CHAPTER THREE
The Empire Strikes Back

I find it almost incredible that a Minister and his civil servants should be so reckless as to publish a White Paper and to seek mercilessly to expose the Scientologists. It will certainly advertise them even more widely and give them the fame they want.

- RICHARD CROSSMAN, The Diaries of a Cabinet Minister, Volume 3

On July 25, 1968, Kenneth Robinson, the British Minister of Health, made a statement in Parliament about Scientology. Having called it a "pseudo-philosophical cult," he reminded the House of his earlier pronouncement:

Although this warning received a good deal of public notice at the time, the practice of scientology has continued, and indeed expanded, and Government Departments, Members of Parliament and local authorities have received numerous complaints about it.

The Government is satisfied... that scientology is socially harmful. It alienates members of families from each other and attributes squalid and disgraceful motives to all who oppose it; its authoritarian principles and practice are a potential menace to the personality and well-being of those so deluded as to become its followers; above all, its methods can be a serious danger to the health of those who submit to them. There is evidence that children are now being indoctrinated.

There is no power under existing law to prohibit the practice of scientology; but the Government has concluded that it is so objectionable that it would be right to take all steps within its power to curb its growth.

Scientology establishments in Britain were stripped of their educational status. Foreign nationals were prohibited from studying Scientology or working in Scientology Organizations, by invoking the "Aliens Act," through which the Home Secretary can deny entry to Britain. The Home Office banned Hubbard from Britain as an "undesirable alien." East Grinstead's Member of Parliament, Geoffrey Johnson Smith, repeated Robinson's earlier statement, originally made in Parliament, that Scientologists, "direct themselves towards the weak, the unbalanced, the immature, the rootless and the mentally or emotionally unstable." He made the statement on television, beyond the bounds of parliamentary privilege, so the Scientologists filed suit against him for defamation. ¹

At the end of July, a hundred foreign Scientologists were rounded up, and detained under guard in hotels, pending deportation. Scotland Yard began to investigate Scientology. The National Council for Civil Liberties objected to the use of the Aliens Act on the grounds that it was "objectionable in principle and dangerous in practice." ²

The Scientologists sued four English newspapers, and sought injunctions to prevent further stories. The injunctions were denied. New telephone directories carried a large advertisement for Scientology, and an embarrassed General Post Office announced that no further ads would be accepted. ³

There was a general feeling that although something should be done about Scientology the Aliens Act was not the way to do it. But the expression of public sympathy was restrained. A fortnight before the ban, the Daily Mail had reported the death of ex-Scientologist John Kennedy, in South Africa. Kennedy had left Scientology to set up his own Institute of Mental Health, taking a number of Scientologists with him. He allegedly shot himself accidently while cleaning his revolver, but the coroner returned an open verdict. Hubbard's Auditor magazine recorded the matter simply, and ominously:

JOHN KENNEDY, SP [Suppressive Person], who messed up Rhodesia, shot dead in accident in South Africa. ⁴

This was actually stale news, Kennedy died in 1966, but three days after the Aliens Act was introduced, another South African Scientologist died in mysterious circumstances. James Stewart had been a student at the Scientology Advanced Organization in Edinburgh. He was a thirty-five-year-old epileptic, whose body was found fifty feet beneath his hotel window. The newspapers missed vital information in their reports. A few days before his death, Stewart had completed an Ethics Condition wherein he stayed awake for eighty hours. One of his tasks during this period was to crawl about the carpets picking out bits of fluff. According to Robert Kaufman, in his firsthand account, a bulletin had been posted on the Advanced Org notice board: ⁵

James Stewart has been put in a Condition of Doubt for having [epileptic] seizures in public thus invalidating Scientology. If there is any reoccurrence of these either consciously or unconsciously on his part he will be placed in a Condition of Enemy.

