POLITICAL
PONEROLOGY
Andrew M. !obaczewski
P O L I T I C A L
P O N E R O L O G Y
A science on the nature of evil
adjusted for political purposes
Translated from the original Polish
by Alexandra Chciuk-Celt, Ph. D.
Corrected by the author in 1998
Edited with Notes and Commentary by
Laura Knight-Jadczyk
Henri Sy
Red Pill Press
First Edition
First English publication
� Andrew M. !obaczewski
Preface, Notes and Commentary � Laura Knight-Jadczyk and Henri Sy
ISBN 1-897244-18-5
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior
permission of the author.
Translated in 1985 from the original Polish
by Alexandra Chciuk-Celt, Ph. D.
University of New York, N.Y.
Corrected by the author in 1998.
C O N T E N T S
EDITOR�S PREFACE .........................................................................7
AUTHOR�S FOREWORD ................................................................27
PREFACE TO THE RED PILL PRESS EDITION.....................30
I. INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................33
II. SOME INDISPENSABLE CONCEPTS ....................................45
PSYCHOLOGY .....................................................................................49
OBJECTIVE LANGUAGE ......................................................................51
THE HUMAN INDIVIDUAL ..................................................................57
SOCIETY .............................................................................................70
III. THE HYSTEROIDAL CYCLE.................................................84
IV. PONEROLOGY ...........................................................................96
PATHOLOGICAL FACTORS ...............................................................104
ACQUIRED DEVIATIONS ..................................................................105
INHERITED DEVIATIONS ..................................................................120
PONEROGENIC PHENOMENA AND PROCESSES ................................144
SPELLBINDERS .................................................................................155
PONEROGENIC ASSOCIATIONS ........................................................157
IDEOLOGIES......................................................................................164
THE PONERIZATION PROCESS .........................................................168
MACROSOCIAL PHENOMENA...........................................................173
STATES OF SOCIETAL HYSTERIZATION...........................................175
PONEROLOGY ...................................................................................178
V. PATHOCRACY ...........................................................................183
THE GENESIS OF THE PHENOMENON...............................................183
MORE ON THE CONTENTS OF THE PHENOMENON...........................194
PATHOCRACY AND ITS IDEOLOGY ..................................................200
THE EXPANSION OF THE PATHOCRACY ..........................................206
PATHOCRACY IMPOSED BY FORCE..................................................213
ARTIFICALLY INFECTED PATHOCRACY AND PSYCHOLOGICAL
WARFARE.........................................................................................216
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ...........................................................221
VI. NORMAL PEOPLE UNDER PATHOCRATIC RULE.....230
FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF TIME ...................................................235
UNDERSTANDING.............................................................................252
VII. PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY UNDER
PATHOCRATIC RULE ..................................................................255
VIII. PATHOCRACY AND RELIGION ......................................267
IX. THERAPY FOR THE WORLD ..............................................278
TRUTH IS A HEALER.........................................................................281
FORGIVENESS...................................................................................289
IDEOLOGIES......................................................................................296
IMMUNIZATION ................................................................................299
X. A VISION OF THE FUTURE ...................................................303
BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................311
INDEX.................................................................................................317
EDITOR�S PREFACE
�Aspire to be like Mt. Fuji, with such a broad and solid
foundation that the strongest earthquake cannot move you, and
so tall that the greatest enterprises of common men seem in-
significant from your lofty perspective. With your mind as
high as Mt Fuji you can see all things clearly. And you can see
all the forces that shape events; not just the things happening
near to you.�
The book you hold in your hand may be the most important
book you will ever read; in fact, it
are, what your status in life, what your age or sex or nationality
or ethnic background, you will, at some point in your life, feel
the touch or relentless grip of the cold hand of Evil. Bad things
happen to good people, that�s a fact.
theological one. Generations of theological apologists have
written entire libraries of books in an attempt to certify the
existence of a Good God that created an imperfect world. Saint
Augustine distinguished between two forms of evil: �moral
evil�, the evil humans do, by choice, knowing that they are
doing wrong; and �natural evil�, the bad things that just happen
- the storm, the flood, volcanic eruptions, fatal disease.
And then, there is what Andrew !obaczewski calls Macro-
social Evil: large scale evil that overtakes whole societies and
nations, and has done so again and again since time immemo-
rial. The history of mankind, when considered objectively, is a
terrible thing.
8
EDITOR�S PREFACE
Death and destruction come to all, both rich and poor, free
and slave, young and old, good and evil, with an arbitrariness
and insouciance that, when contemplated even momentarily,
can destroy a normal person�s ability to function.
Over and over again, man has seen his fields and cattle laid
waste by drought and disease, his loved ones tormented and
decimated by illness or human cruelty, his life�s work reduced
to nothing in an instant by events over which he has no control
at all.
The study of history through its various disciplines offers a
view of mankind that is almost insupportable. The rapacious
movements of hungry tribes, invading and conquering and
destroying in the darkness of prehistory; the barbarian invaders
of the civilized world during medieval times, the bloodbaths of
the crusades of Catholic Europe against the infidels of the
Middle East and then the �infidels� who were their own broth-
ers: the stalking noonday terror of the Inquisition where mar-
tyrs quenched the flames with their blood. Then, there is the
raging holocaust of modern genocide; wars, famine, and pesti-
lence striding across the globe in hundred league boots; and
never more frightening than today.
All of these things produce an intolerable sense of indefen-
sibility against what Mircea Eliade calls the Terror of History.
There are those who will say that
kind has entered a new phase; science and technology have
brought us to the brink of ending all this suffering. Many peo-
ple believe that man is evolving; society is evolving; and that
we now have control over the arbitrary evil of our environ-
ment; or at least we will have it after George Bush and his
Neocons have about 25 years to fight the Endless War against
Terror. Anything that does not support this idea is reinterpreted
or ignored.
Science has given us many wonderful gifts: the space pro-
gram, laser, television, penicillin, sulfa-drugs, and a host of
other useful developments which should make our lives more
tolerable and fruitful. However, we can easily see that this is
not the case. It it could be said that never before has man been
so precariously poised on the brink of such total destruction.
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
9
On a personal level, our lives are steadily deteriorating. The
air we breathe and the water we drink is polluted almost be-
yond endurance. Our foods are loaded with substances which
contribute very little to nourishment and may, in fact, be injuri-
ous to our health. Stress and tension have become an accepted
part of life and can be shown to have killed more people than
the cigarettes that some people still smoke to relieve it. We
swallow endless quantities of pills to wake up, go to sleep, get
the job done, calm our nerves and make us feel good. The in-
habitants of the earth spend more money on recreational drugs
than they spend on housing, clothing, food, education or any
other product or service.
At the social level, hatred, envy, greed and strife multiply
exponentially. Crime increases faster than the population.
Combined with wars, insurrections, and political purges, multi-
plied millions of people across the globe are without adequate
food or shelter due to political actions.
And then, of course, drought, famine, plague and natural
disasters still take an annual toll in lives and suffering. This,
too, seems to be increasing.
When man contemplates history,
alize that he is in the iron grip of an existence that seems to
have no real care or concern for his pain and suffering. Over
and over again, the same sufferings fall upon mankind multi-
plied millions upon millions of times over millennia. The total-
ity of human suffering is a dreadful thing. I could write until
the end of the world using oceans of ink and forests of paper
and never fully convey this Terror. The beast of arbitrary ca-
lamity has always been with us. For as long as human hearts
have pumped hot blood through their too-fragile bodies and
glowed with the inexpressible sweetness of life and yearning
for all that is good and right and loving, the sneering, stalking,
drooling and scheming beast of unconscious evil has licked its
lips in anticipation of its next feast of terror and suffering.
Since the beginning of time, this mystery of the estate of man,
this Curse of Cain has existed. And, since the Ancient of Days,
the cry has been: My punishment is greater than I can bear!
It is conjectured that, in ancient times, when man perceived
this intolerable and incomprehensible condition in which he
10
EDITOR�S PREFACE
found his existence, that he created cosmogonies to justify all
the cruelties, aberrations, and tragedies of history. It is true
that, man, as a rule and in general, is powerless against cosmic
and geological catastrophes, and it has long been said that the
average man can�t really do anything about military onslaughts,
social injustice, personal and familial misfortunes, and a host of
assaults against his existence too numerous to list.
This is about to change. The book you hold in your hand is
going to give you answers to many of the questions about Evil
in our world. This book is not just about macrosocial evil, it is
also about everyday evil, because, in a very real sense, the two
are inseparable. The long term accumulation of everyday evil
always and inevitably leads to Grand Systemic Evil that de-
stroys more innocent people than any other phenomenon on
this planet.
The book you hold in your hands is also a survival guide.
As I said above, this book will be the most important book you
will ever read. Unless, of course, you are a psychopath.
�What does psychopathy have to do with personal or social
evil?� you may ask.
Absolutely everything. Whether you know it or not, each
and every day your life is touched by the effects of psychopa-
thy on our world. You are about to learn that even if there isn�t
much we can do about geological and cosmological catastro-
phe, there is a lot we can do about social and macrosocial evil,
and the very first thing to do is to learn about it. In the case of
psychopathy and its effects on our world, what you don�t know
definitely can and will hurt you.
Nowadays the word �psychopath� generally evokes images
of the barely restrained - yet surprisingly urbane - mad-dog
serial killer, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, of
I will admit that this was the image that came to my mind
whenever I heard the word; almost, that is. The big difference
was that I never thought of a psychopath as possibly being so
cultured or so capable of passing as �normal�. But I was
wrong, and I was to learn this lesson quite painfully by direct
experience. The exact details are chronicled elsewhere; what is
important is that this experience was probably one of the most
painful and instructive episodes of my life, and it enabled me to
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
11
overcome a block in my awareness of the world around me and
those who inhabit it.
Regarding blocks to awareness, I need to state for the record
that I have spent 30 years studying psychology, history, cul-
ture, religion, myth and the so-called paranormal1. I also have
worked for many years with hypnotherapy - which gave me a
very good mechanical knowledge of how the mind/brain of the
human being operates at very deep levels. But even so, I was
still operating with certain beliefs firmly in place that were
shattered by my research into psychopathy. I realized that there
was a certain set of ideas that I held about human beings that
were sacrosanct � and false. I even wrote about this once in the
following way:
�my work has shown me that the vast majority of people
want to do good, to experience good things, think good
thoughts, and make decisions with good results. And they try
with all their might to do so! With the majority of people hav-
ing this internal desire, why the Hell isn't it happening?
I was na�ve, I admit. There were many things I did not know
that I have learned since I penned those words. But even at that
time I was aware of how our own minds can be used to deceive
us.
Now, what beliefs did I hold that made me a victim of a
psychopath? The first and most obvious one is that I truly be-
lieved that deep inside, all people are basically �good� and that
they �want to do good, to experience good things, think good
thoughts, and make decisions with good results. And they try
with all their might to do so�.�
As it happens, this is not true as I - and everyone involved
in our research group - learned to our sorrow, as they say. But
we also learned to our edification. In order to come to some
understanding of exactly what kind of human being could do
the things that were done to me (and others close to me), and
why they might be motivated - even driven - to behave this
way, we began to research the psychology literature for clues
because we needed to understand for our own peace of mind.
1 I have never received any academic degrees, so I am not a �professional�, in
that respect.
12
EDITOR�S PREFACE
If there is a psychological theory that can explain vicious
and harmful behavior, it helps very much for the victim of such
acts to have this information so that they do not have to spend
all their time feeling hurt or angry. And certainly, if there is a
psychological theory that helps a person to find what kind of
words or deeds can bridge the chasm between people, to heal
misunderstandings, that is also a worthy goal. It was from such
a perspective that we began our extensive work on the subjects
of narcissism, which then led to the study of psychopathy.
Of course, we didn�t start out with such any such �diagno-
sis� or label for what we were witnessing. We started out with
observations and searched the literature for clues, for profiles,
for anything that would help us to understand the inner world
of a human being - actually a group of human beings - who
seemed to be utterly depraved and unlike anything we had ever
encountered before. We found that this kind of human is all too
common, and that, according to some of the latest research,
they cause more damage in human society than any other sin-
gle so-called �mental illness�. Martha Stout, who has worked
extensively with victims of psychopaths, writes:
Imagine - if you can - not having a conscience, none at all,
no feelings of guilt or remorse no matter what you do, no lim-
iting sense of concern for the well-being of strangers, friends,
or even family members. Imagine no struggles with shame,
not a single one in your whole life, no matter what kind of
selfish, lazy, harmful, or immoral action you had taken.
And pretend that the concept of responsibility is unknown
to you, except as a burden others seem to accept without ques-
tion, like gullible fool.
Now add to this strange fantasy the ability to conceal from
other people that your psychological makeup is radically dif-
ferent from theirs. Since everyone simply assumes that con-
science is universal among human beings, hiding the fact that
you are conscience-free is nearly effortless.
You are not held back from any of your desires by guilt or
shame, and you are never confronted by others for your cold-
bloodedness. The ice water in your veins is so bizarre, so
completely outside of their personal experience, that they sel-
dom even guess at your condition.
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
13
In other words, you are completely free of internal re-
straints, and your unhampered liberty to do just as you please,
with no pangs of conscience, is conveniently invisible to the
world.
You can do anything at all, and still your strange advan-
tage over the majority of people, who are kept in line by their
consciences will most likely remain undiscovered.
How will you live your life?
What will you do with your huge and secret advantage,
and with the corresponding handicap of other people (con-
science)?
The answer will depend largely on just what your desires
happen to be, because people are not all the same. Even the
profoundly unscrupulous are not all the same. Some people -
whether they have a conscience or not - favor the ease of iner-
tia, while others are filled with dreams and wild ambitions.
Some human beings are brilliant and talented, some are dull-
witted, and most, conscience or not, are somewhere in be-
tween. There are violent people and nonviolent ones, indi-
viduals who are motivated by blood lust and those who have
no such appetites. [...]
Provided you are not forcibly stopped, you can do any-
thing at all.
If you are born at the right time, with some access to fam-
ily fortune, and you have a special talent for whipping up
other people's hatred and sense of deprivation, you can arrange
to kill large numbers of unsuspecting people. With enough
money, you can accomplish this from far away, and you can
sit back safely and watch in satisfaction. [...]
Crazy and frightening - and real, in about 4 percent of the
population....
The prevalence rate for anorexic eating disorders is esti-
mated a 3.43 percent, deemed to be nearly epidemic, and yet
this figure is a fraction lower than the rate for antisocial per-
sonality. The high-profile disorders classed as schizophrenia
occur in only about 1 percent of [the population] - a mere
quarter of the rate of antisocial personality - and the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention say that the rate of colon
cancer in the United States, considered �alarmingly high,� is
14
EDITOR�S PREFACE
about 40 per 100,000 - one hundred times lower than the rate
of antisocial personality.
The high incidence of sociopathy in human society has a
profound effect on the rest of us who must live on this planet,
too, even those of us who have not been clinically trauma-
tized. The individuals who constitute this 4 percent drain our
relationships, our bank accounts, our accomplishments, our
self-esteem, our very peace on earth.
Yet surprisingly, many people know nothing about this
disorder, or if they do, they think only in terms of violent psy-
chopathy - murderers, serial killers, mass murderers - people
who have conspicuously broken the law many times over, and
who, if caught, will be imprisoned, maybe even put to death
by our legal system.
We are not commonly aware of, nor do we usually iden-
tify, the larger number of nonviolent sociopaths among us,
people who often are not blatant lawbreakers, and against
whom our formal legal system provides little defense.
Most of us would not imagine any correspondence be-
tween conceiving an ethnic genocide and, say, guiltlessly ly-
ing to one's boss about a coworker. But the psychological cor-
respondence is not only there; it is chilling. Simple and pro-
found, the link is the absence of the inner mechanism that
beats up on us, emotionally speaking, when we make a choice
we view as immoral, unethical, neglectful, or selfish.
Most of us feel mildly guilty if we eat the last piece of
cake in the kitchen, let alone what we would feel if we inten-
tionally and methodically set about to hurt another person.
Those who have no conscience at all are a group unto
themselves, whether they be homicidal tyrants or merely ruth-
less social snipers.
The presence or absence of conscience is a deep human
division, arguably more significant than intelligence, race, or
even gender.
What differentiates a sociopath who lives off the labors of
others from one who occasionally robs convenience stores, or
from one who is a contemporary robber baron - or what makes
the difference betwen an ordinary bully and a sociopathic
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
15
murderer - is nothing more than social status, drive, intellect,
blood lust, or simple opportunity.
What distinguishes all of these people from the rest of us is
an utterly empty hole in the psyche, where there should be the
most evolved of all humanizing functions.2
We did not have the advantage of Dr. Stout�s book at the
beginning of our research project. We did, of course, have
Robert Hare and Hervey Cleckley and Guggenbuhl-Craig and
others. But they were only approaching the subject of the pos-
sibly large numbers of psychopaths that live among us who
never get caught breaking laws, who don�t murder � or if they
do, they don�t get caught � and who still do untold damage to
the lives of family, acquaintances, and strangers.
Most mental health experts, for a very long time, have oper-
ated on the premise that psychopaths come from impoverished
backgrounds and have experienced abuse of one sort or another
in childhood, so it is easy to spot them, or at least, they cer-
tainly don�t move in society except as interlopers. This idea
seems to be coming under some serious revision lately. As
!obaczewski points out in this book, there is some confusion
between Psychopathy and Antisocial Personality Disorder and
Sociopathy. As Robert Hare points out, yes, there are many
psychopaths who are also �anti-socials�, but there seem to be
far more of them that would never be classified as anti-social or
sociopathic! In other words, they can be doctors, lawyers,
judges, policemen, congressmen, presidents of corporations
that rob from the poor to give to the rich, and even presidents.
In a recent paper, it is suggested that psychopathy may exist
in ordinary society in even greater numbers than anyone has
thus far considered:
Psychopathy, as originally conceived by Cleckley (1941),
is not limited to engagement in illegal activities, but rather en-
compasses such personality characteristics as manipulative-
ness, insincerity, egocentricity, and lack of guilt - characteris-
tics clearly present in criminals but also in spouses, parents,
bosses, attorneys, politicians, and CEOs, to name but a few.
(Bursten, 1973; Stewart, 1991). Our own examination of the
prevalence of psychopathy within a university population sug-
2 Stout, Martha:
16
EDITOR�S PREFACE
gested that perhaps 5% or more of this sample might be
deemed psychopathic, although the vast majority of those will
be male (more than 1/10 males versus approximately 1/100
females).
As such, psychopathy may be characterized ... as involving
a tendency towards both dominance and coldness. Wiggins
(1995) in summarizing numerous previous findings... indicates
that such individuals are prone to anger and irritation and are
willing to exploit others. They are arrogant, manipulative,
cynical, exhibitionistic, sensation-seeking, Machiavellian,
vindictive, and out for their own gain. With respect to their
patterns of social exchange (Foa & Foa, 1974), they attribute
love and status to themselves, seeing themselves as highly
worthy and important, but prescribe neither love nor status to
others, seeing them as unworthy and insignificant. This char-
acterization is clearly consistent with the essence of psychopa-
thy as commonly described.
The present investigation sought to answer some basic
questions regarding the construct of psychopathy in non foren-
sic settings... In so doing we have returned to Cleckley�s
(1941) original emphasis on psychopathy as a personality style
not only among criminals, but also among successful indi-
viduals within the community.
What is clear from our findings is that (a) psychopathy
measures have converged on a prototype of psychopathy that
involves a combination of dominant and cold interpersonal
characteristics; (b) psychopathy does occur in the community
and at what might be a higher than expected rate; and (c) psy-
chopathy appears to have little overlap with personality disor-
ders aside from Antisocial Personality Disorder. ...
Clearly, where much more work is needed is in under-
standing what factors differentiate the abiding (although per-
haps not moral-abiding) psychopath from the law-breaking
psychopath; such research surely needs to make greater use of
non forensic samples than has been customary in the past.3
!obaczewski discusses the fact that there are different types
of psychopaths. One type, in particular, is the most deadly of
3 Salekin, Trobst, Krioukova: (2001) �Construct Validity of Psychopathy in a
Community Sample: A Nomological Net Approach� in
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
17
all: the Essential Psychopath. He doesn�t give us a �checklist�
but rather discusses what is inside the psychopath. His descrip-
tion meshes very well with items in the paper quoted above.
Martha Stout also discusses the fact that psychopaths, like
anyone else, are born with different basic likes and dislikes and
desires, which is why some of them are doctors and presidents
and others are petty thieves or rapists.
�Likeable�, �Charming�, �Intelligent�, �Alert�, �Impres-
sive�, �Confidence-inspiring,� and �A great success with the
ladies�. This is how Hervey Cleckley described most of his
subjects in
that their actions prove them to be �irresponsible� and �self-
destructive�, psychopaths seem to have in abundance the very
traits most desired by normal persons. The smooth self-
assurance acts as an almost supernatural magnet to normal
people who have to read self-help books or go to counseling to
be able to interact with others in an untroubled way. The psy-
chopath, on the contrary, never has any neuroses, no self-
doubts, never experiences angst, and
seek to be. What�s more, even if they aren�t that attractive, they
are �babe magnets�.
Cleckley's seminal hypothesis is that the psychopath suffers
from profound and incurable
anything at all, they are emotions of only the shallowest kind.
He is able to do whatever he wants, based on whatever whim
strikes him, because consequences that would fill the ordinary
man with shame, self-loathing, and embarrassment simply do
not affect the psychopath at all. What to others would be a
horror or a disaster is to him merely a fleeting inconvenience.
Cleckley posits that psychopathy is quite common in the
community at large. His cases include examples of psychopaths
who generally function normally in the community as busi-
nessmen, doctors, and even psychiatrists. Nowadays, some of
the more astute researchers see criminal psychopathy - often
referred to as anti-social personality disorder - as an extreme of
a particular personality type. I think it is more helpful to char-
acterize criminal psychopaths as �unsuccessful psychopaths�.
18
EDITOR�S PREFACE
One researcher, Alan Harrington, goes so far as to say that
the psychopath is the new man being produced by the evolu-
tionary pressures of modern life.
Certainly, there have always been shysters and crooks, but
past concern was focused on ferreting out incompetents rather
than psychopaths. Unfortunately, all that has changed. We now
need to fear the super-sophisticated modern crook who does
know what he is doing ... and does it so well that no one else
knows. Yes, psychopaths love the business world.
Uninvolved with others, he coolly saw into their fears and
desires, and maneuvered them as he wished. Such a man
might not, after all, be doomed to a life of scrapes and esca-
pades ending ignominiously in the jailhouse. Instead of mur-
dering others, he might become a corporate raider and murder
companies, firing people instead of killing them, and chopping
up their functions rather than their bodies.
[�T]he consequences to the average citizen from business
crimes are staggering. As criminologist Georgette Bennett
says, �They account for nearly 30% of case filings in U.S.
District Courts - more than any other category of crime. The
combined burglary, mugging and other property losses in-
duced by the country�s street punks come to about $4 billion a
year. However, the seemingly upstanding citizens in our cor-
porate board rooms and the humble clerks in our retail stores
bilk us out of between $40 and $200 billion a year.�
Concern here is that the costume for the new masked san-
ity of a psychopath is just as likely to be a three-piece suit as a
ski mask and a gun. As Harrington says, �We also have the
psychopath in respectable circles, no longer assumed to be a
loser.� He quotes William Krasner as saying, �They - psycho-
path and part psychopath - do well in the more unscrupulous
types of sales work, because they take such delight in �putting
it over on them�, getting away with it - and have so little con-
science about defrauding their customers.� Our society is fast
becoming more materialistic, and success at any cost is the
credo of many businessmen. The typical psychopath thrives in
this kind of environment and is seen as a business �hero�.4
4 Ken Magid and Carole McKelvey:
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
19
The study of �ambulatory� psychopaths - what we call �The
Garden Variety Psychopath� - has, however, hardly begun.
Very little is known about subcriminal psychopathy. Some
researchers have begun to seriously consider the idea that it is
important to study psychopathy not as a pathological category
but as a general personality trait in the community at large. In
other words, psychopathy is being recognized as a more or less
a different type of human.
Hervey Cleckly actually comes very close to suggesting that
psychopaths are human in every respect - but that they lack a
soul. This lack of �soul quality� makes them very efficient
�machines�. They can write scholarly works, imitate the words
of emotion, but over time, it becomes clear that their words do
not match their actions. They are the type of person who can
claim that they are devastated by grief who then attend a party
�to forget�. The problem is: they really
Being very efficient machines, like a computer, they are
able to execute very complex routines designed to elicit from
others support for what they want. In this way, many psycho-
paths are able to reach very high positions in life. It is only
over time that their associates become aware of the fact that
their climb up the ladder of success is predicated on violating
the rights of others. �Even when they are indifferent to the
rights of their associates, they are often able to inspire feelings
of trust and confidence.�
The psychopath recognizes no flaw in his psyche, no need
for change.
Andrew !obaczewski addresses the problem of the psycho-
path and their extremely significant contribution to our macro-
social evils, their ability to act as the �minence grise behind the
very structure of our society. It is very important to keep in
mind that this influence comes from a relatively small segment
of humanity. The other 90-some percent of human beings are
not psychopaths.
But that 90-some percent of normal people know that some-
thing is wrong! They just can�t quite identify it; can�t quite put
their finger on it; and because they can�t, they tend to think that
there is nothing they can do about it, or maybe it is just God
punishing people.
20
EDITOR�S PREFACE
What is actually the case is that when that 90-some percent
of human beings fall into a certain state, as !obaczewski will
describe, the psychopaths, like a virulent pathogen in a body,
strike at the weaknesses, and the entire society is plunged into
conditions that always and inevitably lead to horror and tragedy
on a very large scale.
The movie,
cause it exemplified this mechanistic trap in which so many
people find their lives enmeshed, and from which they are un-
able to extricate themselves because they believe that everyone
around them who �looks human� is, in fact, just like them -
emotionally, spiritually, and otherwise.
To give an example of how psychopaths can directly affect
society at large: the �legal argument� as explicated by Robert
Canup in his work on the
argument seems to be at the foundation of our society. We
believe that the legal argument is an advanced system of jus-
tice. This is a very cunning trick that has been foisted on nor-
mal people by psychopaths in order to have an advantage over
them. Just think about it for a moment: the legal argument
amounts to little more than the one who is the slickest at using
the structure for convincing a group of people of something, is
the one who is believed. Because this �legal argument� system
has been slowly installed as part of our culture, when it invades
our personal lives, we normally do not recognize it immedi-
ately. But here�s how it works.
Human beings have been accustomed to assume that other
human beings are - at the very least - trying to �do right� and
�be good� and fair and honest. And so, very often, we do not
take the time to use due diligence in order to determine if a
person who has entered our life is, in fact, a �good person�.
When a conflict ensues, we automatically fall into the legal
argument assumption that in any conflict, one side is partly
right one way, and the other is partly right the other, and that
we can form opinions about which side is mostly right or
wrong. Because of our exposure to the �legal argument� norms,
when any dispute arises, we automatically think that the truth
will lie somewhere between two extremes. In this case, applica-
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
21
tion of a little mathematical logic to the problem of the legal
argument might be helpful.
Let us assume that in a dispute, one side is innocent, honest,
and tells the truth. It is obvious that lying does an innocent
person no good; what lie can he tell? If he is innocent, the only
lie he can tell is to falsely confess �I did it�. But lying is noth-
ing but good for the liar. He can declare that �I didn�t do it�,
and accuse another of doing it, all the while the innocent per-
son he has accused is saying �I didn�t do it� and is actually
telling the truth.
The truth, when twisted by good liars, can always make an
innocent person look bad, especially if the innocent person is
honest and admits his mistakes.
The basic assumption that the truth lies between the testi-
mony of the two sides always shifts the advantage to the lying
side and away from the side telling the truth. Under most cir-
cumstances, this shift put together with the fact that the truth is
going to also be twisted in such a way as to bring detriment to
the innocent person, results in the advantage
the hands of liars - psychopaths. Even the simple act of giving
testimony under oath is a useless farce. If a person is a liar,
swearing an oath means nothing to that person. However,
swearing an oath acts strongly on a serious, truthful witness.
Again, the advantage is placed on the side of the liar.
It has often been noted that psychopaths have a distinct ad-
vantage over human beings with conscience and feelings be-
cause the psychopath does not have conscience and feelings.
What seems to be so is that conscience and feelings are related
to the abstract concepts of �future� and �others�. It is �spatio-
temporal�. We can feel fear, sympathy, empathy, sadness, and
so on because we can
based on our own experiences in the past, or even just �con-
cepts of experiences� in myriad variations. We can �see our-
selves� in them even though they are �out there� and this
evokes feelings in us. We can�t do something hurtful because
we can imagine it being done to us and how it would feel. In
other words, we can not only identify with others spatially - so
to say - but also temporally - in time.
The psychopath does not seem to have this capacity.
22
EDITOR�S PREFACE
They are unable to �imagine� in the sense of being able to
really connect to images in a direct �self connecting to another
self� sort of way.
Oh, indeed, they can
ings they seem to have - the thing that drives them and causes
them to act out different dramas for the effect - is a sort of
�predatorial hunger� for what they want. That is to say, they
�feel� need/want as love, and not having their needs/wants met
is described by them as �not being loved�. What is more, this
�need/want� perspective posits that only the �hunger� of the
psychopath is valid, and anything, and everything �out there�,
outside of the psychopath, is not real except insofar as it has the
capability of being assimilated to the psychopath as a sort of
�food�. �Can it be used or can it provide something?� is the
only issue about which the psychopath seems to be concerned.
All else - all activity - is subsumed to this drive.
In short, the psychopath is a predator. If we think about the
interactions of predators with their prey in the animal kingdom,
we can come to some idea of what is behind the �mask of san-
ity� of the psychopath. Just as an animal predator will adopt all
kinds of stealthy functions in order to stalk their prey, cut them
out of the herd, get close to them, and reduce their resistance,
so does the psychopath construct all kinds of elaborate camou-
flage composed of words and appearances - lies and manipula-
tions - in order to �assimilate� their prey.
This leads us to an important question: what does the psy-
chopath
are after when they lie and manipulate for money or material
goods or power. But in many instances, such as love relation-
ships or faked friendships, it is not so easy to see what the psy-
chopath is after. Without wandering too far afield into spiritual
speculations - a problem Cleckley also faced - we can only say
that it seems to be that the psychopath
suffer. Just as normal humans enjoy seeing other people happy,
or doing things that make other people smile, the psychopath
enjoys the exact opposite.
Anyone who has ever observed a cat playing with a mouse
before killing and eating it has probably explained to them-
selves that the cat is just �entertained� by the antics of the
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
23
mouse and is unable to conceive of the terror and pain being
experienced by the mouse. The cat, therefore, is innocent of
any evil intent. The mouse dies, the cat is fed, and that is na-
ture. Psychopaths don�t generally eat their victims.
Yes, in extreme cases of psychopathy, the entire cat and
mouse dynamic
wherein it was assumed that certain powers of the victim could
be assimilated by eating some particular part of them. But in
ordinary life, psychopaths don�t normally go all the way, so to
say. This causes us to look at the cat and mouse scenario again
with different eyes. Now we ask: is it too simplistic to think
that the innocent cat is merely entertained by the mouse run-
ning about and frantically trying to escape? Is there something
more to this dynamic than meets the eye? Is there something
more than being �entertained� by the antics of the mouse trying
to flee? After all, in terms of evolution, why would such behav-
ior be hard-wired into the cat? Is the mouse tastier because of
the chemicals of fear that flood his little body? Is a mouse fro-
zen with terror more of a �gourmet� meal?
This suggests that we ought to revisit our ideas about psy-
chopaths with a slightly different perspective. One thing we do
know is this: many people who experience interactions with
psychopaths and narcissists report feeling �drained� and con-
fused and often subsequently experience deteriorating health.
Does this mean that part of the dynamic, part of the explanation
for why psychopaths will pursue �love relationships� and
�friendships� that ostensibly can result in no observable mate-
rial gain, is because there is an actual energy consumption?
We do not know the answer to this question. We observe,
we theorize, we speculate and hypothesize. But in the end, only
the individual victim can determine what they have lost in the
dynamic - and it is often far more than material goods. In a
certain sense, it seems that psychopaths are soul eaters or �Psy-
chophagic�.
In the past several years, there are many more psychologists
and psychiatrists and other mental health workers beginning to
look at these issues in new ways in response to the questions
about the state of our world and the possibility that there is
24
EDITOR�S PREFACE
some essential difference between such individuals as George
W. Bush and many so-called Neocons, and the rest of us.
Dr. Stout�s book has one of the longest explanations as to
why none of her examples resemble any actual persons that I
have ever read. And then, in a very early chapter, she describes
a �composite� case where the subject spent his childhood blow-
ing up frogs with fire-crackers. It is widely known that George
W. Bush did this, so one naturally wonders...
In any event, even without Dr. Stout�s work, at the time we
were studying the matter, we realized that what we were learn-
ing was very important to everyone because as the data was
assembled, we saw that the clues, the profiles, revealed that the
issues we were facing were faced by everyone at one time or
another, to one extent or another. We also began to realize that
the profiles that emerged also describe rather accurately many
individuals who seek positions of power in fields of authority,
most particularly politics and commerce. That�s really not so
surprising an idea, but it honestly hadn�t occurred to us until
we saw the patterns and recognized them in the behaviors of
numerous historical figures and, lately, including George W.
Bush and members of his administration.
Current day statistics tell us that there are more psychologi-
cally sick people than healthy ones. If you take a sampling of
individuals in any given field, you are likely to find that a sig-
nificant number of them display pathological symptoms to one
extent or another. Politics is no exception, and, by its very na-
ture, would tend to attract more of the pathological �dominator
types� than other fields. That is only logical, and we began to
realize that it was not only logical, it was horrifyingly accurate;
horrifying because pathology among people in power can have
disastrous effects on all of the people under the control of such
pathological individuals. And so, we decided to write about this
subject and publish it on the Internet.
As the material went up, letters from our readers began to
come in thanking us for putting a name to what was happening
to them in their personal lives as well as helping them to under-
stand what was happening in a world that seems to have gone
completely mad. We began to think that it was an epidemic,
and, in a certain sense, we were right. If an individual with a
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
25
highly contagious illness works in a job that puts them in con-
tact with the public, an epidemic is the result. In the same way,
if an individual in a position of political power is a psychopath,
he or she can create an epidemic of psychopathology in people
who are not, essentially, psychopathic. Our ideas along this line
were soon to receive confirmation from an unexpected source:
Andrew !obaczewski, the author of the book you are about to
read. I received an email as follows:
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen.
I have got your Special Research Project on psychopathy
by my computer. You are doing a most important and valu-
able work for the future of nations.[�]
I am a very aged clinical psychologist. Forty years ago I
took part in a secret investigation of the real nature and psy-
chopathology of the macro-social phenomenon called �Com-
munism�. The other researchers were the scientists of the pre-
vious generation who are now passed away.
The profound study of the nature of psychopathy, which
played the essential and inspirational part in this macro-social
psychopathologic phenomenon, and distinguishing it from
other mental anomalies, appeared to be the necessary prepara-
tion for understanding the entire nature of the phenomenon.
The large part of the work, you are doing now, was done in
those times. �
I am able to provide you with a most valuable scientific
document, useful for your purposes. It is my book �Political
Ponerology � A science on the nature of evil adjusted for po-
litical purposes�. You may also find copy of this book in the
Library of Congress and in some university and public librar-
ies in the USA.
Be so kind and contact me so that I may mail a copy to
you.
Very truly yours!
Andrew M. !obaczewski
I promptly wrote a reply saying yes, I would very much like
to read his book. A couple of weeks later the manuscript ar-
rived in the mail.
26
EDITOR�S PREFACE
As I read, I realized that what I was holding in my hand was
essentially a chronicle of a descent into hell, transformation,
and triumphant return to the world with knowledge of that hell
that was priceless for the rest of us, particularly in this day and
time when it seems evident that a similar hell is enveloping the
planet. The risks that were taken by the group of scientists that
did the research on which this book is based are beyond the
comprehension of most of us.
Many of them were young, just starting in their careers
when the Nazis began to stride in their hundred league jack-
boots across Europe. These researchers lived through that, and
then when the Nazis were driven out and replaced by the
Communists under the heel of Stalin, they faced years of op-
pression the likes of which those of us today who are choosing
to take a stand against the Bush Reich cannot even imagine.
But, based on the syndrome that describes the onset of the dis-
ease, it seems that the United States, in particular, and perhaps
the entire world, will soon enter into �bad times� of such horror
and despair that the Holocaust of World War II will seem like
just a practice run.
And so, since they were there, and they lived through it and
brought back information to the rest of us, it may well save our
lives to have a map to guide us in the falling darkness.
Laura Knight-Jadczyk
AUTHOR�S FOREWORD
In presenting my honored readers with this volume, which I
generally worked on during the early hours before leaving to
make a difficult living, I would first like to apologize for the
defects which are the result of anomalous circumstances. I
readily admit that these lacunae should be filled, time-
consuming as that may be, because the facts on which this
book are based are urgently needed; through no fault of the
author�s, these data have come too late.
The reader is entitled to an explanation of the long history
and circumstances under which this work was compiled, not
just of the content itself. This is, in fact, the third manuscript I
have created on this same subject. I threw the first manuscript
into a central-heating furnace, having been warned just in time
about an official search, which took place minutes later. I sent
the second draft to a Church dignitary at the Vatican by means
of an American tourist and was absolutely unable to obtain any
kind of information about the fate of the parcel once it was left
with him.
This long history of subject-matter elaboration made work
on the third version even more laborious. Prior paragraphs and
former phrases from one or both of the first drafts haunt the
writer�s mind and make proper planning of the content more
difficult.
The two lost drafts were written in very convoluted lan-
guage for the benefit of specialists with the necessary back-
ground, particularly in the field of psychopathology. The irre-
trievable disappearance of the second version also meant the
28
AUTHOR�S FOREWORD
loss of the overwhelming majority of statistical data and facts
which would have been so valuable and conclusive for special-
ists in the field. Several analyses of individual cases were also
lost.
The present version contains only such statistical data that
had been memorized due to frequent use, or that could be re-
constructed with satisfactory precision. I also added those data,
particularly the more accessible ones from the field of psycho-
pathology, which I considered essential in presenting this sub-
ject to readers with a good general education, and especially to
representatives of the social and political sciences and to politi-
cians. I also nurse the hope that this work may reach a wider
audience and make available some useful scientific data which
may serve as a basis for comprehension of the contemporary
world and its history. It may also make it easier for readers to
understand themselves, their neighbors, and other nations of
the world.
Who produced the knowledge and performed the work
summarized within the pages of this book? It was a joint en-
deavor consisting of not only my efforts, but also representing
the results of many researchers, some of them not known to the
author. The situational genesis of this book makes it virtually
impossible to separate the accomplishments and give proper
credit to every individual for his or her efforts.
I worked in Poland far away from active political and cul-
tural centers for many years. That is where I undertook a series
of detailed tests and observations which were to be combined
with the resulting generalizations of various other experiment-
ers in order to produce an overall introduction for an under-
standing of the macrosocial phenomenon surrounding us. The
name of the person who was expected to produce the final syn-
thesis was a secret, as was understandable and necessary given
the time and the situation. I would very occasionally receive
anonymous summaries of the results of tests made by other
researchers in Poland and Hungary; a few data were published,
as they raised no suspicions that a specialized work was being
compiled, and these data could still be located today.
The expected synthesis of this research did not occur. All of
my contacts became inoperative as a result of the wave of post-
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
29
Stalin repression and secret arrests of researchers in the early
sixties. The remaining scientific data in my possession were
very incomplete, albeit priceless in value. It took many years of
lonely work to weld these fragments into a coherent whole,
filling the lacunae with my own experience and research.
My research on essential psychopathy and its exceptional
role in the macrosocial phenomenon, was conducted concur-
rently with, or shortly after, that of others. Their conclusions
reached me later and confirmed my own. The most characteris-
tic item in my work is the general concept for a new scientific
discipline named �ponerology� . The reader will also find other
fragments of information based on my own research. I also
effected an overall synthesis to the best of my ability.
As the author of the final work, I hereby express my deep
respect for all those who initiated the research and continued to
conduct it at the risk of their careers, health and lives. I pay
homage to those who paid the price through suffering or death.
May this work constitute some compensation for their sacri-
fices, regardless of where they may be today. Times more con-
ducive to an understanding of this material may recall their
names, both those which I never knew and those I have since
forgotten.
New York, N.Y. August 1984.
PREFACE
TO THE RED PILL PRESS EDITION
Twenty years have passed since the writing of this book. I
became a very old man. One day, my computer put me in con-
tact with the Scientists of the Quantum Future Group who con-
vinced me that the time had matured for my book to become
useful and to serve the future of humanity. They took the trou-
ble of publishing it.
The passing of these last twenty years has been fraught with
political occurrences. Our world has changed in essential ways
due to the natural laws of the phenomenon described in this
book. Knowledge has increased dramatically thanks to the
efforts of the people of good will. Nonetheless, our world is not
yet restored to good health; and the remainders of the great
disease are still active. The illness has reappeared connected to
another ideology. The laws of the genesis of evil are working
in millions of individual cases of individuals and families. The
political phenomena threatening peace are confronted by mili-
tary force. The small-scale occurrences are condemned or re-
strained by the word of moral science. The result is that great
efforts of the past, undertaken without the support of objective
natural knowledge about the very nature of evil, have been
insufficient and dangerous. All these efforts have been made
without taking into account that great maxim of medicine that
serves as a motto in this book:
The end of Communist subjugation has come at a high price,
*
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
31
and those nations that now think they are free will soon find
they are paying still.
The question must be asked: why was this work, produced
by eminent researchers and the author for just this purpose � to
prevent the spread of the disease of macrosocial evil, not able
to perform its function?
This is a long story.
I had been recognized as the bearer of this �dangerous� sci-
ence in Austria by a �friendly� physician who then was re-
vealed to be an agent of Communist Secret Services. All the
Red nodes and networks in New York were mobilized to orga-
nize a counteraction against the information contained in this
book being made publicly and widely available. It was terrible
to learn that the overt system of suppression I had so recently
escaped was just as prevalent, though more covert, in the
United States. It was demoralizing to see how the system of
conscious and unconscious pawns worked; to watch people
who trusted their conscious �friends� � unknown to them as
Communist agents - and performed the insinuated activities
against me with such patriotic zeal. As a result of these activi-
ties, I was refused any assistance, and to survive, I had to take
work as a labourer when already of an age to retire. My health
collapsed and two years were lost.
I learned also that I was not the first such emissary who had
come to America bringing similar knowledge; I was rather the
third one; the other two had been similarly dealt with.
In spite of all these circumstances, I persevered and the
book was finally written in 1984 and carefully translated into
English. It was esteemed by those who read it as being �very
informative�, but it was not published. For the psychological
editors it was �too political�; for political editors, it contained
too much psychology and psychopathology. In some cases, the
�editorial deadline was already closed�. Gradually, it became
clear that the book did not pass the �insider�s� inspections.
The time for this book�s major political value is not over;
it�s scientific essence remains permanently valuable and inspi-
rational. It may serve a great purpose in coming times, when
properly adjusted and expanded. Further investigations in these
areas may yield a new understanding of human problems that
32
PREFACE
have plagued humanity for millennia. Ponerology may buttress
the centuries old moral sciencea by a modern natural approach.
Thus this work may contribute to progress toward a universal
peace.
That is the reason that I laboured to retype on my computer
the whole already fading manuscript after twenty years. No
essential changes have been introduced, and it is presented as it
was written in New York all those many years ago. So let it
remain as a document of a very dangerous work of eminent
scientists and myself, undertaken in dark and tragic times under
impossible conditions; still a piece of good science.
The author�s desire is to place this work in the hands of
those who are capable of taking this burden over and progress-
ing with the theoretical research in ponerology, enrich it with
detailed data to replace that which has been lost, and put it in
praxis for various valuable purposes it may serve � for the good
of individual people and for all nations.
I am thankful to Madame Laura Knight-Jadczyk and Profes-
sor Arkadiusz Jadczyk, and their Friends for their heartfelt
encouragement, understanding, and their labour in bringing my
old work to be published.
Rzesz�w � Poland, December 2005
CHAPTER IV
PONEROLOGY
Ever since ancient times, philosophers and religious think-
ers representing various attitudes in different cultures have
been searching for the truth regarding moral values, attempting
to find criteria for what is right, and what constitutes good ad-
vice. They have described the virtues of human character at
length and suggested these be acquired. They have created a
heritage containing centuries of experience and reflection. In
spite of the obvious differences of originating cultures and
attitudes, even though they worked in widely divergent times
and places, the similarity, or complementary nature, of the
conclusions reached by famous ancient philosophers are strik-
ing. It demonstrates that whatever is valuable is conditioned
and caused by the laws of nature acting upon the personalities
of both individual human beings and collective societies.
It is equally thought-provoking to see how relatively little
has been said about the opposite side of the coin; the nature,
causes, and genesis of evil. These matters are usually cloaked
amount of secrecy. Such a state of affairs can be partially as-
cribed to the social conditions and historical circumstances
under which these thinkers worked; their modus operandi may
have been dictated at least in part by personal fate, inherited
traditions, or even prudishness. After all, justice and virtue are
the opposites of force and perversity; the same applies to truth-
fulness vs. mendacity, similarly like health is the opposite of an
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
97
illness. It is also possible that whatever they thought or said
about the true nature of evil was later expunged and hidden by
those very forces they sought to expose.
