Some small communist and fascist groups are definitely cults Some larger ideological groups may contain a cultic core or special formations organized in a cultlike fashion according to some accounts the Third International operatives from various countries in the s were treated virtually as cult zombies by Stalins cynical bureaucrats Arguably Himmlers SS included cultic formations trained at that castle Wewelsburg where they supposedly performed something called the ceremony of the stifling air possibly this is a street legend As to North Korea it is definitely a totalitarian state with an intense leadercult religion probably the most intense such formation that has ever existedone hesitates to describe it as a Stalinstyle personality cult since even Stalin never strove for such a level of quasireligious worship and regimentation But Im not sure the term political cult is appropriate in reference to North Korea since the term has been used up until now exclusively to refer to relatively small groups that dont wield state power and that employ elaborate psychological manipulation of their followers as a substitute for the patronage and secretpolice power of a postrevolutionary stateDking Dennis King  Sept