized authorities may be either direct adaptation or counter-adaptation. Many members socialist groups (such as the case of the typically anti intellectual academic instructor who has joined PLP, etc.) restrict their socialist "politics" to merely acting out rebellions against internalized authorities, an actually harmless sort of delayed adolescence prankishness which, even in its inversions, faithfully follows the guidelines of the academic neurosis. On this account, it is absolutely indispensable that the socialist group rip apart publicly the easily demonstrated ideological content and (in many instances) outright objective incompetence of authoritative academic views, showing that the pathetic features of credulously respected academic authority are removed once the field in question is critically examined from the standpoint of the Marxian method. The socialist organization must create psychological distance between the mind of its members and academic authorities and peer group opinion. This is not effected by simple negation, but by demonstrating the superior authority of the Marxian method in selected fields of such academic authority. If this drives certain potential recruits from the socialist group, such a selective process is to be desired. A few painful examples of the behavior of the petit bourgeois academic outlook in mass organizing suffices to convince one of the need to select. The issue here — the real issue — is ultimately identical with that confronting the socialist organization from its working-class social strata. The pathetic feature of academic ideology and influences for mass organizing work is precisely the fact, as study of individual Ph.D.s shows, that the (academic ideology systematically destroys the creative potentialities of the student). The root of the nonsensical antics among petit bourgeois cadres sent into mass organizing is their lack of creative activity; if this assumes the form of overt anti-intellectuality among worker cadres with the same neurotic disability, the two cases are no less the same in the final analysis. It is the form through which the neurosis is mediated which differ significantly. It should be obvious, from our emphasizing on the stripping and rebuilding. processes, that the tasks of the cadres are distantly related to those of the psychoanalyst- The kernel of the consequent practical problem involved: (unless the cadres themselves have developed their creative powers and identities in terms of class-for-itself and socialist expanded reproduction criteria, they are unable to direct their efforts toward the positive reconstruction of the worker's sense of inner identity.) Beyond Psychoanalysis Page 74 of 82Where those qualities are lacking, the resulting foolishness of cadres invariably assumes one of three general forms. The most common form of neurotic behavior by organizers is that of adaptation to the backwardness of the workers they are assigned to organize: so-called "workerism." The backwardness of the workers in effect organizes the cadres. The second form is one which perhaps has a higher incidence among Labor Committee novice organizers than those of other groups. Because the members have some formal knowledge and experience of the significance and of some techniques for stripping away aspects of the persona, the member who applies such techniques without having yet developed a working grasp of the dialectical method rather inevitably accomplishes only the negative aspect of the "molecular" organizing task. He succeeds in either organizing or estranging worker contacts on the basis of induced heteronomic rage. (Either way, the organization is thus confronted with a bit of a mess to be cleaned up.) The third neurotic form is commonplace among those most closely bound to the academic ego ideal (or, to its simple inversion). The socialist, in this sickening sort of incident, hides himself from any real contact with the workers by throwing up a pathetic persona mask of chanted or shouted ritual slogans or other cant. He is not organizing anyone: he is acting out a pitiable neurotic episode. He is attempting to artifice an appearance of belief in his own role against the reflected skepticism he actually meets or projects on the workers. Consequently, every engagement in mass organizing deployments properly forces the socialist organization to concentrate on the conceptual problems of the dialectical method and Marxian economics. The inability of socialist members to master the dialectical method for themselves is the inevitable root of their probable failure as mass organizers. From our discussion of related matters, it should be evident that the difficulties of comprehending certain conceptions in dialectical method and Marxian economics are not pedagogical problems in the ordinary sense. The cause of these difficulties is nothing but a form of (hysteria) in the proper clinical sense of that term. The difficulty in comprehending the notions of class-for-itself and expanded reproduction (in more than a merely descriptive fashion) is singularly located in the fact that these notions are insusceptible of comprehension to ordinary (bourgeois-ideological) forms of consciousness. No person who experiences (or would experience) a sense of a monad like "little me" inner self through the stripping away of his persona could possibly