The CWI Split of 1991-2, or Debate in Trotskyist Sects: Part 9

The 1991-2 split in the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI) brought about the demise of Militant, the CWI’s British section, and gave birth to the two main organisations that came out of it – the Socialist Party under Peter Taaffe, and Socialist Appeal under Ted Grant, Alan Woods and Rob Sewell. When I was … Read more

Contact work: The manipulation of the youth

“The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.”–Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, The Dawn, 1881. Cults and Recruitment No cult can survive without obsessive recruitment, and in Socialist Appeal/the IMT, this was at the centre of everything we did and said. … Read more

In Defence of Cult Analysis: A Response To Reddit Trotskyists

Several months ago, some of my criticisms of Trotskyism and Trot cults were posted on Reddit by a guy keen to know what the people on the Trotskyism subreddit thought. There were the typical slanders, dismissals of me as a ‘renegade’ and misunderstandings. I hope to reply to these and to affirm the correctness of … Read more

One Year Anniversary of this Blog!

It has been one year since I set up this blog to expose the inner workings of the IMT. This is nine months after I stormed out of the sect, unable to put up with their nonsense for five more minutes. Leaving the organisation was partly an act of impulse. I felt that I could … Read more

‘I would never end up in a cult!’

No one wants to admit that they could have been conned, lied to or tricked into entering into a cult or an abusive relationship. They are insulted at the very idea. It is understandable. We like to think of ourselves as rational creatures who are in control of our minds and do not allow ourselves … Read more

Janja Lalich and Bounded Choice

Janja Lalich is a cult expert and a former member of the Democratic Workers’ Party (DWP), one of many left-wing cults that existed in the 1970s. She has been one of the people whose work has been of help to me in my recovery from cultism. She has written and spoken extensively about her experiences … Read more

Why the IMT is a cult – a social media analysis

When I first joined the IMT, the organisation was in the middle of developing its social media presence. This is at the heart of the organisation’s cultish nature. This is what the cult expert Lifton called ‘milieu control’. Against my better judgement, I was persuaded to get Facebook for the first time in order to … Read more

A Tribute to Louis Proyect (1945-2021)

Louis Proyect’s death was announced just this week. Having just found out the news, I feel duty-bound to write something in tribute. A well-known and well-respected online Marxist commentator, with a blog that attracted millions of hits over many years, he is one of the people to which I am indebted for rescuing me from … Read more