The character and genesis of evil thus remained hidden in
discreet shadows, leaving it to literature to deal with the subject
in highly expressive language. But, expressive though the liter-
ary language might be, it has never reached the primeval source
of the phenomena. A certain cognitive space remained as an
uninvestigated thicket of moral questions which resist under-
standing and philosophical generalizations.
Present-day philosophers developing meta-ethics are trying
to push on along the elastic space leading to an analysis of the
language of ethics, contributing bits and pieces toward elimi-
nating the imperfections and habits of natural conceptual lan-
guage. Penetrating this ever-mysterious nucleus is highly
tempting to a scientist.
At the same time, active practitioners in social life and nor-
mal people searching for their way are significantly condi-
tioned by their trust in certain authorities. Eternal temptations
such as trivializing insufficiently-proven moral values or dis-
loyally taking advantage of naive human respect for them, find
no adequate counterweight within a rational understanding of
reality.
If physicians behaved like ethicists, i.e. relegated to the
shadow of their personal experience relatively un-esthetic dis-
ease phenomena because they were primarily interested in
studying questions of physical and mental hygiene, there would
be no such thing as modern medicine. Even the roots of this
health-maintenance science would be hidden in similar shad-
ows. In spite of the fact that the theory of hygiene has been
linked to medicine since its ancient beginnings, physicians
were correct in their emphasis upon studying disease above all.
They risked their own health and made sacrifices in order to
discover the causes and biological properties of illnesses and,
afterwards, to understand the patho-dynamics of the courses of
these illnesses. A comprehension of the nature of a disease, and
the course it runs, after all, enables the proper curative means
to be elaborated.
98
PONEROLOGY
While studying an organisms� ability to fight off disease,
scientists invented vaccination, which allows organisms to
become resistant to an illness without passing through it in its
full-blown manifestation. Thanks to this, medicine conquers
and prevents phenomena which, in its scope of activity, are
considered a type of evil.
The question thus arises: could some analogous
kinds of evil scourging human individuals, families, and socie-
ties, in spite of the fact that they appear even more insulting to
our moral feelings than do diseases? Experience has taught the
author that evil is similar to disease in nature, although possibly
more complex and elusive to our understanding. Its genesis
reveals many factors, pathological, especially psychopathologi-
cal, in character, whose essence medicine and psychology have
already studied, or whose understanding demands further in-
vestigation in these realms.
Parallel to the traditional approach, problems commonly
perceived to be moral may also be treated on the basis of data
provided by biology, medicine, and psychology, as factors of
this kind are simultaneously present in the question as a whole.
Experience teaches us that a comprehension of the essence and
genesis of evil generally makes use of data from these areas.
Philosophical reflection alone is insufficient. Philosophical
thought may have engendered all the scientific disciplines, but
the other scientific disciplines did not mature until they became
independent, based on detailed data and a relationship to other
disciplines supplying such data.
Encouraged by the often �coincidental� discovery of these
naturalistic aspects of evil, the author has imitated the method-
ology of medicine; a clinical psychologist and medical co-
worker by profession, he had such tendencies anyway. As is
the case with physicians and disease, he took the risks of close
contact with evil and suffered the consequences. His purpose
was to ascertain the possibilities of understanding the nature of
evil, its etiological factors and to track its pathodynamics.
The developments of biology, medicine, and psychology
opened so many avenues that the above mentioned behavior
turned out to be not only feasible, but exceptionally fertile.
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
99
Personal experience and refined methods in clinical psychology
permitted reaching ever more accurate conclusions.
There was a major difficulty: insufficient data, especially in
the area of the science of psychopathies. This problem had to
be overcome based on my own investigations. This insuffi-
ciency was caused by neglect of these areas, theoretical diffi-
culties facing researchers, and the unpopular nature of these
problems. This work in general, and this chapter in particular,
contain references to research conclusions the author was either
prevented from publishing or unwilling to publish for reasons
of personal safety. Sadly, it is lost now and age prevents any
attempts at recovery. It is hoped that my descriptions, observa-
tions, and experience, here condensed from memory, will pro-
vide a platform for a new effort to produce the data needed to
confirm again what was confirmed then.
Nevertheless, based on the work of myself and others in that
past tragic time, a new discipline arose that became our beacon;
two Greek philologists - monks baptized it �PONEROLOGY�
from the Greek
evil was called, correspondingly, �ponerogenesis�. I hope that
these modest beginnings will grow so as to enable us to over-
come evil through an understanding of its nature, causes, and
development.
~~~
From among 5000 psychotic, neurotic, and healthy patients,
the author selected 384 adults who behaved in a manner which
had seriously hurt others. They came from all circles of Polish
society, but mostly from a large industrial center characterized
by poor working conditions and substantial air pollution. They
represented various moral, social, and political attitudes. Some
30 of them had been subjected to penal measures which were
often excessively harsh. Once freed from jail or other penalty,
these people attempted to readapt to social life, which made
them tend to be sincere in speaking to me - the psychologist.
Others had escaped punishment; still others had hurt their fel-
lows in a manner which does not qualify for judicial treatment
under legal theory or practice. Some were protected by a politi-
cal system which is in itself a ponerogenic derivate. The author
100
PONEROLOGY
had the further advantage of speaking to persons whose neuro-
ses were caused by some abuse they had experienced.
All the above-mentioned people were given psychological
tests and subjected to detailed anamnesis33 so as to determine
their overall mental skills, thereby either excluding or detecting
possible brain tissue lesions and evaluating them in relation to
one another.34 Other methods were also used in accordance
with the patient�s actual needs in order to create a sufficiently
accurate picture of the psychological condition. In most of
these cases the author had access to the results of medical ex-
aminations and laboratory tests performed in medical facilities.
A psychologist can glean many valuable observations, such
as those used in this work, when he himself is subjected to
abuse, as long as cognitive interest overcomes his natural hu-
man emotional reactions. If not, he must utilize his professional
skills to rescue himself first. The author never lacked for such
opportunities since his unhappy country is replete with exam-
ples of human injustice to which he was, himself, subjected on
numerous occasions.
Analysis of their personalities and the genesis of their be-
havior revealed that only 14 to 16 per cent of the 384 persons
who hurt others
tors which would have influenced their behavior. Regarding
this statistic, it should be pointed out that a psychologist�s non-
discovery of such factors does not prove their non-existence. In
a significant part of this group of cases, the lack of proof was
rather the result of insufficient interview possibilities, imper-
fection of testing methods, and deficiency of skills on the part
of the tester. Thus, natural reality appeared different in princi-
ple from everyday attitudes, which interpret evil in a moraliz-
ing way, and from juridical practices, which only in a small
33 Medical history: the case history of a medical patient as recalled by the
patient. [Editor�s note.]
34 My basic test battery resembled more those used in Great Britain as op-
posed to the American versions. I used in addition two tests: one was an old
British performance test restandarized for clinical purposes. The other was
completely elaborated by myself. Unfortunately, when I was expelled from
Poland, it made it impossible for me to transfering any of my many results to
other psychologists because I was deprived of all my research papers in
addition to almost everything else.
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
101
part of the cases adjudicate a commutation of a sentence by
taking the criminal�s pathological characteristics into account.
We may often reason by means of the exclusionary hy-
pothesis, e.g. pondering what would happen if the genesis of a
particular wrongdoing did
nent. We then usually reach the conclusion that the deed would
not have taken place either since the pathological factor sealed
its occurrence or became an indispensable component in its
origin.
The hypothesis thus suggests itself that such factors are
commonly active in the genesis of evil. The conviction that
pathological factors generally participate in ponerogenic proc-
esses appears even more likely if we also take into account the
conviction of many scholars in ethics that evil in this world
represents a kind of web or continuum of
Within this interlocking structure, one kind of evil feeds and
opens doors for others regardless of any individual or doctrinal
motivations. It does not respect the boundaries of individual
cases, social groups, and nations. Since pathological factors are
present within the synthesis of most instances of evil, they are
also present in this continuum.
Further deliberations on the observations thus obtained con-
sidered only a
especially those which did not generate doubt by colliding with
natural moral attitudes, and those which did not reveal practical
difficulties for further analysis (such as absence of further con-
tact with the patient). The statistical approach furnished only
general guidelines. Intuitive penetration into each individual
problem, and a similar synthesis of the whole, proved the most
productive method in this area.
The role of pathological factors in a process of the origin of
evil can be played by any known, or not yet sufficiently re-
searched, psychopathological phenomenon, and also by some
pathological matters medical practice does not include within
psychopathology. However, their activity in a ponerogenic
process is dependent on features
erogenic activity is reached by pathological factors at an inten-
sity which generally permits detection with the help of clinical
102
PONEROLOGY
methods, although they are
covertly limit the bearer�s ability to control his conduct, or
have an effect upon other persons, traumatizing their psyches,
fascinating them, causing their personalities to develop im-
properly, or inciting vindictive emotions or a lust for punishing.
A moralistic interpretation of such agents and their legacy
works against humankind�s ability to see the causes of evil and
to utilize common sense to combat it. This is why identifying
such pathological factors and revealing their activities can so
often stifle their ponerogenic functions.
In the process of the origin of evil, pathological factors can
act from within an individual who has committed a hurtful act;
such activity is relatively easily acknowledged by public opin-
ion and the courts. Consideration is given much less frequently
to how outside influences emitted by their carriers act upon
individuals or groups. Such influences, however, play a sub-
stantial role in the overall genesis of evil. In order for such
influence to be active, the pathological characteristic in ques-
tion must be interpreted in a moralistic manner, i.e. differently
from its true nature. There are many possibilities for such ac-
tivities. For the moment, let us indicate the most damaging.
Every person in the span of his life, and particularly during
childhood and youth, assimilates psychological material from
others through mental resonance, identification, imitation, and
other communicative means, thereupon transforming it to build
his own personality and world view. If such material is con-
taminated by pathological factors and deformities, personality
development shall also be deformed. The product will be a
person unable to understand correctly either himself and others,
normal human relations and morals; he develops into a person
who commits evil acts with a poor feeling of being faulty. Is he
really at fault?
Man�s age-old, familiar moral weaknesses and intelligence
deficiencies, proper reasoning, and knowledge combine with
the activity of various pathological factors to create a complex
network of causation which frequently contains feedback rela-
tionships or closed causal structures. Practically speaking,
cause and effect are often widely separated in time, which
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
103
makes it more difficult to track the links. If our scope of obser-
vation is expansive enough, the ponerogenic processes are
reminiscent of complex chemical synthesis, wherein modifying
a single factor causes the entire process to change. Botanists
are aware of the law of the minimum, wherein plant growth is
limited by contents of the component which is in deficiency in
the soil. Similarly, eliminating (or at least limiting) the activity
of one of the above-mentioned factors or deficiencies should
cause a corresponding reduction in the entire process of the
genesis of evil.
For centuries, moralists have been advising us to develop
ethics and human values; they have been searching for the
proper intellectual criteria. They have also respected correct-
ness of reasoning, whose value in this area is unquestionable.
In spite of all their efforts, however, they have been
tions.
By no means does a ponerologist wish to belittle the role of
moral values and knowledge in this area; rather, he wants to
buttress it with hitherto-underrated scientific knowledge in
order to round out the picture as a whole and adapt it better to
reality, thereby making more effective action possible in moral,
psychological, social, and political practice.
This new discipline is thus primarily interested in the role of
pathological factors in the origin of evil, especially since con-
scious control and monitoring of them on the scientific, social,
and individual levels could effectively stifle or disarm these
processes. Something which has been impossible for centuries
is now feasible in practice thanks to progress in naturalistic
cognizance. Methodological refinements are dependent upon
further progress in detailed data and upon the conviction that
such behavior is valuable.
For instance, in the course of psychotherapy, we may in-
form a patient that in the genesis of his personality and behav-
ior we find the results of influences from some person who
revealed psychopathological characteristics. We thereby carry
out an intervention that is painful for the patient, which de-
mands we proceed with tact and skill. As a result of this inter-
104
PONEROLOGY
action, however, the patient develops a kind of self-analysis
which will liberate him from the results of these influences and
enable him to develop some critical distance in dealing with
other factors of a similar nature. Rehabilitation will depend on
improving his ability to understand himself and others. Thanks
to this, he will be able to overcome his internal and interper-
sonal difficulties more easily and to avoid mistakes which hurt
him and his immediate environment.
Pathological Factors
Let us now attempt a concise description of some examples
of those pathological factors which have proved to be the most
active in ponerogenic processes. Selection of these examples
resulted from the author�s own experience, instead of exhaus-
tive statistical tallies, and may thus differ from other special-
ists� evaluations. Much depends on particular situation. A small
amount of statistical data concerning these phenomena has
been borrowed from other works or are approximate evalua-
tions elaborated under conditions which did not allow the entire
front of research to be developed. Again, may the reader please
consider the conditions under which the author worked, and the
time and place.
Mention should also be made of some historical figures,
people whose pathological characteristics contributed to the
process of the genesis of evil on a large social scale, imprinting
their mark upon the fate of nations. It is not an easy task to
establish diagnosis for people whose psychological anomalies
and diseases died together with them. The results of such clini-
cal analyses are open to question even by persons lacking
knowledge or experience in this area, only because recognizing
such a state of mind does not correspond to their historical or
literary way of thought. While this is done on the basis of the
legacy of natural and often moralizing language, I can only
assert that I always based my findings on comparisons of data
acquired through numerous observations I made by studying
many similar patients with the help of the objective methods of
contemporary clinical psychology. I took the critical approach
herein as far as possible. The opinions of specialists elaborated
in a similar way nevertheless remain valuable.
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
105
Acquired Deviations
Brain tissue is very limited in its regenerative ability. If it is
damaged and the change subsequently heals, a process of reha-
bilitation can take place wherein the neighboring healthy tissue
takes over the function of the damaged portion. This substitu-
tion is never quite perfect; thus some deficits in skill and proper
psychological processes can be detected in even cases of very
small damage by using the appropriate tests. Specialists are
aware of the variegated causes for the origin of such damage,
including trauma and infections. We should point out here that
the psychological results of such changes, as we can observe
many years later, are more heavily dependent upon the
of the damage itself in the brain mass, whether on the surface
or within, than they are upon the cause which brought them
about. The quality of these consequences also depends upon
logical factors of ponerogenic processes, perinatal or early
infant damages have more active results than damages which
occurred later.
In societies with highly developed medical care, we find
among the lower grades of elementary school (when tests can
be applied), that 5 to 7 per cent of children have suffered brain
tissue lesions which cause certain academic or behavioral diffi-
culties. This percentage increases with age. Modern medical
care has contributed to a quantitative decrease in such phenom-
ena, but in certain relatively uncivilized countries and during
historical times, indications of difficulties caused by such
changes are and have been more frequent.
Epilepsy and its many variations constitute the oldest
known results of such lesions; it is observed in a relatively
small number of persons suffering such damage. Researchers in
these matters are more or less unanimous in believing that
Julius Caesar, and then later Napoleon Bonaparte, had epileptic
seizures. Those were probably instances of vegetative epilepsy
caused by lesions lying deep within the brain, near the vegeta-
tive centers. This variety does not cause subsequent dementia.
The extent to which these hidden ailments had negative effects
upon their characters and historical decision-making, or played
a ponerogenic role, can be the subject of a separate study and
106
PONEROLOGY
evaluation of great interest. In most cases, however, epilepsy is
an
tor.
In a much larger segment of the bearers of brain tissue dam-
age, the
course of time. It takes on variegated mental pictures, depend-
ing upon the properties and localization of these changes, their
time of origin, and also the life conditions of the individual
after their occurrence. We will call such character disorders �
role as pathological agents in the processes of the genesis of
evil. Let us thus characterize these most active ones.
Characteropathies reveal a certain similar quality, if the
clinical picture is not dimmed by the coexistence of other men-
tal anomalies (usually inherited), which sometimes occur in
practice. Undamaged brain tissue retains our species� natural
psychological properties. This is particularly evident in instinc-
tive and affective responses, which are natural, albeit often
insufficiently controlled. The experience of people with such
anomalies grows in the medium of the normal human world to
which they belong by nature. Thus their different way of think-
ing, their emotional violence, and their egotism find relatively
easy entry into other people�s minds and are perceived within
the categories of the everyday world. Such behavior on the part
of persons with such character disorders traumatizes the minds
and feelings of normal people, gradually diminishing the ability
of the normal person to use their common sense. In spite of
their resistance, victims of the characteropath become used to
the rigid habits of pathological thinking and experiencing. If
the victims are young people, the result is that the personality
suffers abnormal development leading to its malformation.
Characteropaths and their victims thus represent pathological,
ponerogenic factors which, by their covert activity, easily en-
gender new phases in the eternal genesis of evil, opening the
door to a later activation of other factors which thereupon take
over the main role.
A relatively well-documented example of such an influence
of a characteropathic personality on a macrosocial scale is the
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
107
last German emperor, Wilhelm II.35 He was subjected to brain
trauma at birth. During and after his entire reign, his physical
and psychological handicap was hidden from public knowl-
edge. The motor abilities of the upper left portion of his body
were handicapped. As a boy, he had difficulty learning gram-
mar, geometry, and drawing, which constitute the typical triad
of academic difficulties caused by minor brain lesions. He de-
veloped a personality with infantile features and insufficient
control over his emotions, and also a somewhat paranoid way
of thinking which easily sidestepped the heart of some impor-
tant issues in the process of dodging problems.
Militaristic poses and a general�s uniform overcompensated
for his feelings of inferiority and effectively cloaked his short-
comings. Politically, his insufficient control of emotions and
factors of personal rancor came into view. The old Iron Chan-
cellor had to go, that cunning and ruthless politician who had
been loyal to the monarchy and had built up Prussian power.
After all, he was too knowledgeable about the prince�s defects
and had worked against his coronation. A similar fate met other
overly critical people, who were replaced by persons with
lesser brains, more subservience, and, sometimes, discreet psy-
chological deviations.
Since the common people are prone to identify with the em-
peror, and through the emperor, with a system of government,
the characteropathic material emanating from the Kaiser re-
sulted in many Germans being progressively deprived of their
ability to use their common sense. An entire generation grew
up with psychological deformities regarding feeling and under-
standing moral, psychological, social and political realities. It is
35 The eldest grandchild of Queen Victoria, Wilhelm symbolized his era and
the nouveaux riche aspects of the German empire. The kaiser suffered from a
birth defect that left his left arm withered and useless. It was claimed that he
overcame this handicap, but the effort to do so left its mark, and despite
efforts of his parents to give him a liberal education, the prince became im-
bued with religious mysticism, militarism, anti-semitism, the glorification of
power politics. Some have claimed that his personality displayed elements of
a narcissistic personality disorder. Bombastic, vain, insensitive, and pos-
sessed with grandiose notions of divine right rule, his personality traits paral-
leled those of the new Germany: strong, but off balance; vain, but insecure;
intelligent, but narrow; self-centered yet longing for acceptance. [Editor�s
note.]
108
PONEROLOGY
extremely typical that in many German families having a
member who was psychologically not quite normal, it became
a matter of honor (even excusing nefarious conduct) to hide
this fact from public opinion, and even from the awareness of
close friends and relatives. Large portions of German society
ingested psychopathological material, together with that unreal-
istic way of thinking wherein slogans take on the power of
arguments and real data are subjected to subconscious selec-
tion.
This occurred during a time when a wave of hysteria was
growing throughout Europe, including a tendency for emotions
to dominate and for human behavior to contain an element of
histrionics. How individual sober thought can be terrorized by
a behavior colored with such material was evidenced particu-
larly by women. This progressively took over three empires
and other countries on the mainland.
To what extent did Wilhelm II contribute to this, along with
two other emperors whose minds also were incapable of taking
in the actual facts of history and government? To what extent
were they themselves influenced by an intensification of hys-
teria during their reigns? That would make an interesting topic
of discussion among historians and ponerologists.
International tensions increased; Archduke Ferdinand was
assassinated in Sarajevo. Unfortunately, neither the Kaiser nor
any other governmental authority in his country were in pos-
session of their reason. What dominated the subsequent events
was Wilhelm�s emotional attitude and the stereotypes of
thought and action inherited from the past. War broke out.
General war plans that had been prepared earlier, and which
had lost their relevance under the new conditions, unfolded
more like military maneuvers. Even those historians familiar
with the genesis and character of the Prussian state, including
its ideological subjugation of individuals to the authority of
king and emperor, and its tradition of bloody expansionism,
intuit that these situations contained some activity of an
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
109
historical causality.36
Many thoughtful persons keep asking the same anxious
question: how could the German nation have chosen for a Fue-
hrer a clownish psychopath who made no bones about his
pathological vision of superman rule? Under his leadership,
Germany then unleashed a second criminal and politically ab-
surd war. During the second half of this war, highly-trained
army officers honorably performed inhuman orders, senseless
from the political and military point of view, issued by a man
whose psychological state corresponded to the routine criteria
for being forcibly committed to a psychiatric hospital.
Any attempt to explain the things that occurred during the
first half of our century by means of categories generally ac-
cepted in historical thought leaves behind a nagging feeling of
inadequacy. Only a ponerological approach can compensate for
this deficit in our comprehension, as it does justice to the role
of various pathological factors in the genesis of evil at every
social level.
The German nation, fed for a generation on pathologically
altered psychological material, fell into a state comparable to
what we see in certain individuals raised by persons who are
both characteropathic and hysterical. Psychologists know from
experience how often such people then let themselves commit
acts which seriously hurt others. A psychotherapist needs a
good deal of persistent work, skill, and prudence in order to
enable such a person to regain his ability to comprehend psy-
chological problems with more naturalistic realism and to util-
ize his healthy critical faculties in relation to his own behavior.
The Germans inflicted and suffered enormous damage and
pain during the first World War; they thus felt no substantial
guilt and even thought that they were the ones who had been
wronged. This is not surprising as they were behaving in ac-
cordance with their customary habit, without being aware of its
pathological causes. The need for this pathological state to be
concealed in heroic garb after a war in order to avoid bitter
36 An interesting comparison is the regime of George W. Bush and the Neo-
conservatives. It follows, almost point by point, the history of the Kaiser in
Germany. [Editor�s note.]
110
PONEROLOGY
disintegration became all too common. A mysterious craving
arose, as if the social organism had managed to become ad-
dicted to some drug. The hunger was for more pathologically
modified psychological material, a phenomenon known to psy-
chotherapeutic experience. This hunger could only be satisfied
by another similarly pathological personality and system of
government. A characteropathic personality opened the door
for leadership by a psychopathic individual. We shall return
later in our deliberations to this pathological personality se-
quence, as it appears a general regularity in ponerogenic proc-
esses.
A ponerological approach facilitates our understanding of a
person who succumbs to the influence of a characteropathic
personality, as well as comprehension of macrosocial phenom-
ena caused by the contribution of such factors. Unfortunately,
relatively few such individuals can be served by appropriate
psychotherapy. Such behavior cannot be ascribed to nations
proudly defending their sovereignty without extreme reactions.
However, we may consider the solution of such problems by
means of the proper knowledge as a vision for the future.
~~~
noid behavior for people to be capable of relatively correct
reasoning and discussion as long as the conversation involves
minor differences of opinion. This stops abruptly when the
partner�s arguments begin to undermine their overvalued ideas,
crush their long-held stereotypes of reasoning, or forces them
to accept a conclusion they had subconsciously rejected before.
Such a stimulus unleashes upon the partner a torrent of pseudo-
logical, largely paramoralistic, often insulting utterances which
always contain some degree of suggestion.
Utterances like these inspire aversion among cultivated and
logical people, who then tend to avoid the paranoid types.
However, the power of the paranoid lies in the fact that they
easily enslave less critical minds, e.g. people with other kinds
of psychological deficiencies, who have been victims of the
egotistical influence of individuals with character disorders,
and, in particular, a large segment of young people.
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
111
A proletarian may perceive this power to enslave to be a
kind of victory over higher-class people and thus take the para-
noid person�s side. However, this is not the normal reaction
among the common people, where perception of psychological
reality occurs no less often than among intellectuals.
In sum then, the response of accepting paranoid argumenta-
tion is qualitatively more frequent in reverse proportion to the
civilization level of the community in question, although it
never approaches the majority. Nevertheless, paranoid indi-
viduals become aware of their enslaving influence through
experience and attempt to take advantage of it in a pathologi-
cally egotistic manner.
We know today that the psychological mechanism of para-
noid phenomena is twofold: one is caused by damage to the
brain tissue, the other is functional or behavioral. Within the
above-mentioned process of rehabilitation, any brain-tissue
lesion causes a certain slackening of accurate thinking and, as a
consequence, of the personality structure. Most typical are
those cases caused by an aggression in the diencephalon37 by
various pathological factors, resulting in its permanently de-
creased tonal ability, and similarly of the tonus of inhibition in
the brain cortex. Particularly during sleepless nights, runaway
thoughts give rise to a paranoid changed view of human reality,
as well as to ideas which can be either gently naive or violently
revolutionary. Let us call this kind
In persons free of brain tissue lesions, such phenomena
most frequently occur as a result of being reared by people with
paranoid characteropathia, along with the psychological terror
of their childhood. Such psychological material is then assimi-
lated creating the rigid stereotypes of abnormal experiencing.
This makes it difficult for thought and world view to develop
normally, and the terror-blocked contents become transformed
into permanent, functional, congestive centers.
Ivan Pavlov comprehended all kinds of paranoid states in a
manner similar to this functional model without being aware of
this basic and primary cause. He nevertheless provided a vivid
37 The posterior division of the forebrain; connects the cerebral hemispheres
with the mesencephalon; the region of the brain that includes the epithala-
mus, thalamus, and hypothalamus. [Editor�s note.]
112
PONEROLOGY
description of paranoid characters and the above-mentioned
ease with which paranoid individuals suddenly tear away from
factual discipline and proper thought-processes. Those readers
of his work on the subject who are sufficiently familiar with
Soviet conditions glean yet another historical meaning from his
little book. Its intent appears obvious. The author dedicated his
work, with no word of inscription, of course, to the chief model
of a paranoid personality: the revolutionary leader Lenin,
whom the scientist knew well. As a good psychologist, Pavlov
could predict that he would not be the object of revenge, since
the paranoid mind will block out the egocentric associations.
He was thus able to die a natural death.
Lenin should nevertheless be included with the first and
most characteristic kind of paranoid personality, i.e. most
probably due to diencephalic brain damage. Vassily Gross-
man38 describes him more or less as follows:
Asthenization.
Fixation and stereotypia.
38 Vassily Grossman was a Soviet citizen, a Ukrainian Jew born in 1905. A
Communist, he became a war correspondent, working for the army paper
Berlin. He was among the first to see the results of the death camps, and
published the first account of a death camp - Treblinka - in any language.
After the war, he seems to have lost his faith. He wrote his immense novel,
chev thaw, which had seen Alexander Solzhenitsyn allowed to publish
journal in 1960 for publication. But Solzhenitsyn was one thing, Grossman
another: his manuscript was confiscated, as were the sheets of carbon paper
and typewriter ribbons he had used to write it. Suslov, the Politbureau mem-
ber in charge of ideology, is reported as having said it could not be published
for 200 years. However, it was smuggled out on microfilm to the west by
Vladimir Voinovich, and published, first in France in 1980, then in English in
1985.
Why the 200 year ban? Because
�liberal� environment, the unthinkable sin of arguing for the moral equiva-
lence of Nazism and Soviet communism. [Editor�s note.]
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
113
Pathological egotism.
Paramoralisms.
Spellbinding and of con-
sciousness and its effects.
Lack of the self- criticism.
~~~
cortex (10A and B acc. to the Brodmann division) are virtually
present in no creature except man; they are composed of the
phylogenetically youngest nervous tissue. Their cyto-
architecture is similar to the much older visual projection areas
on the opposite pole of the brain. This suggests some functional
similarity. The author has found a relatively easy way to test
this psychological function, which enables us to grasp a certain
number of imaginary elements in our field of consciousness
and subject them to internal contemplation. The capacity of this
act of internal projection varies greatly from one person to
another, manifesting a statistical correlation with similar varie-
gation in the anatomical extent of such areas. The correlation
between this capacity and general intelligence is much lower.
As described by researchers (Luria et al.), the functions of
these areas, thought-process acceleration and coordination,
seem to result from this basic function.
Damage to this area occurred rather frequently: at or near
birth, especially for premature infants, and later in life as a
result of various causes. The number of such perinatal brain
tissue lesions has been significantly reduced due to improved
medical care for pregnant women and newborns. The spectacu-
lar ponerogenic role which results from character disorders
114
PONEROLOGY
caused by this can thus be considered somewhat characteristic
of past generations and primitive cultures.
Brain cortex damage in these areas selectively impairs the
above mentioned function without impairing memory, associa-
tive capacity, or, in particular, such instinct-based feelings and
functions as, for instance, the ability to intuit a psychological
situation. The general intelligence of an individual is thus not
greatly reduced. Children with such a defect are almost normal
students; difficulties emerge suddenly in upper grades and af-
fect principally these parts of the curriculum which place bur-
den on the above function.
The pathological character of such people, generally con-
taining a component of hysteria, develops through the years.
The non-damaged psychological functions become overdevel-
oped to compensate, which means that instinctive and affective
reactions predominate. Relatively vital people become belliger-
ent, risk-happy, and brutal in both word and deed.
Persons with an innate talent for intuiting psychological
situations tend to take advantage of this gift in an egotistical
and ruthless fashion. In the thought process of such people, a
short cut way develops which bypasses the handicapped func-
tion, thus leading from associations directly to words, deeds,
and decisions which are not subject to any dissuasion. Such
individuals interpret their talent for intuiting situations and
making split-second oversimplified decisions as a sign of their
superiority compared to normal people, who need to think for
long time, experiencing self-doubt and conflicting motivations.
The fate of such creatures does not deserve to be pondered
long.
Such �Stalinistic characters� traumatize and actively
bypass the controls of common sense. A large proportion of
people tend to credit such individuals with special powers,
thereby succumbing to their egotistic beliefs. If a parent mani-
fests such a defect, no matter how minimal, all the children in
the family evidence anomalies in personality development.
The author studied an entire generation of older, educated,
people wherein the source of such influence was the eldest
sister who suffered perinatal damage of the frontal centers.
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
115
From early childhood, her four younger brothers exposed to
and assimilated pathologically altered psychological material,
including their sister�s growing component of hysteria. They
retained well into their sixties the deformities of personality
and world view, as well as the hysterical features thus caused,
whose intensity diminished in proportion to the greater differ-
ence in age.
Subconscious selection of information made it impossible
for these men to apprehend any critical comments regarding
their sister�s character; also, any such comments were consid-
ered to be an offense to the family honor.
The brothers accepted as real their sister�s pathological de-
lusions and complaints about her �bad� husband (who was
actually a decent person) and her son, in whom she found a
scapegoat to avenge her failures. They thereby participated in a
world of vengeful emotions, considering their sister a com-
pletely normal person whom they were prepared to defend by
the most unsavory methods, if need be, against any suggestion
of her abnormality. They thought normal woman were insipid
and naive, good for nothing but sexual conquest. Not one
among the brothers ever created a healthy family or developed
even average wisdom of life.
The character development of these people also included
many other factors that were dependent upon the time and
place in which they were reared: the turn of the century, with a
patriotic Polish father and German mother who obeyed con-
temporary custom by formally accepting her husband�s nation-
ality, but who still remained an advocate of the militarism, and
customary acceptance of the intensified hysteria which covered
Europe at the time. That was the Europe of the three Emperors:
the splendor of three people with limited intelligence, two of
whom revealed pathological traits. The concept of �honor�
sanctified triumph. Staring at someone too long was sufficient
pretext for a duel. These brothers were thus raised to be valiant
duelists covered with saber-scars; however, the slashes they
inflicted upon their opponents were more frequent and much
worse.
When people with a humanistic education pondered the per-
sonalities of this family, they concluded that the causes for this
116
PONEROLOGY
formation should be sought in contemporary time and customs.
If, however, the sister had not suffered brain damage and the
pathological factor had not existed (exclusionary hypothesis),
their personalities would have developed more normally even
during those times. They would have become more critical and
more amenable to the values of healthy reasoning and humanis-
tic contents. They would have founded better families and re-
ceived more sensible advice from wives more wisely chosen.
As for the evil they sowed too liberally during their lives, it
would either not have existed at all, or else would have been
reduced to a scope conditioned by more remote pathological
factors.
Comparative considerations also led the author to conclude
that Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, also known as Stalin,
should be included in the list of this particular ponerogenic
characteropathy, which developed against the backdrop of
perinatal damage to his brain�s prefrontal fields. Literature and
news about him abounds in indications: brutal, charismatic,
snake-charming; issuing of irrevocable decisions; inhuman
ruthlessness, pathologic revengefulness directed at anyone who
got in his way; and egotistical belief in his own genius on the
part of a person whose mind was, in fact, only average. This
state explains as well his psychological dependence on a psy-
chopath like Beria39. Some photographs reveal the typical de-
formation of his forehead which appears in people who suf-
fered very early damage to the areas mentioned above. His
typical irrevocable decisions his daughter describes as follows:
39 L.P. Beria (1899�1953), Soviet Communist leader, b. Georgia. He rose to
prominence in the Cheka (secret police) in Georgia and the Transcaucasus,
became party secretary in these areas, and in 1938 became head of the secret
police. As commissar (later minister) of internal affairs, Beria wielded great
power, and he was the first in this post to become (1946) a member of the
politburo. After Stalin�s death (Mar., 1953), Beria was made first deputy
premier under Premier Malenkov, but the alliance was shaky; in the ensuing
struggle for power Beria was arrested (July) on charges of conspiracy. He and
six alleged accomplices were tried secretly and shot in Dec., 1953. [Editor�s
note.]
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
117
~~~
We know the effect of being �thrown out of his heart�, as it
is documented by the history of those times.
When we contemplate the scope of the evil Stalin helped to
bring about, we should always take this most ponerogenic
characteropathy into account and attribute the proper portion of
the �blame� to it; unfortunately, it has not yet been sufficiently
studied. We have to consider many other pathologic deviations
as they played essential roles in this macrosocial phenomenon.
Disregarding the pathologic aspects of those occurrences and
limiting interpretation thereof by historiographic and moral
considerations opens the door to an activity of further ponero-
genic factors; such reasoning should be thus regarded as not
only scientifically insufficient but immoral as well.
ades, medicine has begun using a series of drugs with serious
side effects: they attack the nervous system, leaving permanent
damage behind. These generally discreet handicaps sometimes
give rise to personality changes which are often very harmful
socially. Streptomycin41 proved a very dangerous drug; as a
result, some countries have limited its use, whereas others have
taken it off the list of drugs whose use is permitted.
40 Svetlana Alliluieva -
41
branes in susceptible microorganisms. Possible side effects include injury to
the kidneys and nerve damage that can result in dizziness and deafness. [Edi-
tor�s note.]
118
PONEROLOGY
The cytostatic drugs42 used in treating neoplastic43 diseases
often attack the phylogenetically oldest brain tissue, the pri-
mary carrier of our instinctive substratum and basic feelings.44
Persons treated with such drugs progressively tend to lose their
emotional color and their ability to intuit a psychological situa-
tion. They retain their intellectual functions but become praise-
craving egocentrics, easily ruled by people who know how to
take advantage of this. They become indifferent to other peo-
ple�s feelings and the harm they are inflicting upon them; any
criticism of their own person or behavior is repaid with a
vengeance. Such a change of character in a person who until
recently enjoyed respect on the part of his environment or
community, which perseveres in human minds, becomes a
pathological phenomenon causing often tragic results.
Could this have been a factor in the case of the Shah of
Iran? Again, diagnosing dead people is problematic, and the
author lacks detailed data. However, this possibility should be
accepted as a probability. The genesis of that county�s present
42 Most drugs that are used to treat cancer kill the cancer cells. The word
called �cytotoxic therapy�. There are other treatments that do not kill cancer
cells. They work by stopping the cancer cells from multiplying. These treat-
ments are called �cytostatic�. The hormone therapies used to treat breast
cancer could be called cytostatic therapy. [Editor�s note.]
43
tissue or organ, usually forming a distinct mass. Such a growth is called a
neoplasm, also known as a tumor. Neoplasia refers to both benign and malig-
nant growths, while �cancer� refers specifically to malignant neoplasia.
[Editor�s note.]
44 Chemo Head is the name given by cancer patients to one of the side-effects
of chemotherapy. It has been described as an inability to concentrate, reduced
memory, or finding it difficult to think clearly. This could be simply attrib-
uted to general fatigue, however it seems that there are some very specific
triggers and results. Some people get flustered by loud noises and activity
around them. Others find that they cannot find the right words to express
themselves. One patient described the feeling as �everything seems distant ...
it takes me a few seconds longer to think or answer questions. The mental
process slows down tremendously.� The symptoms are similar to those of
Attention Deficit Disorder. New research concludes �chemo head� continued
in up to 50% of survivors as long as 10 years following the end of systemic
chemotherapy treatment. [Editor�s note.]
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
119
tragedy also doubtless contains pathological factors which play
ponerologically active roles.45
Results similar to the above in the psychological picture
may be caused by endogenous toxins46 or viruses. When, on
occasion, the mumps proceeds with a brain reaction, it leaves
in its wake a discrete pallor or dullness of feelings and a slight
decrease in mental efficiency. Similar phenomena are wit-
nessed after a difficult bout with diphtheria. Finally, polio at-
tacks the brain, more often the higher part of the anterior horns,
which was affected by the process. People with leg paresis
rarely manifest these effects, but those with paresis of the neck
and/or shoulders must count themselves lucky if they do not. In
addition to affective pallor, persons manifesting these effects
usually evidence naivet� and an inability to comprehend the
crux of a matter.
We rather doubt that President F.D. Roosevelt manifested
some of this latter features, since the polio virus which attacked
him when he was forty caused paresis to his legs. After over-
coming this, years of creative activity followed. However, it is
possible that his naive attitude toward Soviet policy during his
last term of office had a pathological component related to his
deteriorating health.
Character anomalies developing as a result of brain-tissue
damage behave like insidious ponerogenic factors. As a result
of the above-described features, especially the above-
mentioned naivet� and an inability to comprehend the crux of a
matter, their influence easily anchors in human minds, trauma-
tizing our psyches, impoverishing and deforming our thoughts
and feelings, and limiting individuals� and societies� ability to
45 Editor�s reminder that this book was written in 1985.
46 Current Western medical opinion states: Endogenous toxins include heavy
metals, pesticides, food additives, and industrial and household chemicals.
These can damage the liver and kidneys; they can also cross the blood-brain
barrier and damage brain cells. Workers exposed to high levels of inhaled
manganese showed concentrated levels in the basal ganglia, and exhibited
Parkinson�s-like syndrome. Observational studies have also shown increased
levels of aluminum, mercury, copper, and iron in the cerebral spinal fluid
(CSF) of Parkinson's patients. It is not fully determined whether these miner-
als found in the brain have any clinical significance. (Mitchell J. Ghen, D.O.,
Ph.D., and Maureen Melindrez, N.D.) [Editor�s note.]
120
PONEROLOGY
use common sense and to read a psychological or moral situa-
tion accurately. This opens the door to the influence of other
pathological characters who most frequently carry some
teropathic individuals into the shadows and proceed with their
ponerogenic work. That is why various types of characteropa-
thy participate during the initial periods of the genesis of evil,
both on the macrosocial scale and on the individual scale of
human families.
An improved social system of the future should thus protect
individuals and societies by preventing persons with the above
deviations, or certain characteristics to be discussed below,
from any societal functions wherein the fate of other people
would depend upon their behavior. This of course applies pri-
marily to top governmental positions. Such questions should be
dealt with by an appropriate institution composed of people
with a reputation for wisdom and with medical and psychologi-
cal training.
The features of brain-tissue lesions and their character dis-
order results are much easier to detect than certain inherited
anomalies. Thus, stifling ponerogenic processes by removing
these factors from the process of the synthesis of evil is effec-
tive during the early phases of such genesis, and much easier in
practice.
Inherited Deviations
Science already protects societies from the results of some
physiological anomalies which are accompanied by certain
psychological weaknesses. The tragic role played by hereditary
hemophilia among European royalty is well known. Responsi-
ble people in countries where the system of monarchy still
survives, are anxious not to allow a carrier of such a gene to
become queen. Any society exercising so much concern over
individuals with blood-coagulation insufficiency or other seri-
ous and life-threatening pathology would protest if a man af-
flicted with such a condition were appointed to a high office
bearing responsibility for many people. This behavior model
should be extended to many pathologies, including inherited
psychological anomalies.
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
121
Daltonists, men with an impaired ability to distinguish red
and green colors from grey, are now barred from professions in
which this could cause a catastrophe. We also know that this
anomaly is often accompanied by a decrease in esthetic experi-
ence, emotions, and the feeling of linkage to people who can
see colors normally. Industrial psychologists are thus cautious
whether such a person should be entrusted with work requiring
dependence upon an autonomic sense of responsibility, as
workers safety is contingent upon this sense.
It was discovered long ago that these two above-mentioned
anomalies � hemophilia and color blindness - are inherited by
means of a gene located in the X chromosome, and tracking
their transmission through many generations is not difficult.
Geneticists have similarly studied the inheritance of many
other features of human organisms, but they have paid scant
attention to the anomalies interesting us here. Many features of
human character have a hereditary bases in genes located in the
same X chromosome; although it is not a rule. Something simi-
lar could apply to the majority of the psychological anomalies
to be discussed below.
Significant progress has recently been made in cognition of
a series of chromosomal anomalies resulting from defective
division of the reproductive cells and their phenotypic psycho-
logical symptoms. This state of affairs enables us to initiate
studies on their ponerogenetic role and to introduce conclu-
sions which are theoretically valuable, something which is in
effect already being done. In practice, however, the
chromosomal anomalies are
tion; furthermore, their carriers constitute a very small propor-
tion of the population at large, and their general intelligence is
lower than the social average, so their ponerological role is
even smaller than their statistical distribution. Most problems
are caused by the XYY karyotype47 which produces men who
are tall, strong, and emotionally violent, with an inclination to
collide with the law. These engendered tests and discussions,
but their role at the level studied herein is also very small.
47 Sandberg, A. A.; Koepf, G. F.; Ishihara, T.; Hauschka, T. S. (August 26,
1961) �An XYY human male�.
122
PONEROLOGY
Much more numerous are those psychological deviations
which play a correspondingly greater role as pathological fac-
tors in the ponerological processes; they are most probably
transmitted through normal heredity. However, this realm of
genetics in particular is faced with manifold biological and
psychological difficulties as far as recognizing these phenom-
ena. People studying their psychopathology lack biological
isolation criteria. Biologists lack clear psychological differen-
tiation of such phenomena which would permit studies of he-
redity mechanics and some other properties.
At the time most of the observations on which this book is
based were being done, the works of many researchers who
have since shed light upon many aspects of the matters dis-
cussed herein, during the latter half of the sixties, were either
nonexistent or unavailable. Scientists studying the phenomena
described below were hacking their way through a thicket of
symptoms based on previous works and on their own efforts.
An understanding of the essence of some of these hereditary
anomalies and their ponerogenic role proved a necessary pre-
condition for reaching the primary goal. Results were gleaned
which served as a basis for further reasoning. For the sake of
the overall picture, and because the manner elaborated also
brings in certain theoretical values, I decided to retain the
methodology of description for such anomalies which emerged
from my own work and from that of others at the time.
Numerous scientists during the above-mentioned fertile era,
and some subsequent scientists, such as R. Jenkins, H.
Cleckley, S.K. Ehrlich, K.C. Gray, H.C. Hutchison, F. Kraupl
Taylor, and others did cast more stereoscopic light upon the
matter. They were clinicians, concentrating their attention upon
the
mentioned general rule of ponerology. We therefore need to
differentiate those analogic states which are less intense or
contain less of a psychological deficit. Equally valuable for
ponerology are inquiries concerning the nature of the phenom-
ena under discussion, which facilitate differentiation of their
essence and analysis of their role as pathological factors in the
genesis of evil.
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
123
~~~
lated by the very first of the famous creators of modern psy-
chiatry.48 From the beginning, it was treated as a lighter form
of the same hereditary taint which is the cause of susceptibility
to schizophrenia. However, this latter connection could neither
be confirmed nor denied with the help of statistical analysis,
and no biological test was then found which would have been
able to solve this dilemma. For practical reasons, we shall dis-
cuss schizoidia with no further reference to this traditional
relationship.
Literature provides us with descriptions of several varieties
of this anomaly, whose existence can be attributed either to
changes in the genetic factor or to differences in other individ-
ual characteristics of a non-pathological nature. Let us thus
sketch these sub-species� common features.
