The Aktionsanalytische Organisation (AAO), commonly known as the Friedrichshof Commune, was an Austrian
far-left
Far-left politics, also known as the radical left or the extreme left, are politics further to the left on the left–right political spectrum than the standard political left. The term does not have a single definition. Some scholars consider ...
commune
A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to:
Administrative-territorial entities
* Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township
** Communes of ...
in Friedrichshof outside Vienna. The organization was founded in 1972 by artist
Otto Muehl and dissolved in 1990. AAO became an authoritarian
sect
A sect is a subgroup of a religious, political, or philosophical belief system, usually an offshoot of a larger group. Although the term was originally a classification for religious separated groups, it can now refer to any organization that b ...
, described as a "psycho sect" by authors Nordhausen and Billerbeck.
[Frank Nordhausen and Liane von Billerbeck (1999): ''Psycho-Sekten - die Praktiken der Seelenfänger''. Fischer Verlag, ] AAO was devoted to a breakdown of established social habits and beliefs, partly inspired by ideas of
Wilhelm Reich
Wilhelm Reich ( , ; 24 March 1897 – 3 November 1957) was an Austrian Doctor of Medicine, doctor of medicine and a psychoanalysis, psychoanalyst, along with being a member of the second generation of analysts after Sigmund Freud. The author ...
.
Muehl was subsequently convicted of widespread sexual abuse of minors who lived in the commune and sentenced to 7 years in prison.
References
Literature
''Die Diktatur der `freien Sexualität´''Book with an extensive description, written by the former member Andreas Schlothauer, who played a leading role during the dissolution of the organization.
{{Authority control
Far-left politics in Austria