Ex-Moonie Says Cult Groups Are Preying on Russians;
Analyst Sees Ex-communists as Easy Targets
Date: Sunday, November 22, 1992
Section: CITY WEEKLY
Page: 9
By Ric Kahn, Globe Staff
SOMERVILLE -- Ex-Moonie Steven Hassan just returned
from a mind-altering trip to Russia. An internationally recognized
expert on counseling people out of destructive cults, Hassan was
invited to Russia by Farida Asadullina, a Moscow State University
professor concerned about the high intensity of Western groups operating
behind the Torn Curtain.
For example, said Hassan, the Moonies have recruited
more than 2,000 Russians into the Unification Church. And, he said,
both the Moonies' bible, the Divine Principle, and the Church of
Scientology's handbook, Dianetics, have been translated into Russian.
Hassan's mission to Moscow last month was to present
a series of lectures and workshops, titled "Mind Control and
the Cult Phenomenon," to mental- health professionals and psychology
students who would then be enlisted into the battle against the
post-Cold-War cult crusade.
But Hassan was startled by the strange feedback radiating
from the would-be saviors.
"The irony is that I was there to help the Russians
understand how to help people involved with Western cults, and everyone
in the audience themelves was a former member of a cult: the political
cult of communism," said Hassan, who, as a result of his trip,
is working to have his book, "Combatting Cult Mind Control,"
translated into Russian.
Q: By what definition are you characterizing the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union as a cult?
A: A destructive cult can be a political cult, a
religious cult, a psychotherapy cult or a commercial cult. It's
a pyramid-structured authoritarian organization with someone or
some group at the top who has absolute power and who uses deception
and mind control to keep people dependent. Which fits the Communist
model precisely.
Q: What kinds of post-cult characteristics did the
Russians evince?
A: Identity confusion, depression, a sense of betrayal
by the leadership that exploited them, low self-esteem, problems
with decision-making, fear of trusting anything else. They've physically
left the group but haven't processed through the experience.
Q: Was there one particular moment that in your eyes
crystallized their cult status?
A: I was lecturing to about 50 school psychologists
from Siberia. After about 15 minutes of speaking about mind control
I stopped and said, 'What are your questions? I'll answer anything
you want to know about American life.' Dead silence. So I asked
again. Dead silence. I said, 'What's going on here?' Finally, a
man spoke from the back of the room. He said, 'We're not used to
asking questions. We're used to sitting and taking notes and memorizing
what the instructor is saying.' I said, 'I want you to think for
yourself.' It was like opening a dark room and telling people, 'By
the way, there's fields and meadows over there, and the sun is shining.'
Their faces were like, 'Are you serious? Really?' I was in tears,
it was so moving.
Q: Did they finally ask questions?
A: They wanted to know how it was different in America.
They were relieved to hear me say, 'We're manipulated and controlled
in America, too.'
Q: Are we members of a red-white-and-blue cult?
A: No, but it's certainly an influence situation.
For example, to a large extent we're indoctrinated by a consumer
mentality that says we have to have nice-smelling underarms and
a new car. That's different than saying, 'We're going to take over
the world.' People here have the freedom to talk to whoever they
want to talk to, to read whatever they want to read.
Q: Why does it seem to be open season for the Western
cults in Russia?
A: When you grow up in a totalitarian mind-set, where
it's good vs. evil and obey the leader and everything will be OK,
and then you leave that, you feel lost. You're very vulnerable.
And right now, things from the West are perceived as good, particularly
things from the West that offer hope and God and transcendental
experiences. They've been in a society that has denigrated any spirituality,
and they're very spiritual people.
Q: Is the return of the Communist Party a possibility
given the seemingly fragile state of the Russian people?
A: I think it is. Whenever any society is in great
turmoil, the factions that are more organized have a distinct advantage
over everybody else. Who is organized? The party, organized crime,
organized cults.
Q: What are the implications of this cultic hyperactivity
for Russia's democracy movement?
A: One of the biggest things I realized is that it's
great to help the Russian people by sending them food and money.
But we also have to send them information about how to make decisions.
If we in America really want to ensure that Russia will not go back
to totalitarianism, then understanding mind control and giving people
the tools to make decisions for themselves is a vital step toward
ensuring freedom.
Freedomofmind.com fully supports religious
freedom and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The fact that a person’s name or group appears on our website
does not necessarily mean they are a destructive mind control cult.
They appear because we have received inquiries and have established
a file on the group.
The Freedom of Mind Resource Center Inc. was established by cult expert Steve Hassan.
