Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 9, No. 1, 1992, Page 14
Bonnie: I only saw her drunk one time. She told me she was an alcoholic and
shouldn’t drink and then she proceeded to consume an entire gallon jug of wine. She
got totally out of control. She was carrying on, crying, manic, screaming. I didn’t
know what to do. She scared the shit out of me. She almost jumped out the window
of my house. She tried to go to bed with me. She said I was the exact image of her,
that I would be her protégé, that she would make me into a great revolutionary
leader and a Marxist-Leninist scholar. She eventually passed out. I never saw this
behavior in her before.
The next day I told Penny and she said she had had a similar experience. I didn’t
tell anyone else because I was terrified. I thought we better not have any alcohol in
the house. I thought this woman is crazy and what am I doing here? I thought I
should be careful not to be alone with her. But it never happened again. And no one
would talk about it. To myself I thought, well, we have to protect her because she’s
so important. This was just a momentary aberration and the important thing was to
protect her reputation. But she was absolutely delusional. She was ranting and
talking about herself as the second coming of Lenin.
Penny: I had mentioned to someone else, one of the others in the group, about
Doreen’s drinking, that she seemed to have a problem with drinking. Shortly
afterwards I was at Sandra’s house one day, and she sat me down for a very serious
talk. She said it wasn’t good to talk to anyone about Doreen’s drinking problem. She
had obviously heard somehow that I had said something. She said the State could
use it against Doreen, against us. She brought up some example from the Black
Panthers or something. The gist was to keep my mouth shut this was not to be
talked about. I didn’t know much about what the State would or wouldn’t do --and I
guess it made sense to me to protect a weakness.
As was true until very near the final break-up of the WDU, and as can be seen from the above
quotes, Baxter’s relationship with Sandra was the key to the smooth functioning of the
organization and to the members’ devoted adherence to Baxter’s leadership. Sandra, with her
own history of alcoholism and codependency, became the classic enabler. She was also the
classic second-in-command/enforcer. From the very first meetings, Sandra was drawn to
Baxter’s leadership style. She very quickly became Baxter’s staunchest supporter in all things
--theoretical, organizational, and personal.
Sandra did not have an outside job hence, she was able to spend most of her time at
Baxter’s side. She was as close to the top as she could get and she would do anything to stay
there. One founder described her “like the star’s agent who does the dirty work in the
background.” Sandra soon became Baxter’s second-in-command, a position she held for the
remaining years of the party.
Trained as a teacher, Sandra had a great deal of insight into people and was herself a
charismatic personality. She also had a history (known to only a few) of being a sort of thug
within the women’s movement. Certain disruptive and threatening actions toward other
radical groups and individuals had been attributed to her. Her first party assignments from
Baxter were in Internal Education, which meant leading cadre development study, new
members training, and recruitment. She, more so than Baxter, conducted almost every major
criticism, denunciation, trial, and rectification campaign in the years to come. She headed the
Discipline and Control Board, the Security staff, and the Finance Committee. She, along with
Baxter, had final say in all promotions, demotions, work assignments, punishments, and
expulsions.
Because of her involvement in recruitment and new members classes, Sandra knew every
detail about every member’s life, both before and after joining the organization. She was
skilled at using this knowledge in both negative and positive ways. She had the capacity to be
Bonnie: I only saw her drunk one time. She told me she was an alcoholic and
shouldn’t drink and then she proceeded to consume an entire gallon jug of wine. She
got totally out of control. She was carrying on, crying, manic, screaming. I didn’t
know what to do. She scared the shit out of me. She almost jumped out the window
of my house. She tried to go to bed with me. She said I was the exact image of her,
that I would be her protégé, that she would make me into a great revolutionary
leader and a Marxist-Leninist scholar. She eventually passed out. I never saw this
behavior in her before.
The next day I told Penny and she said she had had a similar experience. I didn’t
tell anyone else because I was terrified. I thought we better not have any alcohol in
the house. I thought this woman is crazy and what am I doing here? I thought I
should be careful not to be alone with her. But it never happened again. And no one
would talk about it. To myself I thought, well, we have to protect her because she’s
so important. This was just a momentary aberration and the important thing was to
protect her reputation. But she was absolutely delusional. She was ranting and
talking about herself as the second coming of Lenin.
Penny: I had mentioned to someone else, one of the others in the group, about
Doreen’s drinking, that she seemed to have a problem with drinking. Shortly
afterwards I was at Sandra’s house one day, and she sat me down for a very serious
talk. She said it wasn’t good to talk to anyone about Doreen’s drinking problem. She
had obviously heard somehow that I had said something. She said the State could
use it against Doreen, against us. She brought up some example from the Black
Panthers or something. The gist was to keep my mouth shut this was not to be
talked about. I didn’t know much about what the State would or wouldn’t do --and I
guess it made sense to me to protect a weakness.
As was true until very near the final break-up of the WDU, and as can be seen from the above
quotes, Baxter’s relationship with Sandra was the key to the smooth functioning of the
organization and to the members’ devoted adherence to Baxter’s leadership. Sandra, with her
own history of alcoholism and codependency, became the classic enabler. She was also the
classic second-in-command/enforcer. From the very first meetings, Sandra was drawn to
Baxter’s leadership style. She very quickly became Baxter’s staunchest supporter in all things
--theoretical, organizational, and personal.
Sandra did not have an outside job hence, she was able to spend most of her time at
Baxter’s side. She was as close to the top as she could get and she would do anything to stay
there. One founder described her “like the star’s agent who does the dirty work in the
background.” Sandra soon became Baxter’s second-in-command, a position she held for the
remaining years of the party.
Trained as a teacher, Sandra had a great deal of insight into people and was herself a
charismatic personality. She also had a history (known to only a few) of being a sort of thug
within the women’s movement. Certain disruptive and threatening actions toward other
radical groups and individuals had been attributed to her. Her first party assignments from
Baxter were in Internal Education, which meant leading cadre development study, new
members training, and recruitment. She, more so than Baxter, conducted almost every major
criticism, denunciation, trial, and rectification campaign in the years to come. She headed the
Discipline and Control Board, the Security staff, and the Finance Committee. She, along with
Baxter, had final say in all promotions, demotions, work assignments, punishments, and
expulsions.
Because of her involvement in recruitment and new members classes, Sandra knew every
detail about every member’s life, both before and after joining the organization. She was
skilled at using this knowledge in both negative and positive ways. She had the capacity to be
