Recovery

Provided below are resources and references for former members of the CR-CPUSA and those who may feel they are in a similar group, or were in the past. We believe knowledge benefits recovery, and understanding things like where the cult came from, what it was really about, and how its control mechanisms work, can help us mend a fragmented sense of self and take back our lives. So along with general cult recovery resources, this page also links to information to aid study of the CR-CPUSA and related topics, like the Maoist movement, Marxist cults, Gonzaloism and criticisms of it, etc.


** Work in Progress!**
This page will continue to be updated, and I welcome recommendations to add to this list.


Cult Studies & Recovery

  • The Cadre Ideal – article
    A must-read for former CR-CPUSA members– about an almost identical cult to ours, this is super helpful for naming and conceptualizing our experiences through learning from those who went before.
  • Bounded Choice by Dr. Janja Lalich – book
    This book, by the same author as that above, analyses how cults work through discussing Dr. Lalich’s own experience in a Marxist (borderline Maoist) cult, the Democratic Worker’s Party. It played a big role in helping me understand my experience and mentally escape the cult, plus Dr. Lalich has personally given guidance and support to us former members who reached out to her– I can’t thank her enough!
  • Take Back Your Life – book
    A book by Dr. Lalich, who has personally been in touchwhich comes highly recommended from a friend. More therapeutic and geared towards victims compared to Bounded Choice which is more academic.
  • International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA) – web
    Source for all things cultic studies. Tons and tons of free articles by researchers from self-help stuff to academic research. This link goes to their “FAQ” page.
  • Collection of resources and entry-level articles on cults
    Another useful page from ICSA
  • Abuse and Relationships – website
    Tons of easily readable and informative material about abusive relationships in general, including communal abuse
  • The Deeper Pulse with Candice Schutter – podcast
    While focusing more on health/wellness cults, Schutter has such a compassionate, calm, and reassuring way of explaining information about cults and how to heal
  • Was I in a Cult? – Podcast
  • A Little Bit Culty – Podcast
  • On Breaking the Code of Silence
    Article about the stages of recovery from a cult and healing through speaking about one’s experience, first to trusted people and then even to the world, like this website.

Other websites exposing the CR-CPUSA

Disclaimer: sharing these does not mean I endorse the ideological viewpoints or conclusions of the authors, but there is a lot of useful information to be found in these writings about the cult. Just read critically –just as you should with this website– and be aware the authors’ subjectivity, agenda, or remaining alignment with the cult’s ideology influencing their approach and conclusions.

Gonzaloism: Sources About and Against

Other sources on destructive patterns in Marxist and Leftist groups

  • Deprogramming Imperialism – an organization of former moonie cult members who are anti-cult and anti-imperialist
  • Murder at Ryan’s Run
    A podcast about abuse, kidnapping, and murder within the MOVE organization
  • Bounded Choice by Dr. Janja Lalich – book
    About the Democratic Worker’s Party, a Marxist-Leninist (somewhat Maoist) cult, interesting led by a woman, Marlene Dixon, with women in top leadership, a rare example among the standard of men-led cults and parties.
  • Inside the Paranoid Maoist Cults of 1970s Britain
    The case of Balakrishnan, a cult leader that rose out of what had initially appeared a genuine Maoist organization, went on to enslave women and abuse his children.
  • Ideological Intransigence, Democratic Centralism and Cultism: A Case Study (whatnextjournal.org.uk)
    A critique, sympathetic to the Marxist movement, of practices on the left that can lead to destructive organizations / cults.
  • Heavy Radicals
    A book about the “FBI’s secret war on America’s Maoists.” Worth comparing and contrasting to other factors in the formation of destructive Maoist organizations.
  • Misadventures in the Class Struggle
    Memoir article by a man looking back on how earlier involvement in a Marxist organization, reflecting on the importance of truth and how to “preserve the ideals of my youth while learning from its mistakes.”
  • On a Revolutionary Syndicate
    Reflections on revolutionary organizing from a former member of Red Guards Kansas City. Provides some great general guidelines for keeping yourself safe from undue influence in organizing.

CR-CPUSA Affiliated Websites

For a full list of CR-CPUSA affiliated websites, see the the Leadership & Organization page, but these were its most prominent platforms for disseminating propaganda and reporting on its actions:

Maoist Movements in the USA

Websites of other former and current organizations associated with the new Maoist movement in which the CR-CPUSA arose and following it.

Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started