THE HISTORY OF SCIENTOLOGY’S EXPANSION
Books Create Worldwide Growth
Dissemination, L. Ron Hubbard advised in January of 1957, was a matter of getting Scientology books to the public. The prolific Mr. Hubbard had by now written Scientology: The Fundamentals of Thought, The Problems of Work, Scientology: A History of Man, Self Analysis in Scientology and How to Live Though an Executive. Inspired by his words, Scientologists distributed books at an unprecedented rate. As a result of the growth that followed, the Hubbard Association of Scientologists International gathered in Washington, DC, to appoint a new secretary for Great Britain to help oversee the broadening activities throughout the British Isles. Also resolved at that Washington conference: the establishment of offices in the Union of South Africa, where the Church of Scientology of Johannesburg had also been founded. Nor was South Africa the only far-flung land where Scientology was taking root, for as of June 1958 Scientology: The Fundamentals of Thought had been translated into Greek.
Returning to London in the fall of 1958, after lectures in Washington, Mr. Hubbard found plans in place for a new London educational center. The center was to utilize Scientology study techniques to help British schoolchildren learn more effectively. The project sparked so much interest among Londoners that a number of those who turned up for the first public lecture had to be turned away for want of available seating.
The hall was also crowded in New Delhi when a sister project initiated a course to train ranking members of the Indian government (including the Minister of Labor) on how Scientology principles might be utilized in the educational realm.
A few thousand miles to the southeast, excitement continued to build in Auckland, New Zealand, where the book campaign was in full swing and demand was so high that the local Scientology bookstore regularly sold out its stock. Keeping books in stock also proved a problem in Australia, South Africa, France and outlying areas of England and the United States – continents now dotted with Scientology churches and missions. The largest concentration, however, still remained in the United States, where some 500 turned up at the Washington, DC, Shoreham Hotel in July 1959 for nine hours of lectures by L. Ron Hubbard on new clearing procedures. Eight weeks later another 400 met at London’s Royal Empire Society Hall in Trafalgar Square, while dozens of advanced students attended the First Melbourne Advanced Clinical Course.
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