Those who do not believe this explanation may point to the cassette 'Ron's Journal 38', which was issued to the troops at the end of 1983. This tape consisted entirely of a message from Hubbard and contained a reference to both the DeWolf probate ruling and to the Australia High Court upholding Scientology as a religion, both of which occurred in 1983. It might therefore be presumed that it is a further piece of evidence that Hubbard was alive after 1983, IF IT IS GENUINE. John Zegel, one of the most influential disaffected Scientologists, sent a copy of 'RJ 38' (as the tape is known) plus 'RJ 36' and an earlier Hubbard tape on study methods, to two university departments, one in Canada and one in the USA, who were involved in the analysis of the Watergate tapes. Both sets of experts reported separately that in their opinion the three tapes were made by three separate people and that one of the voices belonged to someone who had spent the early part of his life in California before moving north. Another report, published in the Phoenix journal of an independent Scientology group, declared: 'a voice-print has been done and the results prove that LRH is not the speaker on the last two "Ron's Journals". R.L. Addison of Carson Investigations, Vancouver BC, did the test.' There were reports circulating among the disaffected Scientologists that a voice synthesizer was being used to compile the 'Ron's Journals'.
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RELIGION INC.
Rumours also circulated that Ron had been seen in South California. 'They (the RTC) hired a double, a man called Ellis, and he used to pop up in places until the end of 1984,' says Neville Chamberlain who still adheres to the 'tech' in his practice in West Hampstead but is a 'Suppressive Person', having been found guilty of various 'crimes and high crimes' by the Church of Scientology. He is a large man in his forties who was an original Sea Org member way back in the early days. His tough macho image is reinforced by videos of Clint Eastwood, Rollerball and Rocky stacked on a shelf. His black beard bristles as he talks about the RTC, about whom he is bitter. 'I was a front man touring the world, selling the tech. I spoke my mind and was declared SP more often than anyone I know. But I got results. I set up the first centre in Scotland.'
Like many of the independents, Chamberlain is reluctant to see Hubbard as the source of the present troubles but he is realistic about the founder, calling him bluntly 'Hubbard' and not by the affectionate 'LRH' or the respectful 'Mr Hubbard'. 'The technology is basically sound. Hubbard had the perception to put it down. He had a lot of compassion. I've seen him in the depths of despair and apathy. But he was a showman and the next minute he'd be petulant, then Commodore and king of the world. I often thought he ought to have a teeshirt with the words "I'm a schizophrenic - so am I",' quips Chamberlain who is scathing about the effect of the RTC upon the credibility of Scientology. He calls the Guardians the 'Clouseau squad, the blind leading the lame', and argues that the 'Bay of Pigs' which befell Scientology has largely been self-inflicted. He is quite down-to-earth about Scientology's status as a religion. 'I used to wear a dog-collar - what a joke! We used that as a defence-mechanism and a means of tax avoidance.' Like many of the independents who remain loyal to the 'tech' he is convinced that Hubbard would not sanction what is being done by Miscavige.
So was Hubbard aware of what was going on after 1982? If Hubbard was dead, the implications are serious, for that would mean the RTC had perpetrated fraud. But there are other explanations: for instance, that Hubbard was temporarily or permanently incapacitated.
They might also explain why such a large ego as Hubbard's stayed out of the limelight for so long. He might be forgiven for hiding from the mass media who would be likely to ask some hostile questions, but why did he continue to speak to his followers through tape recordings and not through the more effective and personal medium of film or
158
BATTLEFIELD EARTH
http://members.chello.nl/mgormez/books/lamont/battle.htm
Such questions are answered by dark mutterings in the homes of breakaway Scientology groups, who accuse Miscavige and Co of stopping at nothing to keep their power. But now that Ron is 'officially' dead, and his ashes scattered over the Pacific Ocean, it will be more difficult to prove matters either way. If Hubbard had indeed died in late 1983 then it would have come at an awkward moment for the RTC. The movement was badly split. It needed to demonstrate that it had Ron's endorsement. It needed the money to finance its policies, which the use of Ron's trademarks gave it. It needed Ron alive and, by whatever means, he stayed that way until it had established its supremacy over Scientology worldwide and its claim to the fortune which he bequeathed it in his will. But it was noticeable that although Ron was 'alive', he certainly was not running the show.
