I'm going ahead and suggesting on my blog that maybe this site isn't so bad. Portland IMC is a burnt out discussion area. That is the fate of many discussions via the web, I have noticed. The very few I have noticed activity come from the same group of people; maybe the ex-cadres are burnt out from the bitterness, the same old same old. That is why I am trying to use a different app
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

The cadres in the field -- I have heard stories about hunger. I only experienced it once in Suffolk. After the Grucci fireworks factory blew up, the entity invested all time and energy in meeting the emergency needs of the membership. Several lost their homes from the shockwave of the detonation. The shockwave radiated from Bellport to Riverhead and beyond. After a month, all resources were
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Y'know, that sounds like a transferable skill. The ability to keep a large community of people healthy, especially during winter is something that would be valuable to other long term projects where people live in. I used to work at a homeless shelter and volunteered at a free clinic, and the rate of upper respiratory infections, especially in wintertime, was phenomenal. For my first si
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

The heyday of cadre forces included two doctors (1115 1A the doctors office, Steinman & Berkowitz Associates). Eventually both left after the raid, but other doctors rotated through. Some say dad's habit caused them all to eventually leave. In the late 1980s the practice was run by physician assistants, until finally medical recruitment to that facility burnt out. That was when Gino
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

What happened when you guys got sick? Under conditions like that, people's health must have suffered. If you bunched together in apartments, and without suffient sleep, you'd be getting colds and flu all winter. What did they do for health care or for conditions requiring hospitalization?
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

At NOC (National Office Central) it was six and a half hours of sleep a night. The U.S. military standard was a minimum of seven hours of sleep a night, it was explained, and we as committed party members could do with less as our commitment to the revolution. Shutdown (bedtime) was at 3:30 a.m. and reveille (wake up) at 10:00 a.m., to align the National Office schedule with the West Coast (for
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Another person who commented gave this advice--excerpt from a longer comment. QuoteThey are most likely trying to recruit you, but that doesn't mean there isn't also a human connection there. What we see looking in now as manipulation, didn't seem like that when I was there. In the very narrow closed logic that I got caught in*, it seemed the right thing to do so people
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

"..become a Viable Volunteer...Leave Before They Suck You In" An article about NATLFED can be read here and the following comments are of the utmost interest. The commenter who is partially quoted below advised staying in NATLFED just long enough to learn fieldwork skills and then get out and take those skills to a project that is less self serving. "If you have 2 yea
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Mary Struggler: It seems to me that you have a lot of sorting out to do. See You might find this recovery page helpful. Note the directory of counseling resources. Also see This reading list might provide some helpful books.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I have one gentleman looking for answers. His son is in an entity. I can only tell him my experiences and what drew me in, kept me in, the shock of being thrown out for daring to speak out, watching people I knew turn into mindless robots. I can't point him to a good site or person for help. He thanked me for sharing and now I'm sitting here wondering what else I could have offered.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

All are welcome to correspond here on Rick Ross's message board. But if someone is currently having a vigorous disagreement with someone outside of the Rick Ross venue, its best to keep that out of the RR.com message board and solve the problem 'off campus.' If people come here and get the idea that one minor misstep will result in them being yelled at, they'll be afrai
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Who the hell is Eric?
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Mary Struggler: Not everyone sees things as you do. This is an open forum and everyone may express whatever they wish within the guidelines of the rules. NTLFED, in my opinion, fits the criteria of personality-driven cult. The politics are more of a facade, than anything else. Some cults use politics as a facade, others religion, therapy, meditation, etc. See
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Eric, the point of this post is to open up dialog for those seeking information, not just re-hash the same old stuff on the web. All that you posted sounds well and good but you left out the part about NATLFED being an umbrella Organization within the Communist Party United States of America, Provisional Wing, with an agenda to overthrow the government and establish the dictatorship of the prole
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I can pass on some information as a contribution to the dialogue. The real contribution is whether persons who have been inside will feel able to come visit. Information is always welcome. Any attempt at bullying and shaming is not. If you want to understand the impact of living long term in a political cult, get and read Janja Lalitch's book, Bounded Choice. She was in such an
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

There is a lot of information about this group, of which I was a member for sixteen years. Some of the blogs have been described as toxic or venomous. It is my hope to educate people about my experiences in this Organization. I worked primarily with Eastern Farm Workers Association as well as directly out of National Office Central (NOC). If you are interested in establishing a dialog, let me
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

(groups listed in this section, simply because its the closest to Political Cult catagory in RR.com message board) NATLFED Eastern Service Workers Association in Boston And...did you ever participate in peace marches and see folks from the Socialist Workers Party handing out newspapers and stuff? A guy whose parents was in that organization has published a memoir, entitled When
Forum: Terrorist and Extremist Groups

To repeat--Jones did not just manipulate his immediate followers. Jones brilliantly manipulated the context--social, political, even journalistic-- in which people made thier choices. He didnt just put items on the menu--he chose the paper that menue was printed on! We cant stand to face the extent to which the context of our choice making can be manipulated. But if we can face this s
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

That checklist is very good, but the discharging part is difficult because it assumes there would be no consequences of saying "such & such makes me angry". It would be nice to see a longer list in the discharge area of things to do to discharge anger in the frequent situations in which immediate expression would only cause a worse problem. What do you think of some of the c
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

The ESWA has a branch in New Brunswick at 90 New St. I was there a few times. I had trouble reading what Rick's site said about it until the other day and I can tell you that everything on this site is true. At first they were nice to me. But recently, they pretty much started to try bossing me around. No matter how much I did for them it was never enough. They are a front for
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

There are many articles about "cults" at colleges within my archive. All you need to do is go to the search page and enter "college cults" or "cults on campus" and a listing of articles will come up as search results. Some of the most common groups recruiting at colleges that have been called "cults" are: International Church of Christ Sri Chinmoy T
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"