Carriers of this anomaly are hypersensitive and distrustful,
while, at the same time, pay little attention to the feelings of
others. They tend to assume extreme positions, and are eager to
retaliate for minor offenses. Sometimes they are eccentric and
odd. Their poor sense of psychological situation and reality
leads them to superimpose erroneous, pejorative interpretations
upon other people�s intentions. They easily become involved in
activities which are ostensibly moral, but which actually inflict
48 Emil Kraepelin (1856- 1926): German psychiatrist who attempted to create
a synthesis of the hundreds of mental disorders, grouping diseases together
based on classification of common patterns of symptoms, rather than by
simple similarity of major symptoms in the manner of his predecessors. In
fact, it was precisely because of the demonstrated inadequacy of the older
methods that Kraepelin developed his new diagnostic system. Kraepelin also
demonstrated specific patterns in the genetics of these disorders and specific
and characteristic patterns in their course and outcome. Generally speaking,
there tend to be more schizophrenics among the relatives of schizophrenic
patients than in the general population, while manic-depression is more fre-
quent in the relatives of manic-depressives. Kraepelin should be credited with
being the founder of modern scientific psychiatry, psychopharmacology and
psychiatric genetics, according to the eminent psychologist H. J. Eysenck in
his
eases are principally caused by biological and genetic disorders. His psychiat-
ric theories dominated the field of psychiatry at the beginning of the twenti-
eth century. He vigorously opposed the approach of Freud who regarded and
treated psychiatric disorders as caused by psychological factors. (Wikipedia)
124
PONEROLOGY
damage upon themselves and others. Their impoverished psy-
chological worldview makes them typically pessimistic regard-
ing human nature. We frequently find expressions of their
characteristic attitudes in their statements and writings: �Hu-
man nature is so bad that order in human society can only be
maintained by a strong power created by highly qualified indi-
viduals in the name of some higher idea.� Let us call this typi-
cal expression the �schizoid declaration�.
Human nature does in fact tend to be naughty, especially
when the schizoids embitter other people�s lives. When they
become wrapped up in situations of serious stress, however, the
schizoid�s failings cause them to collapse easily. The capacity
for thought is thereupon characteristically stifled, and fre-
quently the schizoids fall into reactive psychotic states so simi-
lar in appearance to schizophrenia that they lead to misdiagno-
ses.
The common factor in the varieties of this anomaly is a dull
pallor of emotion and lack of feeling for the psychological
realities, an essential factor in basic intelligence. This can be
attributed to some incomplete quality of the instinctive substra-
tum, which works as though founded on shifting sand. Low
emotional pressure enables them to develop proper speculative
reasoning, which is useful in non-humanistic spheres of activ-
ity, but because of their one-sidedness, they tend to consider
themselves intellectually superior to �ordinary� people.
The quantitative frequency of this anomaly varies among
races and nations: low among Blacks, the highest among Jews.
Estimates of this frequency range from negligible up to 3 %. In
Poland it may be estimated as 0.7 % of population. My obser-
vations suggest this anomaly is autosomally hereditary.49
A schizoid�s ponerological activity should be evaluated in
two aspects. On the small scale, such people cause their fami-
lies trouble, easily turn into tools of intrigue in the hands of
clever and unscrupulous individuals, and generally do a poor
job of raising children. Their tendency to see human reality in
49
not sex chromosomes. Both boys and girls can then inherit this error. If the
error is in a sex chromosome, the inheritance is said to be sex-linked. [Edi-
tor�s note.]
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
125
the doctrinaire and simplistic manner they consider �proper� �
i.e. �black or white� - transforms their frequently good inten-
tions into bad results. However, their ponerogenic role can
have macrosocial implications if their attitude toward human
reality and their tendency to invent great doctrines are put to
paper and duplicated in large editions.
In spite of their typical deficits, or even an openly schizoi-
dal declaration, their readers do not realize what the authors�
characters are really like. Ignorant of the true condition of the
author, such uninformed readers thed to interpret such works in
a manner corresponding to their own nature. The minds of
normal people tend toward corrective interpretation due to the
participation of their own richer, psychological world view.
At the same time, many other readers critically reject such
works with moral disgust but without being aware of the spe-
cific cause.
An analysis of the role played by Karl Marx�s works easily
reveals all the above-mentioned types of apperception and the
social reactions which engendered animosity between large
groups of people.
When reading any of those disturbingly divisive works, we
should examine them carefully for any of these characteristic
deficits, or even an openly formulated schizoid declaration.
Such a process will enable us to gain a proper critical distance
from the contents and make it easier to dig the potentially valu-
able elements out of the doctrinaire material. If this is done by
two or more people who represent greatly divergent interpreta-
tions, their methods of perception will come closer together,
and the causes of dissent will dissipate. Such a project might be
attempted as a psychological experiment and for purposes of
proper mental hygiene.
~~~
assumptions, let us characterize another heredity-transmitted
anomaly whose role in ponerogenic processes on
scale appears
that the need to isolate this phenomenon and examine it in de-
tail became quickly and profoundly evident to those research-
ers � including the author - who were interested in the macro-
126
PONEROLOGY
social scale of the genesis of evil, because they witnessed it. I
acknowledge my debt to Kazimierz Dabrowski50 in doing this
and calling this anomaly an �essential psychopathy�.
Biologically speaking, the phenomenon is similar to color-
blindness but occurs with about ten times lower frequency
(slightly above 1/2%),51 except that, unlike color blindness, it
affects both sexes.
Like color blindness, this anomaly also appears to represent
a deficit in stimulus transformation, albeit occurring not on the
sensory but on the instinctive level.52 Psychiatrist of the old
school used to call such individuals �Daltonists of human feel-
ings and socio-moral values�.
The psychological picture shows clear deficits among men
only; among women it is generally toned down, as by the effect
of a second normal allele. This suggests that the anomaly is
also inherited via the X chromosome, but through a semi-
dominating gene. However, the author was unable to confirm
this by excluding inheritance from father to son.
Analysis of the different experiential manner demonstrated
by these individuals caused us to conclude that their
ing the natural syntonic responses commonly evidenced by
50 Kazimierz Dabrowski (1902-1980):Polish psychologist, psychiatrist, phy-
sician, and poet. Dabrowski developed the theory of Positive Disintegration,
a novel approach to personality development, over his lifetime of clinical and
academic work. [Editor�s note.]
51 Recent research by Robert Hare, then Martha Stout, and finally Salekin,
Trobst, Krioukova, have tended to increase the probably rate of occurrence in
a given population. The latter researchers, in �Construct Validity of Psycho-
pathy in a Community Sample: A Nomological Net Approach�, Salekin,
Trobst, Krioukova,
suggest the prevalence of psychopathy to be perhaps 5% or more, although
the vast majority of those will be male (more than 1/10 males versus ap-
proximately 1/100 females). [Editor�s note.]
52 Current day research suggests that many of the characteristics displayed by
psychopaths are closely associated with a profound lack of ability to con-
struct an empathic mental and emotional �facsimile� of another person. They
seem completely unable to �get into the skin� of others, except in a purely
intellectual sense. [Editor�s note.]
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
127
members of the species
our first teacher; it stays with us everywhere throughout our
lives. Upon this defective instinctive substratum, the deficits of
higher feelings and the deformities and impoverishments in
psychological, moral, and social concepts develop in corre-
spondence with these gaps.
Our natural world of concepts � based upon species in-
stincts as described in an earlier chapter - strikes the psycho-
path as a nearly incomprehensible convention with no justifica-
tion in their own psychological experience. They think that
customs and principles of decency are a foreign convention
invented and imposed by someone else, (�probably by priests�)
silly, onerous, sometimes even ridiculous. At the same time,
however, they easily perceive the deficiencies and weaknesses
of our natural language of psychological and moral concepts in
a manner somewhat reminiscent of the attitude of a contempo-
rary psychologist�except in caricature.
The average intelligence of the psychopath, especially if
measured via commonly used tests, is somewhat lower than
that of normal people, albeit similarly variegated. Despite the
wide variety of intelligence and interests, this group does not
contain examples of the highest intelligence, nor do we find
technical or craftsmanship talents among them. The most gifted
members of this kind may thus achieve accomplishments in
those sciences which do not require a correct humanistic world
view or practical skills. (Academic decency is another matter,
however.) Whenever we attempt to construct special tests to
measure �life wisdom� or �socio-moral imagination�, even if
the difficulties of psychometric evaluation are taken into ac-
count, individuals of this type indicate a deficit disproportion-
ate to their personal IQ.
In spite of their deficiencies in normal psychological and
moral knowledge, they develop and then have at their disposal
a knowledge of their own, something lacked by people with a
natural world view.
53 What�s missing in psychopaths are the qualities that people depend on for
living in social harmony. [Editor�s note.]
128
PONEROLOGY
become conscious of being different from the world of those
other people surrounding them. They view us from a certain
distance, like a para-specific variety. Natural human reactions -
which often fail to elicit interest to normal people because they
are considered self-evident - strike the psychopath as strange
and, interesting, and even comical. They therefore observe us,
deriving conclusions, forming their different world of concepts.
They become experts in our weaknesses and sometimes effect
heartless experiments. The suffering and injustice they cause
inspire no guilt within them, since such reactions from others
are simply a result of their being different and apply only to
�those other� people they perceive to be not quite conspecific.
Neither a normal person nor our natural world view can fully
conceive nor properly evaluate the existence of this world of
different concepts.
A researcher into such phenomena can glimpse the deviant
knowledge of the psychopath through long-term studies of the
personalities of such people, using it with some difficulty, like
a foreign language. As we shall see below, such practical skill
becomes rather widespread in nations afflicted by that macro-
social pathological phenomenon wherein this anomaly plays
the inspiring role.
A normal person can learn to speak their conceptual lan-
guage even somewhat proficiently, but the psychopath is never
able to incorporate the world view of a normal person, although
they often try to do so all their lives. The product of their ef-
forts is only a role and a mask behind which they hide their
deviant reality.
Another myth and role they often play, albeit containing a
grain of truth in relation to the �special psychological knowl-
edge� that the psychopath acquires regarding normal people,
would be the psychopaths� brilliant mind or psychological gen-
ius; some of them actually believe in this and attempt to insinu-
ate this belief to others.
In speaking of the mask of psychological normality worn by
such individuals (and by similar deviants to a lesser extent), we
should mention the book
Cleckley, who made this very phenomenon the crux of his
reflections. A fragment:
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
129
Let us remember that his typical behavior defeats what ap-
pear to be his own aims. Is it not he himself who is most
deeply deceived by his apparent normality? Although he de-
liberately cheats others and is quite conscious of his lies, he
appears unable to distinguish adequately between his own
pseudointentions, pseudoremorse, pseudolove, etc., and the
genuine responses of a normal person. His monumental lack
of insight indicates how little he appreciates the nature of his
disorder. When others fail to accept immediately his �word of
honor as a gentleman�, his amazement, I believe, is often
genuine. His subjective experience is so bleached of deep
emotion that he is invincibly ignorant of what life means to
others.
His awareness of hypocrisy�s opposite is so insubstantially
theoretical that it becomes questionable if what we chiefly
mean by hypocrisy should be attributed to him. Having no ma-
jor value himself, can he be said to realize adequately the na-
ture and quality of the outrages his conduct inflicts upon oth-
ers? A young child who has no impressive memory of severe
pain may have been told by his mother it is wrong to cut off
the dog�s tail. Knowing it is wrong he may proceed with the
operation. We need not totally absolve him of responsibility if
we say he realizes less what he did than an adult who, in full
appreciation of physical agony, so uses a knife. Can a person
experience the deeper levels of sorrow without considerable
knowledge of happiness? Can he achieve evil intention in the
full sense without real awareness of evil�s opposite? I have no
final answer to these questions.
All researchers into psychopathy underline three qualities
primarily with regard to this most typical variety: The absence
of a sense of guilt for antisocial actions, the inability to love
truly, and the tendency to be garrulous in a way which easily
deviates from reality.55
54 Hervey Cleckley:
55 In their paper, �Construct Validity of Psychopathy in a Community Sam-
ple: A Nomological Net Approach,� (op cit.) Salekin, Trobst, and Krioukova,
write: �Psychopathy, as originally conceived by Cleckley (1941), is not
limited to engagement in illegal activities, but rather encompasses such per-
sonality characteristics as manipulativeness, insincerity, egocentricity, and
lack of guilt - characteristics clearly present in criminals but also in spouses,
parents, bosses, attorneys, politicians, and CEOs, to name but a few.
(Bursten, 1973; Stewart, 1991).... As such, psychopathy may be characterized
130
PONEROLOGY
A neurotic patient is generally taciturn and has trouble ex-
plaining what hurts him most. A psychologist must know how
to overcome these obstacles with the help of non-painful inter-
actions. Neurotics are also prone to excessive guilt about ac-
tions which are easily forgiven. Such patients are capable of
decent and enduring love, although they have difficulty ex-
pressing it or achieving their dreams. A psychopath�s behavior
constitutes the antipode of such phenomena and difficulties.
Our first contact with the psychopath is characterized by a
talkative stream which flows with ease and avoids truly impor-
tant matters with equal ease if they are uncomfortable for the
speaker. His train of thought also avoids those abstract matters
of human feelings and values whose representation is absent in
the psychopathic world view unless, of course, he is being de-
liberately deceptive, in which case he will use many �feeling�
words which careful scrutiny will reveal that he does not un-
derstand those words the same way normal people do. We then
also feel we are dealing with an imitation of the thought pat-
terns of normal people, in which something else is, in fact,
�normal�. From the logical point of view, the flow of thought is
ostensibly correct, albeit perhaps removed from commonly
accepted criteria. A more detailed formal analysis, however,
evidences the use of many suggestive paralogisms.56
Individuals with the psychopathy referred to herein are vir-
tually unfamiliar with the enduring emotions of love for an-
... as involving a tendency towards both dominance and coldness. Wiggins
(1995) in summarizing numerous previous findings... indicates that such
individuals are prone to anger and irritation and are willing to exploit others.
They are arrogant, manipulative, cynical, exhibitionistic, sensation-seeking,
Machiavellian, vindictive, and out for their own gain. With respect to their
patterns of social exchange (Foa & Foa, 1974), they attribute love and status
to themselves, seeing themselves as highly worthy and important, but pre-
scribe neither love nor status to others, seeing them as unworthy and insig-
nificant. This characterization is clearly consistent with the essence of psy-
chopathy as commonly described. ... What is clear from our findings is that
(a) psychopathy measures have converged on a prototype of psychopathy that
involves a combination of dominant and cold interpersonal characteristics;
(b) psychopathy does occur in the community and at what might be a higher
than expected rate; and (c) psychopathy appears to have little overlap with
personality disorders aside from Antisocial Personality Disorder.� [Editor�s
note.]
56 An unintentionally invalid argument. [Editor�s note.]
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
131
other person, particularly the marriage partner; it constitutes a
fairytale from that �other� human world. Love, for the psycho-
path, is an ephemeral phenomenon aimed at sexual adventure.
Many psychopathic Don Juans are able to play the lover�s role
well enough for their partners to accept it in good faith. After
the wedding, feelings which really never existed are replaced
by egoism, egotism, and hedonism. Religion, which teaches
love for one�s neighbor, also strikes them as a similar fairytale
good only for children and those different �others�.
One would expect them to feel guilty as a consequence of
their many antisocial acts, however their lack of guilt is the
result of all their deficits, which we have been discussing
here.57 The world of normal people whom they hurt is incom-
prehensible and hostile to them, and life for the psychopath is
the pursuit of its immediate attractions, moments of pleasure,
and temporary feelings of power. They often meet with failure
along this road, along with force and moral condemnation from
the society of those other incomprehensible people.
In their book
McCord say the following about them:
57 Robert Hare says, �What I thought was most interesting was that for the
first time ever, as far as I know, we found that there was no activation of the
appropriate areas for emotional arousal, but there was over-activation in other
parts of the brain, including parts of the brain that are ordinarily devoted to
language. Those parts were active, as if they were saying, �Hey, isn�t that
interesting.� So they seem to be analyzing emotional material in terms of its
linguistic or dictionary meaning. There are anomalies in the way psychopaths
process information. It may be more general than just emotional information.
In another functional MRI study, we looked at the parts of the brain that are
used to process concrete and abstract words. Non-psychopathic individuals
showed increased activation of the right anterior/superior temporal cortex.
For the psychopaths, that didn't happen.�
Hare and his colleagues then conducted an fMRI study using pictures of
neutral scenes and unpleasant homicide scenes. �Non-psychopathic offenders
show lots of activation in the amygdala [to unpleasant scenes], compared
with neutral pictures,� he points out. �In the psychopath, there was nothing.
No difference. But there was overactivation in the same regions of the brain
that were overactive during the presentation of emotional words. It�s like
they're analyzing emotional material in extra-limbic regions.� (
132
PONEROLOGY
The psychopath feels little, if any, guilt. He can commit
the most appalling acts, yet view them without remorse. The
Psychopath has a warped capacity for love. His emotional re-
lationships, when they exist, are meager, fleeting, and de-
signed to satisfy his own desires. These last two traits, guilt-
lessness and lovelessness, conspicuously mark the psychopath
as different from other men.
The problem of a psychopath�s moral and legal responsibil-
ity thus remains open and subject to various solutions, fre-
quently summary or emotional, in various countries and cir-
cumstances. It remains a subject of discussion whose solution
does not appear possible within the framework of the presently
accepted principles of legal thought.
~~~
seem similar enough to each other to permit them to be classi-
fied as qualitatively homogenous. However, we can also in-
clude within psychopathic categories a somewhat indetermi-
nate number of anomalies with a hereditary substratum, whose
symptoms are approximate to this most typical phenomenon.
We also meet difficult individuals with a tendency to be-
have in a manner hurtful to other people, for whom tests do not
indicate existing damage to brain tissue and anamnesis does not
indicate abnormal childhood experiences which could explain
their state. The fact that such cases are repeated within families
would suggest a hereditary substratum, but we must also take
into account the possibility that harmful factors participated in
the fetal stage. This is an area of medicine and psychology
warranting more study, as there is more to learn than we al-
ready know concretely.
Such people also attempt to mask their different world of
experience and to play a role of normal people to varying de-
grees, although this is no longer the characteristic �Cleckley
mask�. Some are notable by demonstrations of their strange-
ness. These people participate in the genesis of evil in very
different ways, whether taking part openly or, to a lesser extent,
when they have managed to adapt to proper ways of living.
58 McCord, W. & McCord, J.
Grune & Stratton, 1956.
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
133
These psychopathic and related phenomena may, quantitatively
speaking, be summarily estimated at two or three times the
number of cases of essential psychopathy, i.e. at less than two
per cent of the population.
This type of person finds it easier to adjust to social life.
The lesser cases in particular adapt to the demands of the soci-
ety of normal people, taking advantage of its understanding for
the arts and other areas with similar traditions. Their literary
creativity is often disturbing if conceived in ideational catego-
ries alone; they insinuate to their readers that their world of
concepts and experiences is self-evident; also it contains char-
acteristic deformities.59
The most frequently indicated and long-known of these is
the
These people, asthenic and hypersensitive, do not indicate
the same glaring deficit in moral feeling and ability to sense a
psychological situation as do essential psychopaths. They are
somewhat idealistic and tend to have superficial pangs of con-
science as a result of their faulty behavior.
On the average, they are also less intelligent than normal
people, and their mind avoids consistency and accuracy in rea-
soning. Their psychological world view is clearly falsified, so
their options about people can never be trusted. A kind of mask
cloaks the world of their personal aspirations, which is at vari-
ance with what they are actually capable of doing. Their behav-
ior towards people who do not notice their faults is urbane,
even friendly; however, the same people manifest a preemptive
59 A number of researchers at present are suggesting that Asperger�s Syn-
drome belongs under the classification of psychopathy. Asperger�s Syndrome
describes children who: �lack basic social and motor skills, seem unable to
decode body language and sense the feelings of others, avoid eye contact, and
frequently launch into monologues about narrowly defined - and often highly
technical - interests. Even when very young, these children become obsessed
with order, arranging their toys in a regimented fashion on the floor and
flying into tantrums when their routines are disturbed. As teenagers, they�re
prone to getting into trouble with teachers and other figures of authority,
partly because the subtle cues that define societal hierarchies are invisible to
them.� ( Steve Silberman, �The Geek Syndrome�: wired.com) [Editor�s
note.]
134
PONEROLOGY
hostility and aggression against persons who have a talent for
psychology, or demonstrate knowledge in this field.
The asthenic psychopath is relatively less vital sexually and
is therefore amenable to accepting celibacy; that is why some
Catholic monks and priests often represent lesser or minor
cases of this anomaly. Such individuals may very likely have
inspired the anti-psychological attitude traditional in Church
thinking.
The more severe cases are more brutally anti-psychological
and contemptuous of normal people; they tend to be active in
the processes of the genesis of evil on a larger scale. Their
dreams are composed of a certain idealism similar to the ideas
of normal people. They would like to reform the world to their
liking but are unable to foresee more far-reaching implications
and results. Spiced by deviance, their visions may influence
naive rebels or people who have suffered injustice. Existing
social injustice may look like a justification for a radicalized
world view and the assimilation of such visions.
The following is an example of the thought-pattern of a per-
son who displays a typical and severe case of asthenic psycho-
pathy:
Symptoms:
A feeling of being differ-
ent.
The shallow nostalgia
characteristic of this psy-
chopathy.
Vision of a new world.
Those words were written in prison on December 15, 1913
by Felix Dzerzhinsky, a descendant of Polish gentry who was
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
135
soon to originate the
to become the greatest idealist among these most famous mur-
derers. Psychopathies surface in all nations.61
If the time ever comes, when �conditions will change� and
�evil will no longer rule�, it could be because progress in the
study of pathological phenomena and their ponerogenic role
will make it possible for societies to calmly accept the exis-
tence of these phenomena and comprehend them as categories
of nature. The vision of a new, just structure of society can then
be realized within the framework and under the control of
people are different and have a limited capacity for social ad-
justment, we should create a system of permanent protection
for them within the framework of reason and proper knowl-
edge, a system which will partially make their dreams come
true.
For our purposes, we should also draw attention to types
with deviant features; these were isolated relatively long ago by
Edward Brzezicki62 and accepted by Ernst Kretschmer63 as
characteristic of eastern Europe in particular.
60 The Cheka was the first secret police set up under Bolshevik rule. Dzerz-
hinsky was its first Commissar. [Editor�s note]
61 Dzerzhinsky is an interesting case. It is said of him that �His honest and
incorruptible character, combined with his complete devotion to the cause,
gained him swift recognition and the nickname Iron Felix.� His monument in
the center of Warsaw in �Dzerzhinsky square�, was hated by the population
of the Polish capital as a symbol of soviet oppression and was toppled down
in 1989, as soon as the PZPR started losing power, the square�s name was
soon changed to its pre-second world war name �Plac Bankowy� (Bank
square). According to a popular joke of that late People�s Republic of Poland-
era �Dzerzhinsky deserved a monument for being the Pole to kill the largest
number of communists�.
62 My professor of psychiatry � Yagiellonian University � Cracow (a friend
of Kretschmer).
63 Ernst Kretschmer is remembered for his correlation of build and physical
constitution with personality characteristics and mental illness. In 1933
Krestchmer resigned as president of the German society of Psychotherapy in
protest against the Nazi takeover of the government. But unlike other promi-
nent German psychologists he remained in Germany during World War II.
Kretschmer further developed new methods of psychotherapy and hypnosis,
and studied compulsive criminality, recommending adequate provision be
made for the psychiatric treatment of prisoners. [Editor�s note.]
64 Greek root
136
PONEROLOGY
vital, egotistical, and thick-skinned individuals who make good
soldiers because of their endurance and psychological resis-
tance. In peacetime, however, they are incapable of understand-
ing life�s subtler matters or rearing children prudently. They
are happy in primitive surroundings; a comfortable environ-
ment easily causes hysterization within them. They are rigidly
conservative in all areas and supportive of governments that
rule with a heavy hand.
Kretschmer was of the opinion that this anomaly was a
biodynamic phenomenon caused by the crossing of two widely
separated ethnic groups, which is frequent in that area of
Europe. If that were the case, North America should be full of
skirtoids, a hypothesis that deserves observation. We may as-
sume that skirtoidism is inherited normally; not sex-linked.
This anomaly should be taken into consideration if we wish to
understand the history of Russia, as well as the history of Po-
land, to a lesser extent.
Another interesting question suggests itself: what kind of
people are the so-called �jackals�, hired as professional and
mercenary killers by various groups, and who so quickly and
easily take up arms as a means of political struggle? They offer
themselves as specialists who perform the duty as accepted; no
human feelings interfere with their nefarious plans. They are
most certainly not normal people,
paths are talkative and incapable of such carefully planned
activity.
Perhaps, we should assume this type to be the product of a
cross between lesser taints of various deviations. Even if we
accept the statistical probability of the appearance of such hy-
brids, taking into account the quantitative data, they should be
an extremely rare phenomena. However, mate-selection psy-
chology produces pairings which bilaterally represent various
anomalies. Carriers of two or even three lesser deviational fac-
tors should thus be more frequent. A jackal could then be imag-
ined as the carrier of schizoidal traits in combination with some
other psychopathy, e.g. essential psychopathy or skirtoidism.
More frequent instances of such hybrids are a large part of a
society�s pool of hereditary pathological ponerogenic factors.
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
137
~~~
The above characterizations are selected examples of patho-
logical factors which participate in ponerogenic processes. The
ever-increasing literature in this area furnishes interested read-
ers with a wider range of data and sometimes colorful descrip-
tions of such phenomena. The current state of knowledge in
this area is nevertheless still insufficient to produce practical
solutions for the many problems human beings face, particu-
larly those on the individual and family scale. Studies on the
biological nature of these phenomena are needed for this pur-
pose.
I would like to warn those readers lacking knowledge and
experience of their own in this area not to fall prey to the im-
pression that the world surrounding them is dominated by indi-
viduals with pathological deviations, whether described herein
or not; it is not. The following graphic representation in circle
form approximates the presence of individuals with various
psychological anomalies within a society
~~~
Pathological phenomena as described in approximate pro-
portion of their appearance:
T.P. Total population
Psp. Psychopathies
Chp. Characteropathies
E.P. Essential psychopa-
thy
Sh. Schizoidia
XYY karyotype
The fact that deviant individuals are a minority should be
emphasized all the more since there have been theories on the
exceptionally creative role of abnormal individuals, even an
identification of human genius with the psychology of abnor-
mality. However, the one-sidedness of these theories appears to
be derived from people who were searching for an affirmation
138
PONEROLOGY
of their own personalities by means of such a world view. Out-
standing thinkers, discoverers, and artists have also been
specimens of psychological normality, qualitatively speaking.
After all, psychologically normal people constitute both the
great statistical majority and the real base of societal life in
each community. According to natural law, they should thus be
the ones to set the pace; moral law is derived from their nature.
Power should be in the hands of normal people. A ponerologist
only demands that such authority be endowed with an appro-
priate understanding of these less-normal people, and that the
law be based upon such understanding.
The quantitative and qualitative composition of this biopsy-
chologically deficient fraction of the population certainly varies
in time and space on our planet. This may be represented by a
single-digit percentage in some nations, in the teens in others.
Said quantitative and qualitative structure influence the entire
psychological and moral climate of the country in question.
That is why this problem should be the subject of conscious
concern. However it should also be noted that evidence sug-
gests that the dreams of power so frequently present in these
circles do not always and necessarily manifest fully in coun-
tries where this percentile has been very high. Other historical
circumstances were decisive as well.
In any society in this world, psychopathic individuals and
some of the other deviant types create a ponerogenically active
network of common collusions, partially estranged from the
community of normal people. An inspirational role of essential
psychopathy in this network appears to be a common phe-
nomenon. They are aware of being different as they obtain their
life-experiences and become familiar with different ways of
fighting for their goals. Their world is forever divided into �us
and them�; their little world with its own laws and customs and
that other foreign world of normal people that they see as full
of presumptuous ideas and customs by which they are con-
demned morally. Their sense of honor bids them to cheat and
revile that other human world and its values at every opportu-
nity. In contradiction to the customs of normal people, they feel
that breaking their promises is appropriate behavior.
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
139
One of the most disturbing things about psychopaths that
normal people must deal with is the fact that they very early
learn how their personalities can have traumatizing effects on
the personalities of those normal people, and how to take ad-
vantage of this root of terror for purposes of reaching their
goals. This dichotomy of worlds is permanent and does not
disappear even if they succeed in realizing their youthful dream
of gaining power over the society of normal people. This
strongly suggests that the separation is biologically condi-
tioned.
In the psychopath, a dream emerges like some Utopia of a
�happy� world and a social system which does not reject them
or force them to submit to laws and customs whose meaning is
their simple and radical way of experiencing and perceiving
reality would dominate65; where they would, of course, be as-
sured safety and prosperity. In this Utopian dream, they imag-
ine that those �others�, different, but also more technically
skillful than they are, should be put to work to achieve this goal
for the psychopaths and others of their kin. �We�, they say,
�after all, will create a new government, one of justice�66. They
are prepared to fight and to suffer for the sake of such a brave
new world, and also, of course, to inflict suffering upon others.
Such a vision justifies killing people, whose suffering does not
move them to compassion because �they� are not quite con-
specific. They do not realize that they will consequently meet
with opposition which can last for generations67.
Subordinating a normal person to psychologically abnormal
individuals has severe and deforming effects on his or her per-
sonality: it engenders trauma and neurosis. This is accom-
plished in a manner which generally evades conscious controls.
Such a situation deprives the person of his natural rights: to
practice his own mental hygiene, develop a sufficiently
autonomous personality, and utilize his common sense. In the
light of natural law, it thus constitutes a kind of crime - which
65 i.e. Lying, cheating, destroying, using others, etc. [Editor�s note.]
66 For psychopaths only; injustice for everyone else. [Editor�s note.]
67 �Kill them all; God will know his own,� seems to be the method advocated
by psychopaths. [Editor�s note.]
140
PONEROLOGY
can appear at any social scale, in any context - although it is
not mentioned in any code of law.
We have already discussed the nature of some pathological
personalities, e.g. frontal characteropathy, and how they can
deform the personalities of those with whom they interact.
Essential psychopathy has
manner. Something mysterious gnaws into the personality of an
individual at the mercy of the psychopath and is then fought
like a demon. His emotions become chilled, his sense of psy-
chological reality is stifled. This leads to de-criterialization of
thought and a feeling of helplessness, culminating in depressive
reactions which can be so severe that psychiatrists sometimes
misdiagnose them as a manic-depressive psychosis. Many peo-
ple rebel against a psychopathic domination much earlier than
such a crisis point and start searching for some way of liberat-
ing themselves from such an influence.
Many life-situations involve far less mysterious results of
other psychological anomalies upon normal people (which are
always unpleasant and destructive) and their carriers� unscru-
pulous drives to dominate and take advantage of others. Gov-
erned by unpleasant experiences and feelings, as well as natural
egoism, societies thus have good reason to reject such people,
helping to push them into marginal positions in social life,
including poverty and criminality.
It is unfortunately almost the rule that such behavior is
amenable to moralizing justification in our natural world view
categories. Most members of society feel entitled to protect
their own persons and property and enact legislation for that
purpose. Being based on natural perception of phenomena, and
on emotional motivations instead of an objective understanding
of the problems, such laws in no way serve to safeguard the
kind of order and safety we would like; psychopaths and other
deviants merely perceive such laws as a force which needs to
be battled.
To individuals with various psychological deviations, the
social structure dominated by normal people and their concep-
tual world appears to be a �system of force and oppression�.
Psychopaths reach such a conclusion as a rule. If, at the same
time, a good deal of injustice does in fact exist in a given soci-
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
141
ety, pathological feelings of unfairness and suggestive state-
ments emanating from deviants can resonate among those who
have truly been treated unfairly. Revolutionary doctrines may
then be easily propagated among both groups, although each
group has completely different reasons for favoring such ideas.
~~~
The presence of pathogenic bacteria in our environment is a
common phenomenon; however, it is not the single decisive
factor that determines whether an individual or a society be-
comes ill, since natural and artificial immunity as well as medi-
cal assistance may play a role as well. Similarly, psychopatho-
logical factors alone do not � themselves - decide about the
spread of evil. Other factors have parallel importance: socio-
economic conditions, and moral and intellectual deficits.
Individuals and nations that are able to endure injustice in
the name of moral values can more easily find a way out of
such difficulties without resorting to violent means. A rich
moral tradition contains the experience and reflections of cen-
turies in this regard. This book describes the role of these addi-
tional factors in the genesis of evil, which have been insuffi-
ciently understood for centuries; such explication is essential
for completing the overall picture and permitting more effec-
tive practical measures to be formulated.
Thus, emphasizing the role of pathological factors in the
genesis of evil does not minimize the responsibility of social
moral failings and intellectual deficits in contributing to the
situation. Real moral deficits and a grossly inadequate concep-
tion of human reality and psychological and moral situations
are frequently caused by some earlier or contemporary activity
on the part of pathological factors.
However, we must also acknowledge the constant, biologi-
cally determined presence within every human society of this
small minority of individuals who are carriers of qualitatively
diverse, but ponerologically active, pathological factors. Any
discussion on what came first in the process of the genesis of
evil, moral failings or the activities of pathological factors, can
thus be considered academic speculation. On the other hand,
the Bible is worth re-reading through the eyes of a ponerolo-
gist.
142
PONEROLOGY
Detailed analysis of the personality of the average normal
person nearly always reveals conditions and difficulties caused
by the effects upon him of some kind of pathological factor. If
the activity was far removed in time or space, or the factor
relatively obvious, healthy common sense is generally suffi-
cient to correct such effects. If the pathological factor remains
incomprehensible, the person has difficulty understanding the
cause of his problems; he sometimes appears to remain a life-
long slave of imaginings and patterns of behavioral response
which originated under the influence of pathological individu-
als. This is what occurred in the above-mentioned family,
where the source of pathological induction was the eldest sister
with perinatal damage of the prefrontal fields of her brain cor-
tex. Even when she obviously abused her youngest child, her
brothers attempted to interpret this in a paramoralistic manner,
a sacrifice in the name of �family honor�.
Such matters should be taught to everyone in order to facili-
tate auto-pedagogical self-monitoring. Certain outstanding
psychopathologists became convinced that developing a
healthy functional view of human reality is impossible without
factoring in psychopathological findings, are correct, a conclu-
sion difficult to accept by people who believe they have at-
tained a mature world view without such burdensome studies.
The older egotistical defenders of the natural world view have
tradition, belles-lettres, even philosophy on their side. They do
not realize that during the present time, their manner of com-
prehending life�s questions renders the battle with evil more
problematic. However, the younger generation is more familiar
with biology and psychology, and is thus more amenable to an
objective understanding of the role of pathological phenomena
in the processes of the genesis of evil.
Parallax68, often even a wide gap, frequently occurs be-
tween human and social reality, which is biological by nature
and frequently influenced by the above-mentioned refusal to
factor in psychopathological elements, as well as the traditional
perceptions of reality as taught by philosophy, ethics, and secu-
lar and canon law. This gap is easily discernible to those people
68 The difference in appearance or position of an object when viewed from
two different locations. [Editor�s note.]
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
143
whose psychological world view was formed in a manner dif-
ferent from the natural way of a normal person. Many of them
consciously and subconsciously take advantage of this weak-
ness in order to force themselves into it, along with their my-
opically-determined activities characterized by egoistical con-
cepts of self-interest. Still people, whether pathologically indif-
ferent to other peoples� or nations� hurts, or lacking in knowl-
edge as to what is human and decent, then find an open gate to
bulldoze their different way of life through unobliging socie-
ties.
Will we ever be able to overcome this age-old problem of
humanity sometime in the yet undetermined future, with the
assistance of the biological and psychological sciences making
progress in the study of various pathological factors participat-
ing in ponerogenic processes? That will depend on the support
of the societies in question. Scientific and societal awareness of
the role played by the above-mentioned factors in the genesis
of evil will help public opinion to elaborate an appropriate
position against evil, which will then cease to be so fascinat-
ingly mysterious. If properly modified based on an understand-
ing of the nature of phenomena, the law will permit prophylac-
tic countermeasures to the origin of evil.
Over the centuries, every society has been subjected to natu-
ral eugenic processes which cause defective individuals, in-
cluding those with above-mentioned features, to drop out of
reproductive competition or reduce their birth rate. These proc-
esses are rarely seen as such, often being screened by the ac-
companying evil or some other conditions apparently relegat-
ing them to the background. Conscious comprehension of these
matters based on proper knowledge and approximate moral
criteria could render these processes less stormy in form, not so
full of bitter experience. If human consciousness and con-
science are properly formed and good advice in these matters is
heeded, the balance of these processes could be tipped mark-
edly in the positive direction. After a number of generations,
society�s burden of inherited pathological factors would be
144
PONEROLOGY
reduced below a certain critical level, and their participation in
ponerogenic processes would begin to fade away. 69
Ponerogenic Phenomena and Processes
Following the real space-time network of qualitatively
complex causative links as occur in ponerogenic processes
requires the proper approach and experience. The fact that psy-
chologists daily face multiple cases of dealing with such devi-
ants or their victims means that they are becoming progres-
sively more skilled in understanding and describing the many
components of psychological causation. They are observing
feedback on closed causative structures. However, this skill
sometimes proves insufficient in overcoming our human ten-
dency to concentrate upon some facts while ignoring others,
provoking an unpleasant sensation that our mind�s capacity of
understanding the reality surrounding us is inefficient. This
explains the temptation to use the natural world view in order
to simplify complexity and its implications, a phenomenon as
common as the �old sage� known to India�s philosophical psy-
chology. Such oversimplification of the causative picture as
regards the genesis of evil, often to a single easily understood
cause or one perpetrator, itself becomes, itself, a cause in this
genesis.
With great respect for the shortcomings of our human rea-
son, let us consciously take the middle road and use the ab-
straction process, first describing selected phenomena, then the
causative chains characteristic for ponerogenic processes. Such
chains can then be linked into more complex structures ever
more sufficient for grasping the full picture of the real causa-
tive network. At first the holes in the net will be so large that a
school of sprats can swim through undetected, although large
fish will be caught. However, this world�s evil represents a
kind of continuum, where minor species of human evil effec-
tively add up to the genesis of large evil. Making this net
denser and filling in the details of the picture appear to be eas-
69 !obaczewski seems to be referring to war and other physical conflicts and
suggesting that, if normal people would refuse to get involved and allow only
the deviants to fight, they would eventually kill each other off. [Editor�s
note.]
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
145
ier, since ponerogenic laws are analogous regardless of the
scale of occurrences. Our common sense thus commits minor
errors at the level of minor matters.
In attempting closer observation of these psychological
processes and phenomena which lead one man or one nation to
hurt another, let us select phenomena as characteristic as possi-
ble. We shall see that the participation of various pathological
factors in these processes
participation is not noticeable tends to be the exception.
~~~
The second chapter sketched the human instinctive substra-
tum�s role in our personality development, the formation of the
natural world view, and societal links and structures. We also
indicated that our social, psychological, and moral concepts, as
well as our natural forms of reaction, are not adequate for every
situation with which life confronts us. We generally wind up
hurting someone if we act according to our natural concepts
and reactive archetypes in situations which seem to be appro-
priate to our imaginings, although they are in fact essentially
different. As a rule, such different situations allowing para-
appropriate reactions occur because some pathological factor
difficult to understand has entered the picture.
Familiarity with this common weakness of human nature
and the normal person�s �na�vet� is
characteropaths. Spellbinders of various schools attempt to
provoke such para-appropriate reactions from other people in
the name of their specific goals, or in the service of their reign-
ing ideologies. That hard-to-understand pathological factor is
located within the spellbinder himself.
~~~
ditioned as a rule, to which we attribute excessive value to our
instinctive reflexes, early acquired imaginings and habits, and
individual world view. Egotism hampers a personality�s normal
evolution because it fosters the domination of subconscious life
and makes it difficult to accept disintegrative states which can
146
PONEROLOGY
be very helpful for growth and development. This egotism and
rejection of disintegration70 in turn favors the appearance of
para-appropriate reactions as described above. An egotist
measures other people by his own yardstick, treating
cepts and experiential manner as
like to force other people to feel and think very much the same
way he does. Egotist nations have the subconscious goal of
teaching or forcing other nations to think in their own catego-
ries, which makes them incapable of understanding other peo-
ple and nations or becoming familiar with the values of their
cultures.
Proper rearing and self-rearing thus always aims at de-
egotizing a young person or adult, thereby opening the door for
his mind and character to develop. Practicing psychologists
nevertheless commonly believe that a certain measure of ego-
tism is useful as a factor stabilizing the personality, protecting
it from overly facile neurotic disintegration, and thereby mak-
ing it possible to overcome life�s difficulties. However rather
exceptional people exist whose personality is very well inte-
grated even though they are almost totally devoid of egotism;
this allows them to understand others very easily.
The kind of excessive egotism which hampers the develop-
ment of human values and leads to misjudgment and terrorizing
of others well deserves the title �king of human faults�. Diffi-
culties, disputes, serious problems, and neurotic reactions
sprout up in everyone around such an egotist like mushrooms
after a rainfall. Egotist nations start wasting money and effort
in order to achieve goals derived from their erroneous reason-
ing and overly emotional reactions. Their inability to acknowl-
edge other nations� values and dissimilarities, derived from
other cultural traditions, leads to conflict and war.
70 See footnote p. 128. Kazimierz Dabrowski developed the theory of Positive
Disintegration which posits that individuals with strong developmental poten-
tial tend to experience frequent and intense crises (positive disintegrations)
that create opportunities for the development of an autonomous, self-crafted
personality. Dabrowski observed that gifted and creative populations tend to
exhibit increased levels of developmental potential and thus may be predis-
posed to experience the process of positive disintegration. (
Calgary, Alberta, Canada) [Editor�s note.]
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
147
We can differentiate between primary and secondary ego-
tism. The former comes from a more natural process, namely
the child�s natural egotism and child-rearing errors that tend to
perpetuate this childish egotism. The secondary one occurs
when a personality that has overcome his childish egotism
regresses to this state under stress, which leads to an artificial
attitude characterized by greater aggression and social nox-
iousness. Excessive egotism is a constant property of the hys-
terical personality71, whether their hysteria be primary or sec-
ondary. That is why the increase in a nations� egotism should
be attributed to the above described hysterical cycle before
anything else.
If we analyze the development of excessively egotistical
personalities, we often find some non-pathological causes, such
as having been raised in a constricted and overly routine envi-
ronment or by persons less intelligent than the child. However,
the main reason for the development of an overly egotistical
personality in a normal person is contamination, through psy-
chological induction, by excessively egotistical or hysterical
persons who, themselves, developed this characteristic under
the influence of various
above-described genetic deviations
Many people with various hereditary deviations and ac-
quired defects develop pathological egotism. For such people,
forcing others in their environment, whole social groups, and,
if possible, entire nations, to feel and think like themselves
becomes an internal necessity, a ruling concept. A game that a
normal person would not take seriously can become a lifelong
goal for them, the object of effort, sacrifices, and cunning psy-
chological strategy.
field of consciousness any objectionable, self-critical associa-
tions referring to one�s own nature or normality. Dramatic
71 A personality disorder marked by immaturity, dependence, self-
centeredness, and vanity, with a craving for attention, activity, or excitement,
and behavior that is markedly unstable or manipulative. (
Company) [Editor�s note.]
148
PONEROLOGY
question such as �who is abnormal here, me or this world of
people who feel and think differently?� are answered in the
world�s disfavor. Such egotism is always linked to a dissimula-
tive attitude, with a Cleckley mask over some pathological
quality being hidden from consciousness, both one�s own and
that of other people. The greatest intensity of such egotism can
be found in the
The importance of the contribution of this kind of egotism
to the genesis of evil thus hardly needs elaboration. It is a pri-
marily societal influence, egotizing or traumatizing others,
which in turn causes further difficulties. Pathological egotism
is a constant component of variegated states wherein someone
who appears to be normal (although he is in fact not quite so) is
driven by motivations or battles for goals a normal person con-
siders unrealistic or unlikely. The average person might ask:
�What could he expect to gain by that?�. Environmental opin-
ion, however, often interprets such a situation in accordance
with �common sense� and is thus prone to accept a �more
likely� version of the situation and events. Such interpretation
often results in human tragedy. We should thus always remem-
ber that the principle of law
whenever some pathological factor enters the picture.
~~~
izing interpretation upon essentially pathological phenomena is
an aspect of human nature whose discernable substratum is
encoded in our specific instinct; namely humans normally fail
to differentiate between moral and biological evil. Moralizing
always surfaces, albeit to varying degrees, within the natural
psychological and moral world view, which is why we should
consider this tendency a permanent error of public opinion. We
may curb it with increased self-knowledge, but overcoming it
requires specific knowledge in the psychopathological area.
Young people and less cultured circles always tend toward
such interpretations (although it characterizes traditional es-
thetes too), which intensifies whenever our natural reflexes
take over control from reason, i.e. in hysterical states, and in
direct proportion to the intensity of egotism.
72 What or who does it advance? Who does it serve? What�s the point?
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
149
We close the door to a causative comprehension of phe-
nomena and open it to vengeful emotions and psychological
error whenever we impose a moralistic interpretation upon
faults and errors in human behavior, which are in fact largely
derived from the various influences of pathological factors,
whether mentioned above or not, which are often obscured
from minds untrained in this area. We thereby also permit these
factors to continue their ponerogenic activities, both within
ourselves and others. Nothing poisons the human soul and de-
prives us of our capacity to understand reality more objectively
than this very obedience to that common human tendency to
take a moralistic view of human behavior.
Practically speaking, to say the least, each instance of be-
havior that seriously hurts some other person contains within
its psychological genesis the influence of some pathological
factors, among other things, of course. Therefore, any interpre-
tation of the causes of evil which would limit itself to moral
categories is an inappropriate perception of reality. This can
lead, generally speaking, to erroneous behavior, limiting our
capacity for counteraction of the causative factors of evil and
opening the door for lust for revenge. This frequently starts a
new fire in the ponerogenic processes. We shall therefore con-
sider a unilaterally moral interpretation of the origins of evil to
be wrong and immoral at all times. The idea of overcoming this
common human inclination and its results can be considered a
moral motive intertwined throughout ponerology.
If we analyze the reasons why some people frequently
overuse such emotionally-loaded interpretations, often indig-
nantly rejecting a more correct interpretation, we shall of
course also discover pathological factors acting within them.
