One thing to remember is that Rutherford first gained underhanded control of the main central power - i.e. the Watchtower - before he made any moves to control the outlying organization. Some left, but many stayed loyal to the printed magazine and its publisher.
Also, that there probably were not really all that many people involved in it at the time (<100K or so?) - this was early in the WTS growth pattern and there was plenty of time to build the Rutherford version of it all.
Remember, it was only in the 1930s that it became obvious that a "second class" would be needed because the followers were going to exceed the literal 144,000.