1997 Polish 'Amway' documentary, 'Welcome to Life' (with English Subtitles).

Witajcie.W.Zyciu.aka.Welcome.To.Life.1997... by 9jIP_920uJH2

Henryk Dederko

A number of readers have been searching for Henryk Dederko's (once-banned) award-winning, 1997, Polish language 'Amway' film, 'Welcome to Life,' with English subtitles. In this astonishing documentary (which the 'Amway' racketeers did their best to burn), Henryk Dederko uncovered part of an ongoing criminogenic phenomenon of historic significance. i.e. He recorded for posterity how the all-American capitalist paradise fairy story entitled 'MLM Income Opportunity' was cleverly adapted to enslave thousands of vulnerable persons struggling to re-ajust to life after the sudden demise of the 'Soviet Socialist' paradise. 

In 1945, whilst most, contemporary mainstream commentators were unable to look beyond the ends of their noses, with a perfect sense of irony, Eric Arthur Blair a.k.a. George Orwell (1903-1950) presented fact as fiction in an insightful 'fairy story' entitled, 'Animal Farm.' He revealed that totalitarianism is merely the oppressors' fiction mistaken for fact by not only the oppressed, but also by useful idiots.

In the same universal allegory, Orwell described how, at a time of vulnerability, almost any people's dream of a future, secure, Utopian existence can be hung over the entrance to a totalitarian deception. Indeed, the words that are always banished by totalitarian deceivers are, 'totalitarian' and 'deception.'

Sadly, when it comes to examining the same enduring phenomenon, albeit with an ephemeral 'Capitalist' label, most contemporary, mainstream commentators have again been unable to look further than the ends of their noses. However, if they followed Orwell's example, and did some serious thinking, this is the reality-inverting nightmare they would find.

As part of an overall pattern of ongoing major racketeering activity, in 2009, the 'Herbalife' racketeers used some of their ill-gotten gains to infiltrate the famous Russian soccer club, Spartak.  

Today, a syndicate of blame the victim 'Income Opportunity' racketeers (including those behind 'Amway' and 'Herbalife') are still being allowed to maintain an Invisible Empire in the former 'Soviet' Empire - built and financed by the credulity of a never-ending chain already comprising millions of contantly-churning individuals. 


David Brear (copyright 2015)

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WARSAW— A documentary that takes a caustic look at the Polish operations of the American direct-sales company Amway has set off an unusually strenuous debate here about press freedom.

The Polish-made film ''Welcome to Life,'' which is dominated by hard-sell pep rallies that are a hallmark of the company and by the motivational jargon of its distributors, was stopped from being shown on television by a court order sought by the company.

Amway argued that in seeking the injunction it wanted to protect its reputation and its employees.

But to more than 50 Polish editors and journalists from across the political spectrum, the successful court action was reminiscent of the old Communist way of doing things.

''A court ban amounts to a return of preventive censorship,'' the editors said in a petition to President Aleksandr Kwasniewski.

The signers included Jerzy Urban, who was the spokesman for the Communist Party in the 1980's and is now the editor of a ribald weekly newspaper, Nie.

The court action touched a raw nerve in Poland because Amway has represented itself since the collapse of Communism as a sure way for Poles to become entrepreneurs and live the rich life of their dreams. The company says it has enlisted 80,000 Poles as distributors of its home-care products and has said that it sees expansion into former Communist countries as essential to continued growth.

But in China, concern over exploitation of naive people led the Government in April to ban all door-to-door sales, although Amway can supply retail outlets with its products.

Founded in 1959 in Ada, Mich., Amway has been a controversial, closely held company. Its business practices have been the subject of court cases in the United States and Canada. In 1979, the Federal Trade Commission ruled that Amway was not an illegal pyramid scheme, but ordered the company to stop setting prices at which distributors sold products.

Since the injunction was imposed in March, the country's biggest newspaper, Gazeta Wyborcza, has published the sound track to the film. The film is a best-seller on the video black market in the southern town of Cracow.

Some of the dialogue goes like this:

''As a former member of the Communist Party apparatus, I was surprised to see so many smiling, happy people clapping to the rhythm of music,'' says a middle-aged Polish distributor. ''My immediate association was of a Communist Party feast. Back in 1993, this sort of thing was a complete shock to me. I simply did not believe that there could be so many happy people in these difficult days of political and economic transformation.''

Another Polish distributor says: ''There are people who have inborn leadership qualities, people such as Napoleon, or even Hitler, though it may seem to be a very negative example. He too was a leader who knew how to attract the masses, the whole German nation.''

The film goes on to show a meeting in a large hall where a man on the stage shows how door-to-door distributors should get householders to accept motivational tape recordings that the distributors sell. He demonstrates how a distributor should come within an inch of hitting a would-be customer on the head with a tape, forcing the person to accept the tape as a way of protecting himself. Much of Amway's business, the film says, is devoted to distributing motivational tapes intended to make distributors think the Amway way.

A spokesman for Amway, Piotr A. Czernowski, said in an interview that the film was unfair but that he had cooperated with the filmmaker, Henryk Dederko, at the start of the project. Mr. Dederko received financing from the Government television station to make the documentary, which was to be shown first on that channel.

''The Polish media believe that there should be freedom of any expression without having any responsibility,'' said Mr. Czernowski. He said Amway was concerned that the film would ''negatively affect their business.''

Journalists and editors say the case brought by Amway has already had a chilling result. Not long after the court ruled against the screening of ''Welcome to Life,'' a prominent Polish businessman won an injunction against Mr. Urban's weekly, Nie, that prevents the planned publication of an article about him.

New York Times (copyright 1998)

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'The purpose of Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of Ingsoc, but to make all other modes of thought impossible. It was intended that when Newspeak had been adopted once and for all and Oldspeak forgotten, a heretical thought — that is, a thought diverging from the principles of Ingsoc — should be literally unthinkable, at least so far as thought is dependent on words. Its vocabulary was so constructed as to give exact and often very subtle expression to every meaning that a Party member could properly wish to express, while excluding all other meanings and also the possibility of arriving at them by indirect methods. This was done partly by the invention of new words, but chiefly by eliminating undesirable words and by stripping such words as remained of unorthodox meanings, and so far as possible of all secondary meanings whatever.'

Georges Orwell (Appendix to 'Nineteen Eighty-Four')

The purpose of 'MLM Income Opportunity' jargon is not only to provide a medium of expression for the unquestioning world-view and mental habits proper to the core-adherents of 'MLM,'  but to make all other critical and evaluative modes of thought impossible. It is intended that when 'MLM Income Opportunity'  jargon has been adopted once and for all and traditional language forgotten, a heretical thought — that is, a thought diverging from the 'positive' principles of  'MLM'  - should be literally unthinkable, at least so far as thought is dependent on words. Its vocabulary is so constructed as to give exact and often very subtle expression to every 'positive' meaning that an 'MLM Distributor' can properly wish to express, while excluding all other 'negative' meanings and also the possibility of arriving at them by indirect methods. This is done partly by the invention of new 'positive' words and phrases ('Herbalife', 'Amway', 'NuSkin', 'Xango', 'Multi-Level Marketing', 'Distributor' , Independent Business Owner,'), but chiefly by eliminating undesirable 'negative' words and phrases ('cult', 'totalitarian', 'fraud', 'deception',  'brainwashing', 'victims', 'exploitation' , 'de facto slaves') and by stripping such words and phrases as remain of unorthodox meanings, and so far as possible of all secondary meanings whatever. 


David Brear (copyright 2015)