Intensification of this tendency in such cases is caused by re-
pressing from the field of consciousness any self-critical con-
cepts concerning their own behavior and its internal reasons.
The influence of such people causes this tendency to intensify
in others.
~~~
that some actions violate moral rules is so common and ancient
a phenomenon that it seems to have some substratum at man�s
150
PONEROLOGY
instinctive endowment level (although it is certainly not totally
adequate for moral truth), and that it does not only represent
centuries� of experience, culture, religion, and socialization.
Thus, any insinuation framed in moral slogans is always sug-
gestive, even if the �moral� criteria used are just an �ad hoc�
invention. Any act can thus be proved to be immoral or moral
by means of such paramoralisms utilized as active suggestion,
and people whose minds will succumb to such reasoning can
always be found.
In searching for an example of an evil act whose negative
value would not elicit doubt in any social situation, ethics
scholars frequently mention child abuse. However, psycholo-
gists often meet with paramoral affirmations of such behavior
in their practice, such as in the above-mentioned family with
the prefrontal field damage in the eldest sister. Her younger
brothers emphatically insisted that their sister�s sadistic treat-
ment of her son was due to her exceptionally high moral quali-
fications, and they believed this by auto-suggestion. Paramoral-
ism somehow cunningly evades the control of our common
sense, sometimes leading to acceptance or approval of behavior
that is openly pathological.73
Paramoralistic statements and suggestions so often accom-
pany various kinds of evil that they seem quite irreplaceable.
Unfortunately, it has become a frequent phenomenon for indi-
viduals, oppressive groups, or patho-political systems to invent
ever-new moral criteria for someone�s convenience. Such sug-
gestions often partially deprive people of their moral reasoning
and deform its development in youngsters. Paramoralism facto-
ries have been founded worldwide, and a ponerologist finds it
hard to believe that they are managed by psychologically nor-
mal people.
73 Many examples of recent years include children beaten to death by their
parents for �religious reasons�. The parents may claim that the child is demon
possessed, or that they have behaved so loosely that only beating them will
�straighten them out�. Another example is circumcision, both for boys and
girls by certain ethnic groups. The Indian custom of suttee, where the wife
climbs on the funeral pyre of her husband; or in Muslim cultures where, if a
woman is raped, it is the duty of her male family members to kill her to wipe
away the shame from the family name. All of these acts are claimed to be
�moral�, but they are not, they are pathological and criminal. [Editor�s note.]
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
151
The conversive74 features in the genesis of paramoralisms
seem to prove they are derived from mostly subconscious re-
jection (and repression from the field of consciousness) of
something completely different, which we call
A ponerologist can nevertheless indicate many observations
supporting the opinion that various pathological factors partici-
pate in the tendency to use paramoralisms. This was the case in
the above-mentioned family. When it occurs with a moralizing
interpretation, this tendency intensifies in egotists and hyster-
ics, and its causes are similar. Like all conversive phenomena,
the tendency to use paramoralisms is psychologically conta-
gious. That explains why we observe it among people raised by
individuals in whom it was developed alongside pathological
factors.
This may be a good place to reflect that true moral law is
born and exists independently of our judgments in this regard,
and even of our ability to recognize it. Thus, the attitude re-
quired for such understanding is scientific, not creative: we
must humbly subordinate our mind to the apprehended reality.
That is when we discover the truth about man, both his weak-
nesses and values, which shows us what is decent and proper
with respect to other people and other societies.
~~~
which is the opposite of the truth blocks the average person�s
mind from perceiving the truth. In accordance with the dictates
of healthy common sense, he starts searching for meaning in
the �golden mean� between the truth and its opposite, winding
up with some satisfactory counterfeit. People who think like
this do not realize that this effect is precisely the intent of the
person who subjects them to this method. If the counterfeit of
the truth is the opposite of a moral truth, at the same time, it
simultaneously represents an extreme paramoralism, and bears
its peculiar suggestiveness.
We rarely see this method being used by normal people;
even if raised by the people who abused it; they usually only
indicate its results in their characteristic difficulties in appre-
74 See note p. 46.
152
PONEROLOGY
hending reality properly. Use of this method can be included
within the above-mentioned special psychological knowledge
developed by psychopaths concerning the weaknesses of hu-
man nature and the art of leading others into error. Where they
are in rule, this method is used with virtuosity, and to an extent
conterminous with their power.
~~~
psychological phenomena known to pre-Freudian philosophical
students of the subconscious bears repeating.
sive, such as subconscious blocking out of conclusions, the
selection, and, also, substitution of seemingly uncomfortable
premises.
We speak of
process was proper in principle and has almost arrived at a
conclusion and final comprehension within the act of internal
projection, but becomes stymied by a preceding directive from
the subconscious, which considers it inexpedient or disturbing.
This is primitive prevention of personality disintegration,
which may seem advantageous; however, it also prevents all
the advantages which could be derived from consciously elabo-
rated conclusion and reintegration. A conclusion thus rejected
remains in our subconscious and in a more unconscious way
causes the next blocking and selection of this kind. This can be
extremely harmful, progressively enslaving a person to his own
subconscious, and is often accompanied by a feeling of tension
and bitterness.
We speak of
goes deeper into the resulting reasoning and from its database
thus deletes and represses into the subconscious just that piece
of information which was responsible for arriving at the un-
comfortable conclusion. Our subconscious then permits further
logical reasoning, except that the outcome will be erroneous in
direct proportion to the actual significance of the repressed
data. An ever-greater number of such repressed information is
collected in our subconscious memory. Finally, a kind of habit
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
153
seems to take over: similar material is treated the same way
even if reasoning would have reached an outcome quite advan-
tageous to the person.
The most complex process of this type is substitution of
premises thus eliminated by other data, ensuring an ostensibly
more comfortable conclusion. Our associative ability rapidly
elaborates a new item to replace the removed one, but it is one
leading to a
most time, and it is unlikely to be exclusively subconscious.
Such substitutions are often effected collectively, in certain
groups of people, through the use of verbal communication.
That is why they best qualify for the moralizing epithet �hy-
pocrisy� than either of the above-mentioned processes.
The above examples of conversive phenomena do not ex-
haust a problem richly illustrated in psychoanalytical works.
Our subconscious may carry the roots of human genius within,
but its operation is not perfect; sometimes it is reminiscent of a
blind computer, especially whenever we allow it to be cluttered
with anxiously rejected material. This explains why conscious
monitoring, even at the price of courageously accepting disin-
tegrative states, is likewise necessary to our nature, not to men-
tion our individual and social good.
There is no such thing as a person whose perfect self-
knowledge allows him to eliminate all tendencies toward con-
versive thinking, but some people are relatively close to this
state, while others remain slaves to these processes. Those
people who use conversive operations too often for the purpose
of finding convenient conclusions, or constructing some cun-
ning paralogistic or paramoralistic statements, eventually begin
to undertake such behavior for ever more trivial reasons, losing
the capacity for conscious control over their thought process
altogether. This necessarily leads to behavior errors which must
be paid for by others as well as themselves.
People who have lost their psychological hygiene and ca-
pacity of proper thought along this road also lose their natural
critical faculties with regard to the statements and behavior of
individuals whose abnormal thought processes were formed on
a substratum of pathological anomalies, whether inherited or
acquired. Hypocrites stop differentiating between pathological
154
PONEROLOGY
and normal individuals, thus opening an �infection entry� for
the ponerologic role of pathological factors.
Generally, each community contains people in whom simi-
lar methods of thinking were developed on a large scale, with
their various deviations as a backdrop. We find this both in
characteropathic and psychopathic personalities. Some have
even been influenced by others to grow accustomed to such
�reasoning�, since conversion thinking is highly contagious
and can spread throughout an entire society. In �happy times�
especially, the tendency for conversion thinking generally in-
tensifies. It appears accompanied by a rising wave of hysteria
in said society. Those who try to maintain common sense and
proper reasoning finally wind up in the minority, feeling
wronged because their human right to maintain psychological
hygiene is violated by pressure from all sides. This means that
unhappy times are not far away.
We should point out that the erroneous thought processes
described herein also, as a rule, violate the laws of logic with
characteristic treachery. Educating people in the art of proper
reasoning can thus serve to counteract such tendencies; it has a
hallowed age-old tradition which seems to have been insuffi-
ciently effective for centuries. As an example: according to the
laws of logic, a question containing an erroneous or uncon-
firmed suggestion has no answer. Nevertheless, not only does
operating with such questions become epidemic among people
with a tendency to conversion thinking, and a source of terror
when used by psychopathical individuals; it also occurs among
people who think normally, or even those who have studied
logic.
This decreasing tendency in a society�s capacity for proper
thought should be counteracted, since it also lowers its immu-
nity to ponerogenic processes. An effective measure would be
teaching both proper thought and skillful detection of errors in
thought. The front of such education should be expanded, in-
cluding psychology, psychopathology, and the science de-
scribed herein, for the purpose of raising people who can easily
detect any paralogism.
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
155
Spellbinders
In order to comprehend ponerogenic pathways of contagion,
especially those acting in a wider social context, let us observe
the roles and personalities of individuals we shall call �spell-
binders�, who are highly active in this area in spite of their
statistically negligible number.
Spellbinders are generally the carriers of various pathologi-
cal factors, some characteropathies, and some inherited anoma-
lies. Individuals with malformations of their personalities fre-
quently play similar roles, although the social scale of influ-
ence remains small (family or neighborhood) and does not
cross certain boundaries of decency.
Spellbinders are characterized by pathological egotism.
Such a person is forced by some internal causes to make an
early choice between two possibilities: the first is forcing other
people to think and experience things in a manner similar to his
own; the second is a feeling of being lonely and different, a
pathological misfit in social life. Sometimes the choice is either
snake-charming or suicide.
Triumphant repression of self-critical or unpleasant con-
cepts from the field of consciousness gradually gives rise to the
phenomena of conversion thinking, or paralogistics, paramoral-
isms, and the use of reversion blockades. They stream so pro-
fusely from the mind and mouth of the spellbinder that they
flood the average person�s mind. Everything becomes subordi-
nated to the spellbinder�s over-compensatory conviction that
they are exceptional, sometimes even messianic. An ideology
emerges from this conviction, true in part, whose value is sup-
posedly superior. However, if we analyze the exact functions of
such an ideology in the spellbinder�s personality, we perceive
that it is a nothing other than a means of
for repressing those tormenting self-critical associations into
the subconscious. The ideology�s instrumental role in influenc-
ing other people also serves the spellbinder�s needs.
The spellbinder believes that he will always find converts to
his ideology, and most often, they are right. However, they feel
shock (or even paramoral indignation) when it turns out that
their influence extends to only a limited minority, while most
people�s attitude to their activities remains critical, pained and
156
PONEROLOGY
disturbed. The spellbinder is thus confronted with a choice:
either withdraw back into his void or strengthen his position by
The spellbinder places on a high moral plane anyone who
has succumbed to his influence and incorporated the experien-
tial method he imposes. He showers such people with attention
and property, if possible. Critics are met with �moral� outrage.
It can even be proclaimed that the compliant minority is in fact
the moral majority, since it professes the best ideology and
honors a leader whose qualities are above average.
Such activity is always necessarily characterized by the
psychological point of view because its substratum contains
pathological phenomena, and both spellbinding and self-
charming make it impossible to perceive reality accurately
enough to foresee results logically. However, spellbinders nur-
ture great optimism and harbor visions of future triumphs simi-
lar to those they enjoyed over their own crippled souls.
In a healthy society, the activities of spellbinders meet with
criticism effective enough to stifle them quickly. However,
when they are preceded by conditions operating destructively
upon common sense and social order; such as social injustice,
cultural backwardness, or intellectually limited rulers some-
times manifesting pathological traits, spellbinders� activities
have led entire societies into large-scale human tragedy.
Such an individual fishes an environment or society for
people amenable to his influence, deepening their psychologi-
cal weaknesses until they finally join together in a ponerogenic
union. On the other hand, people who have maintained their
healthy critical faculties intact, based upon their own common
sense and moral criteria, attempt to counteract the spellbinders�
activities and their results. In the resulting
cial attitudes, each side justifies itself by means of moral cate-
gories. That is why such commonsense resistance is always
accompanied by some feeling of helplessness and deficiency of
criteria.
The awareness that a spellbinder is always a pathological
individual should protect us from the known results of a moral-
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
157
izing interpretation of pathological phenomena, ensuring us
kind of pathological substratum is hidden behind a given in-
stance of spellbinding activities should enable a modern solu-
tion to such situations.
It is a characteristic phenomenon that a high IQ generally
helps a person to be more immune to spellbinding activities
of human attitudes to the influence of such activities should be
attributed to other properties of human nature. The most deci-
sive factor in assuming a critical attitude is good basic intelli-
gence, which conditions our perception of psychological real-
ity. We can also observe how a spellbinder�s activities �husk
out� amenable individuals with an astonishing regularity.
We shall later return to the specific relations that occur
among the spellbinder�s personality, the ideology he expounds,
and the choices made by those who easily succumb. More ex-
haustive clarification thereof would require separate study
within the framework of general ponerology, a work intended
for specialists, in order to explain some of those interesting
phenomena which are still not properly understood today.
Ponerogenic Associations
We shall give the name �ponerogenic association� to any
group of people characterized by ponerogenic processes of
above-average social intensity, wherein the carriers of various
pathological factors function as inspirers, spellbinders, and
leaders, and where a proper pathological social structure gener-
ates. Smaller, less permanent associations may be called
�groups� or �unions�.
Such an association gives birth to evil which hurts other
people as well as its own members. We could list various
names ascribed to such organizations by linguistic tradition:
gangs, criminal mobs, mafias, cliques, and coteries, which
cunningly avoid collision with the law while seeking to gain
their own advantage. Such unions frequently aspire to political
power in order to impose their expedient legislation upon so-
cieties in the name of a suitably prepared ideology, deriving
158
PONEROLOGY
advantages in the form of disproportionate prosperity and the
satisfaction of their craving for power.
A description and classification of such associations with a
view of their numbers, goals, officially promulgated ideologies,
and internal organizations would of course be scientifically
valuable. Such a description, effected by a perceptive observer,
could help a ponerologist determine some of the properties of
such unions, which cannot be determined by means of natural
conceptual language.
A description of this kind, however, ought not to cloak the
more factual phenomena and psychological dependencies oper-
ating within these unions. Failure to heed this warning can
easily cause such a sociological description to indicate proper-
ties which are of secondary importance, or even made �for
show� to impress the uninitiated, thereby overshadowing the
actual phenomena which decide the quality, role, and fate of
the union. Particularly if such a description is colorful litera-
ture, it can furnish merely illusory or ersatz knowledge, thus
rendering a naturalistic perception and causative comprehen-
sion of phenomena more difficult.
One phenomenon all ponerogenic groups and associations
have in common is the fact that their members lose (or have
already lost)
melodramatic ways. The opinions, ideas, and judgments of
people carrying various psychological deficits are endowed
with an importance at least equal to that of outstanding indi-
viduals among normal people.
rion of ponerogenesis.
position is crucially important in the formation of the entire
union�s character, activities, development, or extinction.
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
159
Groups dominated by various kinds of
dividuals will develop relatively primitive activities, proving
rather easy for a society of normal people to break. However,
things are quite different when such unions are inspired by
psychopathic individuals. Let us adduce the following example
illustrating the roles of two different anomalies, selected from
among actual events studied by the author.
In felonious youth gangs, a specific role is played by boys
(and occasionally girls) that carry a characteristic deficit that is
sometimes left behind by an inflammation of the parotid glands
(the mumps). This disease entails brain reactions in some cases,
leaving behind a discreet but permanent bleaching of feelings
and a slight decrease in general mental skills. Similar results
are sometimes left behind after diphtheria. As a result, such
people easily succumb to the suggestions and manipulations of
a more clever individuals.
When drawn into a felonious group, these constitutionally
weakened individuals become faint-critical helpers and execu-
tors of the leader�s intentions, tools in the hands of more
treacherous, usually psychopathic, leaders. Once arrested, they
submit to their leaders� insinuated explanations that the higher
(paramoral) group ideal demands that they become scapegoats,
taking the majority of blame upon themselves. In court, the
same leaders who initiated the delinquencies mercilessly dump
all the blame onto their less crafty colleagues. Sometimes a
judge actually accepts the insinuations.
Individuals with the above-mentioned post-mumps and
post-diphtheria traits constitute less than 1.0 % of the popula-
tion as a whole, but their share reaches 1/4 of juvenile delin-
quent groups. This represents an inspissation75 of the order of
30-fold, requiring no further methods of statistical analysis.
When studying the contents of ponerogenic unions skillfully
enough, we often meet with an inspissation of other psycho-
logical anomalies which also speak for themselves.
~~~
Two basic types of the above-mentioned unions should be
differentiated:
75 To thicken by either evaporation or absorption of fluid. Diminished fluid-
ity, increased thickness. A concentration. [Editor�s note.]
160
PONEROLOGY
abnormal members were active from the very beginning, play-
ing the role of crystallizing catalysts as early as the process of
creation of the group occurred. We shall call secondarily
ponerogenic a union which was founded in the name of some
idea with an independent social meaning, generally
comprehensible within the categories of the natural world view,
but which later succumbed to a certain moral degeneration.
This in turn opened the door to infection and activation of the
pathological factors within, and later to a ponerization of the
group as a whole, or often of its fraction.
From the very outset, a primarily ponerogenic union is a
foreign body within the organism of society, its character col-
liding with the moral values held or respected by the majority.
The activities of such groups provoke opposition and disgust
and are considered immoral; as a rule, therefore, such groups
do not spread large, nor do they metastasize into numerous
unions; they finally lose their battle with society.
In order to have a chance to develop into a large ponero-
genic association, however, it suffices that some human orga-
nization, characterized by social or political goals and an ideol-
ogy with some creative value, be accepted by a larger number
of normal people
genic malignancy. The primary tradition and ideological values
of such a society may then, for a long time, protect a union
which has succumbed to the ponerization process from the
awareness of society, especially its less critical components.
When the ponerogenic process touches such a human organiza-
tion, which originally emerged and acted in the name of politi-
cal or social goals, and whose causes were conditioned in his-
tory and the social situation, the original group�s primary val-
ues will nourish and protect such a union, in spite of the fact
that those primary values succumb to characteristic degenera-
tion, the practical function becoming
the primary one, because the names and symbols are retained.
This is where the weaknesses of individual and social �com-
mon sense� are revealed.76
76 Just because a group operates under the banner of �communism� or �so-
cialism� or �democracy� or �conservatism� or �republicanism�, doesn�t mean
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
161
This is reminiscent of a situation psychopathologists know
well: a person who enjoyed trust and respect in their circles
starts behaving with preposterous arrogance and hurting others,
allegedly in the name of his already known, decent and ac-
cepted convictions, which have � in the meantime - deterio-
rated due to some psychological process rendering them primi-
tive but emotionally dynamic. However, his old acquaintances
� having known him for long as the person he was - do not
believe the injured parties who complain about his new, or
even hidden, behavior, and are prepared to denigrate them and
consider them liars. This adds insult to their injury and gives
encouragement and license to the individual whose personality
is undergoing deterioration, to commit further hurtful acts; as a
rule, such a situation lasts until the person�s madness becomes
obvious.
Ponerogenic unions of the primary variety are mainly of in-
terest to criminology; our main concern will be associations
that succumb to a secondary process of poneric malignancy.
First, however, let us sketch a few properties of such associa-
tions which have already surrendered to this process.
Within each ponerogenic union, a psychological structure is
created which can be considered a counterpart or caricature of
the normal structure of society or a normal societal organiza-
tion. In a normal social organization, individuals with various
psychological strengths and weaknesses complement each
other�s talents and characteristics. This structure is subjected to
diachronic77 modification with regard to changes in the charac-
ter of the association as whole. The same is true of a ponero-
genic union. Individuals with various psychological aberrations
also complement each other�s talents and characteristics.
The earlier phase of a ponerogenic union�s activity is usu-
ally dominated by characteropathic, particularly paranoid, indi-
viduals, who often play an inspirational or spellbinding role in
the ponerization process. Recall here the power of the paranoid
characteropath lies in the fact that they easily enslave less criti-
cal minds, e.g. people with other kinds of psychological defi-
that, in practice, their functions are anything close to the original ideology.
[Editor�s note.]
77 Over time; employing a chronological perspective. [Editor�s note.]
162
PONEROLOGY
ciencies, or who have been victims of individuals with charac-
ter disorders, and, in particular, a large segment of young peo-
ple.
At this point in time, the union still exhibits certain roman-
tic features and is not yet characterized by excessively brutal
behavior.78 Soon, however, the more normal members are
pushed into fringe functions and are excluded from organiza-
tional secrets; some of them thereupon leave such a union.
Individuals with inherited deviations then progressively take
over the inspirational and leadership positions. The role of
essential psychopaths gradually grows, although they like to
remain ostensibly in the shadows (e.g. directing small groups),
setting the pace as an �minence grise.79 In ponerogenic unions
on the largest social scales, the leadership role is generally
played by a different kind of individual, one more easily di-
gestible and representative. Examples include frontal charac-
teropathy, or some more discreet complex of lesser taints.
A spellbinder at first simultaneously plays the role of leader
in a ponerogenic group. Later there appears another kind of
�leadership talent�, a more vital individual who often joined
the organization later, once it has already succumbed to poneri-
zation. The spellbinding individual, being weaker, is forced to
come to terms with being shunted into the shadows and recog-
nizing the new leader�s �genius�, or accept the threat of total
failure. Roles are parceled out. The spellbinder needs support
from the primitive but decisive leader, who in turn needs the
spellbinder to uphold the association�s ideology, so essential in
maintaining the proper attitude on the part of those members of
the rank and file who betray a tendency to criticism and doubt
of the moral variety.
The spellbinder�s job then becomes to repackage the ideol-
ogy appropriately, sliding new contents in under old titles, so
78 An example would be a paranoid character who believes himself to be a
Robin Hood type character with a �mission� to �rob from the rich and give to
the poor�. This can easily transform to �rob from anyone to gain for the self�
under the cover of �social injustice against us makes it right�. [Editor�s note.]
79 A powerful advisor or decision-maker who operates secretly or otherwise
unofficially. This phrase originally referred to Cardinal Richelieu�s right-
hand man, Fran�ois Leclerc du Tremblay, a Capuchin priest who wore gray
robes. [Editor�s note.]
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
163
that it can continue fulfilling its propaganda function under
ever-changing conditions. He also has to uphold the leader�s
cannot exist between the two, however, since the leader se-
cretly has contempt for the spellbinder and his ideology,
whereas the spellbinder despises the leader for being such a
coarse individual. A showdown is always probable; whoever is
weaker becomes the loser.
The structure of such a union undergoes further variegation
and specialization. A chasm opens between the somewhat more
normal members and the elite initiates who are, as a rule, more
pathological. This later subgroup becomes ever more domi-
nated by hereditary pathological factors, the former by the af-
ter-effects of various diseases affecting the brain, less typically
psychopathic individuals, and people whose malformed per-
sonalities were caused by early deprivation or brutal child-
rearing methods on the part of pathological individuals. It soon
develops that there is less and less room for normal people in
the group at all. The leaders� secrets and intentions are kept
hidden from the union�s proletariat; the products of the spell-
binders� work must suffice for this segment.
An observer watching such a union�s activities from the
outside and using the natural psychological world view will
always tend to overestimate the role of the leader and his alleg-
edly autocratic function. The spellbinders and the propaganda
apparatus are mobilized to maintain this erroneous outside
opinion. The leader, however, is
than he himself knows. He wages a constant position-jockeying
battle; he is an actor with a director. In macrosocial unions, this
position is generally occupied by a more representative indi-
vidual not deprived of certain critical faculties; initiating him
into
terproductive. In conjunction with part of the elite, a
psychopathic individuals hiding behind the scenes steers the
leader, the way Borman and his clique steered Hitler. If the
leader does not fulfill his assigned role, he generally knows that
the clique representing the elite of the union is in a position to
kill or otherwise remove him.
164
PONEROLOGY
We have sketched the properties of unions in which the
ponerogenic process has transformed their original generally
benevolent content into a pathological counter-part thereof and
modified its structure and its later changes, in a manner suffi-
ciently wide-scale to encompass the greatest possible scope of
this kind of phenomena, from the smallest to the largest social
scale. The general rules governing those phenomena appear to
be at least analogous, independent of the quantitative, social,
and historical scale of such a phenomenon.
Ideologies
It is a common phenomenon for a ponerogenic association
or group to contain a
its activities and furnishes motivational propaganda. Even a
small-time gang of hoodlums has its own melodramatic ideol-
ogy and pathological romanticism. Human nature demands that
vile matters be haloed by an over-compensatory mystique in
order to silence one�s conscience and to deceive consciousness
and critical faculties, whether one�s own or those of others.
If such a ponerogenic union could be stripped of its ideol-
ogy, nothing would remain except psychological and moral
pathology, naked and unattractive. Such stripping would of
course provoke �moral outrage�, and not only among the
members of the union. The fact is, even normal people, who
condemn this kind of union along with its ideologies, feel hurt
and deprived of something constituting part of their own ro-
manticism, their way of perceiving reality when a widely ideal-
ized group is exposed as little more than a gang of criminals.
Perhaps even some of the readers of this book will resent the
author�s stripping evil so unceremoniously of all its literary
motifs. The job of effecting such a �strip-tease� may thus turn
out to be much more difficult and dangerous than expected.
A primary ponerogenic union is formed at the same time as
its ideology, perhaps even somewhat earlier. A normal person
perceives such ideology to be different from the world of hu-
man concepts, obviously suggestive, and even primitively
comical to a degree.
An ideology of a secondarily ponerogenic association is
formed by gradual adaptation of the primary ideology to func-
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
165
tions and goals other than the original formative ones. A certain
kind of layering or schizophrenia of ideology takes place dur-
ing the ponerization process. The outer layer closest to the
original content is used for the group�s propaganda purposes,
especially regarding the outside world, although it can in part
also be used inside with regard to disbelieving lower-echelon
members. The second layer presents the elite with no problems
of comprehension: it is more hermetic, generally composed by
slipping a different meaning into the same names. Since identi-
cal names signify different contents depending on the layer in
question, understanding this �doubletalk� requires simultane-
ous fluency in both languages.
Average people succumb to the first layer�s suggestive in-
sinuations for a long time before they learn to understand the
second one as well. Anyone with certain psychological devia-
tions, especially if he is wearing the mask of normality with
which we are already familiar, immediately perceives the sec-
ond layer to be attractive and significant; after all, it was built
by people like him. Comprehending this doubletalk is therefore
a vexatious task, provoking quite understandable psychological
resistance; this very duality of language, however, is a pathog-
nomonic80 symptom indicating that the human union in ques-
tion is touched by the ponerogenic process to an advanced de-
gree.
The
certain constant factors regardless of their quality, quantity, or
scope of action: namely,
facilitate sublimation of the feeling of being wronged and dif-
ferent, caused by one�s own psychological failings, and appear
to liberate the individual from the need to abide by uncomfort-
able moral principles.
In the world full of real injustice and human humiliation,
making it conducive to the formation of an ideology containing
the above elements, a union of its converts may easily succumb
to degradation. When this happens, those people with a ten-
80 Specific characteristics of a disease. [Editor�s note.]
166
PONEROLOGY
dency to accept the better version of the ideology will tend to
justify such ideological duality.
The ideology of the proletariat,81 which aimed at revolu-
tionary restructuring of the world, was already contaminated by
a schizoid deficit in the understanding of, and trust for, human
nature; small wonder, then, that it easily succumbed to a proc-
ess of typical degeneration in order to nourish and disguise a
macrosocial phenomenon whose basic essence is completely
different.82
For future reference, let us remember: ideologies do not
need spellbinders. Spellbinders need ideologies in order to
subject them to their own deviant goals.
On the other hand, the fact that some ideology degenerated
along with its corollary social movement, later succumbing to
81 From the
modern wage laborers, who, having no means of production of their own, are
reduced to selling their labor-power in order to live.� [Editor�s note.]
82 Fascism seems to be the diametric opposite of Communism and Marxism,
both in a philosophic and political sense, and also opposed democratic capi-
talist economics along with socialism and liberal democracy. It viewed the
state as an organic entity in a positive light rather than as an institution de-
signed to protect collective and individual rights, or as one that should be
held in check. Fascism is also typified by totalitarian attempts to impose state
control over all aspects of life: political, social, cultural, and economic which
accurately describes what was passed off under the name of Communism.
The fascist state regulates and controls (as opposed to nationalizing) the
means of production. Fascism exalts the nation, state, or race as superior to
the individuals, institutions, or groups composing it. Fascism uses explicit
populist rhetoric; calls for a heroic mass effort to restore past greatness; and
demands loyalty to a single leader, often to the point of a cult of personality.
Again, we see that Fascism was passed off as Communism. So, what actually
seems to have happened is that the original ideals of the proletariat were
cleverly subsumed to State corporatism. Most people in the west are not
aware of this because of the Western propaganda against Communism. The
word �Fascist� has become a slur throughout the world since the stunning
failure of the Axis powers in World War II. In contemporary political dis-
course, adherents of some political ideologies tend to associate fascism with
their enemies, or define it as the opposite of their own views. There are no
major self-described fascist parties or organizations anywhere in the world.
However, at the present time, in the U.S., the system is far more fascist than
democratic, which probably explains the existence of the years of anti-
Communist propaganda. That would demonstrate an early process of poneri-
zation of Western democracy which, at present, has almost completed the
transformation to full-blown fascism. [Editor�s note.]
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
167
this schizophrenia and serving goals which the originators of
the ideology would have abhorred, does not prove that it was
worthless, false, and fallacious from the start. Quite the con-
trary: it rather appears that under certain historical conditions,
the ideology of any social movement, even if it is sacred truth,
can yield to the ponerization process.
A given ideology may have contained weak spots, created
by the errors of human thought and emotion within; or it may,
during the course of its history, become infiltrated by more
primitive foreign material which can contain ponerogenic fac-
tors. Such material destroys an ideology�s internal homogeny.
The source of such infection by foreign ideological material
may be the ruling social system with its laws and customs
based on a more primitive tradition, or an imperialistic system
of rule. It may be, of course, simply another philosophical
movement often contaminated by the eccentricities of its foun-
der, who considers the facts to blame for not conforming to his
dialectical construct.
The Roman Empire, including its legal system and paucity
of psychological concepts, similarly contaminated the primary
homogeneous idea of Christianity. Christianity had to adapt to
coexistence with a social system wherein �
rather than an understanding of human beings, decided a per-
son�s fate; this then led to the corruption of attempting to reach
the goals of the �Kingdom of God� by means of Roman impe-
rialistic methods.
The greater and truer the original ideology, the longer it
may be capable of nourishing and disguising from human criti-
cism that phenomenon which is the product of the specific
degenerative process. In a great and valuable ideology, the
danger for small minds is hidden; they can become the factors
of such preliminary degeneration, which opens the door to
invasion by pathological factors.
Thus, if we intend to understand the secondary ponerization
process and the kinds of human associations which succumb to
it, we must take great care to separate the original ideology
from its counterpart, or even caricature, created by the ponero-
genic process. Abstracting from any ideology, we must, by
83 The law [is] harsh, but [it is] the law.
168
PONEROLOGY
analogy, understand the essence of the process itself, which has
its own etiological causes which are potentially present in
every society, as well as characteristic developmental patho-
dynamics.
The Ponerization Process
Observation of the ponerization processes of various human
unions throughout history easily leads to the conclusion that the
initial step is a
note first of all an infiltration of foreign, simplistic, and doctri-
naire contents, thereby depriving it of any healthy support for,
and trust in, the necessity of understanding of human nature.
This opens the way for invasion by pathological factors and the
ponerogenic role of their carriers.
The example of the Roman legal system vis a vis early
Christianity mentioned above, is a case in point. The Roman
imperial and legal civilization was overly attached to matter
and law, and created a legal system that was too rigid to ac-
commodate any real aspects of psychological and spiritual life.
This �earthy� foreign element infiltrated Christianity resulting
in the Catholic church adopting Imperial strategies to enforce
its system on others by violence.
This fact could justify the conviction of moralists that main-
taining a union�s ethical discipline and ideational purity is suf-
ficient protection against derailing or hurtling into an insuffi-
ciently comprehended world of error. Such a conviction strikes
a ponerologist as a unilateral oversimplification of an eternal
reality which is more complex. After all, the loosening of ethi-
cal and intellectual controls is sometimes a consequence of the
direct or indirect influence of the omnipresent factors of the
existence of deviants in any social group, along with some
other non-pathological human weaknesses.
Sometime during life, every human organism undergoes pe-
riods during which physiological and psychological resistance
declines, facilitating development of bacteriological infection
within. Similarly, a human association or social movement
undergoes periods of crisis which weaken its ideational and
moral cohesion. This may be caused by pressure on the part of
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
169
other groups, a general spiritual crisis in the environment, or
intensification of its hysterical condition. Just as more stringent
sanitary measures are an obvious medical indication for a
weakened organism, the development of conscious control over
the activity of pathological factors is a ponerological indica-
tion. This is a crucial factor for prevention of tragedy during a
society�s periods of moral crisis.
For centuries, individuals exhibiting various psychological
anomalies have had the tendency to participate in the activities
of human unions. This is made possible on the one hand by
such group�s weaknesses, i.e. failure in adequate psychological
knowledge; on the other hand, it deepens the moral failings and
stifles the possibilities of utilizing healthy common sense and
understanding matters objectively. In spite of the resulting
tragedies and unhappiness, humanity has shown a certain pro-
gress, especially in the cognitive area; therefore, a ponerologist
may be cautiously optimistic. After all, by detecting and de-
scribing these aspects of the ponerization process of human
groups, which could not be understood until recently, we shall
be able to counteract such processes earlier and more effec-
tively. Again, depth and breadth of knowledge of human psy-
chological variations is crucial.
Any human group affected by the process described herein
is characterized by its increasing regression from natural com-
mon sense and the ability to perceive psychological reality.
Someone considering this in terms of traditional categories
might consider it an instance of �turning into half-wits� or the
development of intellectual deficiencies and moral failings. A
ponerological analysis of this process, however, indicates that
pressure is being applied to the more normal part of the asso-
ciation by pathological factors present in certain individuals
who have been allowed to participate in the group because the
lack of good psychological knowledge has not madated their
exclusion.
Thus, whenever we observe some group member being
treated with no critical distance, although he betrays one of the
psychological anomalies familiar to us, and his opinions being
treated as at least equal to those of normal people, although
they are based on a characteristically different view of human
170
PONEROLOGY
matters, we must derive the conclusion that this human group is
affected by a ponerogenic process and if measures are not
taken the process shall continue to its logical conclusion. We
shall treat this in accordance with the above described first
criterion of ponerology, which retains its validity regardless of
the qualitative and quantitative features of such a union:
Such a state of affairs simultaneously consists as a liminal
(watershed) situation, whereupon further damage to people�s
healthy common sense and critical moral faculties becomes
ever easier. Once a group has inhaled a sufficient dose of
pathological material to give birth to the conviction that these
not-quite-normal people are unique geniuses, it starts subject-
ing its more normal members to pressure characterized by cor-
responding paralogical and paramoral elements.
For many people, such pressure of collective opinion takes
on attributes of a moral criterion; for others, it represents a kind
of psychological terror ever more difficult to endure. The phe-
nomenon of counter-selection thus occurs in this phase of pon-
erization: individuals with a more normal sense of psychologi-
cal reality leave after entering into conflict with the newly
modified group; simultaneously, individuals with various psy-
chological anomalies join the group and easily find a way of
life there. The former feel �pushed into counter-revolutionary
positions�, and the latter can afford to remove their masks of
sanity ever more often.
People who have been thus thrown out of a ponerogenic as-
sociation because they were
unable to understand their specific state. Their ideal, the reason
they joined the group, which constituted a part of the meaning
of life for them, has now been degraded, although they cannot
find a rational basis for this fact. They feel wronged; they
�fight against demons� they are not in a position to identify.
The fact is their personalities have already been
certain extent due to saturation by abnormal psychological
material, especially psychopathic material. They easily fall into
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
171
the opposite extreme in such cases, because unhealthy emo-
tions rule their decisions. What they need is good psychologi-
cal information in order to find the path of reason and measure.
Based on a ponerologic understanding of their condition, psy-
chotherapy could provide rapid positive results. However, if
the union they left is succumbing to deep ponerization, a threat
looms over them: they may become the objects of revenge,
since they have �betrayed� a magnificent ideology.84
This is the stormy period of a group�s ponerization, fol-
lowed by a certain stabilization in terms of contents, structure,
and customs. Rigorous selective measures of a clearly psycho-
logical kind are applied to new members. So as to exclude the
possibility of becoming sidetracked by defectors, people are
observed and tested to eliminate those characterized by exces-
sive mental independence or psychological normality. The new
internal function created is something like a �psychologist�,
and it doubtless takes advantage of the above-described psy-
chological knowledge collected by psychopaths.
It should be noted that certain of these exclusionary steps
taken by a group in the process of ponerization,
beginning. So rigorous selective measures of a psychological
kind taken by a group is not necessarily an indicator that the
group is ponerogenic. Rather one should carefully examine
what the psychological selection is based on. If any group
seeks to avoid ponerization, it will want to exclude individuals
with any psychological dependence on subjective beliefs, rites,
rituals, drugs, and certainly those individuals that are incapable
of objectively analyzing their own inner psychological content
or who reject the process of Positive disintegration.
In a group in the process of ponerization, spellbinders take
care of �ideological purity�. The leader�s position is relatively
secure. Individuals manifesting doubt or criticism are subject to
paramoral condemnation. Maintaining the utmost dignity and
84 It should also be mentioned that the same process occurs when a psycho-
logical deviant is thrown out of a group of normal people. The way to tell the
difference is that a normal group ejecting a deviant will not seek to exact
revenge on the ejected member, while the deviant will seek revenge on the
group he has been ejected from. [Editor�s note.]
172
PONEROLOGY
style, leadership discusses opinions and intentions which are
psychologically and morally pathological. Any intellectual
connections which might reveal them as such are eliminated,
thanks to the substitution of premises operating in the proper
subconscious process on the basis of prior conditioned reflexes.
An objective observer might wish to compare this state to one
in which the inmates of an asylum take over the running of the
institution. The association enters the state wherein the whole
has donned the mask of ostensible normality. In the next chap-
ter, we shall call such a state the �dissimulative phase� with
regard to macrosocial ponerogenic phenomena.
Observing the appropriate state corresponding to the first
ponerological criterion -
psychology and specific factual knowledge; the second, more
stable phase can be perceived both by a person of average rea-
son and by public opinion in most societies. The interpretation
imposed, however, is unilaterally moralistic or sociological,
simultaneously undergoing the characteristic feeling of defi-
ciency as regards the possibility of both understanding the phe-
nomenon and counteracting the spread of said evil.
However, in this phase a minority of social groups tend to
consider such a ponerogenic association comprehensible within
the categories of their own world view and the outer layer of
diffusing ideology as a doctrine acceptable to them. The more
primitive the society in question, and the further removed from
direct contact to the union affected by this pathological state,
the more numerous such minorities would be. This very period,
during which the customs of the union become somewhat
milder, often represents simultaneously its most intensive ex-
pansionist activity.
This period may last long, but not forever. Internally, the
group is becoming progressively more pathological, finally
showing its true qualitative colors again as its activities become
ever clumsier. At this point, a society of normal people can
easily threaten ponerologic associations, even at the macroso-
cial level.
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
173
Macrosocial Phenomena
When a ponerogenic process encompasses a society�s entire
ruling class, or nation, or when opposition from normal people
is stifled -- as a result of the mass character of the phenomenon,
or by using spellbinding means and physical compulsion, in-
cluding censorship -- we are dealing with a macrosocial pone-
rologic phenomenon. In such a case, however, a society�s trag-
edy, often coupled with that of the researcher�s own suffering,
opens before him an entire volume of ponerologic knowledge,
where he can read all about the laws governing such a process
if he is only able to familiarize himself in time with its natural-
istic language and its different grammar.
Studies in the genesis of evil which are based on observing
us. However, it might be thought that this would present a
warped picture that is dependent upon various environmental
conditions which are further dependent on the historical period
in question; this is the backdrop to the phenomena observed.
Nevertheless, such observations may enable us to hazard a
hypothesis to the effect that the general laws of ponerogenesis
may be at least analogous, regardless of the quantity and scope
of the phenomenon in time and space. They do not, however,
permit verification of such a hypothesis.
In studying a macrosocial phenomenon, we can obtain both
quantitative and qualitative data, statistical correlation indices,
and other observations as accurately as might be allowed by the
state of the art in science, research methodology, and the obvi-
ously very difficult situation of the observer.85 We can then use
the classical method, hazarding a hypothesis and then actively
searching for facts which could falsify it. The wide-spread
causative regularity of ponerogenic processes would then be
confirmed within the bounds of the above-mentioned possibili-
ties. This is, in fact, what the author and his colleagues under-
took to do. It is astonishing how neatly causative regularity of
ponerogenic processes observed in small groups govern this
macrosocial phenomenon. The comprehension of the phe-
85 Assuming that one can gather this information and survive the gathering!
[Editor�s note.]
174
PONEROLOGY
nomenon thus acquired can serve as a basis for predicting its
future development, to be verified by time. It is in close and
careful observation, and only after time passes, that we become
aware that the colossus has an Achilles heel after all.
The study of macrosocial ponerogenic phenomena meets
with obvious problems: their period of genesis, duration, and
decay is several times longer than the researcher�s scientific
activity. Simultaneously, there are other transformations in
history, customs, economics, and technology; however, the
difficulties confronted in abstracting the appropriate symptoms
need not be insuperable, since our criteria are based on eternal
phenomena subject to relatively limited transformations in
time.
The traditional interpretation of these great historical dis-
eases has already taught historians to distinguish two phases.
The first is represented by a period of spiritual crisis in a soci-
ety,86 which historiography associates with exhausting of the
ideational, moral, and religious values heretofore nourishing
the society in question. Egoism among individuals and social
groups increases, and the links of moral duty and social net-
works are felt to be loosening. Trifling matters thereupon
dominate human minds to such an extent that there is no room
left for thinking about public matters or a feeling of commit-
ment to the future. An atrophy of the hierarchy of values within
the thinking of individuals and societies is an indication
thereof; it has been described both in historiographic mono-
graphs and in psychiatric papers. The country�s government is
finally paralyzed, helpless in the face of problems which could
be solved without great difficulty under other circumstances.
Let us associate such periods of crisis with the familiar phase in
The next phase has been marked by bloody tragedies, revo-
lutions, wars, and the fall of empires. The deliberations of his-
86 Sorokin, Pitirim. (1941).
pany. Sorokin, Pitirim. (1957).
Sorokin�s data support his theory?: A study of generational fluctuations in
philosophical beliefs.�
198.
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
175
torians or moralists regarding these occurrences always leave
behind a certain feeling of deficiency with reference to the
possibility of perceiving certain psychological factors dis-
cerned within the nature of phenomena; the essence of these
factors remains outside the scope of their scientific experience.
A historian observing these great historical diseases is
struck first of all
diseases have many symptoms in common because they are
states of absent health. A ponerologist thinking in naturalistic
terms tends to doubt that we are dealing with only one kind of
societal disease, thereby leading to a certain differentiation of
forms with regard to ethnological and historical conditions.
Differentiating the essence of such states is more appropriate to
the reasoning patterns we are familiar with from the natural
sciences. The complex conditions of social life, however, pre-
clude using the method of distinction, which is similar to etio-
logical criterion in medicine: qualitatively speaking, the phe-
nomena become layered in time, conditioning each other and
transforming constantly. We should then rather use certain
abstract patterns, similar to those used in analyzing the neurotic
states of human beings.
Governed by this type of reasoning, let us here attempt to
differentiate two pathological states of societies; their essence
and contents appear different enough, but they can operate
sequentially in such a way that the first opens the door to the
second. The first such state has already been sketched in the
chapter on the hysteroidal cycle; we shall adduce a certain
number of other psychological details hereunder. The next
chapter shall be dedicated to the second pathological state, for
which I have adopted the denomination of �pathocracy�.
States of Societal Hysterization
When perusing scientific or literary descriptions of hysteri-
cal phenomena, such as those dating from the last great in-
crease in hysteria in Europe encompassing the quarter-century
preceding World War I, a non-specialist may gain the impres-
sion that this was endemic to individual cases, particularly
among woman. The contagious nature of hysterical states,
176
PONEROLOGY
however, had already been discovered and described by Jean-
Martin Charcot87.
It is practically impossible for hysteria to manifest itself as a
mere individual phenomenon, since it is contagious by means
of psychological resonance, identification, and imitation. Each
human being has a predisposition for this malformation of the
personality, albeit to varying degrees, although it is normally
overcome by rearing and self-rearing, which are amenable to
correct thinking and emotional self-discipline.
