Reich continued to maintain that there was a conspiracy to destroy him and then
steal his discoveries for commercial and political interests.
Reich was eligible for parole on November 10, 1957, at which time he would have
served a third of his sentence. In answer to questions in his parole application, Reich stated
that upon release he intended to spend the summers at Orgonon and winters in Washington.
His wife (as he now referred to Aurora Karrer, although they were not legally married) was
looking for a home in the Washington area. He would earn money through teaching (at the
rate of $200 per two-hour course). In addition, he would receive $3,000 yearly from a fund
administered by William Steig for Reich’s work on the DOR emergency^13. (To his final days
Reich kept the distinction of charging a high fee for the dissemination of established knowl-
edge and a low salary for himself for new research.)
Reich made his position clear as to whether he would obey or disobey the injunc-
tion after his release from prison. This issue was decisive since the FDA’s and the probation
officer’s construction of his position had determined to a significant degree Judge Sweeney’s
earlier refusal to suspend or reduce Reich’s sentence, as we have seen.
Reich now made plain that he would not—he twice underlined the word in his appli-
cation—rebuild the organizations which distributed the accumulators and which he had dis-
solved. He steadfastly maintained that he, personally, had never distributed accumulators. He
made the distinction here between a research activity and a moneymaking fraud with “sex
boxes,” the latter being the FDA’s misrepresentation of what was going on. Since his income
would be derived from teaching and research, since he would not rebuild his organization,
he had no intention after his release of involving himself with the distribution of accumu-
lators.
Thus, Reich was prepared to obey the injunction’s legal sense, that is, to stop the
distribution of accumulators. However, as we know, the injunction contained much more:
the defendants (Reich, Ollendorff, and the Foundation) were ordered to “refrain from, either
directly or indirectly ...disseminating information pertaining to the assembly, construction,
or composition oforgone energy accumulator devices.” And in another part of the injunc-
tion, Reich was supposed to delete from his publications “statements and representations
pertaining to the existence oforgone energy.”
Reich made it clear that he would continue to teach and do research and that his
subject matter would deal with orgone energy. The reference to DOR research, financed in
part by Steig’s fund, was evidence of his courageous, unyielding devotion to truth-seeking.
He did not say that he would only teach “philosophy” or “character analysis.” He did not
say he would not mention orgone energy. On the contrary, he continued proudly to assert
the scientific and moral Tightness of his stance. Reich went on: “I have no attitude of
revenge, only pity—the hurt that hurts so very much. The heartbreak caused by raw injus-
tice can never be erased, of course. The assailants have suffered their well-deserved moral
defeat.I have won my case.”
Implicit in Reich’s stance was his inability to stop others from doing what they
440 Myron SharafFury On Earth