March 23, 1992 (3rd Draft)
Paper presented at the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, November, 1991. This HTML was derived from a crude OCR by F.A.C.T.Net, and may contain residual transcription errors.
Sect and cult classifications from the late 1950s through the 1970s usually contained categories of groups that expected to see the transformation or revolution of the world (Wilson, 1959: 6; see 1973: 23; Bromley and Shupe, 1979: 22, 27-29; Wallis, 1984: 11). Resembling Weberian ideal types, these categories were the sociological distillations of groups' doctrines, activities, policies, and pronouncements. The fixed, static nature of the categories, however, did little to aid research in the actual techniques that groups used in attempts to enact their desired global transformation. Resource mobilization theory provided that aid with descriptions and predictions about strategies that groups, organizations, and social movements utilize in attempts to achieve their goals (McCarthy and Zald, 1977; Zald, 1982; Zald and McCarthy, 1987). Henceforth, social scientists had the analytical concepts and tools to study the manner in which sects attempt to acquire and utilize the resources that they need to impose their transformational visions upon an increasingly complex world.
Imposing a transformational vision upon the world requires a coordinated effort to obtain resources from internal sources (i.e., various levels of members [see McCarthy and Zald, 1977: 1227]) while at the same time acquiring resources from the external world of nonbelievers (see McCarthy and Zald, 1977: 1221). Members must remain motivated to work diligently for the ideological sectarian vision, often in the face of adversity and apparent setbacks. At the same time, resources must flow into the organization and then be utilized by decision-makers, staff, and workers for the group's ideological purpose.
When sects are located in several countries and have membership scattered around the globe, then they have the potential of operating like transnational corporations (Kent, 1991). Put differently, transnational ideological sects may engage in efforts to control the flow of resources from external, globally disparate sources in manners that resemble multinational corporate enterprises (see Zald and McCarthy, 1987: 90). Both ideological and economic transnationals are 1ikely to solicit national and international elites in such fields as politics, the military, business, the sciences, media, education, the judiciary, and possibly religion in their efforts to further their own strategic positions. In particular, transnationally based sects are able to direct and control the global flow of resources into their spheres of influence, and they are highly motivated to do so if their ideology demands that they strive to dominate the world. Moreover, their ideologically driven members bring to such tasks dramatically high levels of energy and commitment, since they believe that theirs is a goal, indeed is the soal, dictated by divine fiat and most urgently needed by the human race.
Despite the dramatic and significant implications that likely would emerge from studies of sectarian social control efforts on a global scale, few such examinations have taken place. Certainly an awareness of transnational activities appears in discussions of both the Unification Church (Bromley, 1985; Bromley and Shupe, 1979) and the counter-cult movement (Beckford, 1985: 218-295), but no social scientist in nearly two decades has examined closely one of the world's most visible and resource-hungry globalist sects, the Church of Scientology.
With perhaps seven hundred centers in sixty-five countries{1} (Behar, 1991a: 44) and an active worldwide membership of about seventy-five thousand{2}, Scientology has evolved an elaborate international operation designed to facilitate and control the flow of resources across many national boundaries. The study, however, of Scientology's transnational control techniques presents unique challenges to researchers, as the late sociologist, Roy Wallis, discovered some years ago. After working on research that culminated in his still-unsurpassed Road to Total Freedom (1977), Wallis realized that:
whether with or without the connivance of the leadership of the Scientology movement, I was the subject of a concerted attempt at harassment designed to 'frighten me off' Scientology, to undermine my credibility as a commentator on their [sic] activities, or to keep me so busy handling these matters that I had little time for research (Wallis, 1973: 547).
Subsequent writers (none of whom have been academics) have been harassed in efforts to block publications of their critical examinations of the multifaceted group (Behar, 1991a: 51; New York Times, 1990; Sappell and Welkos, 1990: A48; Welkos, 1991). The group itself has attempted to restrict the availability of critical or revealing documents through successful efforts to seal court records (Koff, 1989) or placate litigious opponents with hefty out-of-court settlements that require them to return primary Scientology materials. Document restrictions of this kind make research exceedingly difficult, yet knowledge in the sociology of religion suffers as a consequence.
At least two contemporary sociological trends bespeak the timeliness of a focused study of Scientology's international resource acquisition and control efforts. First, a growing number of studies are examining globalization trends among religions and other social institutions (for example, Robertson, 1987). These studies identify the manner in which heretofore national issues are being recast in planetary frameworks. They have yet to explore, however, the manner by which particular sects (such as Scientology) develop transnational presences by attempting global control over resources and opponents.
Second and more directly, recent work has called for analyses of religiously ideological organizations as multinational or transnational corporations (Kent, 1991). This new but obvious perspective highlights the ability of ostensibly religious groups to shift and diversify their operational bases and resource acquisition efforts throughout various parts of the globe in accordance with prevailing political, social, and economic climates. This current study locates itself within this perspective, and borrows from it broad categories and concepts to identify Scientology's efforts to extend its influence and control throughout the world.