conceptualize the notions of class-for-itself or expanded reproduction. Hence, the persisting difficulty of comprehending these notions must be regarded as prima facie evidence of a severe neurotic disturbance, which must be examined and treated as such a pathology. Undoubtedly, ordinary psychoanalytical work can contribute significantly toward the ultimate remedy. Competent psychoanalytic work would reduce the force of crippling secondary neurotic disorders, and increase the individual's "ego strength" to the point of making more feasible a direct attack on the more fundamental pathology. However, so far, psychoanalytical methods and conceptions necessarily have failed to develop the competence to directly attack this grandfather of all neurosis, bourgeois ideology itself. The hazard in utilizing the powerful concentrated social forces of an entire in utilizing the powerful concentrated social forces of an organization to effect forced therapy ought to be ore or less obvious. As the representation of the problems and goals indicates, the approximation of clinical group confrontations (within the limits of clear and restricted task orientation of clinical group confrontations (within the limits of clear and restricted task orientations is absolutely mandatory.) However, this would fail if these practices degenerated into merre “theray group sessions, which must occur unless the process is under rigorous control of qualified leading individuals and unless the notion of (task orientation criteria) is positively focused in such a way that the participants can locate thus an approximation of positive identity. A preliminary period of several weeks of intensive sessions by member groups in the USA and western Europ has made the requirements clearer, but has also shown results in the form of discernible qualitative improvements- with an absolute minimum of instances of neurotic episodes in individual organization to effect forced therapy ought to be more or less obvious. Beyond Psychoanalysis Page 74 of 82Its the representation of the problems and goals indicates, the approximation of clinical group confrontations (within the limits) of clear and restricted task orientations is absolutely mandatory. However, this would fail if these practices degenerated into mere "therapy group sessions, which must occur unless the process is under rigorous control of qualified leading individuals and unless the notion of (task orientation criteria) is positively focused in such a way that the participants can locate thus an approximation of positive identity. A preliminary period of several weeks of intensive sessions by member groups in the U.S.A. and Western Europe has made the requirements clearer, but has also shown results in the form of discernible qualitative improvements — with an absolute minimum of instances of neurotic episodes in individual participants. Despite the disturbing, although much reduced incidence of neurotic behaviors of the sort which would have occurred in any case, the result of months of successive phases of work on this problem has been a grudging but marked improvement in performance, both in the quality of intellectual productions and in organizing work. A remark on the history of the socialist movement gives the necessary focus. The socialist organizations have been characterized by handfuls of actual mass organizers, around which the general membership otherwise operated as apparatus functionaries or as unskilled auxiliary aides to the actual mass organizers "in the field." These handfuls of qualified organizers developed as such more or less "spontaneously," and the socialist movement, up to this time, had developed no systematic notion of practice by which it could willfully (self-consciously) increase the incidence of such persons within its membership. At the same time, every socialist organization has depended for its effective political leadership on the "spontaneous" incidence of a handful of such rare persons, to the effect that the "decapitation" of that group in terms of the loss of one or at most several such figures meant the effective destruction of the continued effective development and tactical direction of the organization. In both instances, the basis for these critical limitations on such forms of creative development has obviously been the same neurotic problem examined in this paper. Viewing such problems in the context of the brief period available to establish socialism (before an otherwise inevitable fascist holocaust), and considering the tiny nucleus of viable organized socialist forces available at this very late phase of the process, without the willful production of an increased ratio of qualified mass organizers and political leaders from "mere ordinary" socialist cadres, there would not appear to be much hope for the continued existence of the human race during the remainder of this century. The limited but nonetheless unequivocal advances we have effected during the past months substantiate the conviction that our plunge a few steps beyond psychoanalysis in this respect contributes to saving the human race from the threatened new fascist holocaust. BibliographyGeorge Canter, Gesammelte Abhandlungen, Hildesheim, 1962 Collected Works in German; N.B. "Grundlagen," 1883. George Canter, A Contribution to Transfinite Numbers, P. Jourdain, ed., New York, |