On the Edge (book)
Encyclopedia
On the Edge: Political Cults Right and Left is a non-fiction
book about political cult
s, written by Dennis Tourish and Tim Wohlforth
.
and Fred Newman
. Other individuals and groups discussed include Marlene Dixon, the Christian Identity movement, Posse Comitatus
, Re-evaluation Counseling
, Synanon
, and Aryan Nation. Additionally, the book discusses actions of Trotskyist groups in the United Kingdom
particularly those led by Ted Grant
and Gerry Healy
.
's book, Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships, as well as Tourish's Key Issues in Organizational Communication, Saliba's Understanding New Religious Movements, Lalich's Bounded Choice
, and Hargie's Skilled Interpersonal Communication.
On the Edge is also cited in academic articles in Human Relations, Leadership, Contemporary British History, and the International Journal of Project Management.
and was a member of the Irish wing of Militant Tendency
from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. Wohlforth is the author of The Prophet's Children: Travels on the American Left (1995) about his experiences in American Trotskyism from the 1950s through the 1970s; he is also an author of detective fiction. He was the leader from the middle 1960s to the middle 1970s of a U.S.
Trotskyist group, the Workers League, which was affiliated with the U.K.-based Workers Revolutionary Party (one of the groups profiled in On the Edge).
Pitt states that the authors "seem immune to the idea that far left sects – even the most cult-like – can occasionally play some kind of progressive role in wider society."
In the same review, however, Pitt stated that in the case of one leftist group profiled in the book, his own former WRP, "there are grounds for viewing it as a type of cult. It featured a ruthlessly authoritarian internal regime presided over by an all-powerful, all-knowing leader, who maintained his position by subjecting cadres to psychological manipulation
and physical and sexual abuse
." Pitt also termed the Lyndon LaRouche organization an "actual cult."
In 2003, WhatNext? republished the 1998 article by Tourish from the Cultic Studies Journal
which had served as the basis for the chapter of On the Edge on one of the leaders of Militant Tendency
, Ted Grant
(The Lonely Passion of Ted Grant). Pitt criticized this On the Edge chapter in his review by stating: "When it comes to the Militant Tendency, the authors’ attempt to apply the cult paradigm breaks down. A moment’s consideration would reveal that the notion of Ted Grant presiding over a regime comparable to Healy’s is laughable."
The What Next? reprint of Tourish included a lengthy new introduction by him defending On the Edge and stating: "Some people have objected to the term "cult", even if they agreed with the substantive points that the paper makes about the [Militant Tendency's] internal regime. This is unfortunate. The word cult is not a term of abuse, as this paper tries to explain. It is nothing more than a shorthand expression for a particular set of practices that have been observed in a variety of dysfunctional organisations."
Nevertheless, Pitt argues that Tourish's application of the word cult "expands the definition of the term to the point where it becomes pretty well useless."
Non-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
book about political cult
Political cult
Political cult is a term used to describe some groups that are generally considered to be on the political fringe. Although the majority of groups to which the term "cult" is sometimes applied are religious in nature, some are non-religious and focus either on secular self-improvement or on...
s, written by Dennis Tourish and Tim Wohlforth
Tim Wohlforth
Timothy Andrew Wohlforth , is a United States former Trotskyist leader. Since leaving the Trotskyist movement he has become a writer of crime fiction and of politically oriented non-fiction....
.
Main points
On the Edge discusses the role of 'cults' and political cults in politics, as well as describing some of the history involving individuals such as Lyndon LaRoucheLyndon LaRouche
Lyndon Hermyle LaRouche, Jr. is an American political activist and founder of a network of political committees, parties, and publications known collectively as the LaRouche movement...
and Fred Newman
Fred Newman
Frederick Delano "Fred" Newman was an American philosopher, psychotherapist, playwright and political activist, and creator of a therapeutic modality called Social Therapy.-Early life:...
. Other individuals and groups discussed include Marlene Dixon, the Christian Identity movement, Posse Comitatus
Posse comitatus
Posse comitatus may refer to:* Posse comitatus , the authority of a law officer to conscript any able-bodied males to assist him* Posse Comitatus , a loosely organized far right social movement that opposes the United States federal government and believes in localism* "Posse Comitatus", a...
, Re-evaluation Counseling
Re-evaluation Counseling
Re-evaluation Counseling or RC is an organization founded by Harvey Jackins in the 1950s and led by him until his death in 1999. It introduced a procedure called "co-counseling", which Jackins said was a new and effective method of helping people and bringing about social reform. RC teaches...
, Synanon
Synanon
The Synanon organization, initially a drug rehabilitation program, was founded by Charles E. "Chuck" Dederich, Sr., in 1958, in Santa Monica, California, United States...
, and Aryan Nation. Additionally, the book discusses actions of Trotskyist groups in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
particularly those led by Ted Grant
Ted Grant
Edward "Ted" Grant , 9 July 1913 in Germiston, South Africa – 20 July 2006 in London) was a South African Trotskyist who spent most of his adult life in Britain...
and Gerry Healy
Gerry Healy
Thomas Gerard Healy, known as Gerry Healy , was a political activist, a co-founder of the International Committee of the Fourth International, and, according to former prominent U.S. supporter David North, the leader of the Trotskyist movement in Great Britain between 1950 – 1985...
.