For example, the style of HCOBs altered after Hubbard went into seclusion. It was widely accepted, even by Scientologists, that he was not the author of many of them. His personal control and domination of his organization was very much a feature of Scientology until 1980. But the transcript of the Mission Holders' Conference in 1982 reveals very few references to LRH or his words. It was the same on 21 October 1984 in Clearwater when the Mission holders came together to be addressed by the bigwigs of the RTC. It was Scientology's version of the May Day Parade in Moscow - it would be possible to tell the rising stars in the Politburo by those who were chosen to address the exultant throng and the direction in which Scientology was headed by what they said.
The dominant theme was 'us' against 'them'. 'They' were the IRS, the FBI, the Justice Department, etc. 'The State used to feed us to the lions, now it's to the bureaucrats,' jibed one speaker. 'I'd take the lions - at least you can reason with a lion!' The atmosphere was heady and hysterical, which suited the demagogery of Norman Starkey, the wild recruiting sergeant, who bellowed, 'The first step is, you can join the staff. Get those goddam fence-sitters off the fence and on this side! Contact! Handle! Help by exposing psychiatrists and their horrible product - government!' It was a mixture of an evangelical crusade and an auction sale as Starkey badgered the captive audience into signing a form for a life-time pledge costing
160
BATTLEFIELD EARTH
$2,000. 'Hold it up if you're gonna sign. Sign it right now.' Then he snarled, 'What's the deal - some aren't signing it? Life is $2,000!' A woman squealed her assent. Pledges came thick and fast, in a hysterical torrent of bids. One man pledged on behalf of his wife and children who were not there. A black man (a rare sight within the predominantly WASP Church of Scientology) declared to loud applause, 'This is the only game that offers equal opportunity.'
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The 'stars' above this firmament were Miscavige who compered the event, Heber Jentzsch, Marc Yaeger (John Zegel's stepson) - CO CMO International - who gave statistics of the latest upsurge in sales of DMSMH but significantly omitted to say much about income from courses, which was reputedly in severe downturn. There was little talk of Hubbard until the end when Commander Vicki Aznaran, a svelte lady of around forty, wearing a silver dress with a plunging neckline, took the stage. In her Texas drawl she talked of building a group 'who knows who its friends and its enemies are... there is no question of losing this case 'cos Scientologists never quit. ...As LRH said in Philadelphia lecture tape 46: "There is no such thing as failure".' Onto the screen of the video-recording I was watching at Saint Hill flashed the face of Hubbard. It could have been my imagination, but the 'feel' of the whole event was that Hubbard was not temporarily absent but had moved on permanently and a new era had begun.
That feeling was reinforced when I sat down to watch the next video. It was portentously titled 'The Religious Freedom Convention' - Earth, 7th October 1984'. It was a very Star Trek, very American, very maudlin parody of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It contains such phrases as: 'Scientology is experiencing the greatest expansion and prosperity in its history. International in scope, Scientology each week frees more people from the debilitating effects of drugs ignorance and other sources of aberration and moves them on the path to greater awareness, self-respect and dignity than all other groups combined.'
As Heber Jentzsch read the words on the video, gentle music stole up underneath. The ceremony ended with three cheers for 'LRH' as the assembled top brass of the Church of Scientology turned to applaud a large portrait of Hubbard hanging on the wall at Saint Hill where the ceremony was taking place. The camera closed in on the portrait and Hubbard's voice filled the screen. 'In all the broad universe there is no other hope for man than ourselves. This is a tremendous responsibility...I have borne it myself too long alone
...You share it with me now...' The words were from the 1967 Hubbard edition of 'Ron's Journal' but they suddenly had a terrible relevance as to whether or not he was dead. The year was 1984. The year of Big Brother - and the year the little brothers took over.
http://members.chello.nl/mgormez/books/lamont/lamont.htm
Well I learnt a couple of things tonight, Stewart Lamont seems to think the Apollo was thrown out of Corfu in 1970, when in fact it was 1969.
