On the Edge: Political Cults Right and Left

by Dennis Tourish, Tim Wohlforth

This is the first book to document the extent of political cults on both the right and left and explain their significance for mainstream political organizations. The authors outline the defining characteristics of cults in general, and analyze the degree to which a variety of well-known movements fall within the spectrum of cultic organizations. The book covers such individuals and groups as Lyndon LaRouche, Fred Newman, Ted Grant, Marlene Dixon, the Christian Identity movement, Posse Commitatus, Aryan Nation, militias, and the Freemen. It explores the ideological underpinnings that predispose cult followers to cultic practices, along with the measures cults use to suppress dissent, achieve intense conformity, and extract extraordinary levels of commitment.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Religion, Sociology, Political Science, History, Cults

264 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2000

Reviews

[Einzige · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good book which demonstrates very clearly how the forms of manipulation, control and abuse associated with the term "cult" are not just limited to religious and pseudo religious groups.
This is particularly important as these forms of life destroying abuse (just as they are in personal relationships) are almost impossible to resolve through simple acts of legislation. It's more than material dependence but a genuine prison created by belief. Accordingly awareness of not only specific groups but the kinds of behaviours to look out for is very important.

Now the groups the book looks into are largely defunct or in heavy decline now, however they still do a very good job of showing the diversity and forms it can come in on both sides of the political spectrum. In particular it really shows how the principle of democratic centralism (the structure of political organisation popularised by Lenin) really lends itself well to cultism and provides a good history for a lot of interesting (albeit horrific) political movements.

Also there was a particular quote which really resonated with what we have seen in the alt right movement despite it being in reference to a different group.

"[speaking of Christian Identity] Their problem is that the movement is populated with people who share the same mind-set as Timothy McVeigh. They are easier to recruit than they are to restrain. "

Finally this book will also tangentially show why online communities/ discord servers ect. can so often become so toxic and bizarre - I am certain there are some great books waiting to be written on this matter.

[Antony Monir · Rating 3 out of 5]

I came into this book expecting a nice analysis of political cults and their impact on society. What I got was a basically written history of some political cults on the right and the left (and some therapy cults). My main issue with this book is that its content does not match its thesis. This book claims to look at political cults and their impact on society but it mainly focuses on the impact of the cult on its members. Now, I do not mean to demean these people’s experiences yet I think that focusing on them is not particularly interesting. Everyone knows that cults are awful for their members. What is more interesting is the impact of the cult on wider society. Sadly, this is not covered much in this book. I would say that the introduction and the conclusion of this book are the most interesting parts to read (and the chapter on Ted Grant, because I actually met with followers of his cult). The remainder of this book just looks at the history—the rise and fall—of the various cults. It doesn’t even focus on the “political” part of the cult. I wanted this book to focus on the political aspect of these cults, not just tell me stories about cults that happen to be politics related. A better approach would’ve been to focus on how politics affected these cults. Because at the end of the day, any cult can be “political” but a true political cult is unique in its function in society. For example, Ted Grant and his Militant cult are interesting because of their effect on British politics but also because of the strategies they use to recruit people. That’s what makes these cults different from typical religious cults. I enjoyed the analysis of Leninism and its cult-forming tendency. I thought this analysis to be clever and interesting. Sadly, there is no equivalent analysis for the right wing cults which is a shame. In the end, this book is only of value if you want to learn more about the history of any cult that is mentioned in it. Otherwise, for a general resource regarding cults which I find to be much more useful and well written, I recommend Montell’s Cultish. 3/5.

[Kirsten · Rating 5 out of 5]

Both Tourish and Wohlforth had personal experience in Marxist political cults, so it is a very interesting book, especially considering Wohlforth himself was a leader in one. The book was extremely informative and well written and researched. Some may say Wohlforth is a hypocrite for writing about a group that he himself was a victimizer in, but personally I think it lends more legitimacy to the book because he is basically illuminating techniques that he knows are tried and true. Perhaps he victimized people in the past, but I do think that he has done quite a bit of good by publishing this book, because I think anyone who reads it will be better prepared to deal with the claims and tactics cults employ to indoctrinate. I think everyone has a dark past, but I think this book is some great atonement. I do believe it helped me a lot.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good introduction to the issue of political cults. Good references for further reading. To read more, I recommend any of Robert Lifton's books.

[Avery · Rating 4 out of 5]

review here