Undue Influence and Cults

In recent years there have been a rash of news stories about people who have escaped from various cults, sects, communes or other extremely private organizations ,such as Scientology.

Today’s news brings the story of a Marxist commune in South London that is being investigated for slavery and other such related charges. It is the family of Sian Davies who is pursuing the matter since Sian more or less dropped out of society in the mid-1970s when she joined the Marxist commune.

The family understood that she had disappeared, until the police informed them that she had died in 1997 after apparently falling from a window in the groups house in South London.

The family is apparently pursuing the matter on the basis that Ms. Davies was psychologically controlled through political indoctrination.

The Marxist commune is typical of a large number of groups that have sprung up in our society, throughout the world, that are somewhat similar in the way that they originate, their power structure, and their governance.

Some cults exercise extraordinary control over their members lives and use thought reform process, diet and intimidation to influence and control its members..

Another common denominator is that the leader of the cult your commune is often depicted as having supernatural powers that causes members of the group to subject themselves to the leaders everywhere and desire and profit.

Many of us remember the commune in Oregon in the late 1970s, where the “ Bagwan” leader had approximately 66 Rolls Royces that he drove around in, while the members of the cult worked extremely hard for very little, and had sexual relations with their leader when he requested.

The purpose of this article is to state that in legal terms, members of the cult who were under the extreme influence of a leader, to the extent that the leader has mind control over his or her subjects, is classic undue influence.