The Anderson Report

CHAPTER 28
SCIENTOLOGY AND POLITICS

In Com. Mag. June, 1960, Vol. 2, No. 6, the Melbourne HASI reprinted an article by Hubbard entitled "Special Zone Plan". This article is capable of several interpretations: a commemoration of the tenth anniversary of some breakthrough of Hubbard, a review of progress during the previous ten years, an exposition on the eight dynamics, an enthusiastic appeal for more industry and activity on the part of scientologists, an appeal to exert more influence and control in circles or "zones" in which each scientologist moves, even a direction to take over governments. It had something for everybody, and scientologists read it and were impressed by whatever particular feature appealed to them.

For the housewife, Hubbard wrote:

"See this: a housewife already successfully employing scientology in her own home, trained to professional level, takes over a women's club as secretary or some key position. She straightens up the club affairs by applying comm exercises and making peace, and then, incidental to the club's main function, pushes scientology into a zone of special interest in the club - children, straightening up marriages, whatever comes to hand and even taking fees for it - meanwhile of course, going on being a successful and contributing wife."

"Or this: a scientologist, a lesser executive or even a clerk in a company, trains as a professional auditor, and seeing where the company is heading, begins to pick up its loose ends by strengthening its comm lines or its personnel abilities Without 'selling' anybody scientology, just studies out the bogs [sic] and remedies them. If only as 'an able person' he would rapidly expand a zone of control, to say nothing of his personal standing in the company. This has been and is being done steadily across the world. Now that we have pre-sessioning, it's easy to straighten up other people. Our unreleased technology on handling third dynamic business situations is staggeringly large. You'd be surprised how easy it is to audit seniors. They and their families have so many troubles. Or how easy it is to spot the emergency-maker and audit him."

"And see this: a race is staggering along making difficulties for itself. Locate its leaders. Get a paid post as a secretary or officer of the staff of the leaders of that race. And by any means, audit them into ability and handle their affairs to bring co-operation, not trouble. Every race that is in turmoil in a nation has quasi-social groups around its leaders.

And this: a nation or a state runs on the ability of its department heads, its governors, or any other leaders. It is easy to get posts in such areas unless one has delusions of grandeur or fear of it. Don't bother to get elected. Get a job on the secretarial staff or the bodyguard, use any talent one has to get a place close in, go to work on the environment and make it function better. Occasionally one might lose, but in the large majority, doing a good job and making the environment function will result in promotion, better contacts, a widening zone.

The cue in all this is don't seek the co-operation of groups. Don't ask for permission. Just enter them and start functioning to make the group win through effectiveness and sanity."

"My goals for the Zone Plan are to make my organization a Scientology Organization with all executives [being] HPA graduates, to use our publications to improve administration, management and communication in the Labor movement and interest the Australian Labor Party and Trade Union officials in taking scientology training. The Australian Labor Party as an organization using scientology principles would soon win a Government as soon as the next Federal election.

With Australia led by a government employing scientology principles we should soon have a civilization which can extend influence overseas."

Another executive had the ambition to take control of a large company and then to have as executives only those who were scientologists.

A police constable who resigned from the Victoria Police Force and occupied the post of "Director of Zoning" at the HASI, described the Zone Plan as a means of disseminating scientology in the various "zones" in which preclears moved, and he kept a card index to show the various zones - industrial, social, professional, &c, in which preclears moved.

In some of Hubbard's writings obscure references are made to the "1970 Plan". Williams said that the 1970 Plan was merely an expression used to describe the objective of the scientology organization to be reorganized within itself and "tidied up" by 1970.

The only overt political action of which evidence was given to the Board was in relation to the 1964 Victorian elections. The Melbourne HASI Com. Mag. Vol. 6, No. 5A for May, 1964, carried an article written by Williams, entitled "A Declaration of War", which stated: "It is the urgent duty of every scientologist in Victoria to get out and make certain that the Australian Labor Party is defeated completely and thoroughly and forever at the election." Williams said he wrote this article for humanitarian, not political, reasons, because the Australian Labor Party was hostile to the HASI which was entitled to defend itself.

The HASI did, however, explore the possibility of promoting scientology in various government departments, and a number of Victorian public servants have shown an interest in scientology. The number involved and the extent of their involvement is not known in detail, except that it would seem that the number is probably very small. The HASI considered the Education Department to be a good "area" and in the early days of scientology in Victoria some effort seems to have been made to infiltrate that Department, but there is no evidence that scientology made any headway in the Department as such, though a significant feature is that several highly placed staff members of the HASI are former school teachers. One scientologist, still a school teacher. formerly had her own private school. She introduced scientology techniques into her school, apparently causing alarm amongst parents, and the school closed.

About nine years ago, a scientologist approached the Chief Probation Officer of the Children's Court, claiming that scientology could help to reform delinquent children. It is known that four children with Children's Court records went to the HASI. One, a retarded child, showed some signs of increased communication after doing some elementary exercises; a second child resumed his criminal activities. No information was available as to the effect, if any, which scientology had on the remaining two children. The Chief Probation Officer himself investigated scientology sufficiently to see that it offered no solution to the problems of child delinquency. The techniques used upon the child who became more communicative were of a very elementary kind; they cannot be claimed as exclusive to scientology and were not hypnotic procedures.