During �happy times� of peace dependent upon social injus-
tice, children of the privileged classes learn to repress from
their field of consciousness the uncomfortable ideas suggesting
that they and their parents are benefitting from injustice against
others. Such young people learn to disqualify disparage the
moral and mental values of anyone whose work they are using
to over-advantage. Young minds thus ingest habits of subcon-
scious selection and substitution of data, which leads to a hys-
terical conversion economy of reasoning. They grow up to be
somewhat hysterical adults who, by means of the ways ad-
duced above, thereupon transmit their hysteria to the next gen-
eration, which then develops these characteristics to an even
greater degree. The hysterical patterns for experience and be-
havior grow and spread downwards from the privileged classes
until crossing the boundary of the first criterion of ponerology:
When the habits of subconscious selection and substitution
of thought-data spread to the macrosocial level, a society tends
87 Jean-Martin Charcot (1825 - 1893) French neurologist. His work greatly
impacted the developing fields of neurology and psychology. Charcot took an
interest in the malady then called hysteria. It seemed to be a mental disorder
with physical manifestations, of immediate interest to a neurologist. He
believed that hysteria was the result of a weak neurological system which
was hereditary. It could be set off by a traumatic event like an accident, but
was then progressive and irreversible. To study the hysterics under his care,
he learned the technique of hypnosis and soon became a master of the rela-
tively new "science." Charcot believed that a hypnotized state was very
similar to a bout of hysteria, and so he hypnotized his patients in order to
induce and study their symptoms. He was single-handedly responsible for
changing the French medical community's opinion about the validity of
hypnosis (it was previously rejected as Mesmerism). [Editor�s note.]
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
177
to develop contempt for factual criticism and to humiliate any-
one sounding an alarm. Contempt is also shown for other na-
tions which have maintained normal thought-patterns and for
their opinions. Egotistic thought-terrorization is accomplished
by the society itself and its processes of conversive thinking.
This obviates the need for censorship of the press, theater, or
broadcasting, as
When three �egos� govern, egoism, egotism, and egocen-
trism, the feeling of social links and responsibility toward oth-
ers disappear, and the society in question splinters into groups
ever more hostile to each other. When a hysterical environment
stops differentiating the opinions of limited, not-quite-normal
people from those of normal, reasonable persons, this opens the
door for activation of the pathological factors of a various na-
ture to enter in.
Individuals we have already met who are governed by a
pathological view of reality and abnormal goals caused by their
different nature are able to develop their activities in such con-
ditions. If a given society does not manage to overcome the
state of hysterization under its ethnological and political cir-
cumstances, a huge bloody tragedy can be the result.
One variation of such a tragedy can be pathocracy. Thus,
minor setbacks in terms of political failure or military defeat
can be a warning in such a situation and may turn out to be a
blessing in disguise if properly understood and allowed to be-
come a factor in the regeneration of a society�s normal thought
patterns and customs. The most valuable advice a ponerologist
can offer under such circumstances is for a society to
advantage of data remaining from the last great increase of
hysteria in Europe.
A greater resistance to hysterization characterizes those so-
cial groups which earn their daily bread by daily effort, and
where the practicalities of everyday life force the mind to think
soberly and reflect on generalities. As an example: peasants
continue to view the hysterical customs of the well-to-do
classes through their own earthy perception of psychological
reality and their sense of humor. Similar customs on the part of
178
PONEROLOGY
the bourgeoisie incline workers to bitter criticism and revolu-
tionary anger. Whether couched in economic, ideological, or
political terms, the criticism and demands of these social
groups always contain a component of psychological, moral,
and anti-hysterical motivation. For this reason, it is most ap-
propriate to consider these demands with deliberation and take
these classes� feelings into account. On the other hand, tragic
results can derive from thoughtless action paving the way for
spellbinders to make themselves heard.
Ponerology
Ponerology utilizes the scientific progress of the last dec-
ades and last years, especially in the realms of biology, psy-
chopathology and clinical psychology. It clarifies unknown
causative links and analyzes the processes of the genesis of evil
without giving a short shrift to factors which have so far been
underrated. In initiating this new discipline, the author has also
utilized his professional experience in these areas and the re-
sults of his own recent research.
A ponerological approach facilitates an understanding of
some of mankind�s more dramatic difficulties on both levels,
the macrosocial and the individual human scale. This new dis-
cipline will make it possible to achieve first theoretical, and
then practical, solutions for problems we have been attempting
to solve by ineffective traditional means, resulting in feelings
of helplessness against the tides of history. These latter means
are based on historiographical concepts and excessively moral-
izing attitudes, which makes them
sidedness by means of modern naturalistic thinking, supple-
menting our comprehension of the causes and genesis of evil
with the facts necessary to build a more stable foundation for
practical inhibition of the processes of ponerogenesis and coun-
teraction of their results.
Synergetic activity of several measures aimed at the same
valuable goal, e.g. such as treating a sick person, usually pro-
duces better effects than the mere sum of the factors involved.
In building a second wing for the activities of moralistic efforts
to date, ponerology will make it possible to achieve results
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
179
which are also better than the sum of their useful effects. By
reinforcing trust in familiar moral values, it will make it possi-
ble to answer many heretofore unanswerable questions and
utilize means not used thus far, especially on a larger social
scale.
gated to use effective means for this purpose, and to use them
as skillfully as possible.88 In order to discharge this essential
function, nations obviously utilize the information available at
the time in that given civilization relating to the nature and
genesis of evil, as well as whatever means they can muster.
Society�s survival must be protected, but abuse of power and
sadistic degenerations come about all too easily.
We now have rational and moral doubts about prior genera-
tions� comprehension and counteraction of evil. Simple obser-
vation of history justifies this. The general developing opinion
in free societies requires that evil repressing measures be hu-
manized and limited so as to set boundaries to possible abuse.
This seems to be due to the fact that morally sensitive individu-
als want to protect their personalities and those of their children
from the destructive influence conveyed by the awareness that
severe punishment, especially capital punishment, is still being
meted out.
And so it is that the methods of counteracting evil are being
mitigated in their severity, but at the same time effective meth-
ods to protect the citizenry against the birth of evil and force
are not indicated. This creates an ever-widening gap between
the need for counteraction and the means at our disposal; as a
result, many kinds of evil can develop at every social scale.
Under such circumstances, it may be understandable that some
voices clamor for a return to the old-fashioned, iron-fisted
methods so inimical to the development of human thought.
Ponerology studies the nature of evil and the complex proc-
esses of its genesis, thereby opening new ways for counteract-
ing it. It points out that evil has certain weaknesses in its struc-
ture and genesis which can be exploited to inhibit its develop-
88 Unless, of course, the government itself is the evil that threatens and har-
asses the people. [Editor�s note.]
180
PONEROLOGY
ment as well as to quickly eliminate the fruits of such devel-
opment. If the ponerogenic activity of pathological factors -
deviant individuals and their activities - is subjected to con-
scious controls of a scientific, individual, and societal nature,
we can counteract evil as effectively as by means of persistent
calls to respect moral values. The ancient method and this
completely new one can thus combine to produce results more
favorable than an arithmetic sum of the two. Ponerology also
leads to the possibilities of
of individual, societal, and macrosocial evil. This new ap-
proach ought to enable societies to feel safe again, both at the
internal level and on the scale of international threats.
Methods of counteracting evil which are conditioned upon
causation, supported by ever-increasing scientific progress, will
of course be much more complex, just as the nature and genesis
of evil are complex. Any allegedly fair relationship between a
person�s crime and the punishment meted out is a survival of
archaic thinking, something ever more difficult to comprehend.
That is why our times demand that we further develop the dis-
cipline initiated herein and undertake detailed research, espe-
cially as regards the nature of many pathological factors which
take part in ponerogenesis. An appropriately ponerological
reading of history is an essential condition for understanding
macrosocial ponerogenic phenomena whose duration exceeds
the observation possibilities of a single person. The author
utilized this method in the following chapter, reconstructing the
phase wherein characteropathic factors dominated in the initial
period of the creation of pathocracy.
In teaching us about the causes and genesis of evil, ponerol-
ogy barely addresses human guilt. Thus, it does not solve the
perennial problem of human responsibility, although it does
shed additional light from the side of causation. We become
aware of just how little we understand in this area, and how
much remains to be researched, while attempting to correct our
comprehension of the complex causation of phenomena and
acknowledging greater individual dependence upon the opera-
tion of outside factors. At that point, any moral judgment about
another person or his blame-worthiness may strike us as based
mostly upon emotional responses and centuries-old tradition.
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
181
We have the right and duty to critically judge our own be-
havior and the moral value of our motivations. This is condi-
tioned by our conscience, a phenomenon as ubiquitous as it is
incomprehensible within the boundaries of naturalistic think-
ing. Even if armed with all the present and future accomplish-
ments of ponerology, will we ever be in a position to abstract
and evaluate the individual blame of another person? In terms
of theory, this appears ever more doubtful; in terms of practice,
ever more unnecessary.
If we consistently abstain from moral judgments of other
people, we transfer our attention to tracking the causative proc-
esses that are responsible for conditioning the behavior of an-
other person or society. This improves our prospects for proper
mental hygiene and our capacity to apprehend psychological
reality. Such restraint also enables us to avoid an error which
poisons minds and souls all too effectively, namely superim-
posing a moralizing interpretation upon the activity of
better control our own egotism and egocentrism, thus facilitat-
ing objective analysis of phenomena.
If such an attitude strikes some readers as being close to
moral indifference, we should reiterate that the here-adduced
method of analyzing evil and its genesis gives rise to a new
type of reasoned distance from its temptations, as well as acti-
vating additional theoretical and practical possibilities for
counter-acting it. Also, we should give thought to the astonish-
ing and obvious convergence between the conclusions we can
derive from this analysis of the phenomena and certain ideas
from ancient philosophies, well stated in the Christian Bible:
�Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye
judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it
shall be measured to you again.� (Mat. 7:1-2)
These values, unfortunately often overshadowed by a gov-
ernment�s immediate needs, as well as the activity of our in-
stinctive and emotional reflexes goading us to revenge and
punishment of others, find at least partial rational justification
in this new science. Practicing such rigorous understanding and
behavior can only confirm these values in a more evident and
scientific manner.
182
PONEROLOGY
This new discipline can be applicable to many walks of life.
The author has utilized these accomplishments and tested their
practical value in the course of individual psychotherapy upon
his patients. As a result, their personality and future were rear-
ranged in a manner more favorable than if it were based on
earlier skills. Bearing in mind the exceptional nature of our
times, when multi-faceted mobilization of moral and mental
values must be effected to counteract the evil threatening the
world, in the coming chapters, the author shall suggest the
adoption of just such an attitude, whose end result ought be an
act of forgiveness heretofore unheard of in history. Keep in
mind also that understanding and forgiveness does not exclude
correction of conditions and taking prophylactic measures.
Disentangling the Gordian Knot of present times, composed
of the macrosocial pathological phenomenon threatening our
future, may appear impossible without the development and
utilization of this new discipline. This knot can no longer be
cut with a sword. A psychologist cannot afford to be as impa-
tient as Alexander the Great. That is why we have here de-
scribed it within the indispensable scope, adaptation, and selec-
tion of data, so as to enable clarification of the problems to be
discussed later in the book. Perhaps the future will make it
possible to elaborate a general theoretical work.
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
May the reader please imagine a very large hall in an old
Gothic university building. Many of us gathered there early in
our studies in order to listen to the lectures of outstanding phi-
losophers and scientists. We were herded back there � under
threat - the year before graduation in order to listen to the in-
doctrination lectures which recently had been introduced.
Someone nobody knew appeared behind the lectern and in-
formed us that he would now be the professor. His speech was
fluent, but there was nothing scientific about it: he failed to
distinguish between scientific and ordinary concepts and
treated borderline imaginings as though it were wisdom that
could not be doubted. For ninety minutes each week, he
flooded us with naive, presumptuous paralogistics and a patho-
logical view of human reality. We were treated with contempt
and poorly controlled hatred. Since fun-poking could entail
dreadful consequences, we had to listen attentively and with
the utmost gravity.
The grapevine soon discovered this person�s origins. He had
come from a Cracow suburb and attended high school, al-
though no one knew if he had graduated. Anyway, this was the
first time he had crossed university portals, and as a professor,
at that!
�You can�t convince anyone this way!� we whispered to
each other. �It�s actually propaganda directed against them-
34
INTRODUCTION
selves.� But after such mind-torture, it took a long time for
someone to break the silence.
We studied ourselves, since we felt something strange had
taken over our minds and something valuable was leaking
away irretrievably. The world of psychological reality and
moral values seemed suspended as if in a chilly fog. Our hu-
man feeling and student solidarity lost their meaning, as did
patriotism and our old established criteria. So we asked each
other, �are you going through this too�? Each of us experienced
this worry about his own personality and future in his own
way. Some of us answered the questions with silence. The
depth of these experiences turned out to be different for each
individual.
We thus wondered how to protect ourselves from the results
of this �indoctrination�. Teresa D. made the first suggestion:
Let�s spend a weekend in the mountains. It worked. Pleasant
company, a bit of joking, then exhaustion followed by deep
sleep in a shelter, and our human personalities returned, albeit
with a certain remnant. Time also proved to create a kind of
psychological immunity, although not with everyone. Analyz-
ing the psychopathic characteristics of the �professor�s� per-
sonality proved another excellent way of protecting one�s own
psychological hygiene.
You can just imagine our worry, disappointment, and sur-
prise when some colleagues we knew well suddenly began to
change their world view; their thought-patterns furthermore
reminded us of the �professor�s� chatter. Their feelings, which
had just recently been friendly, became noticeably cooler, al-
though not yet hostile. Benevolent or critical student arguments
bounced right of them. They gave the impression of possessing
some secret knowledge; we were only their former colleagues,
still believing what those �professors of old� had taught us. We
had to be careful of what we said to them. These former col-
leagues soon joined the Party.
Who were they, what social groups did they come from,
what kind of students and people were they? How and why did
they change so much in less than a year? Why did neither I nor
a majority of my fellow students succumb to this phenomenon
and process? Many such questions fluttered through our heads
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
35
then. It was in those times, from those questions, observations
and attitudes that the idea was born that this phenomenon could
be objectively studied and understood; an idea whose greater
meaning crystallized with time.
Many of us newly graduated psychologists participated in
the initial observations and reflections, but most crumbled
away in the face of material or academic problems. Only a few
of that group remained; so the author of this book may be the
last of the Mohicans.
It was relatively easy to determine the environments and
origins of the people who succumbed to this process, which I
then called �transpersonification�. They came from all social
groups, including aristocratic and fervently religious families,
and caused a break in our student solidarity to the order of
some 6 %. The remaining majority suffered varying degrees of
personality disintegration which gave rise to individual search-
ing for the values necessary to find ourselves again; the results
were varied and sometimes creative.
Even then, we had no doubts as to the pathological nature of
this �transpersonification� process, which ran similar but not
identical in all cases. The duration of the results of this phe-
nomenon also varied. Some of these people later became zeal-
ots. Others later took advantage of various circumstances to
withdraw and re-establish their lost links to the society of nor-
mal people. They were replaced.
We tried to evaluate the talent level of those colleagues who
had succumbed to this personality-transformation process, and
reached the conclusion that, on average, it was slightly lower
than the average of the student population. Their lesser resis-
tance obviously resided in other bio-psychological features
which were most probably qualitatively heterogeneous.
I found that I had to study subjects bordering on psychology
and psychopathology in order to answer the questions arising
from our observations; scientific neglect in these areas proved
an obstacle difficult to overcome. At the same time, someone
guided by special knowledge apparently vacated the libraries of
anything we could have found on the topic; books were in-
dexed, but not physically present.
36
INTRODUCTION
Analyzing these occurrences now in hindsight, we could say
that the �professor� was dangling bait over our heads, based on
specific psychological knowledge. He knew in advance that he
would fish out amenable individuals, and even how to do it, but
the limited numbers disappointed him. The transpersonification
process generally took hold only when an individual�s instinc-
tive substratum was marked by pallor or certain deficits. To a
lesser extent, it also worked among people who manifested
other deficiencies in which the state provoked within them was
partially impermanent, being largely the result of psychopatho-
logical induction.
This knowledge about the existence of susceptible individu-
als and how to work on them will continue being a tool for
world conquest as long as it remains the secret of such �profes-
sors�. When it becomes skillfully popularized science, it will
help nations to develop immunity. But none of us knew this at
the time.
Nevertheless, we must admit that in demonstrating the
properties of this process to us in such a way as to force us into
in-depth experience, the professor helped us understand the
nature of the phenomenon in a larger scope than many a true
scientific researcher participating in this work in other less
direct ways.
~~~
As a youth, I read a book about a naturalist wandering
through the Amazon-basin wilderness. At some moment a
small animal fell from a tree onto the nape of his neck, clawing
his skin painfully and sucking his blood. The biologist cau-
tiously removed it -- without anger, since that was its form of
feeding -- and proceeded to study it carefully. This story stub-
bornly stuck in my mind during those very difficult times when
a vampire fell onto our necks, sucking the blood of an unhappy
nation.
Maintaining the attitude of a naturalist, while attempting to
track the nature of macrosocial phenomenon in spite of all ad-
versity, insures a certain intellectual distance and better psy-
chological hygiene in the face of horrors that might otherwise
be difficult to contemplate. Such an attitude also slightly in-
creases the feeling of safety and furnishes an insight that this
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
37
very method may help find a certain creative solution. This
requires strict control of the natural, moralizing reflexes of
revulsion, and other painful emotions that the phenomenon
provokes in any normal person when it deprives him of his joy
of life and personal safety, ruining his own future and that of
his nation. Scientific curiosity therefore becomes a loyal ally
during such times.
~~~
Hopefully, my readers will forgive me for recounting here a
youthful reminiscence that will lead us directly into the subject.
My uncle, a very lonely man, would visit our house periodi-
cally. He had survived the great Soviet Revolution in the
depths of Russia, where he had been shipped out by the Czarist
police. For over a year he wandered from Siberia to Poland.
Whenever he met with an armed group during his travels, he
quickly tried to determine which ideology they represented,
white or red, and thereupon skillfully pretended to profess it.
Had his ruse been unsuccessful, he would have had his head
blown off as a suspected enemy sympathizer. It was safest to
have a gun and belong to a gang. So he would wander and war
alongside either group, usually only until he found an opportu-
nity to desert westward toward his native Poland, a country
which had just regained its freedom.
When he finally reached his beloved homeland again, he
managed to finish his long-interrupted law studies, to become a
decent person, and to achieve a responsible position. However,
days and thought it would make no sense to bring a new life
into an uncertain future. Thus, he never started a family. Per-
haps he would have been unable to relate to his loved ones
properly.
This uncle of mine would recapture his past by telling the
children in my family stories about what he had seen, experi-
enced and taken part in; our young imaginations were unable to
come to terms with any of it. Nightmarish terror shuddered in
our bones. We would think of questions: why did people lose
all their humanity, what was the reason for all this? Some sort
38
INTRODUCTION
of apprehensive premonition choked its way into our young
minds; unfortunately, it was to come true in the future.
~~~
If a collection were to be made of all those books which de-
scribe the horrors of wars, the cruelties of revolutions, and the
bloody deeds of political leaders and their systems, many read-
ers would avoid such a library. Ancient works would be placed
alongside books by contemporary historians and reporters. The
documentary treatises on German extermination and concentra-
tion camps, and of the extermination of the Jewish Nation,
furnish approximate statistical data and describe the well-
organized �labor� of the destruction of human life, using a
properly calm language, and providing a concrete basis for the
acknowledgement of the nature of evil.
The autobiography of Rudolf Hoess, the commander of
camps in Oswiecim (
classic example of how an intelligent psychopathic individual
with a deficit of human emotion thinks and feels.
Foremost among these would be books written by witnesses
to criminal insanity such as Arthur Koestler�s
sonal memories of Severina Szmaglewska5 from the Oswiecim
German concentration camp for women;
Soviet memoires of Gustav Herling-Grudzinski6; and the Solz-
henitsyn volumes turgid with human suffering.
The collection would include works on the philosophy of
history discussing the social and moral aspects of the genesis of
evil, but they would also use the half-mysterious laws of his-
tory to partly justify the blood-stained solutions. However, an
5 Szmaglewska, Seweryna, 1916-92, writer; 1942-45 prisoner in Nazi con-
centration camps; wrote
witness at Nuremberg Trial; stories and novels mainly concerned with war
and occupation:
1960),
for young people; anthology of memoirs 1939-45:
Bars, 1964). [Editor�s note.]
6 Herling-Grudzinski, Gustav: Polish writer who after WWII lived in Napoli,
Italy. Married the daughter of well known Italian philosopher Benedetto
Croce. He wrote an account of his time in a Soviet gulag:
[Editor�s note.]
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
39
alert reader would be able to detect a certain degree of evolu-
tion in the authors� attitudes, from an ancient affirmation of
primitive enslavement and murder of vanquished peoples, to
the present-day moralizing condemnation of such methods of
behavior.
Such a library would nevertheless be missing a single work
offering a sufficient explanation of the causes and processes
whereby such historical dramas originate, of how and why
human frailties and ambitions degenerate into bloodthirsty
madness. Upon reading the present volume, the reader will
realize that writing such a book was scientifically impossible
until recently.
The old questions would remain unanswered: what made
this happen? Does everyone carry the seeds of crime within, or
is it only some of us? No matter how faithful and psychologi-
cally true, no literary description of occurrences, such as those
narrated by the above-mentioned authors, can answer these
questions, nor can they fully explain the origins of evil. They
are thus incapable of furnishing sufficiently effective principles
for counter-acting evil. The best literary description of a dis-
ease cannot produce an understanding of its essential etiology,
and thus furnishes no principles for treatment. In the same way,
such descriptions of historical tragedies are unable to elaborate
effective measures for counteracting the genesis, existence, or
spread of evil.
In using natural7 language to circumscribe psychological,
social, and moral concepts which cannot properly be described
within its sphere of utility, we produce a sort of surrogate com-
prehension leading to a nagging suspicion of helplessness. Our
natural system of concepts and imaginings is not equipped with
the necessary factual content to permit reasoned comprehen-
sion of the quality of the factors (particularly the psychological
ones) which were active before the birth of, and during, such
inhumanly cruel times
We must nevertheless point out that the authors of such lit-
erary descriptions sensed that their language was insufficient
and therefore attempted to infuse their words with the proper
7 Ordinary, everyday words which have various meanings, generally benign,
and often do not embrace a specific, scientific meaning. [Editor�s note.]
40
INTRODUCTION
scope of precision, almost as though they foresaw that someone
� at some point in time - might use their works in order to ex-
plain what cannot be explained, not even in the best literary
language. Had these writers not been so precise and descriptive
in their language, this author would have been unable to use
their works for his own scientific purposes.
In general, most people are horrified by such literature; in
hedonistic societies particularly, people have the tendency to
escape into ignorance or naive doctrines. Some people even
feel contempt for suffering persons. The influence of such
books can thus be partially harmful; we should counteract that
influence by indicating what the authors had to leave out be-
cause our ordinary world of concepts and imaginings cannot
contain it.
The reader will therefore find herein no bloodcurdling de-
scriptions of criminal behavior or human suffering. It is not the
author�s job to present a graphic return of material adduced by
people who saw and suffered more than he did, and whose
literary talents are greater. Introducing such descriptions into
this work would run counter to its purpose: it would not only
focus attention on some occurrences to the exclusion of many
others, but would also distract the mind from the real heart of
the matter, namely,
In tracking the behavioral mechanisms of the genesis of
evil, one must keep both abhorrence and fear under control,
submit to a passion for epistemological science, and develop
the calm outlook needed in natural history. We must never lose
sight of the objective: to trace the processes of ponerogenesis;
where they can lead and what threat they can pose to us in the
future.
This book therefore aims to take the reader by the hand into
a world beyond the concepts and imaginings he has relied on to
describe his world since childhood, in an overly egotistic way,
probably because his parents, surroundings, and the community
of his country used concepts similar to his own. Thereafter, we
must show him an appropriate selection from the world of fac-
tual concepts which have given birth to recent scientific think-
ing and which will allow him an understanding of what has
remained irrational in his everyday system of concepts.
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
41
However, this tour of another reality will not be a psycho-
logical experiment conducted upon readers� minds for the sole
purpose of exposing the weak points and gaps in their natural
world view. Rather, it an urgent necessity due to our contempo-
rary world�s pressing problems, which we can ignore only at
our peril.
It is important to realize that we cannot possibly distinguish
the path to nuclear catastrophe from the path to creative dedica-
tion
well known concepts. Then we can come to the understanding
that the path was chosen for us by powerful forces, against
which our nostalgia for homey, familiar human concepts can be
no match. We must step beyond this world of everyday, illu-
sory thinking for our own good and for the good of our loved
ones.
The social sciences have already elaborated their own con-
ventional language which mediates between the ordinary man�s
view and a fully objective naturalistic view. It is useful to sci-
entists in terms of communication and cooperation, but it is still
not the kind of conceptual structure which can fully take into
account the biological, psychological, and pathological prem-
ises at issue in the second and fourth chapters of this book. In
the social sciences, the conventional terminology
ences, it leads to an underrated evaluation of factors which
describe the essence of political situations when evil is at the
core.
This social science language left the author and other inves-
tigators feeling helpless and scientifically stranded early in our
research on the mysterious nature of this inhuman historical
phenomenon which engulfed our nation, and still fires his at-
tempts to reach an objective understanding of it. Ultimately, I
had no choice but to resort to objective biological, psychologi-
cal, and psychopathological terminology in order to bring into
focus the true nature of the phenomenon, the heart of matter.
The nature of the phenomena under investigation as well as
the needs of readers, particularly those unfamiliar with psycho-
pathology, dictate the descriptive manner which must first in-
troduce the data and concepts necessary for further comprehen-
42
INTRODUCTION
sion of psychologically and morally pathological occurrences.
We shall thus begin with human personality questions, inten-
tionally formulated in such a way as to coincide largely with
the experience of a practicing psychologist, passing then to
selected questions of societal psychology. In the �ponerology�
chapter, we shall familiarize ourselves with how evil is born
with regard to each social scale, emphasizing the actual role of
some psychopathological phenomena in the process of ponero-
genesis. This will facilitate the transition from natural language
to the necessary objective language of naturalistic, psychologi-
cal, and statistical science to the extent that is necessary and
sufficient. Hopefully, it will not be irksome for readers to dis-
cuss these matters in clinical terms.
In the author�s opinion, Ponerology reveals itself to be a
new branch of science born out of historical need and the most
recent accomplishments of medicine and psychology. In the
light of objective naturalistic language, it studies the causal
components and processes of the genesis of evil, regardless of
the latter�s social scope. We may attempt to analyze these pon-
erogenic processes which have given rise to human injustice,
armed with proper knowledge, particularly in the area of psy-
chopathology. Again and again, as the reader will discover, in
such a study, we meet with the effects of pathological factors
whose carriers are people characterized by some degree of
various psychological deviations or defects.
Moral evil and psychobiological evil are, in effect, inter-
linked via so many causal relationships and mutual influences
that they can only be separated by means of abstraction. How-
ever, the ability to distinguish them
avoid a moralizing interpretation of the pathological factors, an
error to which we are all prone, and which poisons the human
mind in an insidious way, whenever social and moral affairs
are at issue.
The ponerogenesis of
evil
appears to be subject to the same laws of nature that operate
within human questions on an individual or small-group level.
The role of persons with various psychological defects and
anomalies of a clinically low level appears to be a perennial
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
43
characteristic of such phenomena. In the macrosocial phe-
nomenon we shall later call �pathocracy�, a certain hereditary
anomaly isolated as �essential psychopathy� is catalytically and
causatively essential for the genesis and survival of large scale
social evil.
Our natural human world view actually creates a barrier to
our understanding of such questions, thus, it is necessary to be
familiar with psychopathological phenomena, such as those
encountered in this field, in order to breach that barrier. May
then the readers please forgive the author�s occasional lapses
along this innovative path and fearlessly follow his lead, famil-
iarizing themselves rather systematically with the data adduced
in the first few chapters. Thus, we shall be able to accept the
truth of the nature of evil without reflex protests on the part of
our natural egotism.
Specialists familiar with psychopathology will find the road
less novel. They will, however, notice some differences in in-
terpreting several well known phenomena, resulting in part
from the anomalous situations under which the research was
done, but mostly from the
achieve the primary purpose. That is why this aspect of our
work contains certain theoretical values useful for psychopa-
thology. Hopefully, non-specialists will depend upon the
author�s long experience in distinguishing individual psycho-
logical anomalies found among people and factored into the
process of the genesis of evil.
It should be pointed out that considerable moral, intellec-
tual, and practical advantages can be gleaned from an under-
standing of the ponerogenic processes thanks to the naturalistic
objectivity required. The long-term heritage of ethical ques-
tions is thereby not destroyed; quite the contrary, it is
ues of moral teachings. However, ponerology forces some cor-
rections upon many details.
Understanding the nature of macrosocial pathological phe-
nomena permits us to find a healthy attitude and perspective
toward them, thus assisting us in protecting our minds from
being poisoned by their diseased contents and the influence of
their propaganda. The unceasing counter-propaganda resorted
44
INTRODUCTION
to by some countries with a normal human system could easily
be superseded by straightforward information of a scientific
and popular scientific nature on the subject. The bottom line is
that we can only conquer this huge, contagious social cancer if
we comprehend its essence and its etiological causes. This
would eliminate the mystery of this phenomenon as its primary
survival asset.
Such an understanding of the nature of the phenomena that
this study brings forward leads to the logical conclusion that
the measures for healing and reordering the world today should
be completely different from the ones heretofore used for solv-
ing international conflicts. Solutions to such conflicts should
function more like modern antibiotics, or, even better, psycho-
therapy properly handled, rather than taking the approach of
old-style weapons such as clubs, swords, tanks or nuclear mis-
siles. Healing social problems should be the objective, not de-
stroying society. An analogy can be drawn between the archaic
method of bleeding a patient as opposed to the modern method
of strengthening and restoring the ill one in order to effect the
cure.
With reference to phenomena of a ponerogenic nature, mere
proper knowledge alone can begin healing individual humans
and helping their minds regain harmony. Toward the end of
this book, we shall be discussing how to use this knowledge in
order to arrive at the correct political decisions and apply it to
an overall therapy of the world.
8
CHAPTER II
SOME INDISPENSABLE CONCEPTS
Three principal heterogeneous items coincided in order to
form our European civilization: Greek philosophy, Roman
imperial and legal civilization, and Christianity, consolidated
by time and effort of later generations. The culture of cogni-
tive/spiritual heritage thus born was internally fuzzy wherever
the language of concepts, being overly attached to matter and
law, turned out to be too stiff to comprehend aspects of psycho-
logical and spiritual life.
Such a state of affairs had negative repercussions upon our
ability to comprehend reality, especially that reality which
concerns humanity and society. Europeans became unwilling to
study reality (subordinating intellect to facts), but rather tended
to impose upon nature their subjective ideational schemes,
which are extrinsic and not completely coherent. Not until
modern times, thanks to great developments in the hard sci-
ences, which study facts by their very nature, as well as the
apperception of the philosophical heritage of other cultures,
could we help clarify our world of concepts and permit its own
homogenization.
It is surprising to observe what an autonomous tribe the cul-
ture of the ancient Greeks represented. Even in those days, a
civilization could hardly develop in isolation, without being
affected by older cultures in particular. However, even with
that consideration, it seems that Greece was relatively isolated,
culturally speaking. This was probably due to the era of decay
46
SOME INDESPENSIBLE CONCEPTS
the archaeologist refer to as the �dark age�, which occurred in
those Mediterranean areas between 1200 and 800 B.C., and
also to the Achaean tribes� belligerence.
Among the Greeks, a rich mythological imagination, devel-
oped in direct contact with nature and the experiences of life
and war, furnished an image of this link with the nature of the
country and peoples. These conditions saw the birth of a liter-
ary tradition, and later of philosophical reflections searching
for generalities, essential contents, and criteria of values. The
Greek heritage is fascinating due to its richness and individual-
ity, but above all due to its primeval nature. Our civilization,
however, would have been better served if the Greeks had
made more ample use of the achievements of other civiliza-
tions.
Rome was too vital and practical to reflect profoundly upon
the Greek thoughts it had appropriated. In this imperial civili-
zation, administrative needs and juridical developments im-
posed practical priorities. For the Romans, the role of philoso-
phy was more didactic, useful for helping to develop the think-
ing process which would later be utilized for the discharge of
administrative functions and the exercise of political options.
The Greek reflective influence softened Roman customs, which
had a salutary effect on the development of the empire.
However, in
lems of human nature are troublesome factors complicating the
legal regulations of public affairs and administrative functions.
This begets a tendency to dismiss such matters and develop a
concept of human personality simplified enough to serve the
purposes of law. Roman citizens could achieve their goals and
develop their personal attitudes within the framework set by
fate and legal principles, which characterized an individual�s
situation based on premises having little to do with actual psy-
chological properties. The spiritual life of people lacking the
rights of citizenship was not an appropriate subject of deeper
studies. Thus, cognitive psychology remained barren, a condi-
tion which always produces moral recession at both the indi-
vidual and public levels.
Christianity had stronger ties with the ancient cultures of the
Asiatic continent, including their philosophical and psycho-
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
47
logical reflections. This was of course a dynamic factor render-
ing it more attractive, but it was not the most important one.
Observing and understanding the apparent transformations
faith caused in human personalities created a psychological
school of thought and art on the part of the early believers. This
new relationship to another person, i.e. one�s neighbor, charac-
terized by understanding, forgiveness, and love, opened the
door to a psychological cognition which, often supported by
charismatic phenomena, bore abundant fruit during the first
three centuries after Christ.
An observer at the time might have expected Christianity to
help develop the art of human understanding to a higher level
than the older cultures and religions, and to hope that such
knowledge would protect future generations from the dangers
of speculative thought divorced from that profound psycho-
logical reality which can only be comprehended through sin-
cere respect for another human being.
History, however, has not confirmed such an expectation.
The symptoms of decay in sensitivity and psychological com-
prehension, as well as the Roman Imperial tendency to impose
extrinsic patterns upon human beings, can be observed as early
as 350 A.D. During later eras, Christianity passed through all
those difficulties which result from insufficient psychological
cognition of reality. Exhaustive studies on the historical rea-
sons for suppressing the development of human cognition in
our civilization would be an extremely useful endeavor.
First of all, Christianity adapted the Greek heritage of phi-
losophical thought and language to its purposes. This made it
possible to develop its own philosophy, but the primeval and
materialistic traits of that language imposed certain limits
which hampered communication between Christianity and
other religious cultures for many centuries.
Christ�s message expanded along the seacoast and beaten
paths of the Roman empire�s transportation lines, within the
imperial civilization, but only through bloody persecutions and
ultimate compromises with Rome�s power and law. Rome fi-
nally dealt with the threat by appropriating Christianity to its
own purposes and, as a result, the Christian Church appropri-
ated Roman organizational forms and adapted to existing social
48
SOME INDESPENSIBLE CONCEPTS
institutions. As a result of this unavoidable process of adapta-
tion, Christianity inherited Roman habits of legal thinking,
including its indifference to human nature and its variety.
Two heterogeneous systems were thus linked together so
permanently that later centuries forgot just how strange they
actually were to each other. However, time and compromise
did not eliminate the internal inconsistencies, and Roman influ-
ence divested Christianity of some of its profound primeval
psychological knowledge. Christian tribes developing under
different cultural conditions created forms so variegated that
maintaining unity turned out to be an historical impossibility.
A �Western civilization� thus arose hampered by a serious
deficiency in an area which both can and does play a creative
role, and which is supposed to protect societies from various
kinds of evil. This civilization developed formulations in the
area of law, whether national, civil, or finally canon, which
were conceived for
mulations gave short shrift to the total contents of the human
personality and the great psychological differences between
individual members of the species
centuries any understanding of certain psychological anomalies
found among some individuals was out of the question, even
though these anomalies repeatedly caused disasters.
This civilization was
originates beyond the easily accessible areas of human con-
sciousness and takes advantage of the enormous gap between
formal or legal thought and psychological reality. In a civiliza-
tion deficient in psychological cognition, hyperactive individu-
als driven by their internal doubts caused by a feelings of being
different easily find a ready echo in other people�s insuffi-
ciently developed consciousness. Such individuals dream of
imposing their power and their different experiential manner
upon their environment and their society.Unfortunately, in a
psychologically ignorant society, their dreams have a good
chance of becoming reality for them and a nightmare for oth-
ers.
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
49
Psychology
In the 1870s, a tempestuous event occurred: a search for the
hidden truth about human nature was initiated as a secular
movement based on biological and medical progress, thus its
cognition originated in the material sphere. From the very out-
set, many researchers had a vision of the great future role of
this science for the good of peace and order. However, since it
relegated prior knowledge to the spiritual sphere, any such
approach to the human personality was necessarily one-sided.
People like Ivan Pavlov, C.G. Jung, and others soon noticed
this one-sidedness and attempted to reach a synthesis. Pavlov,
however, was not allowed to state his convictions in public.
Psychology is the only science wherein the observer and the
observed belong to the same species, even to the same person
in an act of introspection. It is thus easy for subjective error to
steal into the reasoning process of the thinking person�s com-
monly used imaginings and individual habits. Error then often
bites its own tail in a vicious circle, thus giving rise to prob-
lems due to the lack of distance between observer and ob-
served, a difficulty unknown in other disciplines.
Some people, such as the behaviorists, attempted to avoid
the above error at all costs. In the process, they impoverished
the cognitive contents to such an extent that there was very
little matter left. However, they produced a very profitable
discipline of thought. Progress was very often elaborated by
persons simultaneously driven by internal anxieties and search-
ing for a method of ordering their own personalities via the
road of knowledge and self-knowledge. If these anxieties were
caused by a defective upbringing, then overcoming these diffi-
culties gave rise to excellent discoveries. However, if the cause
for such anxieties rested
permanent tendency to deform the understanding of psycho-
logical phenomena. Within this science, progress is unfortu-
nately very contingent upon the individual values and nature of
its practitioners. It is also dependent upon the social climate.
Wherever a society has become enslaved to others or to the rule
of an overly-privileged native class, psychology is the first
discipline to suffer from censorship and incursions on the part
50
SOME INDESPENSIBLE CONCEPTS
of an administrative body which starts claiming the last word
as to what represents scientific truth.
Thanks to the work of outstanding pathfinders, however, the
scientific discipline exists and continues to develop in spite of
all these difficulties; it is useful for the life of society. Many
researchers fill in the gaps of this science with detailed data
which function as a corrective to the subjectivity and vagueness
of famous pioneers. The childhood ailments of any new disci-
pline persist, including a lack of general order and synthesis, as
does the tendency to splinter into individual schools, expound-
ing upon certain theoretical and practical achievements, at the
cost of limiting themselves in other areas.
At the same time, however, findings of a practical nature are
gleaned for the good of people who need help. The direct ob-
servations furnished by everyday work of therapists in the field
are more instrumental in forming scientific comprehension and
developing the language of contemporary psychology than any
academic experiments or deliberations undertaken in a labora-
tory. After all, life itself provides variegated conditions,
whether comfortable or tragic, which subject human individu-
als to experiments no scientist in any laboratory would ever
undertake. This very volume exists because of studies, in the
field, of inhuman experimentation upon entire nations.
Experience teaches a psychologist�s mind how to track an-
other person�s life quickly and effectively, discovering the
causes that conditioned the development of his personality and
behavior. Our minds can thus also reconstruct those factors
which influenced him, although
ture of concepts, often referred to as �common sense� relied
upon by public opinion and many individuals. Rather, we use
categories which are as objective as we can possibly achieve.
Psychologists utilize conceptual language with descriptions of
phenomena that are independent of any common imaginings,
and this is an indispensable tool of practical activity. In prac-
tice, however, it usually turns into clinical slang rather than the
distinguished scientific language it would behoove us to foster.
An analogy can be drawn between this conceptual language of
psychology and mathematical symbols. Very often, a single
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
51
Greek letter stands for many pages of mathematical operations
which is instantly recognized by the mathematician.
Objective language
In the categories of psychological objectivity, cognition and
thought are based on the same logical and methodological prin-
ciples shown to be the best tool in many other areas of natural-
istic studies. Exceptions to these rules have become a tradition
for ourselves and for creatures similar to us, but they turn out to
engender more error than usefulness. At the same time, how-
ever, consistent adherence to these principles, and rejection of
additional scientific limitations, lead us toward the wide hori-
zon from which it is possible to glimpse
human personality becomes a necessity if our language of psy-
chological concepts is to remain an objective structure.
In affirming his own personality, man has the tendency to
repress from the field of his consciousness any associations
indicating an external causative conditioning of his world view
and behavior. Young people in particular want to believe they
freely chose their intentions and decisions; at the same time,
however, an experienced psychological analyst can track the
causative conditions of these choices without much difficulty.
Much of this conditioning is hidden within our childhood; the
memories may be receding into the distance, but we carry the
results of our early experiences around with us throughout our
lives.
The better our understanding of the causality of the human
personality, the stronger the impression that humanity is a part
of nature and society, subject to dependencies we are ever bet-
ter able to understand. Overcome by human nostalgia, we then
wonder if there is really no room for a scope of freedom, for a
Purusha9? The more progress we make in our art of under-
9 Sanskrit. A word literally meaning �man�; but bearing the mystical signifi-
cance of the �Ideal Man�, the Higher Self within. The term
used in the Esoteric philosophy to express the Spirit or the everlasting entita-
tive individual of a Universe, a Solar System, or of a man.
from the verb-root
52
SOME INDESPENSIBLE CONCEPTS
standing human causation, the better we are able to liberate the
person who trusts us from the toxic effects of conditioning,
which has unnecessarily constricted his freedom of proper
comprehension and decision making. We are thus in a position
to close ranks with our patient in a search for the best way out
of his problems. If we succumb to the temptation of using the
natural structure of psychological concepts for this purpose, our
advice to him would sound similar to the many non-productive
pronouncements he has already heard and that never quite
manage to really help him to become free of his problem.
The everyday, ordinary, psychological, societal, and moral
world view is a product of man�s developmental process within
a society, under the constant influence of innate traits. Among
these innate traits are mankind�s phylogenetically determined
instinctive foundation, and the upbringing furnished by the
family and the environment. No person can develop without
being influenced by other people and their personalities, or by
the values imbued by his civilization and his moral and relig-
ious traditions. That is why his natural world view of humans
can be neither sufficiently universal nor completely true. Dif-
ferences among individuals and nations are the product of both
inherited dispositions and the ontogenesis10 of personalities.
It is thus significant that the main values of this human
world view of nature indicate basic similarities in spite of great
divergences in time, race, and civilization. This world view
quite obviously derives
natural experience of human societies which have achieved a
certain necessary level of civilization. Refinements based on
literary values or philosophical and moral reflections do show
differences, but, generally speaking, they tend to bring together
the natural conceptual languages of various civilizations and
eras. People with a humanistic education may therefore get the
impression that they have achieved wisdom. We shall also
ultimate realities of Sankhya philosophy. The divine Self, the absolute Real-
ity, pure Consciousness. [Editor�s note.]
10
development of an organism from the fertilized egg to its mature form. On-
togeny is studied in developmental biology. [Editor�s note.]
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
53
continue to respect the wisdom of that �common sense� de-
rived from life experience and reflections thereon.
However, a conscientious psychologist must ask the follow-
ing questions: Even if the natural world view has been refined,
does it mirror reality with sufficient reliability? Or does it only
mirror
upon it as a basis for decision making in the individual, societal
and political spheres of life?
Experience teaches us, first of all, that this natural world
view has permanent and characteristic tendencies toward de-
formation dictated by our instinctive and emotional features.
Secondly, our work exposes us to many phenomena which
cannot be understood nor described by natural language alone.
An objective scientific language able to analyze the essence of
a phenomenon thus becomes an indispensable tool. It has also
shown itself to be similarly indispensable for an understanding
of the questions presented within this book.
Now, having laid the groundwork, let us attempt a listing of
the most important
insufficiencies of the natural human world view.
Those emotional features which are a natural component of
the human personality are never completely appropriate to the
reality being experienced. This results both from our instinct
and from our common errors of upbringing. That is why the
best tradition of philosophical and religious thought have coun-
seled subduing the emotions in order to achieve a more accu-
rate view of reality.
The natural world view is also characterized by a similar,
emotional, tendency to endow our opinions with moral judg-
ment, often so negative as to represent outrage. This appeals to
tendencies which are deeply rooted in human nature and socie-
tal customs. We easily extrapolate this method of comprehen-
sion onto manifestations of improper human behavior, which
are, in fact, caused by minor psychological deficiencies. When
another individual behaves in a way that we deem to be �bad�,
we tend to make a judgment of negative intent rather than seek-
ing to understand the psychological conditions that might be
driving them, and convincing them that they are, in fact, behav-
ing very properly. Thus, any moralizing interpretation of minor
54
SOME INDESPENSIBLE CONCEPTS
psychopathological phenomena is erroneous and merely leads
to an exceptional number of unfortunate consequences, which
is why we shall repeatedly refer to it.
Another defect of the natural world view is its lack of uni-
versality. In every society, a certain percentage of the people
has developed a world view a good deal different from that
used by the majority. The causes of the aberrations are by no
means qualitatively monolithic; we will be discussing them in
greater detail in the fourth chapter.
Another essential deficiency of the natural world view is its
limited scope of applicability. Euclidean geometry would suf-
fice for a technical reconstruction of our world and for a trip to
the moon and the closest planets. We only need a geometry
whose axioms are less natural if we reach inside of an atom or
outside of our solar system. The average person does not en-
counter phenomena for which Euclidean geometry would be
insufficient. Sometime during his lifetime, virtually every per-
son is faced with problems he must deal with. Since a compre-
hension of the truly operational factors is beyond the ken of his
natural world view, he generally relies on emotion: intuition
and the pursuit of happiness. Whenever we meet a person
whose individual world view developed under the influence of
non-typical conditions, we tend to pass moral judgment upon
him in the name of our more typical world view. In short,
whenever some unidentified psychopathological factor comes
into play, the natural human world view ceases to be applica-
ble.