Scientology portrays itself in North America and much of Europe and Australia as a religion (see Kent, 1990: 398, 401-403) yet even a cursory examination of the organization reveals that it is much more. Its complex, international structure actively markets, promotes, and advertises material related to business management, education, mental health, physical health, law enforcement, "moral revitalization" (to use its own term), and entertainment. These additional aspects work together with its religious elements "in getting the technology of LRH [i.e., Scientology's founder, L. Ron Hubbard] into new territories of the world" (International Management, 1987a: 3'). "It's time we moved in!," another newsletter proclaims. "Planetary dissemination on a scale never before seen is what is needed" (International Management, 1987b), and the dissemination occurs through mediums (such as music recordings) that (in the organization's jargonistic language) "are presenting Scientology and LRH to the public with greater ARC [i.e, affinity, reality, and communication] and thus understanding" in many countries (International Management, 1987b: 3'). Scientology's goal in the international arena, therefore, is not merely the propagation of its religious ideology. More broadly, it is the propagation of its founder's works and ideas along with the eventual implementation of his moral values and social structural vision.
The organization believes that Hubbard's values and social structural vision exist in his "tech," by which it means the "technology" or policies, procedures, directives, and courses that he devised or approved for study and implementation by his followers {3}. Consequently, a newsletter dedicated to praising the influence of Hubbard's tech into society insists, "HELP SECURE A BETTER FUTURE FOR THE PLANET AND THE ONES YOU LOVE[.] A society where LRH tech is accepted and widely used is safe, sane and easy to live in" (Social Coordination International, 1984: 143).
For Scientologists, the task of making the world safe for LRH technology provides a compelling goal or purpose toward which to strive. Not only do they believe that the universal utilization of Dianetics and other LRH tech would create "[a] civilization without insanity, without criminals and without war" (Hubbard, [September] 1965; in Tech 6: 88) but also they conceive that their own spiritual salvation is impossible without it. Consequently, from Scientologists' viewpoint, any attack against the tech thereby threatens both their collective goals and their individual spiritual fates. If, motivationally, they are pulled ahead by the quest to reach their secular and spiritual goals, then at the same time they are pushed forward by fear of their presumed enemy's pernicious attacks.
As an organizational issue, attacks against the tech potentially limit the group's ability to acquire and utilize resources. Attacks are especially damaging when they effect elites who control large resource pools of materials or power (McCarthy and Zald, 1977: 1221). Moreover, the realities of contemporary communication, transportation, economics, and politics -- in essence, the globalization of the world -- indicate that some elites operate in transnational arenas much like the organizations to which they are attached. As allies, transnational elites can be especially helpful to organizations in establishing new markets or gaining international legitimacy. By the same token, oppositional elites, with their own enormous resources behind them, can cause major problems for ideological transnationals in their various locations around the world. Global opponents likely require global strategies of neutralization, which at the very least involve the minimalization of opponents' effectiveness within their respective spheres of influence. In extreme situations, ideological transnationals will perceive that their best interests lie in completely discrediting if not destroying those globalist elites who oppose them.
Beginning with its founder, Scientology saw two globally operating elites whose potentially damaging activities warranted international efforts at control or destruction. These two elite groups, which operated within mental health and law enforcement professions, usually functioned in relative isolation of each other in different circles of influence, but Scientology's campaigns against them nevertheless bore broad similarities. Simply put, Scientology utilized these two oppositional elite groups as catalysts for resource acquisition among its members, which included their involvement in worldwide campaigns to discredit and destroy psychiatrists and the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol).
You may not realize it staff member but there is only one small group that has hammered Dianetics and Scientology for 18 years.
The press attacks, the public upsets you receive and all those you have received for all your time in Scientology were generated by this group.
For eighteen years it has poured lies and slander into the press and government agencies.
Last year we isolated a dozen men at the top. This year we found the organization these used and all its connections over the world.
They are as red as paint ..., yet they reach into International Finance, Health Ministries, Schools, the press. They even control immigration in many lands.
Psychiatry and "Mental Health" was [sic] chosen as a vehicle to undermine and destroy the West! And we stood in their way....
They have infiltrated boards of education, the armed services, even the churches.
They hold the wives or daughters of a great many politicians and keep them "under treatment".
They appoint Ministers of Health by pretending they are already part of the government.
They collect millions.
Their "technology" is the same as that used by Intelligence Services. Electric shock. Brain operations....
Anyway, this was the live wire we got across by being able to undo their effect on the West (Hubbard, 1968: 1).
Scientology, Hubbard asserted, was fighting back, and "the effectiveness of our means will become history" (Hubbard, 1968: 2).
In the realm of international politics, the gravest danger from "the psychiatrist" came from his (or her) "hoping to place one of his ilk in a blackmail position behind every head of state" (RJ, 1982c: 2). In a fashion reminiscent of the Jesuits, psychiatrists had been able to obtain international political power by becoming the contemporary "confessors" and counsellors of the politically powerful, at least according Hubbard's analysis {4}.