Cited by other works
The book is cited by Janja LalichJanja Lalich
Janja Lalich is Professor of Sociology at California State University, Chico, known for her study of the inner workings of cults.She was a member of the radical "Democratic Workers Party" for 11 years, a group she now considers a cult...
's book, Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships, as well as Tourish's Key Issues in Organizational Communication, Saliba's Understanding New Religious Movements, Lalich's Bounded Choice
Bounded Choice
Bounded Choice: True Believers and Charismatic Cults is a nonfiction psychology book on cults, by Janja Lalich, Ph.D.. The book was published by University of California Press in 2004....
, and Hargie's Skilled Interpersonal Communication.
On the Edge is also cited in academic articles in Human Relations, Leadership, Contemporary British History, and the International Journal of Project Management.
Authors
Tourish is a professor of business management at Aberdeen Business SchoolRobert Gordon University
Robert Gordon University is located in Aberdeen, Scotland. Building on over 250 years involvement in education, it was granted university status in 1992. Robert Gordon University currently has approximately 16,407 students at its two campuses at Garthdee and the City Centre, studying on over 145...
and was a member of the Irish wing of Militant Tendency
Militant Tendency
The Militant tendency was an entrist group within the British Labour Party based around the Militant newspaper that was first published in 1964...
from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. Wohlforth is the author of The Prophet's Children: Travels on the American Left (1995) about his experiences in American Trotskyism from the 1950s through the 1970s; he is also an author of detective fiction. He was the leader from the middle 1960s to the middle 1970s of a U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Trotskyist group, the Workers League, which was affiliated with the U.K.-based Workers Revolutionary Party (one of the groups profiled in On the Edge).
Reviews
In his review of On the Edge, Bob Pitt, editor of the online Marxist journal WhatNext and a former member of one of the groups profiled in the book, the Workers Revolutionary Party (WRP), stated that the "central purpose of the book is to mount a slanderous attack on the revolutionary left, which often goes further than anything you might read in even the most anti-socialist sections of the bourgeois press." Pitt describes the authors as "two embittered former members of far left groups."Pitt states that the authors "seem immune to the idea that far left sects – even the most cult-like – can occasionally play some kind of progressive role in wider society."
In the same review, however, Pitt stated that in the case of one leftist group profiled in the book, his own former WRP, "there are grounds for viewing it as a type of cult. It featured a ruthlessly authoritarian internal regime presided over by an all-powerful, all-knowing leader, who maintained his position by subjecting cadres to psychological manipulation
Psychological manipulation
Psychological manipulation is a type of social influence that aims to change the perception or behavior of others through underhanded, deceptive, or even abusive tactics. By advancing the interests of the manipulator, often at the other's expense, such methods could be considered exploitative,...
and physical and sexual abuse
Sexual abuse
Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is the forcing of undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another. When that force is immediate, of short duration, or infrequent, it is called sexual assault. The offender is referred to as a sexual abuser or molester...
." Pitt also termed the Lyndon LaRouche organization an "actual cult."
In 2003, WhatNext? republished the 1998 article by Tourish from the Cultic Studies Journal
Cultic Studies Review
International Journal of Cultic Studies is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the International Cultic Studies Association.- External links :* , Don Lattin, San Francisco Chronicle, Religion Writer, February 13, 2001...
which had served as the basis for the chapter of On the Edge on one of the leaders of Militant Tendency
Militant Tendency
The Militant tendency was an entrist group within the British Labour Party based around the Militant newspaper that was first published in 1964...
, Ted Grant
Ted Grant
Edward "Ted" Grant , 9 July 1913 in Germiston, South Africa – 20 July 2006 in London) was a South African Trotskyist who spent most of his adult life in Britain...
(The Lonely Passion of Ted Grant). Pitt criticized this On the Edge chapter in his review by stating: "When it comes to the Militant Tendency, the authors’ attempt to apply the cult paradigm breaks down. A moment’s consideration would reveal that the notion of Ted Grant presiding over a regime comparable to Healy’s is laughable."
The What Next? reprint of Tourish included a lengthy new introduction by him defending On the Edge and stating: "Some people have objected to the term "cult", even if they agreed with the substantive points that the paper makes about the [Militant Tendency's] internal regime. This is unfortunate. The word cult is not a term of abuse, as this paper tries to explain. It is nothing more than a shorthand expression for a particular set of practices that have been observed in a variety of dysfunctional organisations."
Nevertheless, Pitt argues that Tourish's application of the word cult "expands the definition of the term to the point where it becomes pretty well useless."
External links
- Official site, Publisher, with comments from Robert Jay LiftonRobert Jay LiftonRobert Jay Lifton is an American psychiatrist and author, chiefly known for his studies of the psychological causes and effects of war and political violence and for his theory of thought reform...
, Chip BerletChip BerletJohn Foster "Chip" Berlet is an American investigative journalist, and photojournalist activist specializing in the study of right-wing movements in the United States, particularly the religious right, white supremacists, homophobic groups, and paramilitary organizations...
, and Michael D. Langone. - Cults, Sects and the Far Left, Book review by Bob Pitt of On the Edge published in What Next? number 17, 2000.
- Ideological Intransigence, Democratic Centralism and Cultism: A Case Study by Dennis Tourish published in What Next? number 27, 2003.
See also
- Clouds Blur the RainbowClouds Blur the RainbowClouds Blur the Rainbow: The Other Side of New Alliance Party is a non-fiction report by Chip Berlet, published in 1987 by Political Research Associates...