And an even funnier notion was all the loud speakers hiding in the bushes, there I was thinking they were there to upset the protesters by blaring out bagpipe music and 1950s jazz, when all along it is there to let good old El Ron talk to the trees, literally.
El Ron the botanist!
Rotten tomatoes anyone!
157
RELIGION INC.
Rumours also circulated that Ron had been seen in South California. 'They (the RTC) hired a double, a man called Ellis, and he used to pop up in places until the end of 1984,' says Neville Chamberlain who still adheres to the 'tech' in his practice in West Hampstead but is a 'Suppressive Person', having been found guilty of various 'crimes and high crimes' by the Church of Scientology. He is a large man in his forties who was an original Sea Org member way back in the early days. His tough macho image is reinforced by videos of Clint Eastwood, Rollerball and Rocky stacked on a shelf. His black beard bristles as he talks about the RTC, about whom he is bitter. 'I was a front man touring the world, selling the tech. I spoke my mind and was declared SP more often than anyone I know. But I got results. I set up the first centre in Scotland.'
Like many of the independents, Chamberlain is reluctant to see Hubbard as the source of the present troubles but he is realistic about the founder, calling him bluntly 'Hubbard' and not by the affectionate 'LRH' or the respectful 'Mr Hubbard'. 'The technology is basically sound. Hubbard had the perception to put it down. He had a lot of compassion. I've seen him in the depths of despair and apathy. But he was a showman and the next minute he'd be petulant, then Commodore and king of the world. I often thought he ought to have a teeshirt with the words "I'm a schizophrenic - so am I",' quips Chamberlain who is scathing about the effect of the RTC upon the credibility of Scientology. He calls the Guardians the 'Clouseau squad, the blind leading the lame', and argues that the 'Bay of Pigs' which befell Scientology has largely been self-inflicted. He is quite down-to-earth about Scientology's status as a religion. 'I used to wear a dog-collar - what a joke! We used that as a defence-mechanism and a means of tax avoidance.' Like many of the independents who remain loyal to the 'tech' he is convinced that Hubbard would not sanction what is being done by Miscavige.
So was Hubbard aware of what was going on after 1982? If Hubbard was dead, the implications are serious, for that would mean the RTC had perpetrated fraud. But there are other explanations: for instance, that Hubbard was temporarily or permanently incapacitated.
They might also explain why such a large ego as Hubbard's stayed out of the limelight for so long. He might be forgiven for hiding from the mass media who would be likely to ask some hostile questions, but why did he continue to speak to his followers through tape recordings and not through the more effective and personal medium of film or
158
BATTLEFIELD EARTH
http://members.chello.nl/mgormez/books/lamont/battle.htm
Such questions are answered by dark mutterings in the homes of breakaway Scientology groups, who accuse Miscavige and Co of stopping at nothing to keep their power. But now that Ron is 'officially' dead, and his ashes scattered over the Pacific Ocean, it will be more difficult to prove matters either way. If Hubbard had indeed died in late 1983 then it would have come at an awkward moment for the RTC. The movement was badly split. It needed to demonstrate that it had Ron's endorsement. It needed the money to finance its policies, which the use of Ron's trademarks gave it. It needed Ron alive and, by whatever means, he stayed that way until it had established its supremacy over Scientology worldwide and its claim to the fortune which he bequeathed it in his will. But it was noticeable that although Ron was 'alive', he certainly was not running the show.