Moving further, we often meet with sensible people en-
dowed with a well-developed natural world view as regards
psychological, societal, and moral aspects, frequently refined
via literary influences, religious deliberations, and philosophi-
cal reflections. Such persons have a pronounced tendency to
overrate the values of their world view, behaving as though it
were an objective basis for judging other people. They do not
take into account the fact that such a system of apprehending
human matters can also be erroneous, since it is insufficiently
objective. Let us call such an attitude the �egotism of the natu-
ral world view�. To date, it has been the least pernicious type
of egotism, being merely an overestimation of that method of
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
55
comprehension containing the eternal values of human experi-
ence.
Today, however, the world is being jeopardized by a phe-
nomenon which cannot be understood nor described by means
of such a natural conceptual language; this kind of egotism thus
becomes a dangerous factor stifling the possibility of objective
counteractive measures. Developing and popularizing the ob-
jective psychological world view could thus significantly ex-
pand the scope of dealing with evil, via sensible action and
pinpointed countermeasures.
The objective psychological language, based on mature phi-
losophical criteria, must meet the requirements derived from its
theoretical foundations, and meet the needs of individual and
macrosocial practice. It should be evaluated fully on the basis
of
gous conceptual language elaborated by the older naturalistic
sciences, particularly medicine. Its range of applicability
should cover all those facts and phenomena conditioned upon
cognizable biological factors for which this natural language
has proved inadequate. It should, within this framework, allow
sufficient understanding of the contents, and varied causes, for
the genesis of the above-mentioned deviant world views.
Elaborating such a conceptual language, being far beyond
the individual scope of any scientist, is a step-by-step affair; by
means of the contribution of many researchers, it matures to the
point when it could be organized under philosophical supervi-
sion in the light of above-mentioned foundations. Such a task
would greatly contribute to the development of all bio-
humanistic and social sciences by liberating them from the
limitations and erroneous tendencies imposed by the overly
great influence of the natural language of psychological imagi-
nation, especially when combined with an excessive compo-
nent of egotism.
Most of the questions dealt with in this book are beyond the
scope of applicability of the natural language. The fifth chapter
shall deal with a macrosocial phenomenon which has rendered
our traditional scientific language completely deceptive. Un-
derstanding these phenomena thus requires consistent separa-
tion from the habits of that method of thinking and the use of
56
SOME INDESPENSIBLE CONCEPTS
the most objective system of concepts possible. For this pur-
pose, it proves necessary to develop the contents, organize
them, and familiarize the readers with them as well.
At the same time, an examination of the phenomena whose
nature forced the use of such a system will render a great con-
tribution to enriching and perfecting the objective system of
concepts.
While working on these matters, the author gradually accus-
tomed himself to comprehending reality by means of this very
method, a way of thinking which turned out to be both the most
appropriate and the most economical in terms of time and ef-
fort. It also protects the mind from its own natural egotism and
any excessive emotionalism.
In the course of the above-mentioned inquiries, each re-
searcher went through his own period of crisis and frustration
when it became evident that the concepts he had trusted thus
far proved to be inapplicable. Ostensibly, correct hypotheses
formulated in the scientifically improved natural conceptual
language turned out to be completely unfounded in the light of
facts, and of preliminary statistical calculations. At the same
time, the elaboration of concepts better suited for investigated
reality became extremely complex: after all, the key to the
question lies in a scientific area still in the process of develop-
ment.
Surviving this period thus required an acceptance of and a
respect for a feeling of nescience11 truly worthy of a philoso-
pher. Every science is born in an area uninhabited by popular
imaginings that must be overcome and left behind. In this case,
however, the procedure had to be exceptionally radical; we had
to venture into any area indicated by systematic analysis of the
facts we observed and experienced from within a full-blown
condition of macrosocial evil, guided by the light of the re-
quirements of scientific methodology. This had to be upheld in
spite of the difficulties caused by extraordinary outside condi-
tions and by our own human personalities.
Very few of the many people who started out on this road
were able to arrive at the end, since they withdrew for various
reasons connected to this period of frustration. Some of them
11 Literally, the absence of knowledge. [Editor�s note.]
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
57
concentrated on a single question; succumbing to a kind of
fascination regarding its scientific value; they delved into de-
tailed inquiries. Their achievements may be present in this
work, since they understood the general mining of their work.
Others gave up in the face of scientific problems, personal
difficulties, or the fear of being discovered by the authorities,
who are highly vigilant in such matters.
Perusing this book will therefore confront the reader with
similar problems, albeit on a much smaller scale. A certain
impression of injustice may be conveyed due to the need to
leave behind a significant portion of our prior conceptualiza-
tions, the feeling that our natural world view is inapplicable,
and the expendability of some emotional entanglements. I
therefore ask my readers to accept these disturbing feelings in
the spirit of the love of knowledge and its redeeming values.
The above explanations were crucial in order to render the
language of this work more easily comprehensible to the read-
ers. The author has attempted to approach the matters described
herein in such a way as to avoid both losing touch with the
world of objective concepts and becoming incomprehensible to
anyone outside a narrow circle of specialists. We must thus beg
the reader to pardon any slips along the tightrope between the
two methods of thought. However, the author would not be an
experienced psychologist if he could not predict that some
readers will reject the scientific data adduced within this work,
feeling that they constitute an attack upon the natural wisdom
of their life-experience.
The Human Individual
When Auguste Comte12 attempted to found the new science
of sociology during the early nineteenth century, i.e. well be-
12 Auguste Comte (1798 - 1857) was a French positivist thinker who invented
the term �sociology� to name the new science made by Saint-Simon. Comte
saw a �universal law� at work in all sciences which he called the �law of
three phases�. It is for this law that he is best known in the English-speaking
world; namely, that society has gone through three phases: Theological,
Metaphysical, and Scientific. He also gave the name �Positive� to the last of
these. The other universal law he called the �encyclopedic law�. By combin-
ing these laws, Comte developed a systematic and hierarchical classification
of all sciences, including inorganic physics (astronomy, earth science and
58
SOME INDESPENSIBLE CONCEPTS
fore modern psychology was born, he was immediately con-
fronted with the problem of man, a mystery he could not solve.
If he rejected the Catholic Church�s oversimplifications of
human nature, then nothing remained except traditional
schemes for comprehending the personality, derived from well
known social conditions. He thus had to avoid this problem,
among others, if he wanted to create his new scientific branch
under such conditions.
Therefore, he accepted that the basic cell of society is the
family, something much easier to characterize and treat like an
elementary model of societal relations. This could also be ef-
fected by means of a language of comprehensible concepts,
without confronting problems which could truly not have been
overcome at the time. Slightly later, J. S. Mill13 pointed out the
resulting deficiencies of psychological cognition and the role of
the individuals.
chemistry) and organic physics (biology and for the first time,
the last and greatest of all sciences, one that would include all other sciences,
and which would integrate and relate their findings into a cohesive whole.
(Wikipedia)
13 John Stuart Mill (1806 � 1873), an English philosopher and political
economist, was an influential liberal thinker of the 19th century. He was an
advocate of utilitarianism, the ethical theory first proposed by his godfather
Jeremy Bentham. During his time as an MP, Mill advocated easing the bur-
dens on Ireland, and became the first person in parliament to call for women
to be given the right to vote. In �Considerations on Representative Govern-
ment�, Mill called for various reforms of Parliament and voting, especially
proportional representation, the Single Transferable Vote, and the extension
of suffrage. He was godfather to Bertrand Russell. Mill argued that it is
Government�s role only to remove the barriers, such as laws, to behaviors
that do not harm others. Crucially, he felt that offense did not constitute
harm, and therefore supported almost total freedom of speech; only in cases
where free speech would lead to direct harm did Mill wish to limit it. For
example, whipping up an angry mob to go and attack people would not be
defended in Mill�s system. Mill argued that free discourse was vital to ensure
progress. He argued that we could never be sure if a silenced opinion did not
hold some portion of the truth. Ingeniously, he also argued that even false
opinions have worth, in that in refuting false opinions the holders of true
opinions have their beliefs reaffirmed. Without having to defend one�s be-
liefs, Mill argued, the beliefs would become dead and we would forget why
we held them at all. [Editor�s note.]
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
59
Only now is sociology successfully dealing with the diffi-
culties which resulted, laboriously reinforcing the existing
foundations of science by the achievements of psychology, a
science which by its very nature treats the
of an objective psychological language will in time permit
sociology to become a scientific discipline which can mirror
the social reality with sufficient objectivity and attention to
detail in order to render it a basis for practical action. After all,
it is
complexity of his human personality.
In order to understand the functioning of an organism,
medicine begins with cytology, which studies the variegated
structures and functions of cells. If we want to understand the
laws governing social life, we must similarly first understand
the individual human being, his physiological and psychologi-
cal nature, and fully accept the quality and scope of differences
(particularly psychological ones) among the individuals who
constitute two sexes, different families, associations, and social
groups, as well as the complex structure of society itself.
The doctrinaire and propaganda-based Soviet system con-
tains a characteristic built-in contradiction whose causes will
be readily understandable toward the end of this book. Man�s
descent from the animals, bereft of any extraordinary occur-
rences, is accepted there as the obvious basis for the materialis-
tic world view. At the same time, however, they
common with the rest of the animal world. If faced with espe-
cially troublesome questions, they sometimes admit that man
contains an insignificant survival of such phylogenetic heri-
tage, however, they
14 See: �A Mess in Psychiatry�, an interview with Robert van Voren, General
Secretary of Geneva Initiative on Psychiatry, published in the Dutch newspa-
per
psychiatry has not just been standing still, but has gone downhill. Absolutely
nothing has changed. The bulk of the [Russian] psychiatrists could never find
a job as a psychiatrist in the West. There, methods of treatment are customary
about which you cannot even talk anymore in the West. � [Editor�s note.]
60
SOME INDESPENSIBLE CONCEPTS
In order to understand humanity, however,
ties. This role easily escapes our notice, since our human spe-
cies� instinctive responses seem so self-evident and are so
much taken for granted that it arouses insufficient interest. A
psychologist, schooled in the observation of human beings,
does not fully appreciate the role of this eternal phenomenon of
nature until he has years of professional experience.
Man�s instinctive substratum has a slightly different bio-
logical structure than that of animals. Energetically speaking, it
has become less dynamic and become more plastic, thereby
giving up its job as the main dictator of behavior. It has become
more receptive to the controls of reasoning, without, however,
losing much of the rich specific contents of the human kind.
It is precisely this phylogenetically developed basis for our
experience, and its emotional dynamism, that allow individuals
to develop their feelings and social bounds, enabling us to in-
tuit other people�s psychological state and individual or social
psychological reality. It is thus possible to perceive and under-
stand human customs and moral values. From infancy, this
substratum stimulates various activities aiming at the develop-
ment of the mind�s higher functions. In other words, our
Proper child-rearing is thus not limited to teaching a young
person to control the overly violent reactions of his instinctual
emotionalism; it also ought to teach him to appreciate the wis-
dom of nature contained and speaking through his instinctive
endowment
This substratum contains
conditions, so it neither is nor can be a perfect creation. Our
well known weaknesses of human nature and errors in the natu-
ral perception and comprehension of reality have thus been
conditioned on that phylogenetic level for millennia.15
15 Konrad Lorenz:
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
61
The common substratum of psychology has made it possi-
ble for peoples throughout the centuries and civilizations to
create concepts regarding human, social, and moral matters
which share significant similarities. Inter-epochal and interra-
cial variations in this area are
tion. It shall behoove us to return to this latter question repeat-
edly, since it has taken on a crucial importance for the prob-
lems dealt with in this book.
Man has lived in groups throughout his prehistory, so our
species� instinctual substratum was shaped in this tie, thus con-
ditioning our emotions as regards the mining of existence. The
need for an appropriate internal structure of commonality, and
a striving to achieve a worthy role within that structure, are
encoded at this very level. In the final analysis, our self-
preservation instinct is rivaled by another feeling: the good of
society demands that we make sacrifices, sometimes even the
supreme sacrifice. At the same time, however, it is worth point-
ing out that if we love a man, we love his human instinct above
all.
Our zeal to control anyone harmful to ourselves or our
group is so primal in its near-reflex necessity as to leave no
doubt that it is
stinct, however,
(1973);
Lorenz joined the Nazi Party in 1938 and accepted a university chair under
the Nazi regime. His publications during that time led in later years to allega-
tions that his scientific work had been contaminated by Nazi sympathies.
When accepting the Nobel Prize, he apologized for a 1940 publication that
included Nazi views of science, saying that �many highly decent scientists
hoped, like I did, for a short time for good from National Socialism, and
many quickly turned away from it with the same horror as I.� It seems highly
likely that Lorenz�s ideas about an inherited basis for behavior patterns were
congenial to the Nazi authorities, but there is no evidence to suggest that his
experimental work was either inspired or distorted by Nazi ideas. [Editor�s
note.]
62
SOME INDESPENSIBLE CONCEPTS
instinctively tend to judge the latter more severely, harkening
to nature�s striving to eliminate biologically or psychologically
defective individuals. Our tendency to such evil generating
error is thus conditioned at the instinctual level.
It is also at this level that differences begin to occur be-
tween normal individuals, influencing the formation of their
characters, world views, and attitudes. The primary differences
are in the bio-psychical dynamism of this substratum; differ-
ences of content are secondary. For some people the sthenic16
instinct supersedes psychology; for others, it easily relinquishes
control to reason. It also appears that some people have a
somewhat richer and more subtle instinctual endowment than
others. Significant deficiencies in this heritage nevertheless
occur in only a tiny percentage of the human population; and
we perceive this to be qualitatively pathological. We shall have
to pay closer attention to such anomalies, since they participate
in that pathogenesis of evil which we would like to understand
more fully.
A more subtle structure of effect is built upon our instinc-
tual substratum, thanks to constant cooperation from the latter
as well as familial and societal child-rearing practices. With
time, this structure becomes a more easily observable compo-
nent of our personality, within which it plays an integrative
role. This higher effect is instrumental in linking us to society,
which is why its correct development is a proper duty of peda-
gogues and constitutes one of the objects of a psychotherapist�s
efforts, if perceived to be abnormally formed. Both pedagogues
and psychotherapists sometimes feel helpless, if this process of
formation was influenced by a defective instinctual substratum.
~~~
Thanks to memory, that phenomenon ever better described
by psychology, but whose nature remains partly mysterious,
man stores life-experiences and purposely acquired knowledge.
There are extensive individual variations in regard to this ca-
pacity, its quality, and its contents. A young person also looks
at the world differently from an old man endowed with a good
memory. People with a good memory and a great deal of
16 Relating to or marked by
note.]
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
63
knowledge have a greater tendency to reach for the written data
of collective memory in order to supplement their own.
This collected material constitutes the subject matter of the
second psychological process, namely association; our under-
standing of its characteristics is constantly improving, although
we have not yet been able to shed sufficient light upon its nur-
turance. In spite of, or maybe thanks to, the value judgments
contributed to this question by psychologists and psychoana-
lysts, it appears that achieving a satisfactory synthetic under-
standing of the associative processes will not be possible unless
and until we humbly decide to cross the boundaries of purely
scientific comprehension.
Our reasoning faculties continue to develop throughout our
entire active lives, thus, accurate judgmental abilities do not
peak until our hair starts greying and the drive of instinct, emo-
tion, and habit begins to abate. It is a collective product derived
from an interaction between man and his environment, and
from many generations� worth of creation and transmission.
The environment may also have a destructive influence upon
the development of our reasoning faculties. In its environment
in particular, the human mind is contaminated by conversive
thinking17, which is the most common anomaly in this process.
It is for this reason that the proper development of mind re-
quires periods of solitary reflection on occasion.
Man has also developed a psychological function not found
among animals. Only man can apprehend a certain quantity of
material or abstract imaginings within his field of attention,
inspecting them internally in order to effect further operations
of the mind upon this material. This enables us to confront
facts, affect constructive and technical operations, and predict
future results. If the facts subjected to internal projection and
inspection deal with man�s own personality, man performs an
act of introspection essential for monitoring the state of a hu-
17 Conversive thinking: using terms but giving them opposing or twisted
meanings. Examples: peacefulness = appeasement; freedom = license; initia-
tive = arbitrariness; traditional = backward; rally = mob; efficiency = small-
mindedness. Example: the words �peacefulness� and �appeasement� denote
the same thing: a striving to establish peace, but have entirely different con-
notations which indicate the speaker�s attitude toward this striving toward
peace. [Editor�s note.]
64
SOME INDESPENSIBLE CONCEPTS
man personality and the meaning of his own behavior. This act
of internal projection and inspection complements our con-
sciousness; it characterizes no species other than the human.
However, there is exceptionally wide divergence among indi-
viduals regarding the
ciency of this mental function shows a somewhat low statistical
correlation with general intelligence.
Thus, if we speak of man�s general intelligence, we must
take into account both its internal structure and the individual
differences occurring at every level of this structure. The sub-
stratum of our intelligence, after all, contains nature�s instinc-
tual heritage of wisdom and error, giving rise to the basic intel-
ligence of life experience. Superimposed upon this construct,
thanks to memory and the associative capacity, is our ability to
effect complex operations of thought, crowned by the act of
internal projection, and to constantly improve their correctness.
We are variously endowed with these capabilities, which
makes for a mosaic of individually variegated talents.
Basic intelligence grows from this instinctual substratum
under the influence of an amicable environment and a readily
accessible compendium of human experience; it is intertwined
with higher effect, enabling us to understand others and to in-
tuit their psychological state by means of some naive realism.
This conditions the development of moral reason.
This layer of our intelligence is widely distributed within
society; the overwhelming majority of people have it, which is
why we can so often admire the tact, the intuition, of social
relationships, and sensible morality of people whose intellec-
tual gifts are only average. We also see people with an out-
standing intellect who lack these very natural values. As is the
case with deficiencies in the instinctual substratum, the deficits
of this basic structure of our intelligence frequently take on
features we perceive as pathological.
The
cieties is completely different, and its amplitude has the great-
est scope. Highly gifted people constitute a tiny percentage of
each population, and those with the highest quotient of intelli-
gence constitute only a few per thousand. In spite of this, how-
ever, the latter play such a significant role in collective life that
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
65
able to master simple arithmetic and the art of writing are, in
the majority, normal people whose basic intelligence is often
entirely adequate.
It is a universal law of nature that the higher a given spe-
cies� psychological organization, the greater the psychological
differences among individual units. Man is the most highly
organized species; hence, these variations are the greatest. Both
qualitatively and quantitatively, psychological differences oc-
cur in all structures of the human personality dealt with here,
albeit in terms of necessary oversimplification. Profound psy-
chological variegations may strike some as an injustice of na-
ture, but they are her right and have meaning.
Nature�s seeming injustice, alluded to above, is, in fact, a
great gift to humanity, enabling human societies to develop
their complex structures and to be highly creative at both the
individual and collective level. Thanks to psychological vari-
ety, the creative potential of any society is many times higher
than it could possibly be if our species were psychologically
more homogeneous. Thanks to these variations, the societal
structure implicit within can also develop. The fate of human
societies depends upon the proper adjustment of individuals
within this structure and upon the manner in which innate
variations of talents are utilized.
Our experience teaches us that psychological differences
among people are the cause of misunderstandings and prob-
lems. We can overcome these problems only if we
comprehension of man and human societies; unfortunately, it
would also teach us that equality under the law is inequality
under the law of nature.
~~~
If we observe our human personality by consistently track-
ing psychological causation within, if we are able to exhaust
the question to a sufficient degree, we shall come ever closer to
phenomena whose biopsychological energy is very low, which
begin to manifest themselves to us with certain characteristic
66
SOME INDESPENSIBLE CONCEPTS
subtlety. Discovering this phenomenon, we then attempt to
track our associations particularly because we have exhausted
the available analytical platform. Finally, we must admit to
noticing something within us which is a result of supra-sensory
causation. This path may be the most laborious of all, but it
will nevertheless lead to the most material certainty regarding
the existence of what all the major religious systems talk about.
Attaining some small piece of truth via this path brings us to
respect for some of the teachings of the ancients regarding the
existence of something beyond the material universe.
If we thus wish to understand mankind, man as whole,
without abandoning the laws of thought required by the objec-
tive language, we are finally forced to accept this reality, which
is within each of us, whether normal or not, whether we have
accepted it because we have been brought up that way, or have
achieved such gnosis on our own, or whether we have rejected
it for reasons of materialism or science. After all, invariabley,
when we analyze negative psychological attitudes, we always
discern an affirmation which has been repressed from the field
of consciousness. As a consequence, the constant subconscious
effort of denying concepts about existing things engenders a
zeal to eliminate them in other people.
Trustfully opening our mind to perception of this reality is
thus indispensable for someone whose duty is to understand
other people, and is advisable for everyone else as well. Thanks
to this, our mind is rendered free of internal tensions and
stresses and can be liberated from its tendency to select and
substitute information, including those areas which are more
easily accessible to naturalistic comprehension.
~~~
The human personality is unstable by its very nature, and a
lifelong evolutionary process is the normal state of affairs.
Some political and religious systems advocate slowing down
this process or achieving excessive stability in our personali-
ties, but these are unhealthy states from the point of view of
psychology. If the evolution of a human personality or world
view becomes frozen long and deeply enough, the condition
enters the realm of psychopathology. The process of personal-
ity transformation reveals its meaning thanks to its own crea-
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
67
tive nature which is based on the conscious acceptance of this
creative changing as the natural course of events.
Our personalities also pass through temporary destructive
periods as a result of various life events, especially if we un-
dergo suffering or meet with situations or circumstances which
are at variance with our prior experiences and imaginings.
These so-called disintegrative stages are often unpleasant, al-
though not necessarily so. A good dramatic work, for instance,
enables us to experience a disintegrative state, simultaneously
calming down the unpleasant components and furnishing crea-
tive ideas for a renewed reintegration of our own personalities.
True theater therefore causes the condition known as catharsis.
A disintegrative state provokes us to mental efforts in at-
tempts to overcome it in order to regain active homeostasis.
Overcoming such states, in effect, correcting our errors and
enriching our personalities, is a proper and creative process of
reintegration, leading to a higher level of understanding and
acceptance of the laws of life, to a better comprehension of self
and others, and to a more highly developed sensitivity in inter-
personal relationships. Our feelings also validate the successful
achievement of a reintegrative state: the unpleasant conditions
we have survived are endowed with meaning. Thus, the experi-
ence renders us better prepared to confront the next disintegra-
tive situation.
If, however, we have proved unable to master the problems
which occurred because our reflexes were too quick to repress
and substitute the uncomfortable material from our conscious-
ness, or for some similar reason, our personality undergoes
retroactive egotization,18 but it is not free of the sensation of
failure. The results are devolutionary; the person becomes more
difficult to get along with. If we cannot overcome such a disin-
tegrative state because the causative circumstances were over-
powering or because we lacked the information essential for
constructive use, our organism reacts with a neurotic condition.
~~~
The diagram of the human personality presented herein,
summarized and simplified for reasons of necessity, makes us
aware of how complex human beings are in their structure,
18 Similar to narcissistic withdrawal. [Editor�s note.]
68
SOME INDESPENSIBLE CONCEPTS
their changes, and their mental and spiritual lives. If we wish to
create social sciences whose descriptions of our reality would
be capable of enabling us to rely on them in practice, we must
accept this complexity and make certain that it is sufficiently
respected. Any attempt to substitute this basic knowledge with
the help of oversimplifying schemes leads to loss of that indis-
pensable convergence between our reasoning and the reality we
are observing. It behooves us to reemphasize that using our
natural language of psychological imaginations for this purpose
cannot be a substitute for objective premises.
Similarly, it is extremely difficult for a psychologist to be-
lieve in the value of any social ideology based on simplified or
even naive psychological premises. This applies to any ideol-
ogy which attempts to over-simplify psychological reality,
whether it be one utilized by a totalitarian system or, unfortu-
nately, by democracy as well. People are different. Whatever is
qualitatively different and remains in a state of permanent evo-
lution cannot be equal.
~~~
The above-mentioned statements about human nature apply
to normal people, with a few exceptions. However, each soci-
ety on earth contains a certain percentage of individuals, a rela-
tively small but active minority,
We emphasize that here we are dealing with qualitative, not
statistical, abnormality. Outstandingly intelligent persons are
statistically abnormal, but they can be quite normal members of
society from the qualitative point of view. We are going to be
looking at individuals that are statistically small in number, but
whose quality of difference is such that it can affect hundreds,
thousands, even millions of other human beings in negative
ways.
The individuals we wish to consider are people who reveal
morbid19 phenomena, and in whom mental deviations and
anomalies of various qualities and intensities can be observed.
Many such people are driven by internal anxieties: they search
for unconventional paths of action and adjustment to life with a
19 Diseased; caused by or altered by or manifesting disease or pathology.
[Editor�s note.]
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
69
certain characteristic hyperactivity. In some cases, such activity
can be pioneering and creative, which ensures societal toler-
ance for some of these individuals. Some psychiatrists, espe-
cially Germans, have praised such people as embodying the
principal inspiration for the development of civilization; this is
a damagingly unilateral view of reality. Laymen in the field of
psychopathology frequently gain the impression that such per-
sons represent some extraordinary talents. This very science,
however, then goes on to explain that these individuals� hyper-
activity and sense of being exceptional are derived from their
drive to overcompensate for a feeling of some deficiency. This
aberrant attitude results in the obscuration of the truth: that
normal people are the richest of all.
The fourth chapter of the book contains a concise descrip-
tion of some of these anomalies, their causes, and the biologi-
cal reality, selected in such a way as to facilitate comprehen-
sion of this work as a whole. Other data are distributed
throughout many specialized works that will not be included
here. However, we must consider the overall shape of our
knowledge in this area, which is so basic to our understanding
of, and practical solutions to, many difficult problems of social
life, is unsatisfactory. Many scientists treat this area of science
as being peripheral; others consider it �thankless� because it
easily leads to misunderstandings with other specialists. As a
consequence, various concepts and various semantic conven-
tions emerge, and the totality of knowledge in this science is
still characterized by an excessively
book therefore encompasses efforts whose purpose was to
bring to light the
phenomena.
The pathological phenomena in question, usually of a suffi-
ciently low intensity which can be more easily concealed from
environmental opinion, merge without much difficulty into the
eternal process of the genesis of evil, which later affects peo-
ple, families, and entire societies. Later in this book, we shall
learn that these pathological factors become indispensable
components in a synthesis which results in widescale human
suffering, and also that tracking their activities by means of
70
SOME INDESPENSIBLE CONCEPTS
scientific control and social consciousness may prove to be an
effective weapon against evil.
For the above reasons, this scope of psychopathological sci-
ence represents an indispensable part of that objective language
we have dealt with before. Ever-increasing accuracy in biologi-
cal and psychological facts in this area is an essential precondi-
tion for an objective comprehension of many phenomena
which become extremely onerous for societies, as well as for a
modern solution to age-old problems. Biologists, physicians,
and psychologists who have been struggling with these elusive
and convoluted problems deserve assistance and encourage-
ment from society, since their work will enable the future pro-
tection of people and nations from an evil whose causes we do
not as yet sufficiently understand.
Society
Nature has designed man to be social, a state of affairs en-
coded early, on the instinctual level of our species as described
above. Our minds and personalities could not possibly develop
without contact and interaction with an ever-widening circle of
people. Our mind receives input from others, whether con-
sciously or unconsciously, in regard to matters of emotional
and mental life, tradition and thought, by means of resonant
sensitivity, identification, imitation, and by exchange of ideas,
and permanent rules. The material we obtain in these ways is
then transformed by our psyche in order to create a new human
personality, one we call �our own�. However, our existence is
contingent upon necessary links with those who lived before,
those who presently make up our society, and those who shall
exist in the future. Our existence only assumes meaning as a
function of societal bonds; hedonistic isolation causes us to
lose our selves.
It is man�s fate to actively cooperate in giving shape to the
fate of society by two principal means: forming his individual
and family life within it, and becoming active in the sum total
of social affairs based on his � hopefully sufficient - compre-
hension of what needs to be done, what ought to be done, and
whether or not he can do it. This requires an individual to de-
velop two somewhat overlapping areas of knowledge about
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
71
things; his life depends on the quality of this development, as
does his nation and humanity as a whole.
If, say, we observe a beehive with a painter�s eye, we see
what looks like a crowding throng of insects linked by their
species-similarity. A beekeeper, however, tracks complicated
laws encoded in every insect�s instinct and in the collective
instinct of the hive as well; that helps him understand how to
cooperate with the laws of nature governing apiary society. The
beehive is a higher-order organism; no individual bee can exist
without it, and thus it submits to the absolute nature of its laws.
If we observe the throngs of people crowding the streets of
some great human metropolis, we see what looks like individu-
als driven by their business and problems, pursuing some
crumb of happiness. However, such an oversimplification of
reality causes us to disregard the laws of social life which ex-
isted long before the metropolis ever did, and which will con-
tinue to exist long after huge cities are emptied of people and
purpose. Loners in a crowd have a difficult time accepting that
reality, which � for them - exists in only potential form, al-
though they cannot perceive it directly.
In reality, accepting the laws of social life in all their com-
plexity, even if we find initial difficulties in comprehending
them, helps us to come, finally, to a certain level of understand-
ing that we acquire by something akin to osmosis. Thanks to
this comprehension, or even just an instinctive intuition of such
laws, an individual is able to reach his goals and mature his
personality in action. Thanks to sufficient intuition and com-
prehension of these conditions, a society is able to progress
culturally and economically and to achieve political maturity.
The more we progress in this understanding, the more social
doctrines strike us as primitive and psychologically naive, es-
pecially those based on the thoughts of thinkers living during
the 18th and 19th centuries which were characterized by a
dearth of psychological perception. The suggestive nature of
these doctrines derives from their oversimplification of reality,
something easily adapted and used in political propaganda.
These doctrines and ideologies show their basic faults, in re-
gard to the understanding of human personalities and differ-
ences among people, all rather clearly if viewed in the light of
72
SOME INDESPENSIBLE CONCEPTS
our natural language of psychological concepts, and even more
so in the light of objective language.
A psychologist�s view of society, even if based only on pro-
fessional experience, always places the human individual in the
foreground; it then widens the perspective to include small
groups, such as families, and finally societies and humanity as
whole. We must then accept from the outset that an individ-
ual�s fate is significantly dependent upon circumstance. When
we gradually increase the scope of our observations, we also
gain a greater pictorial specificity of causative links, and statis-
tical data assume ever greater stability.
In order to describe the interdependence between someone�s
fate and personality, and the state of development of society,
we must study the entire body of information collected in this
area to date, adding a new work written in objective language.
Herein I shall adduce only a few examples of such reasoning in
order to open the door to questions presented in later chapters.
~~~
Throughout the ages and in various cultures, the best peda-
gogues have understood the importance, regarding the forma-
tion of a culture and a person�s character, of the scope of con-
cepts describing psychological phenomena. The quality and
richness of concepts and terminology20 mastered by an individ-
20 !obaczewski�s emphasis on language is very important. Semiotics is the
study of language or any other symbol system that conveys meaning. One of
the great philosophical discussions that has continued for centuries relates to
that of the alphabet giver and �namer� of things. In the monotheistic world,
Adam is, of course, the one we think of when we think of the �giving of
names� to things. In terms of the study of Semiotics, the question is: did he
name things based on what they were, in essence, or did he simply create a
convention, and arbitrarily name them whatever appealed to him?
The theories of Semiotics propose that there are two levels, or �planes of
articulation�. At the level of any given language, such as Greek, English,
Chinese, or whatever, there is what they call the �Expression plane� that
consists of a lexicon, a phonology and syntax. In other words, the Expression
Plane is the selection of words that belong to that language, the sounds that
the selection of words produce, and the way they are arranged to convey
meaning. That is the first plane. The second plane is called the Content Plane.
This is the array of concepts that the language is capable of expressing. This
last is rather important because, as we have all heard at least once in our
lives, Eskimos have many words for snow while people who do not live in an
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
73
ual and society, as well as the degree to which they approxi-
mate an objective world view, condition the development of
our moral and social attitudes. The correctness of our under-
standing of self and others characterizes the components condi-
tioning our decisions and choices, be they mundane or impor-
tant, in our private lives and social activities.
The level and quality of a given society�s psychological
worldview is also a condition of realization of the full socio-
psychological structure present as a potential in the psycho-
logical variety within our species. Only when we can under-
stand a person in relation to his actual internal contents, not
some substituted external label, can we help him along his path
to proper adjustment to social life, which would be to his ad-
vantage and would also assist in the creation of a stable and
creative structure of society.
Supported by a proper feel for, and understanding of, psy-
chological qualities, such a structure would impart high social
office to individuals possessing both full psychological normal-
ity, sufficient talent and specific preparation. The basic collec-
tive intelligence of the masses of people would then respect
and support them.
And so, in such a society, the only pending problems to be
resolved would be those matters so difficult as to overwhelm
the natural language of concepts, however enriched and quali-
tatively ennobled.
However, there have always been �society pedagogues�,
less outstanding but more numerous, who have become fasci-
nated by their own great ideas, which might, sometimes, even
environment where snow and ice are the dominant features may only have
one or two words for these phenomena.
So it is that the �Content Plane� of a language becomes crucial to what can be
discussed in that language. In order for the sounds of speech to be meaning-
ful, the words formed out of these sounds must have a meaning associated
with them. In other words, the sounds relate to the Content. The Content
Continuum represents the Universe or reality to which our words relate as we
are capable of conceiving it.
!obaczewski is rightly pointing out that the normal person (not to mention
psychology as a whole, though to a lesser extent) has an extremely psycho-
logical vocabulary of limited understanding because the content continuum of
understanding has been artificially truncated, repressed, or otherwise dimin-
ished. [Editor�s note.]
74
SOME INDESPENSIBLE CONCEPTS
be true, but are more often constricted or contain the taint of
some hidden pathological thought processes. Such people have
always striven to impose pedagogical methods which would
impoverish and deform the development of individuals� and
societies� psychological world view; they inflict permanent
harm upon societies, depriving them of universally useful val-
ues. By claiming to act in the name of a more valuable idea,
such pedagogues actually undermine the values they claim and
open the door for destructive ideologies.
At the same time, as we have already mentioned, each soci-
ety contains a small but active minority of persons with various
deviant worldviews, especially in the areas treated above,
which are caused either by psychological anomalies, to be dis-
cussed below, or by the long-term influence of such anomalies
upon their psyches, especially during childhood. Such people
later exert a pernicious influence upon the formative process of
the psychological world view in society, whether by direct
activity or by means of written or other transmission, especially
if they engage in the service of some ideology or other.
Many causes which easily escape the notice of sociologists
and political scientists can thus be broken down into either the
development or involution of this factor, whose meaning for
the life of society is as decisive as the quality of their language
of psychological concepts.
Let us imagine that we want to analyze these processes: we
would construct a sufficiently credible inventory method which
would examine the contents and correctness of the area of
world view in question. After subjecting the appropriate repre-
sentative groups to such testing, we would then obtain indica-
tors of that particular society�s ability to understand psycho-
logical phenomena and dependencies within their country and
other nations. This would simultaneously constitute the basic
indicators of said society�s talent for self-government and pro-
gress, as well as its ability to carry on a reasonable interna-
tional policy. Such tests could provide an early warning system
if such abilities were to deteriorate, in which case, it would be
proper to make the appropriate efforts in the realm of social
pedagogy. In extreme cases, it might be proper for those coun-
tries evaluating the problem to take more direct corrective ac-
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
75
tion, even to isolating the deteriorating country until the appro-
priate corrections are well under way.
Let as adduce another example of a congenial nature: the
development of an adult human�s gifts, skills, realistic thought,
and natural psychological world view will be optimal where the
level and quality of his education and the demands of his pro-
fessional practice correspond to his individual talents. Achiev-
ing such a position provides personal, material, and moral ad-
vantages to him; society as whole also reaps benefits at the
same time. Such a person would then perceive it as social jus-
tice in relation to himself.
If various circumstances combine, including a given soci-
ety�s deficient psychological world view, individual�s are
forced to exercise functions which do not make full use of his
or her talents. When this happens, said person�s productivity is
no better, and often even worse, than that of a worker with
satisfactory talents. Such an individual then feels cheated and
inundated by duties which prevent him from achieving self-
realization. His thoughts wander from his duties into a world of
fantasy, or into matters which are of greater interest to him; in
his daydream world, he is what he should and deserves to be.
Such a person always knows if his social and professional ad-
justment has taken a downward direction; at the same time,
however, if he fails to develop a healthy critical faculty con-
cerning the upper limits of his own talents, his daydreams may
�fix on� an unfair world where �all you need is power�. Revo-
lutionary and radical ideas find fertile soil among such people
in downward social adaptations. It is in society�s best interests
to correct such conditions not only for better productivity, but
to avoid tragedies.
Another type of individual, on the other hand, may achieve
an important post because they belong to privileged social
groups or organizations in power while their talents and skills
are not sufficient for their duties, especially the more difficult
problems. Such persons then avoid the problematic and dedi-
cate themselves to minor matters quite ostentatiously. A com-
ponent of histrionics appears in their conduct and tests indicate
that their correctness of reasoning progressively deteriorates
after only a few years� worth of such activities. In the face of
76
SOME INDESPENSIBLE CONCEPTS
increasing pressures to perform at a level unattainable for them,
and in fear of being discovered as incompetent, they begin to
direct attacks against anyone with greater talent or skill, remov-
ing them from appropriate posts and playing an active role in
degrading their social and professional adjustment. This, of
course, engenders a feeling of injustice and can lead to the
problems of the downwardly adapted individual as described
above. Upwardly-adjusted people thus favor whip-cracking,
totalitarian governments which would protect their positions.
Upward and downward social adjustments, as well the
qualitatively improper ones, result in a waste of any society�s
basic capital, namely the talent pool of its members. This si-
multaneously leads to increasing dissatisfaction and tensions
among individuals and social groups; any attempt to approach
human talent and its productivity problematics as a purely pri-
vate matter must therefore be considered dangerously naive.
Development or involution in all areas of cultural, economic
and political life depend on the extent to which this talent pool
is properly utilized.
Technically speaking, it would be easier to construct appro-
priate methods that enable us to evaluate the correlations be-
tween individual talents and social adjustment in a given coun-
try, than to deal with the prior proposition of the development
of psychological concepts. Conducting the proper tests would
furnish us a valuable index that we might call �the social order
indicator.� The closer the figure to +1.0, the more likely the
country in question would be to fulfill that basic precondition
for social order and take the proper path in the direction of
dynamic development. A low correlation would be an indica-
tion that social reform is needed. A near-zero or even negative
correlation should be interpreted as a danger-sign that revolu-
tion is imminent. Revolutions in one country often cause mani-
fold problems for other countries, so it is in the best interests of
all countries to monitor such conditions.
The examples adduced above do not exhaust the question of
causative factors influencing the creation of a social structure
which would adequately correspond to the laws of nature. Our
species-instinct level has already encoded the intuition that the
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
77
existence of society�s internal structure,
our basic intelligence, inspiring our healthy common sense.
This explains why the most numerous part of populations,
whose talents are near average, generally accepts its modest
social position in any country as long as the position fulfills the
indispensable requirements of proper social adjustment and
guarantees an equitable way of life no matter at what level of
society the individual finds their proper fit.
This average majority accepts and respects the social role of
people whose talents and education are superior, as long as
they occupy appropriate positions within the social structure.
The same people, however, will react with criticism, disrespect,
and even contempt, whenever someone as average as them-
selves compensates for his deficiencies by flaunting an up-
wardly-adjusted position. The judgments pronounced by this
sphere of average but sensible people can often be highly accu-
rate, which can and should be all the more remarkable if we
take into account that said people could not possibly have had
sufficient knowledge of many of the actual problems, be they
scientific, technical, or economic.21
An experienced politician can rarely assume that the diffi-
culties in the areas of economics, defense, or international pol-
icy will be fully understand by his constituency. However, he
can and should assume that his own comprehension of human
matters, and anything having to do with interpersonal relations
within said structure, will find an echo in this same majority of
his society�s members. These facts
democracy, especially if a particular country has historically
had such a tradition, the social structure is well developed, and
the level of education is adequate. Nevertheless, they do not
represent psychological data sufficient to raise democracy to
the level of a moral criterion in politics. A democracy com-
posed of individuals of inadequate psychological knowledge
can only devolve.
21 Very often false opinion polls are used to attempt to manipulate a society�s
perception of its officials. This never works for very long as, eventually,
incompetence is revealed to all. [Editor�s note.]
78
SOME INDESPENSIBLE CONCEPTS
The same politician should be conscious of the fact that so-
ciety contains people who already carry the psychological re-
sults of social maladjustment. Some of these individuals at-
tempt to protect positions for which their skills are not com-
mensurate, while others fight to be allowed to use their talents.
Governing a country becomes increasingly difficult when such
battles begin to eclipse other important needs. That is why the
It also explains why the propriety and productivity of a struc-
ture-creation process constitute a criterion for a good political
system.
Politicians should also be aware that in each society there
are people whose basic intelligence, natural psychological
world view, and moral reasoning have developed improperly.
Some of these persons contain the cause within themselves,
others were subjected to psychologically abnormal people as
children. Such individuals� comprehension of social and moral
questions is different, both from the natural and from the objec-
tive viewpoint; they constitute a destructive factor for the de-
velopment of society�s psychological concepts, social structure,
and internal bonds.
At the same time, such people easily interpenetrate the so-
cial structure with a ramified22 network of mutual pathological
conspiracies poorly connected to the main social structure.
These people and their networks participate in the genesis of
that evil which spares no nation. This substructure gives birth
to dreams of obtaining power and imposing one�s will upon
society, and is quite often actually brought about in various
countries, and during historical times as well. It is for this rea-
son that a significant portion of our consideration shall be de-
voted to an understanding of this age-old and dangerous source
of problems.
Some countries with a non-homogeneous population mani-
fest further factors which operate destructively upon the forma-
tion of social structure and the permanent developmental proc-
22 Showing one or more branches. In mathematics, ramification is a geomet-
ric term used for �branching out�. It is also used from the opposite perspec-
tive (branches coming together). [Editor�s note.]
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
79
esses of a society�s psychological world view. Primarily among
these are the racial, ethnic, and cultural differences existing in
virtually every conquest-engendered nation. Memories of for-
mer sufferings and contempt for the vanquished continue to
divide the population for centuries. It is possible to overcome
these difficulties if understanding and goodwill prevail
throughout several generations.
Differences in religious beliefs and the moral convictions
related thereto continue to cause problems, albeit less danger-
ous than the above,
tion of a social structure whose links are patriotic and supra-
religious has, after all, been demonstrated as possible.
All these difficulties become extremely destructive if a so-
cial or religious group, in keeping with its doctrine, demands
that its members be accorded positions which are in fact up-
ward-adjusted with relation to these people�s true talents.
A just social structure woven of individually adjusted per-
sons, i.e. creative and dynamic as a whole, can only take shape
if this process is subjected to its natural laws rather than some
conceptual doctrines. It benefits society as a whole for each
individual to be able to find his own way to self-realization
with assistance from a society which understands these laws,
individual interests and the common good.
One obstacle to the development of a society�s psychologi-
cal world view, the building of a healthy societal structure, and
the institution of proper forms for governing the nation, would
appear to be the enormous populations and vast distances of
giant countries. It is just precisely these nations which give rise
to the greatest ethnic and cultural variations. In a vast spreading
land containing hundreds of millions of people, individuals
lack the support of a familiar homeland and feel powerless to
exert an effect upon matters of high politics. The structure of
society becomes lost in wide-open spaces. What remains is
narrow, generally familial, links.
At the same time, governing such a country creates its own
unavoidable problems: giants suffer from what could be called
permanent macropathy (giant sickness), since the principal
authorities are far away from any individual or local matters.
80
SOME INDESPENSIBLE CONCEPTS
The main symptom is the proliferation of regulations required
for administration; they may appear proper in the capital but
are often meaningless in outlying districts or when applied to
individual matters. Officials are forced to follow regulations
blindly; the scope of using their human reason and differentiat-
ing real situations becomes very narrow indeed. Such behav-
ioral procedures have an impact upon the society, which also
starts to think regulations instead of practical and psychological
reality. The psychological world view, which constitutes the
basic factor in cultural development and activates social life,
thus becomes involuted.
It thus behooves us to ask: Is good government possible?
development are those countries whose populations number
between ten and twenty million, and where personal bonds
among citizens, and between citizens and their authorities, still
safeguard correct psychological differentiation and natural
relationships. Overly large countries should be divided into
smaller organisms enjoying considerable autonomy, especially
as regards cultural and economic matters; they could afford
their citizens a feeling of homeland within which their person-
alities could develop and mature.
If someone asked me what should be done to heal the
United States of America, a country which manifests symptoms
of macropathy,
nation into thirteen states--just like the original ones, except
correspondingly larger and with more natural boundaries. Such
states should then be given considerable autonomy. That would
afford citizens a feeling of homeland, albeit a smaller one, and
liberate the motivations of local patriotism and rivalry among
such states. This would, in turn, facilitate solutions to other
problems with a different origin.
~~~
Society is not an organism subordinating every cell to the
good of the whole; neither is it a colony of insects, where the
collective instinct acts like a dictator. However, it should also
avoid being a compendium of egocentric individuals linked
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
81
purely by economic interests and legal and formal organiza-
tions.
