Let's Sell These People a Piece of Blue Sky: Hubbard, Dianetics and Scientology (38 page)

Amid the turmoil, and with the pressure of the UK ban, and
swathes of bad press, Hubbard cancelled enforced Disconnection. The practice of
labeling
an individual Fair Game was also cancelled
³¹
:

FAIR GAME may not appear on any Ethics Order. It causes bad
public relations. This Policy Letter does not cancel any policy on the
treatment or handling of an SP [Suppressive Person]

Shortly after arriving in Corfu, Hubbard had issued a
Bulletin to Scientologists abolishing Security Checks and the practice of
writing down Preclears misdeeds.
³²
In point of fact the name of
Security Checking was changed: first to Integrity Processing and then to
Confessional Auditing. However, the Sec Check lists of questions written by Hubbard
in the 1960s remained, and are still in use. A record of the Preclear’s
utterances during an auditing session is made by the Auditor, and kept by the
Org he works for.

Many Corfiots seem to have accepted overboarding, and on
November 16, Hubbard was a welcome guest at a reception at the Achillion
Palace. With the notable exception of the Prefect, most of the island’s
worthies attended. The following day, with as much pomp as the Sea Org could
muster, the
Royal Scotman
was renamed yet again, this time deliberately.
Diana Hubbard, who had just celebrated her 16th birthday, and been awarded the
rank of Lieutenant Commander, broke a bottle of champagne over the Scotman’s
bow, and the ship became the
Apollo
. In the same ceremony, the
Avon
River
was re-styled the
Athena
.
The Enchanter
had already
been renamed the Diana, but was included in the ceremony nonetheless.

All was not well on the Scientology home front in England.
An application to local authorities for permission to expand Saint Hill castle
had been denied.
³³
The Scientologists were ordered to pay the legal
costs of three of the newspapers they were suing before they could proceed. The
son of Scientology spokesman David Gaiman was refused a place at an East
Grinstead school until Scientology had cleared its name.
³⁴
Foreign
Scientologists posed as tourists to attend a Congress in Croydon, to evade enforcement
of the Aliens’ Act. Gaiman said, “They disguised themselves as humans.”
³⁵
It was fair comment.

The English High Court refused to rule against the Home
Office’s use of the Aliens Act.
³⁶
The Scientologists fought back
with more than 40 court writs issued for slander or libel on a single day.
³⁷

The Rhodesian government, which had refused to renew
Hubbard’s visa in 1966, introduced a ban on the importation of material which
promoted, or even related to, the practice of Scientology.
³⁸
The
states of Southern and Western Australia joined Victoria in banning Scientology
totally.
³⁹
The Sea Org seemed to have put to sea just in time.

The Western Australian “Scientology Prohibition Act” was far
more succinct than that of Victoria
⁴⁰
:

1. A person shall not practice Scientology.

2. A person shall not, directly or indirectly,
demand or receive any fee, reward or benefit of any kind from any person for,
or on account of, or in relation to the practice of Scientology.

Penalty: for a first offence two hundred dollars and,
for a subsequent offence, five hundred dollars or imprisonment for one year or
both.

The Scientologists’ response to the bans was in character
⁴¹
:

The year of human rights draws to its close. The current
English Government celebrated it by barring our foreign students, forbidding a
religious leader to enter England, and beginning a steady campaign intended to
wipe out every Church and Churchman in England. The hidden men behind the
Government’s policies are only using Scientology to see if the public will
stand for the destruction of all churches and churchmen in England ...
Callaghan, Crossman and Robinson follow the orders of a hidden foreign group
that recently set itself up in England, which has as its purpose the seizure of
any being whom they dislike or won’t agree [sic], and permanently disabling or
killing him. To do this they believe they must first reduce all churches and
finish Christianity. Scientology Organizations will shortly reveal the hidden
men ... [with] more than enough evidence to hang them in every Country in the
West.