For example, the style of HCOBs altered after Hubbard went into seclusion. It was widely accepted, even by Scientologists, that he was not the author of many of them. His personal control and domination of his organization was very much a feature of Scientology until 1980. But the transcript of the Mission Holders' Conference in 1982 reveals very few references to LRH or his words. It was the same on 21 October 1984 in Clearwater when the Mission holders came together to be addressed by the bigwigs of the RTC. It was Scientology's version of the May Day Parade in Moscow - it would be possible to tell the rising stars in the Politburo by those who were chosen to address the exultant throng and the direction in which Scientology was headed by what they said.
The dominant theme was 'us' against 'them'. 'They' were the IRS, the FBI, the Justice Department, etc. 'The State used to feed us to the lions, now it's to the bureaucrats,' jibed one speaker. 'I'd take the lions - at least you can reason with a lion!' The atmosphere was heady and hysterical, which suited the demagogery of Norman Starkey, the wild recruiting sergeant, who bellowed, 'The first step is, you can join the staff. Get those goddam fence-sitters off the fence and on this side! Contact! Handle! Help by exposing psychiatrists and their horrible product - government!' It was a mixture of an evangelical crusade and an auction sale as Starkey badgered the captive audience into signing a form for a life-time pledge costing
160
BATTLEFIELD EARTH
$2,000. 'Hold it up if you're gonna sign. Sign it right now.' Then he snarled, 'What's the deal - some aren't signing it? Life is $2,000!' A woman squealed her assent. Pledges came thick and fast, in a hysterical torrent of bids. One man pledged on behalf of his wife and children who were not there. A black man (a rare sight within the predominantly WASP Church of Scientology) declared to loud applause, 'This is the only game that offers equal opportunity.'
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The 'stars' above this firmament were Miscavige who compered the event, Heber Jentzsch, Marc Yaeger (John Zegel's stepson) - CO CMO International - who gave statistics of the latest upsurge in sales of DMSMH but significantly omitted to say much about income from courses, which was reputedly in severe downturn. There was little talk of Hubbard until the end when Commander Vicki Aznaran, a svelte lady of around forty, wearing a silver dress with a plunging neckline, took the stage. In her Texas drawl she talked of building a group 'who knows who its friends and its enemies are... there is no question of losing this case 'cos Scientologists never quit. ...As LRH said in Philadelphia lecture tape 46: "There is no such thing as failure".' Onto the screen of the video-recording I was watching at Saint Hill flashed the face of Hubbard. It could have been my imagination, but the 'feel' of the whole event was that Hubbard was not temporarily absent but had moved on permanently and a new era had begun.
That feeling was reinforced when I sat down to watch the next video. It was portentously titled 'The Religious Freedom Convention' - Earth, 7th October 1984'. It was a very Star Trek, very American, very maudlin parody of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It contains such phrases as: 'Scientology is experiencing the greatest expansion and prosperity in its history. International in scope, Scientology each week frees more people from the debilitating effects of drugs ignorance and other sources of aberration and moves them on the path to greater awareness, self-respect and dignity than all other groups combined.'
As Heber Jentzsch read the words on the video, gentle music stole up underneath. The ceremony ended with three cheers for 'LRH' as the assembled top brass of the Church of Scientology turned to applaud a large portrait of Hubbard hanging on the wall at Saint Hill where the ceremony was taking place. The camera closed in on the portrait and Hubbard's voice filled the screen. 'In all the broad universe there is no other hope for man than ourselves. This is a tremendous responsibility...I have borne it myself too long alone
...You share it with me now...' The words were from the 1967 Hubbard edition of 'Ron's Journal' but they suddenly had a terrible relevance as to whether or not he was dead. The year was 1984. The year of Big Brother - and the year the little brothers took over.
http://members.chello.nl/mgormez/books/lamont/lamont.htm
Well I learnt a couple of things tonight, Stewart Lamont seems to think the Apollo was thrown out of Corfu in 1970, when in fact it was 1969.
And an even funnier notion was all the loud speakers hiding in the bushes, there I was thinking they were there to upset the protesters by blaring out bagpipe music and 1950s jazz, when all along it is there to let good old El Ron talk to the trees, literally.
El Ron the botanist!
Rotten tomatoes anyone!
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