Following Hubbard's dark vision, Scientologists transformed psychiatrists into demons, who not only ruined this world but also had been adversely affecting people throughout their previous lives (called their 'track' or 'time track'). In a passage that condemned psychiatrists for the woes of the cosmos, Hubbard preached that "[u]nder the false data of the psychs (who have been on the track a lons time and are the sole cause of decline in this universe) both pain and sex are gaining ground in this society and, coupled with robbery (which is a hooded companion of both), may very well soon make the land a true jungle of crime" (Hubbard, 1982b: 1-2). Psychiatry's alleged evil took on mythic proportions in a cartoon printed in the first International Edition of Scientology's publication, Freedom, where a front page drawing depicted eight psychiatrists as horned, goateed, tailed, and cloven-hoofed devils injecting 'patients' with drugs and performing electro shock, topectomies, and lobotomies (Freedom, 1969: 1).
Since psychiatry was Scientology's alleged cosmic enemy, Hubbard and his followers wanted to see the profession destroyed. If society's authorities would not destroy it, then Scientology would. Thus Hubbard intoned that:
Doctors are too often careless and incompetent, psychiatrists are simply outright murderers. The solution is not to pick up their pieces for them but to demand medical doctors become competent and to abolish psychiatry and psychiatrists as well as other infamous Nazi criminal outgrowths (Hubbard, 1976b, HCOB 6 December 1976 in Tech XI: 259).
Expanding his litany of associations between psychiatry and wrongdoing, Hubbard allegedly pinpointed "the cause of crime" as three psychiatric treatments: "[e]lectric shocks, behavior modification, [and] abuse of the soul." Consequently, he reasoned, "[t]here's only one remedy for crime -- get rid of the psychs!" (Hubbard, 1982a: 1).
As directed, Scientology as an organization took on the task of psychiatry's destruction. In a 1990 publication, it bragged that "Scientologists are making enormous strides in abolishing the cause of crime -- psychiatry" (KSW 32:[5']; Atack, 1990: 220-221, 261-262). Also in the same year another Scientology publication bolded proclaimed that "[w]e set out to eradicate the psychiatric suppression form society, so that truly workable LRH technology can instead be applied to improve conditions" (Weiland, 1990: 21).
Whatever legitimate complaints Hubbard and Scientologists may have had with psychiatry (including perhaps genuine objections to lobotomies and concerns over patient treatment and abusive experiments), the fact remains the psychiatrists and related mental health personnel around the world were (and are) in key evaluative positions regarding the efficacy of Dianetics training and Scientology practices. The mental health community's near-universal hostility to both made them an influential if poorly organized threat of international proportions, since many psychiatrists operated in international networks of information exchange (associations, conferences, publications, etc.).
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, for example, the Interpol network apparently provided information to a number of countries that conducted national inquiries about Scientology (Fooner, 1989: 13). Hubbard, meanwhile, spent most the period between late 1967 and late summer 1975 aboard "a ship on the high seas, thus evading the jurisdiction of authorities who might have prosecuted him" (Fooner, 1989: 13; see Miller, 1987: 272, 333). Hubbard was precisely the type of international figure whose activities and operations Interpol might be able to damage.
The first battle between Scientology and Interpol apparently broke out after 1973, after a psychiatric hospital in West Germany, the Max Planck Institute, retaliated against an earlier Scientology expose alleging mistreatment of patients and a buried history of Nazi atrocities. Through the Federal Criminal Office (Bundeskriminalamt or BKA) hospital officials obtained derogatory (and Scientologists insist, inaccurate) material about Hubbard that originated with the FBI and traveled through Scotland Yard to Interpol's West German office, the German National Central Bureau (Garrison, 1976: 221-222). The BKA included the material in a March 8, 1973 report that the Max Planck Institute received, and the Institute subsequently released it to the press, through which it travelled into Scandanavia and Holland (Garrison, 1976: 221-222). The battle was on.
These two social reform groups share basic characteristics, which reveal their similar resource acquisition strategies. First, their names do not indicate any connection to Scientology per se, but instead imply that the groups are either citizens activist organizations or officially appointed investigative commissions. Second, they address either local or national issues even as their efforts are coordinated worldwide under Scientology's Office of Special Affairs International {5}. Third, they attempt to obtain the support of non-Scientologists who are sympathetic with their cause. Using terms from resource mobilization theory, these groups attempt to transfer members of the bystander public or members of related social movements into constituent adherents (i.e., persons who both believe in an issue and provide resources for it [McCarthy and Zald, 1977:1221f). Fourth, both groups undertake "investigations" of issues and publish their results amidst much publicity. Using these tactics, even a relatively small number of committed individuals can have a negative impact upon their opponents.
The specific social action group designed to attack psychiatry was the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR). Formed in 1969 (Citizens Commission on Human Rights, 1987: [1]), CCHR fell under Scientology's "Office of Special Affairs" after the Guardian Office was dismantled (see Atack, 1990:40, 267-269). One essential aspect of the Guardian Office had been "To take over absolutely the field of mental healing on this planet in all forms" ([Hubbard], 1969: [5]) {6}. The current Special Affairs office handles all contact with outside agencies, organizations, and prominent individuals, and one of its recent activities included efforts to "research and expose the abuses of psychiatric 'treatment'" (Office of Special Affairs, 1987: 3). These anti-psychiatry endeavors were (and continue to be) international in scope, as CCHRs operated under Scientology's umbrella throughout the world. Comprised largely of Scientologists, CCHR has conducted nationally specific campaigns that they claim "are inflicting severe losses in the ranks of psychiatry" (KSW 32 [1990]: [5V]).
