I decided to reread The Wrong Way Home in order to get a better insight of Lucas and his followers. I may post more about each chapter as I go further along.
In the first chapter, "The Cult Mirror", Deikman talks about the main reasons why one joins a cult and that main reason is dependency. Lucas's followers are mostly young men who are on the cusps of adulthood. They are scared. With adulthood comes autonomy, self-sustaining, and the capacity to go it alone. They also grew up in households that were abusive or indifferent to their needs. They are now told to man up and take on the responsibilities that comes with manhood. They are desperate for some kind of emotional support, affection and validation. Like many young men they look for help in all the wrong places which leads them to Lucas. Lucas, like all cult leaders, gives his new followers the emotional support, affection and validation they crave. He becomes the mother they wished they had. Eventually Lucas plants ideas and makes demands of his followers. He tells them that they are beautiful and that they would look so much better as a girl. He also tells them that their life will be so much easier if they became girls.
I will like to point out that Lucas doesn't tell his followers to become women. Women, like men, have a lot of responsibility and much is expected of them. Such as getting a job, being a mother and taking care of her family. Usually juggling all three at the same time. Rather, Lucas tells his followers to become teenage girls. A teenage girl, Lucas and his followers believe, have no such responsibility. They are loved, pampered, and without a care in the world. Teenage girls never have to worry about growing up and getting a job and supporting a family. Others will always be there to take care of them and their needs.
Dependency, Deikman argues, also has its roots in authoritarianism. In that the cult followers will be completely dependent on the cult leader for even basic instruction. The leader is the Alpha and Omega. This maybe why communism appeals so much to Lucas as communism itself is deeply rooted in authoritarianism.
I know that this is somewhat autistic but it is utterly fascinating to me how Lucas was able to build a cult of vulnerable young men who basically worship him. Jared Leto has nothing on Lucas.