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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brain-Washing (book) | 2/2 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-Washing_(book) | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T09:17:40.558555+00:00 | kb-cron |
Some, including Morris Kominsky, suggest that the author was Kenneth Goff. Goff, a former Communist who later became a radical antisemite, authored numerous tracts on a variety of topics. He claimed that he had been "conditioned" into communism by Soviet forces, and some of his works prior to the publication of the manual dealt with brainwashing as a theme. Goff personally claimed that he was the original compiler of the book, but had not authored the material. After Goff died, far-right activist Gordon Mohr, who knew Goff, denied that Hubbard wrote it and instead credited it to Goff.
Several versions of the book list Goff as the author, while a number of publishers avoid the difficulty of authorship by listing the author as "anonymous." However, none of the versions attributed to him are dated and there is no evidence they predate the Scientology publication.
Kominsky claimed that Goff wrote it. Introvigne doubted that it had been written by Goff, calling the material far different than his style, which he called "quite unpolished" and lacking familiarity with psychological jargon. Introvigne concluded that "there is more evidence, and good arguments, for a Hubbard rather than a Goff authorship".
== Content == There are some differences in the various versions of the text in circulation.
=== Church of Scientology version ===
The Brain-Washing book is a generalist text, that abstractly discusses power, violence, coercion, and means of social control. Beria allegedly describes the following as Communist subversive activities directed from Moscow: the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society, psychology professors, child labor laws, psychiatric wards, psychedelic drugs (of note: LSD, peyote, mescaline), brain surgery, electric shock therapy, and the 1909 Income Tax Law of the United States. An example of this generalized style can be found in chapter 6, where a relatively uninformed technique of control is described as...
"As an example of this, we find an individual refusing to obey and being struck. His refusal to obey is now less vociferous. He is struck again, and his resistance is lessened once more. He is hammered and pounded again and again, until, at length, his only thought is direct and implicit obedience to that person from whom the force has emanated." According to the journalist Tony Ortega, the primary thesis of the work was "how to use psychiatry and psychology to carry out a communist takeover of the West," with critics and active communists calling it a "crude and laughable forgery," and Edward Hunter, author of Brainwashing In China, "described it as a fictional and inferior version of his own [book]." In addition, the Church of Scientology is listed as the greatest enemy to Communism: "[The communist] operative should also spare no expense in smashing out of existence, by whatever means, any actual healing group, such as... Church of Scientology." The Church of Scientology is mentioned 5 times, but the Catholic Church is only mentioned 2 times. The Eastern Orthodox Church, which was the dominant religious belief in the Soviet Union at the time, is not mentioned at all. It also lists Christian Science as a target of this claimed plot by psychiatry.
=== Goff's version === The version distributed with Goff listed as the author is somewhat different in content. Unlike Hubbard's version it names the Pentecostalism as among the enemies of communism and mentioned the "Siberia Bill". Goff's version had a different introduction.
=== Other versions === For years after both Goff and Hubbard ceased distributing it, far-right groups kept it in print. These versions were largely based on Goff's version, but also added other items and new sections. Timothy McVeigh had read and recommended a pamphlet, Operation Vampire Killer 2000, that quoted Goff's version of the manual at length; the pamphlet claims Goff was the author and falsely claimed that he had been killed for writing it.
== See also == Bibliography of Scientology Scientology controversies Red Scare Black propaganda The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
== Notes ==
== References ==
=== Sources === "The Brainwashing manual: Timeline". xenu-directory.net. Archived from the original on December 7, 2009. Retrieved October 17, 2009. (includes scanned images of many primary documents relating to the book, such as an FBI report on it, and some of Mr Hubbard's correspondence regarding it)
== External links == The Brainwashing Manual (archived from apfn.org) The Brainwashing Manual at The Online Books Page Ambry, Brian. "Brainwashing Manual Parallels in Scientology". Archived from the original on May 15, 2023 – via Penn State University College of Information Sciences and Technology.