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February 2019 Update
From
The Wilhelm Reich Infant Trust
& The Wilhelm Reich Museum

 

Join us in July for our annual summer conference. The discussion this year will focus on Wilhelm Reich's writings on Work Democracy.

Passages from selected articles by Wilhelm Reich:

Work democracy implies the triumph of rational thinking, work, knowledge, and natural love over mysticism, serfdom, political chicanery, pornography, deception, disenfranchisement, and exploitation of the masses.

Whoever tells the people, "I can't promise you anything, I can't help you, you and you alone must bear the responsibility for your lives"--this is the one who doesn't release them from their responsibility but rather enlightens them and charges them with it; this is the one who will have understood the true meaning of work democracy.

Work democracy is not an ideological system. Nor is it a "political" system, which could be imposed upon human society by the propaganda of a party, individual politicians, or any group sharing a common ideology. Natural work democracy is the sum total of all functions of life governed by the rational interpersonal relations that have come into being, grown and developed in a natural and organic way. What is new in work democracy is that for the first time in the history of sociology, a possible future regulation of human society is derived not from ideologies or conditions that must be created, but from natural processes that have been present and have been developing from the very beginning.

Work democracy consciously develops formal democracy, which is expressed in the mere election of political representatives and does not entail any further responsibility on the part of the electorate, into a genuine, factual, and practical democracy on an international scale. This democracy is borne by the functions of love, work and knowledge and is developed organically. It fights mysticism and the idea of the totalitarian state not through political attitudes but through practical functions of life, which obey their own laws. In short, natural work democracy is a newly discovered bio-sociologic, natural and basic function of society.

Between the years 1938 and 1945, Wilhelm Reich wrote six important texts on work democracy:

1939: The Natural Organization of Work in Work
     Democracy
1941: Further Problems of Work Democracy
1942: "The Biological Miscalculation in the Human
     Struggle for Freedom"
1943: "Give Responsibility to Vitally Necessary Work!"
     and "Work Democracy versus Politics: The Natural
     Forces for the Mastery of the Emotional Pest."
1944: "Work Democracy in Action"

The conference will focus on the main concepts of work democracy in these works. Speakers will include James E. Strick, Ph.D., Philip W. Bennett, Ph.D., David Brahinsky, Ph.D., and Patricia Estrada, Centro Reichiano de México.

The conference will include:

• a wine and cheese reception at the Observatory
  
• an international panel discussion from a variety of different perspectives about Reich's ideas on work democracy
  
• a screening of a 2009 interview with the late Mary Boyd Higgins, who was the trustee of Reich's estate for fifty-eight years
  
• a rare archival recording of Reich speaking about organizations

Spanish translation will be provided.

GENERAL INFORMATION

REGISTRATION FEE - $325.00
Includes tuition, information packet, daily homemade breakfast and refreshments. A 25% discount is available for full-time college students who can document their status and for those traveling from outside the US and Canada. Registration may be made using check Mastercard, Visa, or American Express. Call 207-864-3443 or e-mail info@wilhelmreichtrust.com

MEETING PLACE
Conference Building at Orgonon (Wilhelm Reich Museum) located on Dodge Pond Road in Rangeley, Maine

TAX DEDUCTION
IRS regulations permit an income tax deduction for educational expenses to maintain or improve professional skills.

ACCOMMODATIONS
Hotels, motels, bed & breakfasts, lakefront cottages and other rentals, and campgrounds are available in and around Rangeley. We encourage you to make reservations early as this is the busy season. For information, contact the Rangeley Chamber of Commerce: Tel. 800-685-2537. Or e-mail: mtlakes@rangeley.org

TWO SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE
To apply for the Thomas E. Ross and Chester M. Raphael Scholarships, please contact us at: info@wilhelmreichtrust.com. All applications must be received by May 15, 2019.

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Call us at 207-864-3443, or e-mail: info@wilhelmreichtrust.com