◆ SpookStack

or ——— The Newmanites were at the center of the first - documented instance of NCLC collaboration with USS. intelligence agencies. In 1974, several New- manites in NCLC attempted to use the FBI to lo- cate and spy on a former Newmanite who had left at the time of the NCLC/Newmanite merger and taken his child with bim. Jim Retherford had left the Newmanites citing psychological manipula- tion among other reasons. His spouse, Ann Green, remained in the organization and quite reasonably sought access to their child. Green and Newmanite Harry Kresky, an attorney, contacted the FBI and suggested that Retherford was a former member of the Weatherman faction of SDS, had harbored Weather Underground fugi- tives, and was in contact with Jane Alpert, a fugi- tive the FBI was particularly keen on locating. Supporters of Newman claim he was unaware of the contact with the FBI. However, a former member of Newman’s Centers for Change who joined and left NCLC with Newman, and theo later split with the Newmanites, recalls the FBI in- cident was widely known within NCLC and the Newmanite faction. “The CFC [Centers for Change/Newmanite] people for the most part stuck together while in the NCLC....denying Fred Newman knew about the communications with the FBI is utterly absurd.” . and establishing the Inmernational Workers Party re-affirms a commitment to carry out current and The charge of a direct and ongoing LaRouche connection to the Newmanites, however, appears to be speculation — no credible reports of a direct connection between Newman and LaRouche In many ways the theory, ideology, strategy, tactics, and internal organizing practices of the LaRouchites and the Newmanites are very similar: @ A methodological link between the psychological and the political which forms both a theoretical world-view and a justification for indoctrinating mem- bers through so-called “therapy”. @ Psychologically coercive techniques to manipulate members’ views and actions. @ Organizing strategies that target accord- ing to stratas or sectors rather than s0- cial class. © Attempts to establish hegemonic - relationships with other similar political groups, and, failing that, attempts to un- dermirle the group and establish parallel organizations. ' @ Virulent and unprincipled attacks on critics, including insults, agent-baiting, threats by attorneys and defamation law- suits. @ A shared political strategy (vanguardism with roots in Trotskyist political theory). @ Re-writing of the group's political and organizational history to meet current needs. ; @ A closed and covert hierarchical internal structure that is not necessarily con- structure. © Lifferentiation between internal in- group and external out-group reality, use of propoganda, and implementation ofa “secret-society” style — all markedly similar to that of a totalitarian movement. LaRouchite philosophy is apparently neo-fascist while Newmanite philosophy is apparently left- progressive, but it does mean that internally both istence ts iad Poth groups rely on ~ 2° core members: Both groups match a cult igm and are far from democratic, despite outward claims and appearances. It is crucial to note the relationship of La- Rouche, Parente, and Newman during the early Clouds Blur the Rainbow - 7 ! H t