Any society is a socio-psychological structure woven of in-
dividuals whose psychological organization is the highest, and
thus the most variegated. A significant scope of man�s individ-
ual freedom derives from this state of affairs and subsists in an
extremely complicated relationship to his manifold psychologi-
cal dependencies and duties, with regard to this collective
whole.
Isolating an individual�s personal interest as if it were at war
with collective interests is pure speculation which radically
oversimplifies real conditions instead of tracking their complex
nature. Asking questions based on such schemes is logically
defective, since it contains erroneous suggestions.
In reality, many ostensibly contradictory interests, such as
individual vs. collective or those of various social groups and
substructures, could be reconciled if we could be guided by a
sufficiently penetrating understanding of the good of man and
society, and if we could overcome the operations of emotions
as well as some more or less primitive doctrines. Such recon-
ciliation, however, requires transferring the human and social
problems in question to a higher level of understanding and
acceptance of the natural laws of life. At this level, even the
most difficult problems turn out to have a solution, since they
invariably derive from the same insidious operations of psy-
chopathological phenomena. We shall deal with this question
toward the end of this book.
A colony of insects, no matter how well-organized socially,
is doomed to extinction whenever its collective instinct contin-
ues to operate according to the psychogenetic code, although
the biological meaning has disappeared. If, for instance, a
queen bee does not affect her nuptial flight in time because the
weather has been particularly bad, she begins laying unfertil-
ized eggs which will hatch nothing but drones. The bees con-
tinue to defend their queen, as required by their instinct; of
course, and when the worker bees die out the hive becomes
extinct.
At that point, only a �higher authority� in the shape of a
beekeeper can save such a hive. He must find and destroy the
82
SOME INDESPENSIBLE CONCEPTS
drone queen and insinuate a healthy fertilized queen into the
hive along with a few of her young workers. A net is required
for a few days to protect such a queen and her providers from
being stung by those bees loyal to the old queen. Then the hive
instinct accepts the new one. The apiarist generally suffers a
few painful stings in the process.
The following question derives from the above comparison:
Can the human hive inhabiting our globe achieve sufficient
comprehension of macrosocial pathological phenomenon
which is so dangerous, abhorrent, and fascinating at the same
time, before it is too late? At present, our individual and collec-
tive instincts and our natural psychological and moral world
view cannot furnish all the answers upon which to base skillful
counteractive measures.
Those fair-minded people who preach that all we have left
is to trust in the �Great Apiarist in the sky� and a return to His
commandments are glimpsing a general truth, but they also
tend to trivialize particular truths, especially the naturalistic
ones. It is the latter which constitute a basis for comprehending
phenomena and targeting practical action. The laws of nature
have made us very different from one another. Thanks to his
individual characteristics, exceptional life-circumstances, and
scientific effort, man may have achieved some mastery of the
art of objectively comprehending the phenomena of the above-
mentioned type, but we must underscore that this could only
occur because it was in accordance with the laws of nature.
If societies and their wise people are able to accept an ob-
jective understanding of social and sociopathological phenom-
ena, overcoming the emotionalism and egotism of the natural
world view for this purpose, they shall find a means of action
based on an understanding of the essence of the phenomena. It
will then become evident that a proper vaccine or treatment can
be found for each of the diseases scourging the earth in the
form of major or minor social epidemics.
Just as a sailor possessing an accurate nautical map enjoys
greater freedom of course-selection and maneuvering amid
islands and bays, a person endowed with a better comprehen-
sion of self, other people, and the complex interdependencies
of social life becomes more independent of the various circum-
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
83
stances of life and better able to overcome situations which are
difficult to understand. At the same time, such improved
knowledge makes an individual more liable to accept his duties
toward society and to subordinate himself to the discipline
which arises as a corollary. Better informed societies also
achieve internal order and criteria for collective efforts. This
book is dedicated to reinforcing this knowledge by means of a
naturalistic understanding of phenomena, something heretofore
comprehended only by means of excessively moralistic catego-
ries of the natural world view.
In a wider perspective, a constantly improving grasp of the
laws governing social life, and its atypical secluded recesses,
must lead us to reflect upon the failings and deficiencies of
those social doctrines expounded to date, which were based on
an extremely primitive understanding of these laws and phe-
nomena. The distance is not far between such considerations
and a better understanding of the operations of these dependen-
cies in former and existing social systems; the same applies to
substantive critiques thereof. A new idea is about to be born
based upon this ever-deepening comprehension of natural laws,
namely the building of a new social system for nations.
Such a system would be better than any of its predecessors.
Building it is possible and necessary, not just some vague fu-
turistic vision. After all, a whole series of countries is now
dominated by conditions which have destroyed the structural
forms worked out by history and replaced them with social
systems inimical to creative functioning, systems which can
only survive by means of force. We are thus confronted with a
great construction project demanding wide-ranging and well-
organized work. The earlier we undertake the job, the more
time we will have to carry it out.
CHAPTER III
THE HYSTEROIDAL CYCLE
Ever since human societies and civilizations have been cre-
ated on our globe, people have longed for happy times full of
tranquility and justice, which would have allowed everyone to
herd his sheep in peace, search for fertile valleys, plow the
earth, dig for treasures, or build houses and palaces. Man de-
sires peace so as to enjoy the benefits accumulated by earlier
generations and to proudly observe the growth of future ones
he has begotten. Sipping wine or mead in the meantime would
be nice. He would like to wander about, becoming familiar
with other lands and people, or enjoy the star-studded sky of
the south, the colors of nature, and the faces and costumes of
women. He would also like to give free rein to his imagination
and immortalize his name in works of art, whether sculptured
in marble or eternalized in myth and poetry.
From time immemorial, then, man has dreamed of a life in
which the measured effort of mind and muscle would be punc-
tuated by well-deserved rest. He would like to learn nature�s
laws so as to dominate her and take advantage of her gifts. Man
enlisted the natural power of animals in order to make his
dreams come true, and when this did not meet his needs, he
turned to his own kind for this purpose, in part depriving other
humans of their humanity simply because he was more power-
ful.
Dreams of a happy and peaceful life thus gave rise to force
over others, a force which depraves the mind of its user. That is
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
85
why man�s dreams of happiness have not come true throughout
history. This hedonistic view of �happiness� contains the seeds
of misery and feed the eternal cycle whereby good times give
birth to bad times, which in turn cause the suffering and mental
effort which produce experience, good sense, moderation, and
a certain amount of psychological knowledge, all virtues which
serve to rebuild more felicitous conditions of existence.
During good times, people progressively lose sight of the
need for profound reflection, introspection, knowledge of oth-
ers, and an understanding of life�s complicated laws. Is it worth
pondering the properties of human nature and man�s flawed
personality, whether one�s own or someone else�s? Can we
understand the creative meaning of suffering we have not un-
dergone ourselves, instead of taking the easy way out and
blaming the victim? Any excess mental effort seems like point-
less labor if life�s joys appear to be available for the taking. A
clever, liberal, and merry individual is a good sport; a more
farsighted person predicting dire results becomes a wet-blanket
killjoy.
Perception of the truth about the real environment, espe-
cially an understanding of the human personality and its values,
ceases to be a virtue during the so-called �happy� times;
thoughtful doubters are decried as meddlers who cannot leave
well enough alone. This, in turn, leads to an impoverishment of
psychological knowledge, the capacity of differentiating the
properties of human nature and personality, and the ability to
mold minds creatively. The cult of power thus supplants those
mental values so essential for maintaining law and order by
peaceful means. A nation�s enrichment or involution regarding
its psychological world view could be considered an indicator
of whether its future will be good or bad.
During �good� times, the search for truth becomes uncom-
fortable because it reveals inconvenient facts. It is better to
think about easier and more pleasant things. Unconscious
elimination of data which are, or appear to be, inexpedient
gradually turns into habit, and then becomes a custom accepted
by society at large. The problem is that any thought process
based on such truncated information cannot possibly give rise
to correct conclusions; it further leads to subconscious substitu-
86
THE HYSTEROIDAL CYCLE
tion of inconvenient premises by more convenient ones,
thereby approaching the boundaries of psychopathology.
Such contented periods for one group of people - often
rooted in some injustice to other people or nations - start to
strangle the capacity for individual and societal consciousness;
subconscious factors take over a decisive role in life. Such a
society, already infected by the hysteroidal23 state, considers
any perception of uncomfortable truth to be a sign of �ill-
breeding�. J. G. Herder�s24 iceberg is drowned in a sea of falsi-
fied unconsciousness; only the tip of the iceberg is visible
above the waves of life. Catastrophe waits in the wings. In such
times, the capacity for logical and disciplined thought, born of
necessity during difficult times, begins to fade. When commu-
nities lose the capacity for psychological reason and moral
criticism, the processes of the generation of evil are intensified
at every social scale, whether individual or macrosocial, until
everything reverts to �bad� times.
We already know that every society contains a certain per-
centage of people carrying psychological deviations caused by
various inherited or acquired factors which produce anomalies
in perception, thought, and character. Many such people at-
tempt to impart meaning to their deviant lives by means of
social hyperactivity. They create their own myths and ideolo-
gies of overcompensation and have the tendency to egotisti-
cally insinuate to others that their own deviant perceptions and
the resulting goals and ideas are superior.
When a few generations� worth of �good-time� insouciance
results in societal deficit regarding psychological skill and
moral criticism, this paves the way for pathological plotters,
23 Hysteria is a diagnostic label applied to a state of mind, one of unmanage-
able fear or emotional excesses. Here it is being used to describe �fear of
truth� or fear of thinking about unpleasant things so as to not �rock the boat�
of current contentment. [Editor�s note.]
24 Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803), a theologian by training and profes-
sion, greatly influenced German letters with his literary criticism and his
philosophy of history. Along with W. Goethe and Schiller, he made Weimar
the seat of German neohumanism. His analogy of national cultures as organic
beings had an enormous impact on modern historical consciousness. Nations,
he argued, possessed not only the phases of youth, maturity, and decline but
also singular, incomparable worth. His mixture of anthropology and history
was characteristic of the age. [Editor�s note.]
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
87
snake-charmers, and even more primitive impostors to act and
merge into the processes of the origination of evil. They are
essential factors in its synthesis. In the next chapter I shall at-
tempt to persuade my readers that the participation of patho-
logical factors, so underrated by the social sciences, is a com-
mon phenomenon in the processes of the origin of evil.
Those times which many people later recall as the �good old
days� thus provide fertile soil for future tragedy because of the
progressive devolution of moral, intellectual, and personality
values which give rise to Rasputin-like eras.
The above is a sketch of the causative understanding of real-
ity which in no way contradicts a teleological25 perception of
the sense of causality. Bad times are not merely the result of
hedonistic regression to the past; they have a historical purpose
to fulfill.
Suffering, effort, and mental activity during times of immi-
nent bitterness lead to a progressive, generally heightened,
regeneration of lost values, which results in human progress.
Unfortunately, we still lack a sufficiently exhaustive philoso-
phical grasp of this interdependence of causality and teleology
regarding occurrences. It seems that prophets were more clear-
sighted, in the light of the laws of creation, than philosophers
such as E. S. Russell26, R. B. Braithwaite27, G. Sommerhoff28,
and others who pondered this question.
25
ple, or finality in the works and processes of nature, and the philosophical
study of that purpose. [Editor�s note.]
26 Russell, E.S. 1916.
27 Braithwaite, R.B. (1900-1990): British philosopher best known for his
theories in the philosophy of science and in moral and religious philosophy.
Braithwaite�s work in the philosophy of the physical sciences was important
for his theories on the nature of scientific inductive reasoning and the use of
models, as well as on the use of probabilistic laws. He also applied his scien-
tific background to his studies of moral and religious philosophy, particularly
in the application of mathematical game theory. In his book
which game theory could be used to arrive at moral choices and ethical deci-
sions. His classic work was
[Editor's note.]
28 G. Sommerhoff,
88
THE HYSTEROIDAL CYCLE
When bad times arrive and people are overwhelmed by an
excess of evil, they must gather all their physical and mental
strength to fight for existence and protect human reason. The
search for some way out of the difficulties and dangers rekin-
dles long-buried powers of discretion. Such people have the
initial tendency to rely on force in order to counteract the
threat; they may, for instance, become �trigger-happy� or de-
pendent upon armies.
Slowly and laboriously, however, they discover the advan-
tages conferred by mental effort; improved understanding of
the psychological situation in particular, better differentiation
of human characters and personalities, and, finally, comprehen-
sion of one�s adversaries. During such times, virtues which
former generations relegated to literary motifs regain their real
and useful substance and become prized for their value. A wise
person capable of furnishing sound advice is highly respected.
How astonishingly similar were the philosophies of Socra-
tes and Confucius, those half-legendary thinkers who, albeit
near-contemporaries, resided at opposite ends of the great con-
tinent. Both lived during evil, bloody times and adumbrated a
method for conquering evil, especially regarding perception of
the laws of life and knowledge of human nature. They searched
for criteria of moral values within human nature and considered
knowledge and understanding to be virtues. Both men, how-
ever, heard the same wordless internal Voice warning those
embarking upon important moral questions: �Socrates, do not
do this�. That is why their efforts and sacrifices constitute per-
manent assistance in the battle against evil.
Difficult and laborious times give rise to values which fi-
nally conquer evil and produce better times. The succinct and
accurate analysis of phenomena, made possible thanks to the
conquest of the expendable emotions and egotism characteriz-
ing self-satisfied people, opens the door to causative behavior,
particularly in the areas of philosophical, psychological, and
moral reflection; this tips the scale to the advantage of good-
ness. If these values were totally incorporated into human-
kind�s cultural heritage, they could sufficiently protect nations
from the next era of errors and distortions. However, the col-
lective memory is impermanent and particularly liable to re-
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
89
move a philosopher and his work from his context, namely his
time and place and the goals which he served.
Whenever an experienced person finds a moment of relative
peace after a difficult and painful effort, his mind is free to
reflect unencumbered by the expendable emotions and outdated
attitudes of the past, but aided by the cognizance of bygone
years. He thus comes closer to an objective understanding of
phenomena and a view of actual causative links, including such
links which cannot be understood within the framework of
natural language. He thus meditates upon an ever-expanding
circle of general laws while contemplating the meaning of
those former occurrences which separated the periods of his-
tory. We reach for ancient precepts because we understand
them better; they make it easier for us to understand both the
genesis and the creative meaning of unhappy times.
The cycle of happy, peaceful times favors a narrowing of
the world view and an increase in egotism; societies become
subject to progressive hysteria and to that final stage, descrip-
tively known to historians, which finally produces times of
despondency and confusion, that have lasted for millennia and
continue to do so. The recession of mind and personality which
is a feature of ostensibly happy times varies from one nation to
another; thus some countries manage to survive the results of
such crises with minor losses, whereas others lose nations and
empires. Geopolitical factors have also played a decisive role.
The psychological features of such crises doubtless bear the
stamp of the time and of the civilization in question, but one
common denominator must have been an exacerbation of soci-
ety�s hysterical condition. This deviation or, better yet, forma-
tive deficiency of character, is a perennial sickness of societies,
especially the privileged elites. The existence of exaggerated
individual cases, especially such characterized as clinical, is an
offshoot of the level of social hysteria, quite frequently corre-
lated with some additional causes such as carriers of minor
lesions of brain tissue. Quantitatively and qualitatively, these
individuals may serve to reveal and evaluate such times, as
indicated in history�s
29 Axel Munthe, (1857-1949) physician, psychiatrist, and writer, was born in
Oskarshamn, Sweden. He was educated at the University of Uppsala and at
90
THE HYSTEROIDAL CYCLE
tive of historical time, it would be harder to examine the re-
gression of the ability and correctness of reasoning or the in-
tensity of �Austrian talk�, although these approximate the crux
of the matter better and more directly.
In spite of above-mentioned qualitative differences, the du-
ration of these time-cycles tends to be similar. If we assume
that the extreme of European hysteria occurred around 1900
and returns not quite every two centuries, we find similar con-
ditions. Such cyclical isochronicity may embrace a civilization
and cross into neighboring countries, but it would not swim
oceans or penetrate into faraway and far different civilizations.
When the First World War broke out, young officers danced
and sang on the streets of Vienna: �
1978, I decided to drop in on the local parson, who was in his
seventies by then. When I told him about myself, I suddenly
realized he thought I was lying and inventing pretty stories. He
subjected my statements to psychological analysis, based on
this unassailable assumption and attempted to convince me that
his morals were lofty. When I complained to a friend of mine
about this, he was amused: �As a psychologist, you were ex-
tremely lucky to catch the survival of authentic Austrian talk
(
ble of demonstrating it to you even if we wanted to simulate
it.�
In the European languages, �Austrian talk� has become the
common descriptive term for paralogistic30 discourse. Many
people using this term nowadays are unaware of its origin.
Within the context of maximum hysterical intensity in Europe
Montpellier in Paris where he received his M.D. He studied the work of the
French neurologist Jean Martin Charcot and used hypnosis in his own work
with the physical and psychological symptoms of his patients. He later be-
came physician to the Swedish Royal family. He became known as �the
modern St. Francis of Assissi� because he financed sanctuaries for birds. As a
writer Munthe recounted his own experiences as a physician and psychiatrist.
He is most famous for the autobiographical work
which was published in 1929. [Editor�s note.]
30
paralogize, v.i. be illogical; draw unwarranted conclusions. paralogist, n.
[Editor�s note.]
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
91
at the time, the authentic article represented a typical product of
conversive thinking: subconscious selection and substitution of
data leading to chronic avoidance of the crux of the matter. In
the same manner, the reflex assumption that every speaker is
lying is an indication of the hysterical anti-culture of mendac-
ity, within which telling the truth becomes �immoral�.
That era of hysterical regression gave birth to the great war
and the great revolution which extended into Fascism, Hitler-
ism, and the tragedy of the Second World War. It also pro-
duced the macrosocial phenomenon whose deviant character
became superimposed upon this cycle, screening and destroy-
ing its nature. Contemporary Europe is heading for the opposite
extreme of this historical sine curve. We could thus assume that
the beginning of the next century will produce an era of opti-
mal capability and correctness of reason, thus leading to many
new values in all realms of human discovery and creativity. We
can also foresee that realistic psychological understanding and
spiritual enrichment will be features of this era.
At the same time, America, especially the U.S.A., has
reached a nadir for the first time in its short history. Grey-
haired Europeans living in the U.S. today are struck by the
similarity between these phenomena and the ones dominating
Europe at the times of their youth. The emotionalism dominat-
ing individual, collective and political life, as well as the sub-
conscious selection and substitution of data in reasoning, are
impoverishing the development of a psychological world view
and leading to individual and national egotism. The mania for
taking offense at the drop of a hat provokes constant retaliation,
taking advantage of hyper-irritability and hypo-criticality on
the part of others.31 This can be considered analogous to the
European dueling mania of those times. People fortunate
enough to achieve a position higher than someone else are con-
temptuous of their supposed inferiors in a way highly reminis-
cent of czarist Russian customs. Turn-of-the-century Freudian
psychology finds fertile soil in this country because of the simi-
larity in social and psychological conditions.
America�s psychological recession drags in its wake an im-
paired socio-professional adaptation of this country�s people,
31 The litigious nature of Americans is known the world over. [Editor�s note.]
92
THE HYSTEROIDAL CYCLE
leading to a waste of human talent and an involution of societal
structure. If we were to calculate this country�s adaptation cor-
relation index, as suggested in the prior chapter, it would
probably be lower than the great majority of the free and civi-
lized nations of this world, and possibly lower than some coun-
tries which have lost their freedom.
A highly talented individual in the USA finds it ever more
difficult to fight his way through to self-realization and a so-
cially creative position. Universities, politics, and businesses
ever more frequently demonstrate a united front of relatively
untalented persons and even incompetent persons. The word
�overeducated� is heard more and more often. Such �overquali-
fied� individuals finally hide out in some foundation laboratory
where they are allowed to earn the Nobel prize as long as they
don�t do anything really useful. In the meantime, the country as
whole suffers due to a deficit in the inspirational role of highly
gifted individuals.
As a result, America is stifling progress in all areas of life,
from culture to technology and economics, not excluding po-
litical incompetence. When linked to other deficiencies, an
egotist�s incapability of understanding other people and nations
leads to political error and the scapegoating of outsiders.
Slamming the brakes on the evolution of political structures
and social institutions increases both administrative inertia and
discontent on the part of its victims.
We should realize that the most dramatic social difficulties
and tensions occur at least ten years after the first observable
indications of having emerged from a psychological crisis.
Being a sequel, they also constitute a delayed reaction to the
cause or are stimulated by the same psychological activation
process. The time span for effective countermeasures is thus
rather limited.
Is Europe entitled to look down on America for suffering
from the same sickness the former has succumbed to several
times in the past? Is America�s feeling of superiority toward
Europe derived from these past events and their inhuman and
tragic results? If so, is this attitude anything more than a harm-
fless anachronism? It would be most useful if the European
nations took advantage of their historical experience and more
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
93
modern psychological knowledge so as to help America most
effectively.
East Central Europe, now under Soviet domination,32 is part
of the European cycle, albeit somewhat delayed; the same ap-
plies to the Soviet empire, especially to the European portion.
There, however, tracking these changes and isolating them
from more dramatic phenomena eludes the possibilities of ob-
servation, even if it is only a matter of methodology. Even
there, however, there is progressive growth in the grass-roots
resistance of the regenerative power of healthy common sense.
Year by year, the dominant system feels weaker vis-a-vis these
organic transformations. May we add to this a phenomenon the
West finds totally incomprehensible, and which shall be dis-
cussed in greater detail: namely, the growing specific, practical
knowledge about the governing reality within countries whose
regimes are similar. This facilitates individual resistance and a
reconstruction of social links. Such processes shall, in the final
analysis, produce a watershed situation, although it will proba-
bly not be a bloody counter-revolution.
The question suggests itself: Will the time ever come when
this eternal cycle rendering the nations almost helpless can be
conquered? Can countries permanently maintain their creative
and critical activities at a consistently high level? Our era con-
tains many exceptional moments; our contemporary Macbeth
witches� cauldron holds not only poisonous ingredients, but
also progress and understanding such as humanity has not seen
in millennia.
Upbeat economists point out that humanity has gained a
powerful slave in the form of electric energy and that war, con-
quest, and subjugation of other countries is becoming increas-
ingly unprofitable in the long run. Unfortunately, as we shall
see later in this work, nations can be pushed into economically
irrational desires and actions by other motives whose character
is meta-economic. That is why overcoming these other causes
and phenomena which give rise to evil is a difficult, albeit at
least theoretically attainable, task. However, in order to master
it, we must understand the nature and dynamics of said phe-
32 At the time of writing, 1984.
94
THE HYSTEROIDAL CYCLE
nomena: an old principle of medicine that I will repeat again
and again is: �
One accomplishment of modern science, contributing to the
destruction of these eternal cycles, is the development of com-
munication systems which have linked our globe into one huge
�village�. The time cycles sketched herein used to run their
course almost independently in various civilizations at different
geographical locations. Their phases neither were, nor are,
synchronized. We can assume that the American phase lags 80
years behind the European. When the world becomes an inter-
related structure from the viewpoint of communicating both
information and news, different social contents and opinions
caused by unlike phases of said cycles,
all boundaries and information security systems. This will give
rise to pressures which can change the causative dependencies
herein. A more plastic psychological situation thus emerges,
which increases the possibilities for pinpointed action based on
an understanding of the phenomena.
At the same time, in spite of many difficulties of a scien-
tific, social and political nature, we see the development of a
new community of factors which may eventually contribute to
the liberation of mankind from the effects of uncomprehended
historical causation. The development of science, whose final
goal is a better understanding of man and the laws of social
life, could, in the long run, cause public opinion to accept the
essential knowledge about human nature and the development
of the human personality, which will enable the harmful proc-
esses to be controlled. Some forms of international cooperation
and supervision will be needed for this.
The development of human personality and its capacity for
proper thinking and accurate comprehension of reality entails a
certain amount of risk and demands overcoming comfortable
laziness and applying the efforts of special scientific work un-
der conditions quite different from those under which we have
been raised.
Under such conditions, an egotistic personality, accustomed
to a comfortably narrow environment, superficial thinking, and
uncontrolled emotionalism, will experience very favorable
changes, which cannot be induced by anything else. Specially
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
95
altered conditions will cause such a personality to begin disin-
tegrating, thus giving rise to intellectual and cognitive efforts
and moral reflection.
One example of such a program of experience is the Ameri-
can Peace Corps. Young people travel to many poor develop-
ing countries in order to live and work there, often under primi-
tive conditions. They learn to understand other nations and
customs, and their egotism decreases. Their world view devel-
ops and becomes more realistic. They thus lose the characteris-
tic defects of the modern American character.
In order to overcome something whose origin is shrouded in
the mists of time immemorial, we often feel we must battle the
ever-turning windmills of history. However, the end goal of
such effort is the possibility that an objective understanding of
human nature and its eternal weaknesses, plus the resulting
transformation of societal psychology, may enable us effec-
tively to counteract or prevent the destructive and tragic results
sometime in the not too distant future.
Our times are exceptional, and suffering now gives rise to
better comprehension than it did centuries ago. This under-
standing and knowledge fit better into the total picture, since
they are based on objective data. Such a view therefore be-
comes realistic, and people and problems mature in action.
Such action should not be limited to theoretical contemplations,
but rather, acquire organization and form.
In order to facilitate this, let us consider the selected ques-
tions and the draft of a new scientific discipline which would
study evil, discovering its factors of genesis, insufficiently
understood properties, and weak spots, thereby outlining new
possibilities to counteract the origin of human suffering.
CHAPTER V
PATHOCRACY
The Genesis of the Phenomenon
The time-cycle sketched in Chapter III was referred to as
hysteroidal because the intensification or diminution of a soci-
ety�s hysterical condition can be considered its chief measure-
ment. It does not, of course, constitute the only quality subject
to change within the framework of certain periodicity. The
present chapter shall deal with the phenomenon which can
emerge from the phase of maximal intensification of hysteria.
Such a sequence does not appear to result from any relatively
constant laws of history; quite the contrary, some additional
circumstances and factors must participate in such a period of a
society�s general spiritual crisis and cause its reason and social
structure to degenerate in such a way as to bring about the
spontaneous generation of this worst disease of society. Let us
call this societal disease phenomenon �pathocracy�; this is not
the first time it has emerged during the history of our planet.
It appears that this phenomenon, whose causes also appear
to be potentially present in every society, has its own character-
istic process of genesis, only partially conditioned by, and hid-
den within, the maximal hysterical intensity of the above-
described cycle. As a result, unhappy times become exception-
ally cruel and enduring and their causes impossible to under-
stand within the categories of natural human concepts. Let us
therefore bring this process of the origin of pathocracy closer,
184
PATHOCRACY
methodically isolating it from other phenomena we can recog-
nize as being conditional or even accompanying it.
A psychologically normal, highly intelligent person called
to high office normally experiences doubts as to whether he
can meet the demands expected of him and seeks the assistance
of others whose opinions he values. At the same time, he feels
nostalgia for his old life, freer and less burdensome, to which
he would like to return after fulfilling his social obligations.
Every society worldwide contains individuals whose dreams
of power arise very early as we have already discussed. They
are generally discriminated against in some way by society,
which uses a moralizing interpretation with regard to their fail-
ings and difficulties, although these individuals are rarely
guilty of them in the precise terms of morality. They would like
to change this unfriendly world into something else. Dreams of
power also represent overcompensation for the feeling of hu-
miliation, the second angle in Adler�s rhombus.89 A significant
and active proportion of this group is composed of individuals
with various deviations who imagine this better world in their
own way, of which we are already familiar.
In the prior chapter, the readers have become acquainted
with examples of these deviations selected in such a way as to
permit us now to present the ponerogenesis of pathocracy and
to introduce the essential factors of this historical phenomenon
which is so difficult to understand. It has certainly appeared
many times in history, in various countries and in various so-
cial scales. However, no one has ever managed to identify it
objectively because it would
acteristic of the respective culture and era, developing in the
89 Austrian psychiatrist who rejected Sigmund Freud�s emphasis on sexuality
and theorized that neurotic behavior is an overcompensation for feelings of
inferiority. He argued that human personality could be explained teleologi-
cally, separate strands dominated by the guiding purpose of the individual�s
unconscious self ideal to convert feelings of inferiority to superiority (or
rather completeness). The desires of the self ideal were countered by social
and ethical demands. If the corrective factors were disregarded and the indi-
vidual over-compensated, then an inferiority complex would occur, the indi-
vidual becoming egocentric, power-hungry and aggressive or worse. Adler
believed that personality can be distinguished into the getting, avoiding,
ruling and socially useful types, i.e. the �rhombus�. [Editor�s note.]
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
185
very bosom of different social movements. Identification was
so difficult because the indispensable naturalistic knowledge
needed for proper classification of phenomena in this area did
not develop until our contemporary times. Thus, historians and
sociologists discern many similarities, but they possess no
identifying criteria because the latter belongs to another scien-
tific discipline.
Who plays the first crucial role in this process of the origin
of pathocracy, schizoids or characteropaths? It appears to be
the former; therefore, let us delineate their role first.
During stable times which are ostensibly happy, albeit de-
pendent upon injustice to other individuals and nations, doctri-
naire90 people believe they have found a simple solution to fix
the world. Such a historical period is always characterized by
an impoverished psychological world view, so that a schizoi-
dally impoverished psychological world view does not stand
out as odd during such times and is accepted as legal tender.
These doctrinaire individuals characteristically manifest a cer-
tain contempt with regard to moralists then preaching the need
to rediscover lost human values and to develop a richer, more
appropriate psychological world view.
Schizoid characters aim to impose their own conceptual
world upon other people or social groups, using relatively con-
trolled pathological egotism and the exceptional tenacity de-
rived from their persistent nature. They are thus eventually able
to overpower another individual�s personality, which causes
the latter�s behavior to turn desperately illogical. They may
also exert a similar influence upon the group of people they
have joined. They are
feel better in some human organization, wherein they become
zealots for some ideology, religious bigots, materialists, or
adherents of an ideology with satanic features. If their activities
consist of direct contact on a small social scale, their acquain-
tances generally just consider them to be eccentric, which lim-
its their ponerogenic role. However, if they manage to hide
their own personality behind the written word, their influence
90
theory without regard for practicality or suitability. [Editor�s note.]
186
PATHOCRACY
may poison the minds of society on a wide scale and for a long
time.
The conviction that Karl Marx is the best example of this is
correct as he was the best-known figure of that kind. Frostig91,
a psychiatrist of the old school, included Engels and others into
a category he called �bearded schizoidal fanatics�. The famous
writings attributed to �Zionist Wise Men� at the turn of the
century begin with a typically schizoidal declaration.92 The
nineteenth century, especially its latter half, appears to have
been a time of exceptional activity on the part of schizoidal
individuals, often but not always of Jewish descent. After all
we have to remember that 97 % of all Jews do not manifest this
anomaly, and that
albeit to a markedly lesser extent. Our inheritance from this
period includes world-images, scientific traditions, and legal
concepts flavored with the shoddy ingredients of a schizoidal
apprehension of reality.
Humanists are prepared to understand that era and its legacy
within categories characterized by their own traditions. They
search for societal, ideational, and moral causes for known
phenomena. Such an explanation, however, can never consti-
tute the whole truth, since it
which participated in the genesis of the phenomena. Schizoidia
is the most frequent factor, albeit not the only one.
In spite of the fact that the writings of schizoidal authors
contain the above described deficiency, or even an openly for-
mulated schizoidal declaration which constitutes sufficient
91 Peter Jacob Frostig, 1896-1959. Professor of King John Kasimir University
in Lwow, (now Ukraine). I used his manual
under pathocratic rule and his works were removed from public libraries as
�ideologically improper�.
92 The �Protocols of the Elders of Zion� is now well known to have been a
hoaxed attribution to Jews. However, the contents of the Protocols are clearly
not �hoaxed ideas� since a reasonable assessment of the events in the United
States over the past 50 years or so gives ample evidence of the application of
these Protocols in order to bring about the current Neocon administration.
Anyone who wishes to understand what has happened in the U.S. only needs
to read the Protocols to understand that some group of deviant individuals
took them to heart. The document, �Project For A New American Century�,
produced by the Neoconservatives reads as if it had been inspired by the
Protocols. [Editor�s note.]
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
187
warning to specialists, the average reader accepts them not as a
view of reality warped by this anomaly, but rather as an idea to
which he should consider seriously based on his convictions
and his reason. That is the first mistake.
The oversimplified pattern of ideas, devoid of psychological
color and based on easily available data, tends to exert an in-
tense attracting influence on individuals who are insufficiently
critical, frequently frustrated as result of downward social ad-
justment, culturally neglected, or characterized by some psy-
chological deficiencies of their own. Such writings are particu-
larly attractive to a hystericized society. Others who may read
such writings will be immediately provoked to criticism based
on their healthy common sense, though they also they fail to
grasp the essential cause of the error: that it emerges from a
biologically deviant mind.
Societal interpretation of such writings and doctrinaire dec-
larations breaks down into main trifurcations, engendering
divisiveness and conflict. The first branch is the path of aver-
sion, based on rejection of the contents of the work due to per-
sonal motivations, differing convictions, or moral revulsion.
These reactions contain the component of a moralistic interpre-
tation of pathological phenomena.
The second and third branches relate to two distinctly dif-
ferent apperception types among those persons who
contents of such works: the
The
feel for psychological reality is normal and they tend to incor-
porate the more valuable elements of the work. They then
trivialize the obvious errors and fill in the missing elements of
the schizoid deficiencies by means of their own richer world
view. This gives rise to a more sensible, measured, and thus
creative interpretation, but is cannot be completely free from
the influence of the error frequently adduced above.
psychological deficiencies of their own: diversiform deviations,
whether inherited or acquired, as well as by many people bear-
ing personality malformations or who have been injured by
social injustice. That explains why this scope is wider than the
188
PATHOCRACY
circle drawn by direct action of pathological factors. Pathologi-
cal acceptance of schizoidal writings or declarations by other
deviants often brutalizes the authors� concepts and promotes
ideas of force and revolutionary means.
The passage of time and bitter experience has unfortunately
not prevented this characteristic misunderstanding born of
schizoid nineteenth-century creativity, with Marx�s works at
the fore, from affecting people and depriving them of their
common sense.
If only for purposes of the above-mentioned psychological
experiment, it is good practice for developing awareness of this
pathological factor by searching the works of K. Marx for sev-
eral statements with these characteristic deficits. When such a
study is conducted by several people with varied world views,
the experiment will show how a clear picture of reality can be
restored, and it becomes easier to find a common language.
Schizoidia has thus played an essential role as one of the
factors in the genesis of the evil threatening our contemporary
world. Practicing psychotherapy upon the world will therefore
demand that the results of such evil be eliminated as skillfully
as possible.
The first researchers � the author and his colleagues - at-
tracted by the idea of objectively understanding this phenome-
non initially failed to perceive the role of
attempted to reconstruct the early phase of said genesis, we had
to acknowledge that characteropaths played a significant role in
this process.
We already know from the preceding chapter how their de-
fective experiential and thought patterns take hold in human
minds, insidiously destroying their way of reasoning and their
ability to utilize their healthy common sense. This role has also
proved essential because their activities as
pathic individuals and the view of the world they want to im-
pose.
In the ponerogenic process of the pathocratic phenomenon,
characteropathic individuals adopt ideologies created by doc-
trinaire, often schizoidal people, recast them into an active
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
189
propaganda form, and disseminate it with their characteristic
pathological egotism and paranoid intolerance for any philoso-
phies which may differ from their own. They also inspire fur-
ther transformation of this ideology into its
lated in numerically limited groups is now activated at societal
level, thanks to their spellbinding abilities.
It also appears that this process tends to intensify with time;
initial activities are undertaken by persons with milder charac-
teropathic features, who are easily able to hide their aberrations
from others. Paranoid individuals then become principally ac-
tive. Toward the end of the process, an individual with
can easily take over leadership.
As long as the characteropathic individuals play a dominant
role within a social movement affected by the ponerogenic
process, the ideology, whether doctrinaire from the outset or
later vulgarized and further perverted by these latter people,
continues to keep and maintain its content link with the original
prototype. The ideology continuously affects the movement�s
activities and remains an essential justifying motivation for
many. In this phase, therefore, such a union does not move in
the direction of criminal acts on a mass scale. To a certain ex-
tent, at this stage, one can still define such a movement or un-
ion by the name of its original ideology.
In the meantime, however, the carriers of other (mainly he-
reditary) pathological factors become engaged in this already
sick social movement and proceed with the work of final trans-
formation of the contents � both ideological and human - of
such a union in such a way that it becomes a pathological cari-
cature of its original ideology. This is effected under the ever-
growing influence of
types, with particular emphasis on the inspiration role of essen-
tial psychopathy.
Such a situation eventually engenders a wholesale show-
down: the adherents of the original ideology are shunted aside
or terminated. (This group includes many characteropaths,
especially of the lesser and paranoidal varieties.) The ideologi-
cal motivations and the double talk they created then are util-
190
PATHOCRACY
ized to hide the actual new contents of the phenomenon. From
this time on, using the ideological name of the movement in
order to understand its essence becomes a keystone of mis-
takes.
Psychopathic individuals generally stay away from social
organizations characterized by reason and ethical discipline.
After all, such organizations are created by that other world of
normal people so foreign to them. They hold various social
ideologies in contempt, while, at the same time, easily discern-
ing all their actual failings. However, once the process of pon-
eric transformation of some human union into its yet undefined
cartoon counterpart has begun and advanced sufficiently, they
perceive this fact with almost infallible sensitivity: a circle has
been created wherein they can hide their failings and psycho-
logical differentness, find their own
even realize their youthful Utopian dream of a world where
they are in power and all those other, �normal people�, are
forced into servitude. They then begin infiltrating the rank and
file of such a movement; pretending to be sincere adherents
poses no difficulty for the psychopath, since it is second nature
for them to play a role and hide behind the mask of normal
people.
The psychopaths� interest in such movements is not an ex-
clusive result of their egoism and lack of moral scruples. These
people have in fact been hurt by nature and society.93 An ideol-
93 It is important to note here that it is not meant that the psychopath has been
�emotionally� hurt, or that such �hurt� has contributed to their state of being.
Rather, as the author explained to me in private correspondence: �For them
you are their worst enemy. You are hurting them very painfully. For a psy-
chopath, revealing his real condition, tearing down his Cleckley mask, brings
the end of his self-admiration. You are threatening them with destruction of
their secret world, and bring to null their dreams of ruling and introducing [a
social system where they can rule and be served]. When his real condition is
publicly revealed, a psychopath feels like a wounded animal.
�You are partly right in finding some similarity of the essential psychopath
with the thought [processes] of a crocodile. They are somewhat mechanical.
But, are they guilty that they have inherited an abnormal gene, and that their
instinctive substratum is different from that of the majority of the human
population? Such a person is not able to feel like a normal person, or to un-
derstand a person bearing a normal instinctive endowment. [It is important]
to try to understand the psychopath, and have some pity for them [as you
would have pity for a crocodile and its right to exist in nature]. Limiting the
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
191
ogy liberating a social class or a nation from injustice may thus
seem to them to be friendly; unfortunately it also gives rise to
unrealistic hopes that they themselves will be liberated as well.
The pathological motivations which appeared in a union at the
time it begins to be affected by the ponerogenic process strikes
them as familiar and hope-inspiring. They therefore insinuate
themselves into such a movement preaching revolution and war
against that unfair world so foreign to them.
They initially perform subordinate functions in such a
movement and execute the leaders� orders, especially whenever
something needs to be done which inspires revulsion in oth-
ers.94 Their evident zealotry and cynicism gives rise to criticism
role of psychopaths in ponerogenesis, particularly in the case of the tragedies
they cause women, thus reducing their numbers, is the real aim.
�Take as well in your consideration that in the whole pool of pathological
factors taking part in ponrogenezis all kinds of psychopathies make up some-
thing less than half. The other pathologic conditions, usually not hereditary,
make up more than other half. Stalin was not a psychopath. He was a case of
frontal characteropathy due to the damage of frontal centers (10A&B) caused
be a disease he suffered as a newborn. This produces dramaticaly dangerous
characters.� [Editor�s note.]
94 Here, we cannot help but think of Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, and Donald
Rumsfeld, prot�g�s of the neocon philosopher, Leo Strauss. Strauss evi-
dences typical schizoidal doctrinaire characteristics.
�Like Plato, Strauss believed that the supreme political ideal is the rule of the
wise. But the rule of the wise is unattainable in the real world. Now, accord-
ing to the conventional wisdom, Plato realised this, and settled for the rule of
law. But Strauss did not endorse this solution entirely. Nor did he think that it
was Plato's real solution - Strauss pointed to the �nocturnal council� in Plato's
Laws to illustrate his point.
�The real Platonic solution as understood by Strauss is the covert rule of the
wise. This covert rule is facilitated by the overwhelming stupidity of the
gentlemen. The more gullible and unperceptive they are, the easier it is for
the wise to control and manipulate them. [...]
�For Strauss, the rule of the wise is not about classic conservative values like
order, stability, justice, or respect for authority. The rule of the wise is in-
tended as an antidote to modernity. Modernity is the age in which the vulgar
many have triumphed. It is the age in which they have come closest to having
exactly what their hearts desire - wealth, pleasure, and endless entertainment.
But in getting just what they desire, they have unwittingly been reduced to
beasts.
�Nowhere is this state of affairs more advanced than in America. And the
global reach of American culture threatens to trivialise life and turn it into
entertainment. This was [a] terrifying [...] spectre for Strauss. [�]
192
PATHOCRACY
on the part of the union�s more reasonable members, but it also
earns the respect of some its more extreme revolutionaries.
They thus find protection among those people who earlier
played a role in the movement�s ponerization, and repay the
favor with compliments or by making things easier for them.
Thus they climb up the organizational ladder, gain influence,
and almost involuntarily bend the contents of the entire group
to their own way of experiencing reality and to the goals de-
rived from their deviant nature. A mysterious disease is already
raging inside the union. The adherents of the original ideology
feel ever more constricted by powers they do not understand;
they start fighting with demons and making mistakes.
If such a movement triumphs by revolutionary means and in
the name of freedom, the welfare of the people, and social jus-
tice, this only brings about further transformation of a govern-
mental system thus created into a macrosocial pathological
phenomenon. Within this system, the common man is blamed
for
for nothing except hard work, fighting and dying to protect a
system of government he can neither sufficiently comprehend
nor ever consider to be his own.
An ever-strengthening network of psychopathic and related
individuals gradually starts to dominate, overshadowing the
others. Characteropathic individuals who played an essential
�[Strauss was] convinced that liberal economics would turn life into enter-
tainment and destroy politics.[...] [Strauss] thought that man's humanity
depended on his willingness to rush naked into battle and headlong to his
death. Only perpetual war can overturn the modern project, with its emphasis
on self-preservation and �creature comforts.� Life can be politicised once
more, and man�s humanity can be restored.
�This terrifying vision fits perfectly well with the desire for honour and glory
that the neo-conservative gentlemen covet. It also fits very well with the
religious sensibilities of gentlemen. The combination of religion and nation-
alism is the elixir that Strauss advocates as the way to turn natural, relaxed,
hedonistic men into devout nationalists willing to fight and die for their God
and country.
�I never imagined when I wrote my first book on Strauss that the unscrupu-
lous elite that he elevates would ever come so close to political power, nor
that the ominous tyranny of the wise would ever come so close to being
realised in the political life of a great nation like the United States. But fear is
the greatest ally of tyranny.� (Shadia Drury, professor of political theory at
the University of Regina in Saskatchewan). [Editor�s note.]
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
193
role in ponerizing the movement and preparing for revolution,
are also eliminated. Adherents of the revolutionary ideology
are unscrupulously �pushed into a counter-revolutionary posi-
tion�. They are now condemned for �moral� reasons in the
name of new criteria whose paramoralistic essence they are not
in a position to comprehend. Violent
original group now ensues. The inspirational role of
In spite of these transformations, the pathological block of
the revolutionary movement remains a minority, a fact which
cannot be changed by propaganda pronouncements about the
the ideology. The rejected majority and the very forces which
naively created such power to begin with, start mobilizing
against the block of psychopaths who have taken over. Ruth-
less confrontation with these forces is seen by the psychopathic
block as the only way to safeguard the long-term survival of
the pathological authority. We must thus consider the bloody
triumph of a pathological minority over the movement�s major-
ity to be a
the phenomenon coagulate.
The entire life of a society thus affected then becomes sub-
ordinated to deviant thought-criteria and permeated by their
specific experiential mode, especially the one described in the
section on essential psychopathy. At this point, using the name
of the original ideology to designate this phenomenon is mean-
ingless and becomes an error rendering its comprehension
more difficult.
I shall accept the denomination of pathocracy for a system
of government thus created, wherein a small pathological mi-
nority takes control over a society of normal people. The name
thus selected, above all, emphasizes the basic quality of the
macrosocial psychopathological phenomenon, and differenti-
ates it from the many possible social systems dominated by
normal people�s structure, custom, and law.
I tried to find a name which would more clearly designate
the psychopathological, even psychopathic quality of such a
194
PATHOCRACY
government, but I gave up because of certain perceived phe-
nomena (to be referred to below) and for practical considera-
tions (to avoid lengthening the denomination). Such a name
sufficiently indicates the phenomenon�s basic quality and also
emphasizes that the ideological cloak (or some other ideology
which cloaked similar phenomena in the past)
scientist unknown to me had already used this term, my deci-
sion was finalized. I think this name is consistent with the de-
mands of semantics, since no concise term can adequately
characterize such a complex phenomenon. I shall also hence-
forth designate the social systems wherein the links of normal
people dominate in any way as �the systems of normal man�.