Stewart's real crime, having had a severe seizure, was telling the hospital that he was a Scientologist, thus supposedly giving Scientology a bad name. He had injured his head, and wore a blood-stained bandage while performing his demeaning "amends project." He was possibly made to crawl across the steep and slippery slates of the Org roof, as a final part of his Doubt Formula. This bizarre practice was quite usual at the time. ⁶

Shortly before his death, Stewart had been suspended from his course at the AO. On the day he read a funeral notice for Stewart, fellow student Robert Kaufman saw Stewart's widow, Thelma, giving an enthusiastic speech on her completion of OT 2. In his book, Inside Scientology, Kaufman said Thelma "victoriously received the applause of AO members." A Scientology spokesman told the press, "Mrs. Stewart does not know how it happened, but she does know it had nothing to do with Scientology." The press was also told that Mrs. Stewart was a "more serious" student than her husband. In fact, Stewart, described in the newspapers as an encyclopedia salesman, ⁷ had been a founder of the Cape Town Scientology Org, and was a senior executive there. He was a Class VII Auditor, the highest level of training at the time, Clear number 153 (there were over 2,000 by then), and was on OT 3 when he died. One of his Success Stories was published in the Auditor magazine at around the time of his death. It was headed, "How Scientology Training Has Helped Me In Life":

I find that training and auditing experience helps me in innumerable ways - in driving a car (patiently, in heavy traffic), waking up in the morning, confronting anything unpleasant in life, keeping myself occupied in leisure hours, in writing letters, making telephone calls, in chance conversations with strangers - In fact, training helps in every conceivable situation or experience anywhere, any place, anytime - Try it for yourself and see!

The Scientologists very readily disown embarrassing members, especially in death. Unfortunately, to them the repute of Scientology is invariably more important than the truth. In a curious twist, Stewart's name was given to the press by the police. In Scotland, the names of suicides were not given to the press. However, there is no evidence to suggest that Stewart was murdered.

This bizarre period of Scientology is recorded in stark detail in Robert Kaufman's Inside Scientology. Kaufman was the first who dared to publish details of the OT levels, and his book remains the best description of the Scientology experience.

The response to the British Aliens Act ban was fairly immediate. Hubbard announced that his work was finished, saying he had resigned his "Scientology directorships two or more years ago to explore and study the decline of ancient civilization," perpetuating the tale he had told to receive his Explorers' Club flag. Hubbard accused England of being a police state. ⁸ An Advanced Org was started in Los Angeles to serve Scientologists in the Western hemisphere. But the ban, although rigorously enforced at first, soon fell into disuse. By the early 1970s, most of the students and staff at Saint Hill were foreigners.

The London Daily Mail (right) published details of Hubbard's private bank accounts in Switzerland, account numbers and all. It said Hubbard claimed to have $7 million. It also unearthed a prescription signed "L. Ron Hubbard Ph.D.," for the sedative Nembutal, "for horticultural purposes only." Abbott Laboratories, the manufacturers of Nembutal, said there was "no conceivable" way in which Nembutal could be used in horticulture. Perhaps it was for Hubbard's "ever-bearing" tomatoes. ⁹

Hubbard was interviewed by the Daily Mail, aboard the Royal Scotman, in Bizerte, Tunisia: "He chain-smoked menthol cigarettes, fidgeted nervously .... He taped the conversation .... Outside Scientologists, some in uniform and some young children, stood rigidly to attention .... Hubbard's mood ranged from the boastful - 'You'd be fascinated how many friends of mine there are in the British Government' to the menacing: 'I get intelligence reports from England. You'd be surprised at the dirty washing I have got.' " ¹⁰

Hubbard insisted he was no longer connected with Scientology, and told the reporter that everything in the Daily Mail's Scientology file was forged. He knew because he had seen it, through his "spies." Hubbard also gave a rare interview to British television, again looking nervous, and contradicted himself both on the number of his marriages, and whether or not he had a Swiss bank account. Despite his supposed discoveries about communication and public relations, Hubbard fell far short of winning over the press. ¹¹

At the end of August 1968 in New York, Jill Goodman became the world's youngest Clear. Her picture was featured in the Auditor magazine. She was ten years old, and she and her eight-year-old brother were already qualified Auditors. ¹²

In mid-August, the Royal Scotman had slipped into Corfu harbor. At first all went well. According to one newspaper, the Sea Org enriched the Corfiot economy by about £1,000 per day. They were welcomed by the harbormaster, and the local press. ¹³

In September, Hubbard announced the new Class VIII Auditor Course, in the Auditor magazine. The announcement was accompanied by a center spread of Hubbard's photographs. There is a shot of an Ethics Officer, carrying a heavy wooden baton, wearing dark glasses and full uniform, and scowling at a student who is smiling back, apprehensively. The caption reads: "No one can fool a Sea Org Ethics Officer. He knows who's ethics bait." Another shot shows a Sea Org member suspended in mid-air by two Ethics Officers, one wearing a broad grin. He is about to be thrown over the rail, into the sea. The caption reads: "Students are thrown overboard for gross out tech and bequeathed to the deep!" "Out tech" is a Hubbardism for "misapplication of Scientology auditing procedures." The editor of Auditor 41 thought the photos were a Hubbard joke. Hubbard was deadly serious. ¹⁴

