Brain-Washing (book)

rdf:langString Brain-Washing (book)

rdf:langString Brain-Washing: A Synthesis of the Russian Textbook on Psychopolitics is a Red Scare, black propaganda book, published by the Church of Scientology in 1955 about brainwashing. L. Ron Hubbard authored the text and alleged it was the secret manual written by Lavrentiy Beria, the Soviet secret police chief, in 1936. In this text, many of the practices Scientology opposes (psychiatry teaching, brain surgery, electroshock, income tax) are described as Communist-led conspiracies, and its technical content is limited to suggesting more of these practices on behalf of the Soviet Union. The text also describes the Church of Scientology as the greatest threat to Communism. Hubbard's text is a relative copy of the 1953, best-selling, non-fiction book Brain-washing in Red China by famed journalist Edward Hunter. This text is also listed in They Never Said It: A Book of Fake Quotes..., where the true author is identified as "the notorious founder of Scientology." Hubbard sent the material to the FBI, and one unidentified FBI agent gave this review: "[He] appears mental." When the FBI ignored him, Hubbard wrote again stating that Soviet agents had, on three occasions, attempted to hire him to work against the United States, and were upset about his refusal, and that one agent specifically attacked him using electroshock as a weapon.