The public seemed perfectly willing to witness the
destruction of Scientology. Neither the promised exposure of the “hidden men,”
nor the destruction of “all churches and churchmen” ensued. Instead, David
Gaiman, head of the Public Relations Bureau of the Guardian’s Office, issued a
“Code of Reform.”
⁴²
The severe puritanical and punitive approach was
no longer necessary. The Church was going to become a moderate and liberal
organization, which would continue its battle against the evils of psychiatry
(spokesmen are trained to attack psychiatry as a response to any criticism of
Scientology). Thirty-six libel suits were dropped.
⁴³
And while the
press and governments were being assured of this new liberal attitude, the new
Class VIIIs were returning to their Orgs and instituting their own forms of
overboarding.

In the Edinburgh Advanced Org, a miscreant was thrown into a
bath of hot, cold or dirty water.
⁴⁴
In Los Angeles, he or she would
be hosed down fully clothed in the parking lot, though later they used a large
water tank.
⁴⁵
John McMaster has said that in Hawaii an offender’s
head would be pushed into a toilet bowl, and the toilet flushed.
⁴⁶
The same technique was used in Copenhagen.

In the Advanced Orgs in Edinburgh and Los Angeles, staff
were ordered to wear all white uniforms, with silver boots, to mimic the Galactic
Patrol of 70 million years before.
⁴⁷
According to Hubbard’s Flag
Order 652
⁴⁸
mankind would accept regulation from that group which
had last “betrayed” it. So the Sea Org were to ape the instigators of the OT3
incident. By the same token, all the book covers were revised to show scenes
from the supposedly lethal incident.

“Captain” Bill Robertson, who introduced the uniforms to
both Edinburgh and Los Angeles, also ordered a nightwatch in Los Angeles. The
crew assembled on the roof every night to watch for the spaceships of Hubbard’s
enemies.
⁴⁷
“Captain” Bill continued his crusade against the invading
aliens, the “Markabians” into the 1980s and to his death.
⁴⁹

In Britain, in January 1969, Sir John Foster was appointed
to conduct an Inquiry into Scientology.
⁵⁰
In Perth, Australia,
police raided the local Org, and 14 individual Scientologists, and the Hubbard
Association of Scientologists International, were prosecuted for “practicing
Scientology.” In New Zealand in February, another Inquiry got underway.
⁵¹

Hubbard was still trying to ingratiate himself with the
military junta which controlled Greece. He applauded them in a press interview
saying “the present Constitution represents the most brilliant tradition of
Greek democracy.” To win favor, Hubbard announced the formation of the Help
Greece Committee which issued a promotional piece for a “University of
Philosophy in Corfu.” He boasted that “Most professors of psychology and
schools of psychology foresee as part of their lessons [the] subject of Dianetics
and Scientology.”
⁵²

The symbol of the Help Greece Committee was a Greek Orthodox
cross set at the center of the thirteen-leaved laurels of the Sea Organization.
This was not a tactful gesture; Bishop Polycarpos was already concerned about
the spiritual influence of Scientology.
⁵³

The British Vice-Consul, John Forte, was more concerned with
the material influence of Scientology. He had been receiving complaints since
the Scientologists arrived. He later published a booklet called
The
Commodore and the Colonels
describing his experiences. Forte became interested
in several defections from the
Apollo
, including that of William Deitch,
who disappeared completely. Early in March 1969, a detachment of US Marines
arrived. Colin Craig met a group of them, and described life aboard a
Scientology ship. The Marines insisted that he tell his story to the British
Vice-Consul immediately.
⁵⁴

Craig and another Belfast man, Jack Russell, had answered an
advertisement for maintenance fitters. Arriving on Corfu, they were assigned to
the
Apollo’s
fifteen-year-old Chief Engineer. Russell was attracted to
Scientology, but Craig was so alarmed that he feigned illness and locked himself
in his cabin. With Forte’s assistance they were both repatriated.
⁵⁵

While this was taking place, Hubbard announced that
Scientology was “going in the direction of mild ethics and involvement with the
Society. After 19 years of attack by minions of vested interest, psychiatric
front groups, we developed a tightly disciplined organizational structure ...
we will never need a harsh Spartan discipline for ourselves.”
⁵⁶

The Greek government, concerned by the many complaints it
had received, peremptorily ordered the 200 or so Scientologists on Corfu to
leave Greek territory. Protests were made that the
Apollo
was not seaworthy,
so the ship was inspected, and declared fit for a voyage in the Mediterranean.
The flagship
Apollo
was given 24-hours to leave Greek waters. She left
on March 19, ostensibly for Venice.
⁵⁷