Sociologically, Hubbard established a transnational, centrally controlled group (CCHR) that functioned in most areas where there were sizable Scientology populations upon which to draw. Under this centralized structure, members around the world were able to adjust programs to local situations while at the same time strive for the international destruction of psychiatry. In essence, CCHR attempts to discredit psychiatry and the mental health profession by publicizing claims of psychiatric abuse or apparent treatment failure. Most recently CCHR has concentrated on claims that specific prescription drugs (most notably ritalin [Colino, 1988] and prozac [Burton, 1991; Waldholz, 1990]) often have dire consequences for patients who take them.
Scientology's social reform group against Interpol (and other police intelligence gathering agencies) is called The National Commission on Law Enforcement and Social Justice (NCLESJ), and it operates much like its anti-psychiatry counterpart. Formed in 1974, it quickly focused its attention on Interpol, having as its aim "nothing less than to bring down the police organization through public exposure of Interpol's alleged crimes, conspiracies, and deceptions" (Fooner, 1989: 13; see KSW v. 32 [1990]: [91]).
Using tactics that even a Scientology critic acknowledged were "a combination of skilled research and showmanship" (Fooner, 1989: 13), NCLESJ amassed a selective "body of 'documentation' for a series of charges that questioned the integrity of Interpol and its officers, personally and professionally" (Fooner, 1989:13; see Garrison, 1977). Scientology's discrediting efforts were particularly successful in the United States, where NCLESJ: succeeded in stirring up attention in Senate and House committees of Congress, leading to staff studies and public hearings, and climaxing with a full-scale investigation by the U.S. General Accounting Office in which officials and staff made trips to 18 cities in Europe, South America, ahd Asia to determine if any of the Hubbard group's charges -- abuses of citizen's rights, violations of privacy, Nazi and KGB infiltration -- had possible merit (Fooner, 1989: 14). Moreover, in 1979, Scientology challenged Interpol's right "to hold and to disseminate information on members of the Church" by filing suits against it "in Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom" (Anderson, 1979: 62; see Slomanson, 1984: 567-579). None of the cases, however, was decided against Interpol.
Recently the United States District Court (Central District of California) ruled that Interpol's National Central Bureau in the U.S. did not have to turn over documents supposedly concerning Scientology's "core religious practices and beliefs" (United States District Court [California], 1991: 2) to the Church of Scientology International partly because they "concern pending law enforcement proceedings. The documents concern actions which are crimes in the United States. The documents also name those who are to be investigated, and disclosure of this material would seemingly put these parties on notice of the investigations against them which would seem to impede the investigation" (United States District Court [California], 1991: 9).
Less known is scientology's project Lantern, which was an undertaking by the Guardians Office in late May, 1974 "designed to investigate and develope [sic] all known avenues of possible attack to wipe Interpol out of existance [sic]. MAJOR TARGET: To completely destroy Interpol" (GO 26 May 1974: [1]). The memo claimed that:
By collecting and distributing false reports on Scientology and LRH [L. Ron Hubbard], the General Secretariat [of Interpol] has violated it [sic] Constitution in at least two places:
- Through its aims (Article 2) to act "in spirit of the 'Universal Declaration of Human Rights'".
- Through Article 3: "It is strictly forbidden for the Organization to undertake any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character". (GO 26 May 1974: [1])
By the end of the following year Scientology had produced an expose of the organization, allegedly documenting its Nazi connections and influence (FREEDOM News Journal, 1975). By 1979 NCLESJ in Canada was calling for an inquiry into the organization's "operations and functions" (National Commission on Law Enforcement and Social Justice, 1979: 18). Such an inquiry never was held.
Although Scientology's war against Interpol continues, it already has left a mixed legacy for scholars. According to one researcher on Interpol and Scientology critic, NCLESJ "has furnished misleading and distorted resource materials, now deposited in libraries and waiting to be used by unwary scholars if they should turn to the subject." Nonetheless, he still acknowledges that:
Hubbard's people did perform a useful service in that they raised issues concerning not only the administration of international criminal justice, but also the theory and practice of international law-enforcement cooperation, and the history and origins of American participation in that field ... (Fooner, 1989: 15)
It seems unlikely the NCLESJ will achieve its goal of Interpol's demise, but undoubtedly it will remain vigilant regarding the collection and reporting of alleged police abuses on local, national, and international levels.
At the same time that Scientology was attempting to curtail if not destroy perceived enemies that might limit its international resource acquisitions and operations, it also was attempting to gain support and resources from persons and organizations among the international elite. Hubbard entertained projects that attempted to establish him among scientific and peace elites, and after his death the organization continues to push his name in literary circles involving science fiction.