Hubbard has displayed great cunning in anticipating attacks upon himself and scientology by providing in advance a weapon with which to retaliate. Hostility to Communism finds a very prominent place in scientology. Scientology is almost rabidly opposed to Communism which Hubbard frequently denounces in flamboyant and intemperate terms. In doing so, he has been laying the foundation for his counter-attack on those who attack scientology, for it is quite standard technique for scientologists to stigmatize anyone opposed to them as communists, hoping thereby to blunt the attack on scientology and turn attention from scientology by the hostility they hope will be felt against its alleged communistic attackers. Scientology had its beginnings in the early 1950s in America in an era when McCarthyism was rampant, and Hubbard readily appreciated the value of discrediting any opposition and stifling criticism by denouncing any attack on scientology as communist-inspired. This technique has been repeatedly practised in Victoria. In one case at least the circumstances were almost amusing, except for the impudent threats which accompanied the attempts by the HASI to muzzle the critic. The occasion arose out of an answer given in 1960 by the Rev. Mr. L. Rumble, M.S.C, in a radio session called "Question Box" where, in answer to an inquirer who sought Dr. Rumble's advice on scientology, Dr. Rumble answered simply, "Have nothing to do with it", adding that "only credulous and gullible people will be impressed by the high-brow term, as a fruit-shop proprietor hopes simpletons will be by the description of himself as a 'Fruitologist' ". Dr. Rumble further said, "You flatter it by calling it a 'science'. Time magazine recently described 'scientology' as compounded of 'equal parts of science-fiction, dianetics and jabberwocky'!"

The reply was also published in a Catholic weekly newspaper, The Tribune, circulating in Victoria. Dr. Rumble's reply provoked two letters from the HASI, one to Dr. Rumble from Williams as Association Secretary for Australia of the HASI, and one to the editor of The Tribune, from Gogerly, who assumed for the occasion the pretentious title of "Director Government Relations". The Williams letter to Dr. Rumble read in part:

" .... by your utterance you have not only divorced yourself from the main international body of Catholic attitude to scientology but have allied yourself further with international subversive communism. By attacking scientology you are attacking one of the most ardent and vigorous groups in the field of combating communism and maintaining national security.

It is our policy to investigate subversives through our own channels as well as to co-operate with national security organizations.

Scientology has never been a threat to the honest and upright of any nationality or belief. Only those who tread dark paths or are on the payroll of a specialized interest seeking to profit by the sickness and troubles of man would fight a group of people trying to help man. May these sick and troubled offer their forgiveness."

"It is the policy of this Association throughout the world to investigate every attack on scientology. We have found that the attackers have always had something to hide. Facts uncovered in these investigations have generally been given to government security services, police, etc. Dr. Rumble is now being investigated and has been apprised of this fact already. Any facts brought to light of interest to security services will be given to them. We generally in such investigations make public any facts which are of interest to the public, their safety, or elucidation."

The HASI from time to time did in fact employ enquiry agents to investigate those it regarded as hostile to it. It appears that Dr. Dickson, the Medical Secretary of the Victorian Branch of the Australian Medical Association, was investigated by inquiry agents on behalf of the HASI to ascertain whether he had any communistic associations. He was found to be "clean" on this score. The Honorable J. W. Galbally, M.L.C. was also investigated by the inquiry agents on behalf of the HASI. What particular aspects were investigated did not appear from the evidence, but whatever it was, the result was also negative.

As part of his defence mechanism, Hubbard set up in America his own National Academy of American Psychology (NAAP), and in 1957 this organization impudently sent to all mental health practitioners in the U.S.A. - almost all of whom, if not all, were not members of or in any way associated with the "National Academy of American Psychology" and were unaware of its existence - a copy of the "Loyalty Oath", to which they were required to subscribe. This oath was objectionable in form and typically hubbardian in its inflammatory language. (See Appendix No. 18) The threat was made that those who did not subscribe were to be classified as "potentially subversive", those who "railed" against it were to be classified as "subversive" and their names submitted to government authorities for further action. This "oath" was to be submitted not only to all psychologists, psychiatrists and psychoanalysts, but also to "ministers of various denominations who engage in mental practice," and it was said that "a similar procedure may in the future be initiated in the British Commonwealth dependent upon the outcome of the American operation."

By this manoeuvre, Hubbard planned to anticipate attacks on himself and his organization by the American medical profession, and he was starting to arm himself for a counter attack with the retort that many or all American mental health practitioners were disloyal and possibly subversive since they had failed or refused to sign his "Loyalty Oath".

Such a scheme is in line with Hubbard's practice of "smearing" the founders of modern psychiatry and psychology by attributing to them communistic tendencies, and seeking thereby to discredit their sciences. The Melbourne HASI claims to be a member of N.A.A.P.

The Melbourne HASI claimed to be a valuable instrument for preserving national security, and that it co-operated with the Commonwealth Security Service on a number of occasions. This co-operation did not appear to extend beyond informing the Security Service of one or more pieces of information which a preclear or student had revealed concerning another person or persons. There is no reason to suppose that the HASI revealed anything to the Security Service about the preclear in question or that the air of mystery and importance surrounding the alleged disclosures to the Security Service was justified. The reticence of Williams on this matter rather suggested that it was merely another pretentious claim.

In his denunciation of Communism, Hubbard repeatedly refers to the Brainwashing Manual as an illustration of the manner in which Communism is striving for world domination. A curious aspect of scientology is that numerous passages in the Manual, with the substitutions indicated in Appendix 16 made, show a remarkable parallel between the brainwashing techniques attributed to psychopolitics and Hubbard's techniques. Many scientologists, inspired by Hubbard, have the goal to scientologize and clear the whole world. Scientology techniques are directed towards domination of the mind. In this community, the normal person may regard as fatuous the thought that a sufficient number of persons could embrace scientology to make it a political menace to the community as a whole. The Board is not concerned to speculate, but, in a generation in which the conquest of the mind is the primary target, a new tyranny may well find the pernicious techniques of scientology amongst its armoury.