Every Scientology Org was ordered to send two Auditors to be trained as "Class VIIIs." As "VIIIs" their auditing would be "flubless." The course would take three weeks, so previous Ethics procedures were of little use - they took too long to administer. Rather than languishing in the chain-locker for a week, or doing three days without sleep on "amends projects," students were to be subject to "instant Ethics," or overboarding. There is no doubt that Hubbard ordered this (one ex-Sea Org officer says Hubbard even took out his home movie camera and filmed it once or twice). ¹⁵

Scientologists who joined after 1970 are often unaware that overboarding took place. Most who have heard of it, and those who were subjected to it, dismiss it as a passing phase; unpleasant, but no longer significant. People who experienced it often shrug it off, and even insist that it was "research." It can take persistence to extract an admission of the reality of overboarding. Students and crew were lined up on deck in the early hours every morning. They waited to hear whether they were on the day's list of miscreants. Those who knew they were would remove their shoes, jackets and wristwatches in anticipation. The drop was between fifteen and forty feet, depending upon which deck was used. Sometimes people were blindfolded first, and either their feet or hands loosely tied. Non-swimmers were tied to a rope. Being hurled such a distance, blindfolded and restrained, into cold sea water, must have been terrifying. Worst of all was the fear that you would hit the side of the ship as you fell, your flesh ripped open by the barnacles. Overboarding was a very traumatic experience. ¹⁶

The course lectures too seem to have been a traumatic experience for many. Hubbard lectured from a spotlit dais, surrounded by the female Commodore's Staff Aides in flowing white gowns. The lectures were peppered with the old easygoing manner, but punctuated with tablebanging and bouts of yelling. Later, some of Hubbard's tantrums were edited from the tapes of the lectures. The lectures were "confidential," and only fully indoctrinated Scientologists could attend.

Students wore green boiler-suits, and, after a certain point on the course, added a short noose of rope around their necks as a mark of honor. They had little time for sleep, and were inevitably extremely cautious in their auditing. If they made a mistake, it was "instant Ethics," and they were heaved over the side. ¹⁷

Hubbard published the purpose of the Class VIII course: "It's up to the Auditor to become UNCOMPROMISINGLY STANDARD . . . an uncompromising zealot for Standard Tech." Sea Org "Missions" were dispatched from Corfu to all corners of the world to bully Org staffs into higher production. Hubbard pronounced that such "Missions" had "unlimited Ethics powers." ¹⁸

Alex Mitchell of the London Sunday Times reported that a woman with two children had run screaming from the ship, only to be rounded up and returned by her fellow Scientologists. The journalist also said that eight-year-old children were being overboarded:

Discipline . . . is severe. Members of the crew can be officers one day and swabbing the decks the next. Status is conferred by Boy Scout-like decoration; a white neck tie is for students, brown for petty officers, yellow for officers, and blue for Hubbard's personal staff .... Recently the crew decided to paint the water tanks. Unwilling to give the job to local contractors the Scientologists did it themselves - only to find that when they next used their taps the water was polluted with paint. ¹⁹

Kenneth Urquhart joined the ship at Corfu. From Hubbard's butler he had risen to become a senior executive at Saint Hill. He had resolutely avoided joining the Sea Org, but was finally cajoled into travelling to Corfu. He was amazed at the change in Hubbard. At Saint Hill he had seen him every day. Although Hubbard occasionally lost his temper, Urquhart had only once seen him quivering with rage. Now screaming fits were a regular feature. OT 3 and the Sea Org had transformed Hubbard.