Hubbard's major attempt to establish himself among scientific elites occurred in the closing months of 1951, when he created what became a short-lived organization, the Allied Scientists of the World (Miller, 1987: 198; Wallis, 1977: 74-75; see Atack, 1990: 125). Hubbard's plan for the Allied Scientists "was to establish an alliance of leading international scientists and to store all the latest scientific research on microfilm in an atom-bomb-proof archive somewhere in Arizona. In that way, he argued somewhat obscurely, individual nations would be denied the technical capacity to wage a nuclear war" (Miller, 1987: 198). Perry Chapdelaine, whom Hubbard had placed in charge of the project, insisted years later that Hubbard "thought with Allied Scientists he could control war and in that way control the world. That was what he wanted, no question" (quoted in Miller, 1987: 198). The organization's mailing to scientists elicited little response except to the FBI from recipients who thought that Allied Scientists might be a communist-backed subversive organization. Hubbard's plans, therefore, to unite world scientists died soon after it was born.
In the early 1980s Scientologists undertook a dramatic plan to establish their leader among the world's elites. Called the Nobel Peace Prize Project, it "was intended to win the Prize for Hubbard's development of the Purification Rundown" (Atack, 1990: 260), which the group claims eliminates drug residues from people's bodies. Despite the fact that Hubbard "authorized the expenditure of unlimited Scientology funds" to the effort (Armstrong, 1983: 6), Hubbard never was nominated {7}.
The object of the Department is to broaden the impact of Scientology upon governments and other organizations and is to conduct itself so as to make the name and repute of Scientology better and more forceful. Therefore defensive tactics are frowned upon in the department.... Only attacks resolve threats (HCO Policy Letter 15 August 1960 in Hubbard, 1972, OEC 7: 484).
More directly political were his comments six paragraphs later:
The goal of the Department is to bring the government and hostile philosophies or societies into a state of complete compliance with the goals of Scientology. This is done by a high level ability to control and in its absence by low level ability to overwhelm. Introvert such agencies. Control such agencies. Scientology is the only game on Earth where everybody wins (HCO Policy Letter 15 August 1960 in Hubbard, 1972, OEC 7: 484).
Apparently the Department of Government Affairs only existed on paper (Miller, 1987: 241), even though the organization reprinted the bulletin in its collection of organizational directives over a decade after he first wrote it. Probably Scientology reprinted the policy because these functions had been assumed by the Guardian Office {8} and, later, the Office of Special Affairs {9}.
Aside from his encouragement to US franchise holders in 1960 that they work against Richard Nixon's presidential bid (Miller, 1987: 240-241), Hubbard explained to his followers how, Jesuit-like, they could exert political influence. "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" (HCO 23 June AD 10 (1960) in HCOB 6:239; see Miller, 1987: 241).
Following the spirit of his own advice, Scientology briefly made inroads into the Moroccan government through a program intended to produce greater efficiency in the country's post office (Atack, 1990: 203; Miller, 1987: 311). The program, however, failed, but the group's training exercise for senior police officers and intelligence agents may have been more successful. This exercise showed officials how to use Scientology's E-meter as a detection tool against political subversives (Miller, 1987: 311). Ironically, a Scientologist already had demonstrated the E-meter's potential to an army officer who soon after borrowing the device committed suicide after leading a failed coup (Miller, 1987: 311) {10}. These attempts at gaining influence among Moroccan officials during late 1972 suggest that Hubbard wanted to find "a friendly little country where Scientology would be allowed to prosper (not to say take over control)" (Miller, 1987: 310). His desire for such a country dated back at least to 1959, at which time he hoped that the Australian Labour Party and trades union movement would have adopted Scientology techniques and with them won the next election. Hubbard had hoped that such a win would have created "a favourable climate for the development of the church and neutraliz[ed] the unabated hostility of the Australian media" (Miller, 1987: 236). In 1966 he tried to influence Rhodesian politics by producing, "uninvited, a 'tentative constitution" for that country while attempting to "ingratiate himself with the leading political figures" of the country (Miller, 1987: 258).In that constitutional proposal Hubbard required that all voters ("electors" as he called them) had to have "[a] good standard of literacy in English" (Hubbard, 1966: [3]), and it may have been that he saw this literacy requirement as an opportunity to have Scientology form the basis of the emerging country's educational system {11}. In any case, he was expelled from the country in July, 1966.
