Dear Erica,

One thing I have noticed about the older followers of LHL is that they were and are still convinced that there was brilliance in him. The ideas that they were attracted to for many still may be in their hearts. The European organization were often by themselves in countries running offices with a mere handful of people. Most of the older people are old time leftists at heart. Their anger at LHL is often over his abandonment of socialism, in their eyes.

There is also a phenomenon I have noticed where long time leaders are always in denial that anything bad happened to other members.

My thinking is that since they were themselves put through “Beyond Psychoanalysis”, themselves “ego-stripped” and also put through extreme poverty, that they think that any one who complains is weak. You also need to understand the difficulty for more elderly former members having to admit that three decades of their prime life was spent being taken advantage of, and doing the horrible jobs for a madman.

Always view the people you deal with as victims, not cult members. It is very easy to upset and make a person feel very uncomfortable in having to face their life history.

From

RY JUSTICE