Amid the turmoil, and with the pressure of the UK ban, and swathes of bad press, Hubbard cancelled enforced Disconnection. The practice of labelling an individual Fair Game was also cancelled: ²⁰

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. ²¹ 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 (on far left of picture), who had just celebrated her sixteenth 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 restyled 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. 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. 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." It was fair comment. ²²

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

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. The states of Southern and Western Australia joined Victoria in banning Scientology totally. 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:

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:

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." 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-eight libel suits were dropped. 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. ²³

In the Edinburgh Advanced Org, the miscreant was thrown into a bath of hot, cold or dirty water. In Los Angeles, he or she would be hosed down fully clothed in the parking lot, though later a large water tank was used. John McMaster has said that in Hawaii the offender's head would be pushed into a toilet bowl, and the toilet flushed. 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 seventy-five million years before. According to Hubbard's Flag Order 652, mankind would accept regulation from that group which had last betrayed it. So the Sea Org were to ape the instigators of the OT 3 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. "Captain" Bill has continued his crusade against the invading aliens, the "Markabians," into the 1990s.

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

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."

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. 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 U.S. 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.

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.

While this was taking place, Hubbard announced that Scientology was "going in the direction of mild ethics and involvement with the Society. After nineteen 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." ²⁴

The Greek government, concerned by the many complaints it had received, peremptorily ordered the two hundred 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 twenty-four hours to leave Greek waters. She left on March 19, ostensibly for Venice.

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.

Soon afterwards, an Inquiry started in South Africa. 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 "Zones of Action," which outlined his plans. Scientology was 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.

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 twenty-one, 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.

The Commission recommended 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" counselling, as long as it was carefully relabeled to indicate that it had no curative or diagnostic capabilities. To this day the Church of Scientology has never fully complied with the relabeling 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. Now the OT levels were available in England at Saint Hill (the Edinburg AO had moved there), in Los Angeles, in Copenhagen, and 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.

McMaster probably feared for his own safety. He had been overboarded several times, and the last time was left struggling in the water for three hours with a broken collarbone.

The last straw for McMaster had been the brutal murder of three teenagers in Los Angeles. Two had been Scientologists, the third was disfigured beyond identification. The mutilated bodies were left a hundred yards away from a house where Scientologists lived. McMaster felt that this was an act of retribution for Scientology's duplicity. A few weeks later, The New York Times revealed that Charles Manson had been involved in Scientology. Internal Scientology documents show that Manson had actually received about 150 hours of auditing while in prison. There was a cover-up by the Guardian's Office, which successfully concealed the extent of Manson's considerable involvement.

In 1970, the Ontario Committee on the "Healing Arts" pronounced: "With no other group in the healing arts did the Committee encounter the uncooperative attitude evinced by the Church of Scientology... the public authorities in Ontario ... should keep the activities of Scientology under constant scrutiny." However, no recommendations were made for the proscription of Scientology.

In November that same year, the Scientologists' libel case against Geoffrey Johnson Smith, East Grinstead's Member of Parliament, finally came to court. The Church produced several impressive witnesses. William Benitez had spent most of his adult life in prison for drug offences by the time he encountered Scientology. His life had been transformed, he had overcome his drug habit, and set up Narconon to help others do the same. Sir Chandos Hoskyns-Abrahall, the retired Lieutenant Governor of Western Nigeria, said of his own involvement in Scientology: "I thought at first there might be something in it. I ended up convinced there was everything in it."

But the most startling witness was Kenneth Robinson's former parliamentary private secretary. William Hamling was the Member of Parliament for Woolwich West, and had decided to find out about Scientology for himself. He used the most direct method: going to Saint Hill and taking a Communication Course. In the witness box, Hamling called the course "first rate." He said the Scientologists he had met were normal, decent, intelligent people. He had received auditing, and, in fact, continued in Scientology after the court case.

Geoffrey Johnson Smith was on the witness stand for six days, and Kenneth Robinson also made an appearance. But the focal witness was Hilary Henslow (right), mother of the schizophrenic girl who had been abandoned by Scientology.

Instructing the jury Mr. Justice Browne said, "You may think that Mrs. Henslow picked up all the stones thrown at her in the witness box, and threw them back with equal force." He called the love-letters written by Karen Henslow to her Scientologist boyfriend "quite heartbreaking," and added: "You may think it absolutely disgraceful that these letters should have got into the hands of the scientologists, or been used in this case... you have to give those letters the weight that you feel right."

The case had lasted for thirty-two days when the jury showed exactly what weight they gave to the letters, and to the Scientologists. They decided that Johnson Smith's statement - that Scientologists "direct themselves deliberately towards the weak, the unbalanced, the immature, the rootless, and the mentally or emotionally unstable' 'was not defamatory; was published "in good faith and without malice"; and was "fair comment." The case had backfired completely on the Scientologists. Costs, which The Times newspaper estimated at £70,000, were awarded against them. Spokesman David Gaiman said there would be no appeal.