Two years earlier, Hubbard had revealed revealed his desire to gain control over an jurisdictional area. To readers (mostly Scientologists) he elaborated plans to ensure world peace by building an international city to which all "heads of government, congresses, and parliaments" would move (Hubbard, 1964: 4). Amidst directives pertaining to an array of issues (i.e., the city's armed forces, government, extradition powers, finances, etc.), Hubbard stated that "the United Nations and national governments [must be persuaded] that they have no interest in matters of healing or welfare and may not legislate for or against them, nor assist to create health monopolies..." (Hubbard, 1964: 7). Moreover, "[t]he United Nations should not be permitted to define or outline 'orthodox science' or introduce any idea of orthodoxy into any science or the humanities except government" (Hubbard, 1964: 10). Along these same lines, "nor should the United Nations or National Governments be permitted to require the indoctrination in any way of the citizens of states or countries, nor pronounce upon their mental fitness or lack of it" (Hubbard, 1964: 11). At the very least Hubbard wanted a major geographical locale where Scientology would have equal footing with traditional forms of mental health. The project remained mythical, but the mere title of the scheme (Scientology: Plan for World Peace) suggested Hubbard's desire to gain control over a governmental area in order to allow the unbriddled practice of his ideology within it. As the supposed editor of the booklet proclaimed about "L. Ron Hubbard, Ph.D." [sic] and his proposal, "[t]his Plan for World Peace was foreshadowed in Dr.[sic] Hubbard's famous books Dianetics, the Modern Sceince of Mental Health (1950) and Science of Survival" (Hubbard, 1964: 3).
On the lovely Greek island of Corfu, Hubbard almost saw his mythical dream come true (Forte 1981). Docking his ships there in September, 1969, Hubbard quickly endeared himself and his Sea Org to the shopkeepers by infusing the local merchants and traders with about a L1,000 per day in purchases for his flotilla. Perhaps through the merchants he gained favour with the local newspapers, and through newspaper interviews he attempted to ingratiate himself with the ruling Greek junta ( Forte, 1981: 19, 21, 37). Through some useful introductions that the National Tourist Organization made for a Scientology public relations team among members of Corfu's social elite, Scientologists entered the island's high society. Hubbard himself made a red carpet entrance into a local casino that was housed in a palace, and the next day he rechristened his ships with Greek names and threw a lavish party for his Corfu admirers (Forte, 1981: 21-27). By early 1969 Hubbard believed that relations with the island were so smooth that officials would permit him to establish a Scientology University (called The Greek University of Philosophy) and offices on its shores (Forte, 1981: 29, 37-41). Information, however, provided by the British and Australian governments, plus a display of concern about the group by sentries from United States Marines motivated the Greek Foreign Secretary to expel Hubbard and his crew on March 19th. Hubbard was so taken off guard by the twenty-four hour expulsion notice that he apparently was "overcome by shock" (Forte, 1981: 41). Undoubtedly a contributing factor to his shock was his loss of a land base from which he could have operated and extended his influence in the country.
Cultural traditions and legal restrictions concerning both religion and mental health practices vary from country to country, and Scientology and other ideological organizations must adapt to these boundaries in their efforts to gain entry into various nations. Insight into Scientology's adaptive strategies come from the organization's own analysis of its relative inability to get established in Japan. A 1981 Sea Organization document not only reveals its survey marketing strategy of identifying potentially supportive or inhibiting elites, but also shows its flexibility concerning its self-presentation as a religion.
After evaluating its unsuccessful, eighteen year efforts to establish Scientology in Japan, New Civilizations Chief Vinay Agarwala proposed specific steps to establish a Japanese operation. He recommended that the Guardian Office send a mission to the country in order to determine:
In resource mobilization language, Scientology was planning to assess the country's elites in an effort to determine who might become constituents or opponents in its anticipated legitimation efforts.
- Who's running the country.
- Opinion Leaders and potential allies to align with or avoid.
- Extent of any squirrel Scn activities [unauthorized groups using Scientology materials] and entheta [hostile information] on Scn [Scientologyl.
- Political activities/parties who'd influence our actions... (Agarwala, 1981: 7).
The reaction by elites to Scientology's efforts would be influenced partly by the manner in which the group marketed itself within the confines of Japanese culture. Consequently, the evaluation recommended that:
[b]etween surveys plus the GO CGuardian Office] Mission, a broad strategy of operation is then [to be] formulated for Japan covering:
- Do we go religious or Dianetics?
- Corporate identity of org[anization to be established].
- Finance system the org will operate on.
- Key buttons to use [words, phrases, or ideas that elicit a strong response or reaction~.
- Key PR moves to make (who to ally, who to help/avoid).
- The exact dissemination pattern. (Agarwala, 1981: 7)
Central, therefore, to Scientology's entry efforts would be a decision about whether it should represent itself as a religion or (presumably) a mental health technique. Indeed, when discussing how to handle the issue of materials translation from English to Japanese, the evaluation indicated that "[e]ven the point of whether to go religious or non-religious has to be covered as it will determine whether the books mention the Church or not and whether they have Church symbols, etc." (Agarwala, 1981: 7). In sum, Scientology was willing to compromise its "demanded designation" of religion (Kent, 1990: 402) that it uses almost universally in Western countries when attempting to enter a country whose culture might not respond favourably to a foreign religious incursion. Indeed, when the group announced the formation of the Tokyo org in 1985, it revealed the compromise to its religious designation that it had settled upon: "[a] group of Scientologists is opening up Japan to Scientology philosophy!" (Impact 4, 1985: 31).
