"There were, in fact, many premies who accepted (or at least, 'pretended' to accept) the fact that Divine Light Mission - taking into account all the kinds of things which took place and the necessary context - can be rightfully labelled as a 'cult'..."
At the time, certainly some premies, myself included, said something like "I can understand why some people might think we're a cult, but..." I recall being self-conscious about appearances; they were certainly at odds, to say the least, with my character and upbringing.
Perhaps it's the difference between rightfully labelled as a cult and appearances of a cult, i.e., yes, it may look like a cult from the outside, but it's NOT a cult. Notice the glaring "but" at the end of what I and other premies said.
Although I'm not familiar with all the archives, I don't recall reading what you found... that premies acknowledged or accepted that DLM/EV, etc., was or was rightfully labelled a cult and stayed in anyway, nor did I ever meet a premie who thought it was a cult. If there were any, they likely represented such a small minority as to be statistically insignificant. Please, anyone, correct me if I'm wrong.
To the contrary, premies I knew scoffed and bristled whenever they heard it described as a cult, especially in the media. I'll never forget the day not long after Jonestown when we were sitting on the floor in the ashram satsang room surrounded by all kinds of cult trappings, e.g., no furniture, chair and foot pillow for Prem, oversized photo of him, flowers, covered glass for his water and so on. There we were, reassuring each other that "thank goodness we're not in a cult."
Elan Vital tried very hard to counter such claims and discredit ex-premies or anyone who described it as a cult. My favorite example that still makes me laugh was in a Q&A section on Elan Vital's website:
There we were in the ashram, singing Arti and Twameva Mata every morning and every night for an entire decade followed by hands and knees bowing to an oversized photo of Prem Rawat and a sip of Charan Amrit. At an ashram meeting Prem even bellowed-out "And when you sing Arti, mean it!!"
When confronted, however, Elan Vital reduced the extreme devotional nature of Arti to "a traditional song that a sister might sing to her brother upon his completion of a large task or upon his return from a long journey."
Trust me, it doesn't work. I keep trying with Flying Solo (a former poster here) whenever I complete a large task or return from a long journey. One time I actually had to duck.