The decision seemed to have no effect on Hubbard, and two days later, he blithely issued Flag Order 2673 to the Sea Org. It was called "Stories Told," and explained that OTC, which ran the ships, was actually involved in training businessmen, and that is what Scientologists were to say if asked. The crew did tell this "shore" story, avoiding any mention of Scientology. It had become too controversial. So, another layer of deceit was built into Scientology's approach to the "wog" world.

But the Scientologists weren't the only people guilty of deceit. In the U.S., devious actions against Scientology were underway. President Nixon had put Scientology on his "Enemies List," and the Internal Revenue Service began to make life difficult for Scientologists. The CIA passed reports (some speculative and inaccurate) on Scientology through U.S. consulates to foreign governments. These underhand tactics all eventually backfired, making sensible measures curbing the Church of Scientology's abuses more difficult. ²⁵

After only three years' suspension, Scientology's hefty Ethics penalties were reintroduced in 1971, unnoticed by the media, or by the governments which had shortly before been so interested. ²⁶ In December, Sir John Foster submitted his report to the British Government. In the introduction he said:

Most of the Government measures of July 1968 were not justified: the mere fact that someone is a Scientologist is in my opinion no reason for excluding him from the United Kingdom, when them is nothing in our law to prevent those of his fellows who am citizens of this country from practicing Scientology here.

He further recommended that "psychotherapy... should be organized as a restricted profession open only to those who undergo an appropriate training and are willing to adhere to a proper code of ethics." Undoubtedly, the Scientology Ethics Conditions did not meet his criteria for a "proper code." The Foster report was a tour de force, patiently constructed, largely from Hubbard's own statements. However, the British Government did nothing. The use of the Aliens Act carried on, and foreign Scientologists continued to study and work for Scientology in Britain by the simple expedient of not declaring their philosophical persuasion when they arrived. The Guardian's Office gave advice and assistance to secure visas. One ex-Scientologist has joked that if the Home Office had checked they would have realized there were over 100 people living in his small apartment.

The treatment of crew aboard the ships did improve in the early 1970s, but only after several years of chain-locker punishments and overboarding. Nonetheless, the Sea Org still worked an exhausting schedule, and obeyed Hubbard's whims. At times he was patient, even tolerant, at other times a bellowing monster.

The kitchen staff were known as galley-slaves. They worked disgraceful hours in the heat and stench of the kitchens. In the summer of 1971, a tragic event befell one of those galley-slaves. It is shrouded in mystery to this day.

FOOTNOTES

1. Foster report, para 14; Rolph, pp.74ff

2. Evening News, 31 July 1968; Daily Sketch, 31 July 1968; Daily Telegraph, 7 August 1968

3. Evening News, 1 August 1968

4. Auditor 17, back page

5. The Observer, 11 August 1968; Kaufman, pp. 195--6f; Cooper, pp.81-2

6. Interview with Phil Spickler, Woodside, California, October 1986

7. Kaufman; The Observer, 11 August 1968; Auditor, "Special South African Issue," c. summer 1968

8. Daily Sketch, 2 August 1968

9. Daily Mail, 3 August 1968

10. Daily Mail, 6 August 1968

11. The Shrinking World of L. Ron Hubbard, Granada Television, 1968

12. Auditor 43, pp. 2 & 4

13. Playing Dirty p.75; Commodore and the Colonels, p.19

14. Auditor 41

15. Chamberlin to author, 1984

16. Chamberlin to author, 1984; Commodare and the Colonels

17. Interview McMaster; Interview Chamberlin; Technical Volumes vol. 6, p.276

18. Technical Volumes vol. 6, p.273; Organization Executive Course 1, p.487

19. Technical Volumes vol. 6, p.276

20. Organization Executive Course 1, p.489

21. Organization Executive Course 1, p.486

22. Rolph, pp.63ff; Daily Telegraph & Daily Mirror, 6 August 1968; Daily Sketch, 13 August 1968; The People, 18 August 1968

23. Wallis, p. 196; Daily Telegraph, 25 November 1968

24. Wallis, p. 222

25. Playing Dirty, p.80; CSC vs. IRS, 24 September 1984

26. HCOPL, "Ethics Penalties Re-instated," 19 October 1971 (not in Organization Executive Course).