After Scientology gains entry into a country, it undertakes a series of programs that show remarkable consistency around the world. One such program is an effort to get L. Ron Hubbard recognized as "ONE OF THE MOST ACCLAIMED AND WIDELY READ AUTHORS OF ALL TIME" (Church of Scientology International, 1989a: [2]). As a public relations pronouncement, this claim reinforced results from "extensive surveys" that had been conducted by the LRH Personal Public Relations Bureau. In, for example, "an international survey done of raw public, 90% of those surveyed had a favorable impression of the value of a writer to society" (Church of Scientology International, 1989a: [1]). Scientologists called the emphasized use of this claim "positioning," and they saw that it would have significant implications for both Hubbard's image and Scientology book sales throughout the globe.
By ensuring that our messages align with this positioning we will enormously increase the public awareness of LRH and the demand for his books and services. We intend to capture 5% of the world book market. By coordinating all of our PR and marketing actions and creating a consistent image for LRH, the goodwill generated in one campaign ... will bleed off onto other books as people will be looking for other works of this widely acclaimed and popular author. (Church of Scientology International, 1989a:[2])
By cultivating an image of their founder as an enormously popular and acclaimed writer, Scientologists hope to generate interest and curiosity in him and his thoughts among readers around the world.
Even before Scientology began systematically portraying its founder as among history's "most acclaimed and widely read authors," Hubbard and his organization had been marketing him in a manner to ensure that he had a huge audience on a morally neutral set of topics. Modelling himself after the popular American writer at the turn of the century, Elbert Hubbard (no relation) {12}, Scientology's Hubbard penned a booklet of twenty-one simplistic aphorisms that, when followed, supposedly would be "The Way to Happiness" (Hubbard, 1981). Elbert Hubbard's essay was about a soldier named Lieutenant Andrew Summers Rowan (d. 1943) who (as the story was incorrectly told) took a message from the American president to the leader of Cuban insurgents named General Calixto Garcia. Rowan accomplished his task despite great odds, and Elbert Hubbard's embellished account became "a heavy-handed admonition to workers to obey authority and to place devotion to duty above all else" (Charnay and Fadness, 1978: 562). Its message attracted the attention of employers around the world, and it "was translated into 20 languages and reprinted over 100 million times" (Charnay and Fadness, 1978: 562).
L. Ron Hubbard was so impressed with his namesake's accomplishment that in 1956 he dedicated the ninth printing of Dianetics: The Modern science of Mental Health to him. Scientology also apparently disseminated his "Way to Happiness" booklet in a manner that was inspired by "A Message to Garcia"'s success. In several Latin American countries, for example, corporate or government sponsors have helped defray printing or distribution costs (see Church of Scientology International, 1989c: [4]).
At the same time that "The Way to Happiness" was published, Scientology launched "The Way to Happiness" campaign. Officially it was "an international campaign to improve morals and restore honesty and trust around the world." More revealingly, it also intended to get "this modern common sense moral code known, adopted, and used" (The Way to Happiness International Campaign News, 1985: [1]). In essence, the moralistic booklet was supposed to disseminate Hubbard's name widely among the world's people who, Scientology hoped, would be motivated to explore favorably the organization that the author had created. In, for example, a 1983 HCOB letter entitled "Service Routes for New Public," Hubbard specified 'The Way to Happiness Route" as one way that "Raw Public" entered Scientology (HCOB 1983:1). By 1985 the organization could boost that "The Way To Happiness has been translated and published in 12 languages. Over six million copies of the booklet have been sold and distributed since it's [sic] release" (The Way to Happiness International Campaign News, 1985 [1]). Its printing run of four thousand copies in Arabic meant that "Arab countries are now being opened up to Scientology" (Impact 14 [1987]: 19) as were many other nations around the world (for example, Impact 8 [1986]: 32 [concerning South America]).
Overseeing the worldwide dissemination of The Way to Hapoiness was a branch of the Scientology organization named Social Coordination International. Its apparent precursor, the Social Coordination Network "was established in 1974 for the purpose of assisting primarily those groups involved in revitalizing the fields of education, drug and criminal rehabilitation, utilizing LRH's indispensable technology" (Sea Organization, 1983: [1]). A 1987 interview with its President, Frank Zurn, reveals how Scientologists envision the relationship between Hubbard's "public" moral code (stated in The Way to Happiness) and the organization's desired social programs:
The dissemination and delivery of Ron's technology divides into broad sectors. Social Coordination International is the organization that has been entrusted with reversing the decay of society and using Ron's technology to revitalize the fields of education, drug rehabilitation, criminal rehabilitation, and society's morals through The Way to Happiness campaign. (Impact 10 [1987]: 22)
Zurn specifically named both Narconon (a program claiming to free the body from drugs and drug residues) and two education programs (Education Alive and Effective Education [Impact 10 (1987): 22, 23]). An additional education program is Applied Scholastics, and since 1988 all of these programs fall under the jurisdiction of the Association for Better Living and Education (ABLE [Able International, 1991]; Miscavige, 1991: 13). ABLE's business organization is The Concerned Businessmen's Association (see The Way to Happiness Foundation Newsletter, 1990: [2]), and its prison outreach is Criminon (Able International, 1991).