Two days later a young Scientologist arrived, and introduced
himself to Vice-Consul Forte. When asked why the
Apollo
had left, Forte
simply handed him Hubbard’s printed explanation. The departure was “due to
unforeseen foreign exchange troubles and the unstable middle eastern
situation.” Forte discovered many years later that the Scientologist had
subsequently burgled both his office and his villa looking for evidence of
Forte’s involvement with the Conspiracy.
⁵⁸

Shortly afterwards, an Inquiry started in South Africa.
⁵⁹
Hubbard turned his back on the “wog” world, and concentrated on introducing a
new form of Dianetics, and integrating it into the Scientology “Bridge.” He
issued a bizarre order to the Sea Org, called Confidential Zones of Action,
which outlined his plans for Scientology
⁶⁰
going to take over those
areas controlled by Smersh (the evil organization fought by the fictional James
Bond), rake in enormous amounts of cash, clean up psychotherapy, infiltrate and
reorganize every minority group, and befriend the worst foes of the Western
nations. Hubbard’s stated intention was to undermine a supposed Fascist
conspiracy to rule the world.

They were going to “invade the territory of Smersh [the evil
organization fought by the fictional James Bond], run it better, make tons of
money in it, to purify the mental health field,” and “contact and make friends
with and organize all minority groups until we have the biggest group on the
planet. By ... making friends with the biggest enemies of the West, we will be
able to avert Fascism now taking over in the West.”

On June 30, 1969, the New Zealand Commission submitted its report.
Their attitude to Scientology was sensible. Rather than banning, fining or
imprisoning Scientologists, they recommended the cessation of disconnection and
Suppressive Person declares against family members. Further, they recommended
that no auditing or training be given to anyone under 21, without the consent
of both parents (including consent to the fee), and a reduction of the deluge
of promotional literature and prompt discontinuance when requested.
⁶¹

The Commission did recommend that no legislative action be
taken. However it found “clear proof of the activities, methods, and practices
of Scientology in New Zealand contributing to estrangements in family
relationships ... the attitude of Scientology towards family relationships was
cold, distant, and somewhat uninterested ... the Commission received a letter
from L. Ron Hubbard stating that the Board of Directors of the Church of
Scientology had no intention of reintroducing the policy [of disconnection] He
also added that, for his part, he could see no reason why the policy should
ever be reintroduced ... This undertaking does not go as far as the Commission
had hoped ... [it was seen that] the activities, methods, and practices of
Scientology did result in persons being subjected to improper or unreasonable
pressures.” Nonetheless, the New Zealand Government did not outlaw the practice
of Scientology. The tide appeared to be turning.

In July, the Church of Scientology scored a victory of sorts
in their long-running battle with the Food and Drug Administration in the
United States. In 1963, the FDA had raided the Washington Org, seizing E-meters
and books. The whole affair had been in and out of the courts from that time.
Now a Federal judge ruled that although the E-meter had been “mis-branded,” and
that its “secular” use should be banned, it might still be used for “religious”
counseling, as long as it was carefully re-labeled to indicate that it had no
curative or diagnostic capabilities.
⁶²
To this day the Church of
Scientology has never fully complied with the re-labeling order, but E-meters
do carry an abbreviated version of it. This was not the end of the FDA case
however.

Also in 1969, an Advanced Organization was opened in Copenhagen.
⁶³
Now the OT levels were available in England at Saint Hill (the Edinburgh AO had
moved there), in Los Angeles and in Copenhagen, aboard the “flagship”
Apollo
.

Up until this time the “First Real Clear,” John McMaster,
had been the emissary of Scientology. He had braved the incisive questioning of
television interviewers, and, overcoming much bad publicity, inspired many
people to join Scientology. He had even been sent as a Scientology
representative to the United Nations in New York by Hubbard, and managed to
secure interviews with several important people. In November 1969, John
McMaster resigned from the Church of Scientology. He felt that the “Technology”
of Scientology was of tremendous value, but questioned the motives of those
managing the Church, most especially Hubbard.
⁶⁴