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---
title: "Understanding Scientology — us-03"
source: https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/wakefield/us-03.html
retrieved: 2026-06-28
---
Understanding Scientology, by Margery
Wakefield
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Chapter 3
## The Propaganda of Scientology -- "Playing for Blood..."
When you have succeeded in making men believe that change is
necessary and possible and that they are the ones who can achieve it;
when you have convinced them that they and the small minority of whom
they are a part can transform the world in their lifetime, you have
achieved something very considerable indeed. You have put into their
lives a dynamic force so powerful that you can bring them to do what
would otherwise be impossible. The dull and humdrum becomes meaningful.
Life becomes purposeful and immensely more worth living.
-- Douglas Hyde, Dedication and Leadership
Douglas Hyde, the author quoted above, was for twenty years a
dedicated Communist and the news editor of the London edition of the
Daily Worker, a Communist newspaper.
Becoming disillusioned with the inconsistencies which he saw between
the stated ideology of the Communist Party and the translation of that
ideology into actual practice, Hyde rejected the Party, resigned his
job, and eventually became converted to the Catholic Church. In 1966, he
delivered a series of lectures to a convocation of Catholic leaders from
at least five continents, and the book Dedication and Leadership
consists of the transcripts of those lectures.
In the very first lecture, Hyde states:
If you ask me what is the distinguishing mark of the Communist, what
it is that Communists most outstandingly have in common, I would say ...
that beyond any shadow of doubt it is their idealism, their zeal,
dedication, devotion to their cause and willingness to sacrifice.... The
vast majority of the Communists I have met anywhere conform to this
pattern. (1)
This same quote is equally true if it is read with the word
"Scientologist" substituted for the word "Communist." This is also true
of the following paragraph from the same lecture:
Youth is a period of idealism. The Communists [Scientologists]
attract young people by appealing directly to that idealism. Too often,
others have failed either to appeal to it or to use it and they are the
losers as a consequence. We have no cause to complain if, having
neglected the idealism of youth, we see others come along, take it, use
it and harness it to their cause -- and against our own. (2)
Nowhere is there a group of predominantly young people more
idealistic, more dedicated, more fervently devoted to their cause than
in Scientology. Scientologists give their all -- their time, their
energy, their money and assets, and even their children -- to the cause,
frequently living in a manner that would seem
comfortably familiar to, for example, a first-century Christian.
The fanatic dedication of the Scientologist does not come about by
accident. It is carefully and systematically inculcated by the
propaganda of Scientology, to which both the novice and seasoned
Scientologist are exposed on a daily basis. Essential, therefore, to
understanding both Scientology and the Scientologist is an examination
of the propaganda, contained in the millions of words of Hubbard on tape
recordings and in printed "bulletins" listened to or read daily by the
Scientologist.
A distinction is made here between the propaganda of Scientology and
that of Dianetics. In Dianetics, the new convert is led to believe in
cures for an endless array of physical maladies, from asthma to
allergies to cancer, and even to believe that through Dianetic and
Scientology auditing there will be an exemption from death itself. It is
fabled that through auditing, the Scientologist of advanced age will be
able to simply "drop the body" at will, and without pain.
But it is through the propaganda of Scientology, separate from the
sub-"science" of Dianetics, that the true programming of the
Scientologist takes place, and it takes place as follows.
Upon entry into Scientology, the initiate is given a packet of
written materials consisting of a series of printed "bulletins" written
by Hubbard and serving as an introduction into the sect.
One of the first bulletins read by the initiate is the one called
The Aims of Scientology. This bulletin is important because it
delivers the very first message to the newcomer, the message that
Scientology is A Good Thing:
A civilization without insanity, without criminals, and without war,
where the able can prosper and honest beings can have rights, and where
Man is free to rise to greater heights, are the aims of Scientology.
First announced to an enturbulated world fifteen years ago, these
aims are well within the grasp of our technology.
Non-political in nature, Scientology welcomes any individual of any
creed, race or nation.
We seek no revolution. We seek only evolution to higher states of
being for the individual and for Society.
We are achieving our aims.