Some of Social Coordination International activities appear to have received support from business and governmental leaders around the world. Regarding Hubbard's education study techniques, for example, "[s]uch companies as Elizabeth Arden, Perrier, Bank of America and Chevron have received communication and/or study tech services from a SoCo [Social Coordination] representative. Study tech seminars are delivered regularly at Buick and Oldsmobile Divisions of General Motors in Flint Michigan" (Social Coordination International, 1986: 3). In China, a Social Coordination representative and two assistants "trained teachers at a Beijing school and the study tech and filmed two 15-minute TV shows on the study tech, The Way to Happiness and LRH [L. Ron Hubbard]. The estimated audience for these shows is 50 million people for broadcast" (Social Coordination International, 1986: 9). On a later occasion "a seminar was delivered in LRH management technology basics to 50 regional heads of the Chinese paper industry" (Impact 14 C1987]: 44). Finally, in South Africa, "EDUCATION ALIVE has achieved unprecedented acceptance and has been acknowledged by the South African government and funded by over 100 major corporations including Rand Xerox, the Mobil Foundation, Borden Food Corporation, Bristol Meyers and the Anglo American Mining Company" (Church of Scientology International, 1988b: [3]).
While trying to destroy two elite networks that it believes are hostile to it, Scientology also has striven to favorably influence and gain the support of other elite groups. Hubbard made an abortive effort to win the favour of prominent scientists in the early 1950s, and he attempted to get himself awarded a Nobel Peace prize in the early 1980s. Internationally, he tried (unsuccessfully) to influence the politics of Rhodesia and Australia, and he cultivated influence among the political elite of Morocco and Corfu, Greece. At times throughout his Scientology career Hubbard fantasized the transformation of his organization into a highly political weapon. He even called for a reformulation and restructuring of the United Nations to accommodate his plans for the development of an international city.
Complementing Scientology's efforts to influence both internationally operating elites and prominent national elites in various parts of the world is its persistent efforts to get Hubbard's name favourably infused into the minds of the world's masses. In its attempt to gain entry into a country or region that may not respond favourably to Scientology's self-portrayal as a religion, it is willing to market itself as either a mental health program or a philosophy. Frequently it attempts to gain entry into countries, then spread its influence in them, by the massive dissemination of Hubbard's moralistic writing, The Way to Happiness. Often receiving political or business support for the booklet's printing or distribution, Scientology also has a number of social programs that attempt to apply Hubbard's worldview to specific areas of education, business management, drug rehabilitation, and criminal rehabilitation.
Viewed as a package, Scientology's coordinated, worldwide effort to further the teachings of its founder provides ample evidence for the value of examining it and other contemporary ideological groups (such as the Unification Church and Nichiren Shoshu) as transnational operations (Kent, 1991). Moreover, the complexity of Scientology's own activities should encourage a renewed interest in the organization as a focus of academic study. Academics who take up the study (despite the risks) are likely to witness several noteworthy events over the next few years.
First, Scientology will persist in another resource acquisition effort to enhance internationally its founder's name by trying to make him the posthumous recipient of the prestigious Hugo award for science fiction writing (Vesco, 1988: 7). Second, researchers are likely to witness additional revelations about Scientology's alleged activities at international currency short-positioning (Behar, 1991a: 49) and related monetary activities. Third, long and costly litigation will continue among national Scientology organizations and many Western countries (including Canada, Italy, Spain, France, and Germany [Behar, 1991b]). Finally, researchers will witness Scientology's extraordinary burst of expansion into countries that previously were cut off from extensive Western travel but now are eager for the infusion of Western ideas. In 1990, for example, before much of the reconfiguration of the former Soviet Union and Europe had taken place, Scientology Mission International reported that "[t]he Expansion Office is currently active in establishing Dianetics and Scientology Missions in Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Poland, Romania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, India, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Trinidad, Uganda, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zaire, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Phillipines [sic]!" (Scientology Missions International, 1990: 3). It also was "tak[ing] actions" to establish itself in Leningrad" (Scientology Missions International, 1990: 1).
With the collapse of the Iron Curtain and the end of the Cold War, Scientology undoubtedly will ride the wave of Western products that attempt to capture the imaginations and the purse-strings of consumer hungry nations. Consequently, the wars with governments and the press that Scientology has fought in the West for forty years will be replayed in new parts of the world. The study of contemporary ideologies will suffer if sociologists are not witnesses to what will be very intense battles.
GO = Guardians Office
HCOB = Hubbard Communications Office Bulletins.
Impact = International Association of Scientologists. Impact [Magazine]. Sussex, England: Saint Hill Manor.
KSW = Keeping Scientology Working News. Published by the Religious Technology Center.
OEC = Hubbard, L. Ron. 1972. The Organization Executive Course, Volumes 0-7. Copenhagen: Scientology Publications Organization.
PAB = Professional Auditors Bulletins.
RJ = Hubbard, L. Ron. Ron's Journal. Pamphlets.
Tech = Hubbard, L. Ron. The Technical Bulletins of Dianetics and Scientology. Volumes 1-12. Copenhagen and Los Angeles: Scientology Publications, 1976.