The Growing ‘Cult’ Culture Within National Democratic Organizations

They call themselves progressives. They speak of democracy, liberation, and people’s power. Yet, within their own circles, freedom of thought is the first to vanish. Behind the fiery rhetoric of “national democracy” lies a culture that increasingly resembles a cult, one that thrives on blind loyalty, silences dissent, and preaches sacrifice it refuses to live by.

What used to be a movement grounded in ideology and social consciousness has devolved into a hierarchy of control. The so-called vanguard of the people now functions less as a collective of thinkers and more as a congregation of believers. The tragedy is that many within do not even realize it.

Cherry-Picking from Theory, Bending Truth for Convenience

At the center of this decline is the activists’ eclectic understanding of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism—an ideology they once claimed to study “scientifically.” Today, it has become a patchwork of borrowed quotes and outdated slogans, molded to fit the whims of those who lead. 

They brandish Marx to sound intellectual, Lenin to sound militant, Mao to sound righteous. But strip away the performance, and what remains is a hollow ritual, more dogma than dialectic. They invoke the language of revolution but shun the very essence of it: self-criticism and historical reflection.

In their hands, theory becomes a shield, not a tool. They talk of class struggle but refuse to struggle with their own contradictions. They call for critical thinking while demanding absolute obedience. The result is not revolutionary consciousness but sectarian conformity. Their revolution stopped being a science the moment they treated it like a religion. And in that faith, to question is to sin.

A Movement That Behaves Like a Cult

Inside these organizations, the behavior has grown eerily familiar to that of cults. Members are taught to obey, not to think. Loyalty to the line outweighs loyalty to truth. Those who ask questions are branded as “bourgeois,” “reformist,” or even “counter-revolutionary,” as if independent thought were a betrayal, not a virtue.

The pressure is subtle at first, then absolute. Young activists are urged to cut off ties with families, to “focus on the struggle,” to measure their worth by how much of themselves they can erase. What begins as idealism turns into surrender, a slow transfer of will to the collective.

It is an effective formula for control: isolate, indoctrinate, and moralize. The leaders call it “commitment.” But it is not commitment they seek, it is submission. Ironically, those who romanticize the word ‘sacrifice’ are often the ones least willing to live it. They glorify hardship and martyrdom as long as it is others who bear them. They love the sound of “revolution,” until it demands something real.

The Culture of Silence and Cover-Up

The same authoritarian pattern repeats internally. Abuses are buried under the pretense of “security.” Financial anomalies, emotional manipulation, even exploitation, these are dismissed as “isolated” or “internal.” When victims speak up, they are guilt-tripped: “You are dividing the movement,” “You are serving the enemy.”

The double standard is glaring. They denounce oppression outside, yet reproduce it within. They speak of transparency, yet protect their own from scrutiny. They champion “collective leadership,” but decisions rest in the hands of a few untouchables whose words are treated as sacred scripture. This is how accountability dies, buried under revolutionary jargon and moral superiority.

When Activism Forgets Its Purpose

There was a time when activism meant courage to question power. Today, it too often means obedience to a different kind of power. The same critical minds that once challenged the state are now afraid to challenge their own organizations.

The tragedy is not just organizational, it’s generational. Many of the young activists who fall into this cycle do so with pure intentions: to serve the people, to fight injustice. But once inside, their sincerity is used against them, molded into guilt, duty, and silence. And so, a movement that once claimed to free minds now imprisons them. The words “people’s struggle” ring hollow when the people within are not free to think.

A Necessary Reckoning

The call today is not to abandon activism but to reclaim it from the extremists who have corrupted it. To be critical is not to betray the movement, it is to purify it. A true revolution cannot survive on borrowed anger and blind loyalty. It must be rooted in conscience, honesty, and the courage to face its own flaws.

Real activism means the freedom to think, to question, to evolve. It means fighting systems of oppression, whether they wear the face of the state or hide behind the flag of revolution. Because when a movement starts silencing its own conscience, it stops being a movement. It becomes a cult wearing the mask of liberation.

And no revolution built on blind faith can ever set anyone free — not even itself.