More on the Contents of the Phenomenon
The achievement of absolute domination by pathocrats in
the government of a country cannot be permanent since large
sectors of the society become disaffected by such rule and
eventually find some way of toppling it. This is part of the
historical cycle, easily discerned when history is read from a
ponerological point of view. Pathocracy at the summit of gov-
ernmental organization also does not constitute the entire pic-
ture of the �mature phenomenon�.
In a pathocracy, all leadership positions, (down to village
headman and community cooperative managers, not to mention
the directors of police units, and special services police person-
nel, and activists in the pathocratic party) must be filled by
individuals with corresponding psychological deviations,
which are inherited as a rule. However, such people constitute
a very small percentage of the population and this makes them
more valuable to the pathocrats. Their intellectual level or pro-
fessional skills cannot be taken into account, since people rep-
resenting superior abilities are even harder to find. After such a
system has lasted several years, one hundred percent of all the
cases of essential psychopathy are involved in pathocratic ac-
tivity; they are considered the most loyal, even though some of
them were formerly involved on the other side in some way.
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
195
Under such conditions, no area of social life can develop
normally, whether in economics, culture, science, technology,
administration, etc.
the ken of anyone living in a normal man�s system just in order
to explain what to do and how to do it to some obtuse medioc-
rity of a psychological deviant who has been placed in charge
of some project that he cannot even understand, much less
manage. This special kind of pedagogy � instructing deviants
while avoiding their wrath - requires a great deal of time and
effort, but it would otherwise not be possible to maintain toler-
able living conditions and necessary achievements in the eco-
nomic area or intellectual life of a society. Even with such ef-
forts, pathocracy progressively intrudes everywhere and dulls
everything.
Those people who initially found the original ideology at-
tractive eventually come to the realization that they are in fact
dealing with something else that has taken its place under the
old name. The disillusionment experienced by such former
ideological adherents is bitter in the extreme. Thus, the patho-
logical minority�s attempts to retain power will be threatened
by the society of normal people, whose criticism keeps grow-
ing.
Therefore, to mitigate the threat to their power, the
pathocrats must employ any and all methods of terror and ex-
terminatory policies against individuals known for their patri-
otic feelings and military training; other, specific �indoctrina-
tion� activities such as those we have presented are also util-
ized. Individuals lacking the natural feeling of being linked to
normal society become irreplaceable in either of these activi-
ties. Again, the foreground of this type of activity is occupied
by cases of essential psychopathy, followed by those with simi-
lar anomalies, and finally by people alienated from the society
in question as a result of racial or national differences.
The phenomenon of pathocracy matures during this period:
an extensive and active indoctrination system is built, with a
suitably refurbished ideology constituting the vehicle or Trojan
horse for the purpose of pathologizing the thought processes of
individuals and society. The goal- forcing human minds to
196
PATHOCRACY
incorporate pathological experiential methods and thought-
patterns, and consequently accepting such rule - is never
openly admitted. This goal is conditioned by pathological ego-
tism, and the possibility of accomplishing it strikes the
pathocrats as not only indispensable, but feasible. Thousands of
activists must therefore participate in this work. However, time
and experience confirm what a psychologist may have long
foreseen: the entire effort produces results so very limited that
it is reminiscent of the labors of Sisyphus. It only results in
producing a general stifling of intellectual development and
deep-rooted protest against affront-mongering �hypocrisy�.
The entire system of force, terror, and forced indoctrination,
or, rather, pathologization, thus proves effectively unfeasible,
which causes the pathocrats no small measure of surprise. Re-
ality places a question mark on their conviction that such
methods can change people in such fundamental ways so that
they can eventually recognize this pathocratic kind of govern-
ment as a �normal state�.
During the initial shock, the feeling of social links between
normal people fade. After that has been survived, however, the
overwhelming majority of people begin to manifest their own
phenomenon of psychological immunization. Society simulta-
neously starts collecting practical knowledge on the subject of
this new reality and its psychological properties.
Normal people slowly learn to perceive the weak spots of
such a system and utilize the possibilities of more expedient
arrangement of their lives. They begin to give each other ad-
vice in these matters, thus slowly regenerating the feelings of
social links and reciprocal trust. A new phenomenon occurs:
skills, and healthy common sense. They therefore hold certain
very advantageous cards. The pathocracy finally realizes that it
must find some
society: �After all, somebody�s got to do the work for us.�
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
197
There are other needs and pressures felt by the pathocrats,
especially from outside. The pathological face
from the world somehow, since recognition of the deviant rul-
ership by world opinion would be a catastrophe. Ideological
propaganda alone would then be an inadequate disguise. Pri-
marily in the interests of the new elite and its expansionary
plans, a pathocratic state must maintain commercial relations
with the countries of normal man. The pathocratic state aims to
achieve international recognition as a
structure; and it fears recognition in terms of a true clinical
diagnosis.
All this makes pathocrats tend to limit their measures of ter-
ror, subjecting their propaganda and indoctrination methods to
a certain cosmetology, and to accord the society they control
some margin of autonomous activity, especially regarding cul-
tural life. The more liberal pathocrats would not be averse to
giving such a society a certain minimum of economic prosper-
ity in order to reduce the irritation level, but their own corrup-
tion and inability to administer the economy prevents them
from doing so.
And so, with the above considerations being brought to the
forefront of pathocratic attention, this great societal disease
continues to run its course through a new phase: methods of
activity become milder, and there is coexistence with countries
whose structure is that of normal man.
Any psychopathologist studying this phenomenon will be
reminded of the dissimulative state or phase of a patient at-
tempting to play the role of a normal person, hiding his patho-
logical reality although he continues to be sick or abnormal.
Let as therefore use the term �the dissimulative phase of
pathocracy� for the state of affairs wherein a pathocratic sys-
tem ever more skillfully plays the role of a normal sociopoliti-
cal system with �different� doctrinal institutions.
In this phase, normal people within the country ruled by
pathocrats become resistant and adapt themselves to the situa-
tion. On the outside, however, this phase is marked by
system can all-too-easily infiltrate into other societies, particu-
larly if they are more primitive, and all the avenues of
198
PATHOCRACY
pathocratic expansion are facilitated because of the decrease of
commonsensical criticism on the part of the nations constitut-
ing the territory of expansionism.
Meanwhile, in the pathocratic country, the active structure
of government rests in the hands of psychopathic individuals,
and essential psychopathy plays a starring role, especially dur-
ing the dissimulative phase. However, individuals with obvious
pathological traits must be removed from certain areas of activ-
ity: namely, political posts with international exposure, where
such personalities could betray the pathological contents of the
phenomenon. Individuals with obvious pathological traits are
also limited in their ability to exercise diplomatic functions or
to become fully cognizant with the political situations of the
countries of normal man. Therefore, the persons selected for
such positions are chosen because they have thought-processes
more similar to the world of normal people; in general, they are
sufficiently connected to the pathological system to provide a
guarantee of loyalty.95 An expert in various psychological
anomalies can nevertheless discern the discreet deviations upon
which such links are based. Another factor to be noted is the
great personal advantages accorded to such demi-normal indi-
viduals by the pathocracy. Small wonder, then, that such loy-
alty is sometimes deceptive. This applies in particular to the
sons of typical pathocrats, who of course enjoy trust because
they have been reared to allegiance since infancy; if through
some happy genetic coincidence they have not inherited patho-
logical properties, their nature takes precedence over nurture.
Similar needs apply to other areas as well. The building di-
rector for a new factory is often someone barely connected
with the pathocratic system but whose skills are essential. Once
the plant is operational, administration is taken over by
pathocrats, which then often leads to technical and financial
ruin.
The army similarly needs people endowed with perspicacity
and essential qualifications, especially in the area of modern
weapons and warfare. At crucial moments, healthy common
sense can override the results of pathocratic drill. In such a
state of affairs, many people are forced to adapt, accepting the
95 Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell come to mind here. [Editor�s note.]
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
199
ruling system as a status quo, but also criticizing it. They fulfill
their duties amid doubts and conflicts of conscience, always
searching for a more sensible way out which they discuss
within trusted circles. In effect, they are always hanging in a
limbo between pathocracy and the world of normal people.
Deficiently faithful people have been and are a factor of the
pathocratic system�s internal weakness.
The following questions thus suggest themselves: what
happens if the network of understanding among psychopaths
achieves power in leadership positions with international expo-
sure? This can happen, especially during the later phases of the
phenomenon. Goaded by their character, such deviant people
thirst for just that even though it ultimately conflicts with their
own life interest, and so they are removed by the less patho-
logical, more logical wing of the ruling apparatus. Such devi-
ants do not understand that a catastrophe would otherwise en-
sue. Germs are not aware that they will be burned alive or bur-
ied deep in the ground along with the human body whose death
they are causing.
If the many managerial positions are assumed by individu-
als deprived of sufficient abilities to feel and understand the
majority of other people, and who also exhibit deficiencies in
technical imagination and practical skills - (faculties indispen-
sable for governing economic and political matters) - this then
results in an exceptionally serious crisis in all areas, both
within the country in question and with regard to international
relations. Within, the situation becomes unbearable even for
those citizens who were able to feather their nest into a rela-
tively comfortable
to feel the pathological quality of the phenomenon quite dis-
tinctly. Such a state of affairs cannot last long. One must then
be prepared for ever more rapid changes, and also behave with
great circumspection.
Pathocracy is a disease of great social movements followed
by entire societies, nations, and empires. In the course of hu-
man history, it has affected social, political, and religious
movements, as well as the accompanying ideologies, character-
istic for the time and the ethnological conditions, and turned
them into caricatures of themselves. This occurs as a result of
200
PATHOCRACY
the activities of similar etiological factors in this phenomenon,
namely the participation of pathological agents in a pathody-
namically similar process. That explains why all the pathocra-
cies of the world are and have been so similar in their essential
properties. Contemporaneous ones easily find a common lan-
guage, even if the ideologies nourishing them and protecting
their pathological contents from exposure differ widely.
Identifying these phenomena through history and properly
qualifying them according to their true nature and contents, not
according to the ideology in question, which succumbed to the
characteristic process of caricaturization, is a job for historians.
However, it must be understood that the primary ideology was
undoubtedly socially dynamic and contained creative elements,
otherwise it would have been incapable of nurturing and pro-
tecting the pathocratic phenomenon from recognition and criti-
cism for very long. It would also have been incapable of fur-
nishing the pathological caricature with the tools for imple-
menting its expansionist goals on the outside.
Defining the moment at which a movement has been trans-
formed into something we can call a pathocracy as a result of
the ponerogenic process is a matter of convention. The process
is temporally cumulative and reaches a point of no return at
some particular moment. Eventually, however, internal con-
frontation with the adherents of the original ideology occurs,
thus finally affixing the seal of the pathocratic character of the
phenomenon. Naziism most certainly passed this point of no
return, but was prevented from all-out confrontation with the
smashed its entire military might.
Pathocracy and Its Ideology
It should be noted that a great ideology with mesmerizing
values can also easily deprive people of the capacity for self-
critical control over their behavior. The adherents of such ideas
tend to lose sight of the fact that the means used, not just the
end, will be decisive for the result of their activities. Whenever
they reach for overly radical methods of action, still convinced
that they are serving their idea, they are not aware that their
goal has already changed. The principle �the end justifies the
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
201
means� opens the door to a different kind of person for whom a
great idea is useful for purposes of liberating themselves from
the uncomfortable pressure of normal human custom. Every
great ideology thus contains danger, especially for small minds.
Therefore, every great social movement and its ideology can
become a host upon which some pathocracy initiates its para-
sitic life.
The ideology in question may have been marked by deficits
in truth and moral criteria from the very outset, or by the ef-
fects of activities by pathological factors. The original, very
high-minded idea, may also have succumbed to early contami-
nation characteristic of a particular time and social circum-
stance. If such an ideology is infiltrated by foreign, local cul-
tural material which, being heterogeneous, destroys the original
coherent structure of the idea, the actual value may become so
enfeebled that it loses some of its attractiveness for reasonable
people. Once weakened, however, the sociological structure
can succumb to further degeneration, including the activation
of pathological factors, until it has become transformed into its
caricature: the name is the same, but the contents are different.
Differentiating the essence of the pathological phenomenon
from its contemporary ideological host is thus a basic and nec-
essary task, both for scientific-theoretical purposes and for
finding practical solutions for the problems derived from the
existence of the above-mentioned macrosocial phenomena.
If, in order to designate a pathological phenomenon, we ac-
cept the name furnished by the ideology of a social movement
which succumbed to degenerative processes, we lose any abil-
ity to understand or evaluate that ideology and its original con-
tents or to effect proper classification of the phenomenon, per
se. This error is not semantic; it is the keystone of all other
comprehension errors regarding such phenomena, rendering us
intellectually helpless, and depriving us of our capacity for
purposeful, practical action.
This error is based upon compatible propaganda elements of
incompatible social systems. This has, unfortunately, become
much too common and is reminiscent of the very first clumsy
attempts to classify mental diseases according to the systems of
delusions manifested by the patients. Even today, people who
202
PATHOCRACY
have not received training in this field will consider a sick per-
son who manifests sexual delusions to be crazy in this area, or
someone with religious delusions to be a �religious maniac�.
The author has even encountered a patient who insisted that he
had become the object of cold and hot rays (paresthesia) on the
basis of a special agreement concluded by the U.S.A. and the
U.S.S.R.
As early as the end of the nineteenth century, famous pio-
neers of contemporary psychiatry correctly distinguished be-
tween the disease and the patient�s system of delusions. A dis-
ease has its own etiological causes, whether determined or not,
and its own pathodynamics and symptomatics which distin-
guish its nature. Various delusional systems can become mani-
fest within the same disease, and similar systems can appear in
various diseases. The delusions, which have sometimes become
so systemic that they convey the impression of an actual story,
originate in the patient�s nature and intelligence, especially in
the imaginations of the environment within which he grew up.
These can be disease-induced caricaturizations of his former
political and social convictions. After all, every mental illness
has its particular style of deforming human minds, producing
nuanced but characteristic differences known for some time to
psychiatrists, and which help them render a diagnosis.
Thus deformed, the world of former fantasies is put to work
for a different purpose: concealing the dramatic state of the
disease from one�s own consciousness and from public opinion
for as long as possible. An experienced psychiatrist does not
attempt premature disillusionment of such a delusional system;
that would provoke the patient�s suicidal tendencies. The doc-
tor�s main object of interest remains the disease he is trying to
cure. There is usually insufficient time to discuss a patient�s
delusions
the safety of said patient and other people. Once the disease has
been cured, however, psychotherapeutic assistance in reinte-
grating the patient into the world of normal thought is defi-
nitely indicated.
If we effect a sufficiently penetrating analysis of the phe-
nomenon of pathocracy and its relationship to its ideology, we
are faced with a clear analogy to the above described relation-
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
203
ship now familiar to all psychiatrists. Some differences will
appear later in the form of details and statistical data, which
can be interpreted both as a function of the above-mentioned
characteristic style of caricaturizing an ideology, pathocracy
effects, and as a result of the macrosocial character of the phe-
nomenon.
As a counterpart of disease, pathocracy has its own etiologi-
cal factors which make it potentially present in every society,
no matter how healthy. It also has its own pathodynamic proc-
esses which are differentiated as a function of whether the
pathocracy in question was born in that particular country
(primary pathocracy), was artificially infected in the country by
some other system of the kind, or was imposed by force.
We have already sketched above the ponerogenesis and
course of such a macrosocial phenomenon in its primary form,
intentionally refraining from mentioning any particular ideol-
ogy. We shall soon address the other two courses mentioned
above.
The ideology of pathocracy is created by caricaturizing the
original ideology of a social movement in a manner character-
istic of that particular pathological phenomenon. The above-
mentioned hysteroidal states of societies also deform the con-
temporary ideologies of the times in question, using a style
characteristic for them. Just as doctors are interested in disease,
the author has become primarily interested in the pathocratic
phenomenon and the analysis thereof. In a similar manner, the
primary concern of those people who have assumed responsi-
bility for the fate of nations should be curing the world of this
heretofore mysterious disease. The proper time will come for
critical and analytical attitudes toward ideologies which have
become the �delusional systems� of such phenomena during
historical times. We should at present focus our attention upon
the very essence of the macrosocial pathological phenomena.
Understanding the nature of a disease is basic to any search
for the proper methods of treatment. The same applies by anal-
ogy with regard to that macrosocial pathological phenomenon,
especially since, in the latter case,
Throughout the entire process, reasoning approximated to the
204
PATHOCRACY
style elaborated by medicine is the proper method which leads
to untangling the contemporary Gordian knot.
A pathocracy�s ideology changes its function, just as occurs
with a mentally ill person�s delusional system. It stops being a
human conviction outlining methods of action and takes on
other duties which are not openly defined. It becomes a
consciousness, both inside and outside one�s nation. The first
function � a conviction outlining methods of action - soon be-
comes ineffective for two reasons: on the one hand, reality
exposes the methods of action as unworkable; on the other
hand, the masses of common people notice the contemptuous
attitude toward the ideology represented by the pathocrats
themselves. For that reason, the main operational theater for the
ideology consists of nations remaining outside the immediate
ambit of the pathocracy, since that world tends to continue
believing in ideologies. The ideology thus becomes the instru-
ment for external action to a degree even greater than in the
above-mentioned relationship between the disease and its delu-
sional system.
Psychopaths are conscious of being different from normal
people. That is why the �political system� inspired by their
nature is able to conceal this awareness of being different. They
wear a personal mask of sanity and know how to create a mac-
rosocial mask of the same dissimulating nature. When we ob-
serve the role of ideology in this macrosocial phenomenon,
quite conscious of the existence of this specific awareness of
the psychopath, we can then understand why ideology is rele-
gated to a tool-like role: something useful in dealing with those
other naive people and nations. Pathocrats must nevertheless
appreciate the function of ideology as being something essen-
tial in any ponerogenic group, especially in the macrosocial
phenomenon which is their �homeland�. This factor of aware-
ness simultaneously constitutes a certain qualitative difference
between the two above-mentioned relationships. Pathocrats
know that their
tures, and treat the �other� � the masking ideology - with
barely concealed contempt. And the common people eventually
begin to perceive this as noted above.
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
205
Thus, a well-developed pathocratic system no longer has a
clear and direct relationship to its original ideology, which it
only keeps as its primary, traditional tool for action and mask-
ing. For practical purposes of pathocratic expansion, other ide-
ologies may be useful, even if they contradict the main one and
heap moral denunciation upon it. However, these other ideolo-
gies must be used with care, refraining from official acknow-
ledgement within environments wherein the original ideology
can be made to appear too foreign, discredited, and useless.
The main ideology succumbs to symptomatic deformation,
in keeping with the characteristic style of this very disease and
with what has already been stated about the matter. The names
and
content is insinuated underneath, thus giving rise to the well
known double talk phenomenon within which the same names
have two meanings: one for initiates, one for everyone else.
The latter is derived from the original ideology; the former has
a specifically pathocratic meaning, something which is known
not only to the pathocrats themselves, but also is learned by
those people living under long-term subjection to their rule.
Doubletalk is only one of many symptoms. Others are the
specific facility for producing new names which have sugges-
tive effects and are accepted virtually uncritically, in particular
outside the immediate scope of such a system�s rule.96 We must
thus point out the paramoralistic character and paranoidal
qualities frequently contained within these names. The action
of paralogisms and paramoralisms in this deformed ideology
becomes comprehensible to us based on the information pre-
sented in Chapter IV.
of forgiving the pathocrats themselves; it is extremely danger-
ous and thus �immoral�.
We thus have the right to invent appropriate names which
would indicate the nature of the phenomena as accurately as
96 �Extraordinary rendition� as the nomenclature for illegally transporting
prisoners to countries where torture is practiced comes immediately to mind
as an example. [Editor�s note.]
97 Example: �You are with us, or you are against us.� And being �against us�
means that �you are a terrorist� and thus, immoral. [Editor�s note.]
206
PATHOCRACY
possible, in keeping with our recognition and respect for the
laws of the scientific methodology and semantics. Such accu-
rate terms will also serve to protect our minds from the sugges-
tive effects of those other names and paralogisms, including the
pathological material the latter contain.
The Expansion of the Pathocracy
The world�s tendency to fasten its gaze adoringly upon its
rulers has a long tradition dating back to the times when sover-
eigns could virtually ignore their subjects� opinions. However,
rulers have always been dependent upon the social and eco-
nomic situation in their country, even long ago, and even in
pathocratic systems, and the influence of various social groups
has reached their thrones by various means.
Much too common is the pattern of error which reasons that
purportedly autocratic leaders of countries affected by this
pathocracy actually possess decision-making powers in areas
which they in fact do not. Millions of people, including minis-
ters and members of parliaments, ponder the dilemma of
whether such a ruler could not, under certain circumstances,
modify his convictions somewhat and relinquish his dreams of
conquering the world; they continue hope that this will be the
eventual outcome.98 People with personal experience in such a
system may attempt to persuade them that their dreams, al-
though decent, lack a foundation in reality, but at the same time
they sense a lack of concrete arguments on their part. Such an
explanation is in fact impossible within the realm of the natural
language of psychological concepts; only an objective compre-
hension of the historical phenomenon and its essentially devi-
ant nature permits light to be shed upon the causes of the
non.
98 This is especially true in the present day when the leaders and parliaments
of many other countries, unhappy with the Bush Neocon administration,
think that diplomacy or new elections in the U.S. will �set things right�. They
do not understand the full nature of Pathocracy and that the psychopaths in
the shadows of this phenomenon will never relinquish control without blood-
shed. [Editor�s note.]
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
207
The actions of this phenomenon affect an entire society,
starting with the leaders and infiltrating every village, small
town, factory, business, or farm. The pathological social struc-
ture gradually covers the entire country, creating a �new class�
within that nation. This privileged class of deviants feels per-
manently threatened by the �others�, i.e. by the majority of
normal people.
A normal person deprived of privilege or high position will
go about finding and performing some work which will earn
him a living; but pathocrats never possessed any solid practical
talent, and the time frame of their rule eliminates any residual
possibilities of adapting to the demands of normal work. If the
laws of normal man were to be reinstated, they and theirs could
be subjected to judgment, including a moralizing interpretation
of their psychological deviations; they would be threatened by
a loss of freedom and life, not merely a loss of position and
privilege. Since they are incapable of this kind of sacrifice, the
survival of a system which is the best for them
any and all psychological and political cunning implemented
with a lack of scruples with regard to those other �inferior-
quality� people that can be shocking in its depravity.99
In general, this new class is in the position to purge its lead-
ers should their behavior jeopardize the existence of such a
system. This could occur particularly if the leadership wished
to go too far in compromising with the society of normal peo-
ple, since their qualifications make them essential for produc-
tion. The latter is more a direct threat to the lower echelons of
the pathocratic elite than to the leaders.
99 This should be kept firmly in mind by those who think that getting rid of
George W. Bush and the Neocons will change anything. [Editor�s note.]
208
PATHOCRACY
We can thus formulate a more cautious question: can such a
system ever waive territorial and political expansion abroad
and settle for its present possessions? What would happen if
such a state of affairs ensured internal peace, corresponding
order, and relative prosperity within the nation? The over-
whelming majority of the country�s population would then
make skillful use of all the emerging possibilities, taking ad-
vantage of their superior qualifications in order to fight for an
ever-increasing scope of activities; thanks to their higher birth
rate, their power will increase. This majority will be joined by
some sons from the privileged class who did not inherit the
pathological genes. The pathocracy�s dominance will weaken
imperceptibly but steadily, finally leading to a situation
wherein the society of normal people reaches for power. This is
a nightmare vision to the psychopaths.
end, starting with concentration camps and including warfare
with an obstinate, well-armed foe who will devastate and de-
bilitate the human power thrown at him, namely the very power
jeopardizing pathocrats rule: the sons of normal man sent out to
fight for an illusionary �noble cause.� Once safely dead, the
soldiers will then be decreed heroes to be revered in paeans,
useful for raising a new generation faithful to the pathocracy
and ever willing to go to their deaths to protect it.
Any war waged by a pathocratic nation has two fronts, the
internal and the external. The internal front is more important
for the leaders and the governing elite, and the internal threat is
the deciding factor where unleashing war is concerned. In pon-
dering whether to start a war against the pathocratic country,
other nations must therefore give primary consideration to the
fact that such a war can be used as an executioner of the com-
mon people whose increasing power represents incipient jeop-
ardy for the pathocracy. After all, pathocrats give short shrift to
blood and suffering of people they consider to be not quite
conspecific. Kings may have suffered due to the death of their
knights, but pathocrats never do: �We have a lot of people
here.� Should the situation be, or become, ripe in such a coun-
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
209
try, however, anyone furnishing assistance to the nation will be
blessed by it; anyone withholding it will be cursed.
Pathocracy has other internal reasons for pursuing expan-
sionism through the use of all means possible. As long as that
�other� world governed by the systems of normal man exists, it
inducts into the non-pathological majority a certain sense of
direction. The non-pathological majority of the country�s popu-
lation will never stop dreaming of the reinstatement of the
normal man�s system in any possible form. This majority will
never stop watching other countries, waiting for the opportune
moment; its attention and power must therefore be distracted
from this purpose, and the masses must be �educated� and
channeled in the direction of imperialist strivings. This goal
must be pursued doggedly so that everyone knows what is be-
ing fought for and in whose name harsh discipline and poverty
must be endured. The latter factor � creating conditions of pov-
erty and hardship - effectively limits the possibility of �subver-
sive� activities on the part of the society of normal people.
The ideology must, of course, furnish a corresponding justi-
fication for this alleged right to conquer the world and must
therefore be properly elaborated. Expansionism is derived from
the very nature of pathocracy, not from ideology, but this fact
must be masked by ideology.100 Whenever this phenomenon
has been witnessed in history, imperialism was always its most
demonstrative quality.
On the other hand, there are countries with normal man�s
governments wherein the overwhelming majority of societies
shudders to think a similar system could be imposed on them.
The governments of such nations thereupon do everything they
can within the framework of their possibilities and their under-
standing of the phenomenon in order to contain its expansion.
The citizens of those countries would sigh with relief if some
upheaval were to replace this malevolent and incomprehensible
system with a more human, more easily understood, govern-
mental method with whom peaceful coexistence would be pos-
sible.
100 Example: the events of September 11, 2001, undoubtedly manufactured
by the Pathocracy. [Editor�s note.]
210
PATHOCRACY
Such countries thus undertake various means of action for
this purpose,
country, and the military power of normal man�s countries
limits the pathocracy�s possibilities of armed maneuvers.
Weakening those countries that could possibly stand against
the pathocracy, especially by utilizing the response pathocracy
awakens in some of their deviant citizens, again becomes a
matter of the pathocracy�s survival.
Economic factors constitute a non-negligible part of the mo-
tivation for this expansionist tendency. Since the managerial
functions have been taken over by individuals with mediocre
intelligence and pathological character traits, the pathocracy
becomes incapable of properly administering anything at all.
The area suffering most severely must always be whichever
one requires a person to act independently, not wasting time
searching for the proper way to behave. Agriculture is depend-
ent upon changing climate conditions and the appearance of
pests and plant diseases. A farmer�s personal qualities have
thus been an essential factor of success in this area, as it was
for many centuries. Pathocracy therefore invariably brings
about food shortages.
However, many countries with normal man�s systems
abound in sufficiency of industrial products and experience
problems with their food surpluses and temporary economic
recessions even though the citizens are by no means over-
worked. The temptation to dominate such a country and its
prosperity, that perennial imperialist motive, thus becomes
even more strong in the pathocracy. The collected prosperity of
the conquered nation can be exploited for a time, the citizens
forced to work harder for paltry remuneration. For the moment,
no thought is given to the fact that introducing a pathocratic
system within such a country will eventually cause similar
unproductive conditions; after all psychological deviance, by
definition, indicates a lack of self-knowledge in this area. Un-
fortunately, the idea of conquering rich countries also moti-
vates the minds of many poor non-pathological fellows suffer-
ing under the pathocracy, but not understanding why, and who
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
211
would like to use this opportunity to grab something for them-
selves and eat their fill of good food.
As has been the case for centuries, military power is of
course the primary means for achieving these ends. Throughout
the centuries, though, whenever history has registered the ap-
pearance of the phenomenon of pathocracy, (regardless of the
ideological cloak covering it), specific measures of influence
have also become apparent: something in the order of specific
intelligence in the service of international intrigue facilitating
conquest. This quality is derived from the above-discussed
personality characteristics inspiring the overall phenomenon; it
should constitute data for historians to identify this type of
phenomenon throughout history.
People exist everywhere in the world with specifically sus-
ceptible deviant personalities; even a faraway pathocracy
evokes a resonating response in them, working on their under-
lying feeling that �there is a place for people like us there�.
Uncritical, frustrated, and abused people also exist everywhere,
and they can be reached by appropriately elaborated propa-
ganda. The future of a nation is greatly dependent on how
many such people it contains. Thanks to its specific psycho-
logical knowledge and its conviction that normal people are
naive, a pathocracy is able to improve its �anti-
psychotherapeutic� techniques, and pathologically egotistical
as usual, to insinuate its deviant world of concepts to others in
other countries, thus making them susceptible to conquest and
domination.
The most frequently used methods include paralogistic and
conversion methods such as the projection of one�s own quali-
ties and intention onto other persons, social groups, or nations,
paramoral indignation, and reverse blocking. This last method
is a pathocratic favorite used on the mass scale, driving the
minds of average people into a dead end because, as a result, it
causes them to search for the truth in the �golden mean� be-
tween the reality and its opposite.101
101 This is being very effectively used at the present time under the guise of
�The War on Terror�, a completely manufactured device that utilizes �false
flag operations� to herd people into �support camps� for the U.S. imperialist
agenda. [Editor�s note.]
212
PATHOCRACY
We should thus point out that although various works in the
area of psychopathology contain descriptions of most of these
near-hypocritical methods, an overall summary filling the gaps
observed is absent and sorely needed. How much better it
would be if the people and governments of normal man�s coun-
tries could take advantage of such a work and behave like an
experienced psychologist, noting the reproaches heaped upon
them in the course of projection and turning around statements
whose character indicate reverse blocking. A bit of analytical
cosmetics would then produce a low-cost list of a pathocratic
empire�s intentions.102
Law has become the measure of right within the countries
of normal human systems. We often forget how imperfect a
creation of human minds it really is, how dependent it is on
formulations based upon data which legislators can understand.
In legal theory, we accept its regulatory nature as a given and
consequently agree that in certain cases its activities may not
be quite concurrent with human reality. Understood thus,
how to take advantage of the weaknesses of such a legalistic
manner of thinking.
However, this macrosocial phenomenon�s internal actions
and external expansion are
such, regardless of how these data are deformed within the
pathocrats� personalities,
system of the future, albeit in the shape of a caricature.
Therefore, the future for normal man belongs to social sys-
tems which are based on an improved comprehension of man
in all his psychological variations; evolution in this direction
can, among other things, ensure greater resistance to the expan-
102 This is currently being done, and quite well, by alternative news sources
on the internet, bloggers, and many �ordinary� people who can easily see
what is going on. Unfortunately, to date, no ruling party in any significant
country with the power to stand against the pathocracy of the U.S. has man-
aged to think that far. [Editor�s note.]
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
213
sionary methods this macrosocial phenomenon uses in its quest
to dominate the world.
Pathocracy Imposed by Force
The genesis of pathocracy in any country is so lengthy a
process that it is difficult to pinpoint when it began. If we take
into consideration those historical examples which should be
qualified in that regard, we will most frequently observe the
figure of an autocratic ruler whose mental mediocrity and in-
fantile personality finally opened the door to the ponerogenesis
of the phenomenon. Wherever a society�s common sense is
sufficiently influential, its self-preservation instinct is able to
overcome this ponerogenic process rather early.
Whenever a nation experiences a �system crisis� or a hy-
peractivity of ponerogenic processes within, it becomes the
object of a
vantage of its internal weaknesses and revolutionary move-
ments in order to impose rule on the basis of a limited use of
force. Conditions such as a great war or a country�s temporary
weakness can sometimes cause it to submit to the violence of a
pathocratic neighbor country (against their will) whose system
did not exhibit such wide-scope infirmities earlier. After forci-
ble imposition of such a system the course of pathologization
of life becomes different; and such a pathocracy will be less
stable, its very existence dependent upon the factor of never-
ending outside force.
Let us now address the latter situation first: Brute force
must first stifle the resistance of an exhausted nation; people
possessing military or leadership skills must be disposed of,
and anyone appealing to moral values and legal principles must
be silenced. The new principles are never explicitly enunciated.
People must learn the new unwritten law via painful experi-
ence. The stultifying influence of this deviant world of con-
cepts finishes the job, and common sense demands caution and
endurance.
214
PATHOCRACY
This is followed by a shock which appears as tragic as it is
frightening. Some people from every social group, whether
abused paupers, aristocrats, officials, literati, students, scien-
tists, priests, atheists, or nobodies known to no one, suddenly
start changing their personality and world view. Decent Chris-
tians and patriots just yesterday, they now espouse the new
ideology and behave contemptuously to anyone still adhering
to the old values. Only later does it become evident that this
ostensibly avalanche-like process has its natural limits. With
time, the society becomes stratified based on factors entirely
different from the old political convictions and social links. We
already know the causes for this.
Through direct contact with the pathocracy, society simul-
taneously begins to sense that its true content is different from
the ideologies disseminated earlier, while the country was still
independent. This divergence is a traumatizing factor, because
it questions the value of accepted convictions. Years must pass
before the mind has adapted to the new concepts. When those
of us who have experienced this then travel to Western Europe,
or especially to the United States, people who still believe the
original ideologies, the mask that was presented by the pathoc-
racy, strike us as being silly.
Pathocracy imposed by force arrives in a finished form, we
could even call it ripe. People observing it close up were un-
able to distinguish the earlier phases of its development, when
the schizoidals and characteropaths were in charge. The need
for the existence of these phases and their character had to be
reconstructed in this work on the basis of historical data.
In an imposed system, psychopathic material is already
dominant; it was perceived as something contrary to human
nature, virtually bereft of the mask of ideology rendered ever
less necessary in a conquered country, but nevertheless still
masked by its incomprehensibility to people who are still trying
to think in the categories of a natural world view.
We at first perceived the old system of categories and un-
derstanding as painfully inadequate for purposes of compre-
hending the reality which had overwhelmed us. The essential
objective categories we needed to classify what we observed
would not be created until many years of effort had passed.
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
215
Individuals with deviant characteristics, scattered throughout
society, however, unerringly sensed that the time had come for
�others� who had abused and humiliated them before. This
violent formative process of pathocracy lasted barely eight
years or so, thereupon making a similarly escalated transforma-
tion into the dissimulative phase.
The system functions, psychological mechanisms, and mys-
terious causative links in a country upon which a quasi-political
structure was imposed are basically analogous to those of the
country which gave rise to the phenomenon. The system
spreads downward until it reaches every village and every hu-
man individual. The actual contents and internal causes of this
phenomenon also manifest no essential difference, regardless
of whether we make our observation in the capital or in some
outlying small town. If the entire organism is sick, diagnostic
biopsy tissue can be collected wherever this can be performed
most expediently. Those who live in countries with normal
human systems attempting to understand this other system by
means of their imagination, or by penetrating the walls of the
Kremlin where it is assumed that the intentions of the highest
authorities are concealed, do not realize that this is a very oner-
ous method to do something that can be done more efficiently.
In order to perceive the essence of the phenomenon, we can
more easily situate ourselves in a small town, where it is much
easier to peek backstage and analyze the nature of such a sys-
tem.
However, some of the differences in the nature of the
pathocratic phenomenon between the originating country and
the country on which it is forcibly imposed turn out to be per-
manent. The system will always strike the society that has been
taken over as something foreign associated with the other coun-
try. The society�s historical tradition and culture constitute a
connection to those strivings aimed in the direction of normal
man�s structures. The more mature cultural formations in par-
ticular prove the most highly resistant to the system�s destruc-
tive activities. The subjugated nation finds support and inspira-
tion for its psychological and moral resistance in its own cul-
tural, religious, and moral traditions. These values, elaborated
216
PATHOCRACY
through centuries, cannot easily be destroyed or co-opted by
pathocracy; quite the contrary, they even embark upon a more
intensive life in the new society. These values progressively
cleanse themselves of patriotic buffoonery, and their principal
contents become more real in their eternal meaning. If forced
by necessity, the culture of the country in question is concealed
in private homes or disseminated via conspiracy; however, it
continues to survive and develop, creating values which could
not have arisen during happier times.
As a result, such a society�s opposition becomes ever more
enduring, ever more skillfully effected. It turns out that those
who believed they could impose such a system, trusting that it
would then function on the pathocracy�s autonomic mecha-
nisms, were overly optimistic. Imposed pathocracy always
remains an alien system to the extent that, if it should fall in the
country of its birth, its endurance within the subjugated nation
would only be a matter of weeks.
Artifically Infected Pathocracy
and Psychological Warfare
If a nucleus of this macrosocial pathological phenomenon
already exists in the world, always cloaking its true quality
behind an ideological mask of some political system, it irradi-
ates into other nations via coded news difficult for normal peo-
ple to understand, but easy to read for psychopathic individu-
als. �That�s the place for us, we now have a homeland where
our dreams about ruling those �others� can come true. We can
finally live in safety and prosperity.� The more powerful this
nucleus and the pathocratic nation, the wider the scope of its
inductive siren-call, heard by individuals whose nature is corre-
spondingly deviant, as though they were superheterodyne re-
ceivers naturally attuned to the same wave-length. Unfortu-
nately, what is being used today is real radio transmitters in the
hundreds of kilowatts, as well as loyal covert agents of pathoc-
racy networking our planet.
Whether directly or indirectly, i.e. by means of deviant
�agents�, this call of pathocracy, once appropriately �decked-
out�, reaches a significantly wider circle of people, including
both individuals with various psychological deviations and
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
217
those who are frustrated, deprived of the opportunity to earn an
education and make use of their talents, physically or morally
injured, or simply primitive. The scope of the response to this
call may vary in proportion, but nowhere will it represent the
majority. Nonetheless, the home-bred spellbinders who arise
never take into account the fact that they are not able to enrap-
ture the majority. 103
Various nations� different degrees of resistance to this activ-
ity depend upon many factors, such as prosperity and its equi-
table distribution, the society�s educational level (especially
that of the poorer classes), the proportion of participation of
individuals who are primitive or have various deviations, and
the current phase of the hysteroidal cycle. Some nations have
developed immunity as a result of more direct contact with the
phenomenon, something we shall discuss in the next chapter.
In countries just emerging from primeval conditions and
lacking political experience, an appropriately elaborated revo-
lutionary doctrine reaches its society�s autonomous substratum
and finds people who treat it like ideational reality. This also
occurs in nations where an over-egoistical ruling class defends
its position by means of naively moralizing doctrines, where
injustice is rampant, or where an intensification of the hysteria
level stifles the operation of common sense. People who have
become accustomed to revolutionary catchwords no longer
watch to make sure that whoever expounds such an ideology is
a truly sincere adherent, and not just someone using the mask
of ideology to conceal other motives derived from his deviant
personality.
103 Noticable in any country. In the present day, when the United States is
well on the way to becoming a full-blown pathocracy, and is thus the source
of the contamination, spellbinders for the deviant reality promote �American
style� economics and �culture,� and are even viewed by their fellow coun-
trymen as �America-ophiles�. Most people do not understand that the first
step to becoming part of the Global pathocracy that America is attempting to
impose on the world is to become part of the economic system as it is formu-
lated in America. A recent example of a country rejecting this maneuver is
France�s rejection of the European Constitution, a document focusing on the
neo-liberal transformation of the European economy along the lines of the
U.S. model. [Editor�s note.]
218
PATHOCRACY
In addition to these spellbinders, we can find another kind
of preacher of revolutionary ideas, one whose status is basi-
cally linked to the money he receives for his activities. How-
ever, it is unlikely that its ranks include people who could be
characterized as psychologically normal with no reservations
on the basis of the above-mentioned criteria. Their indifference
to the human suffering caused by their own activities is derived
from deficiencies in their perceived value of societal links or
their capacity to foresee the results of their activities.
Any war waged with psychological weapons costs only a
fraction as much as classical warfare, but it does have a cost,
especially when it is being waged simultaneously in many
countries throughout the world.
People acting in the name of pathocracy�s interests may ef-
fect their activities in parallel, under the banner of some tradi-
tional or other ideology, or even with the assistance of a con-
tradictory ideology battling the traditional one. In these latter
cases, the service must be performed by individuals whose
response to the call of the pathocracy is sufficiently vehement
so as to prevent the self-suggestive activities of the other ideol-
ogy they are using from weakening the links with their actual
hopes for power.
Whenever a society contains serious social problems, there
will also be some group of sensible people striving to improve
the social situation by means of energetic reforms, so as to
eliminate the cause of social tension. Others consider it their
duty to bring about a moral rejuvenation of society. Elimina-
tion of social injustice and reconstruction of the country�s mor-
als and civilization could deprive a pathocracy of any chance to
take over.
Psychological warfare strategists must decide rather early
on which ideology would be most efficient in a particular coun-
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
219
try because of its adaptability to said nation�s traditions. After
all, the appropriately adapted ideology must perform the func-
tion of a Trojan horse, transporting pathocracy into the country.
These various ideologies are then gradually conformed to one�s
own original master plan. Finally, off comes the mask.
At the right time, local partisans are organized and armed,
with recruits picked from dissatisfied localities; leadership is
provided by trained officers familiar with the secret idea as
well as the operative idea concocted for propagation in the
country in question. Assistance must then be given so groups of
conspirators adhering to the concocted ideology can stage a
coup d��tat, whereupon an iron-fisted government is installed.
Once this has been brought about, the diversionary partisans�
activities are stymied � they are made out to be patsies - so that
the new authorities can take credit for bringing about internal
peace. Any hoodlum who cannot or will not submit to the new
decrees is �gently� invited before his former leader and shot in
the back of the head. This is the new reality.
This is how such governmental systems are born. A network
of pathological ponerogenical factors is already active, as is the
inspirational role of essential psychopathy. However, that does
not yet represent a complete picture of pathocracy. Many local
leaders and adherents persist in their original convictions
which, albeit radical, strike them as serving the good of a much
larger proportion of formerly abused persons, not just a few
percent of pathocrats and the interests of a would-be world
wide empire.
Local leaders continue to think along the lines of social
revolution, appealing to the political goals they truly believe in.
They demand that the �friendly power� furnish them not only
the promised assistance, but also a certain measure of auton-
omy they consider crucial. They are not sufficiently familiar
with the mysterious �us-and-them� dichotomy. At the same
time they are instructed and ordered to submit to the dictates of
unclear ambassadors whose meaning and purpose are hard to
understand. Frustration and doubt thus grow; their nature is
ideological, nationalistic, and practical.
Conflict progressively increases, especially when wide cir-
cles of society begin to doubt whether those people allegedly
220
PATHOCRACY
acting in the name of some great ideology do in fact believe in
it. Thanks to experience and contact with the pathocratic na-
tion, similarly wide circles simultaneously increase their prac-
tical knowledge about the reality and behavioral methods of
that system. Should such a semi-colony thus achieve too much
independence or even decide to defect, too much of this knowl-
edge could then reach the consciousness of normal man�s coun-
tries. This could represent a serious defeat for pathocracy.
Ever-increasing control is thus necessary until full pathoc-
racy can be achieved. Those leaders whom the central authori-
ties consider to be effectively transitional can be eliminated
unless they indicate a sufficient degree of submission. Geopo-
litical conditions are generally decisive in this area. That ex-
plains why it is easier for such leaders to survive on an outlying
island than in countries bordering the empire. Should such
leaders manage to maintain a larger degree of autonomy by
of their geopolitical position if the conditions are amenable.
During such a phase of crisis of trust, circumspect policy on
the part of normal man�s countries could still tip the scales in
favor of a structure which may be revolutionary and leftist, but
not pathocratic. However, this is not the only missing consid-
eration; another primary one is the lack of objective knowledge
about the phenomenon, something which would make such
policy possible.
No full-fledged pathocracy can develop
was insufficiently loyal thereto. This is the counterpart of a
showdown with the true adherents of the ideology within the
genesis of the original pathocracy, which can then develop, due
both to the appropriately imposed leaders and to the activity of
this phenomenon�s autonomous ponerogenic mechanisms.
After the initial governmental period, brutal, bloody, and
psychologically naive, such a pathocracy thereupon begins its
transformation into its dissimulative form, which has already
been described in discussing the genesis of the phenomenon
and the force-imposed pathocracy.
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
221
come: when a mighty network of the society of normal people
is formed.
The above lapidary description of an infectious imposition
of pathocracy indicates that this process repeats all the phases
of independent ponerogenesis
Underneath the rulership of its incompetent administrative
predecessors, we can even discern a period of hyperactivity on
the part of schizoidal individuals mesmerized by the vision of
their own rule based on contempt for human nature, especially
if they are numerous within a given country. They do not real-
ize that pathocracy will never make their dreams come true; it
will rather shunt them into the shadows, since individuals with
whom we are already familiar will become the leaders.
A pathocracy thus generated will be more strongly im-
printed upon the subjugated country than one imposed by
force. At the same time, however, it maintains certain charac-
teristics of its divergent content, sometimes referred to as
�ideological� although it is in fact a derivate of the different
ethnological substratum upon which its scion was grafted.
Should conditions such as a nation�s numerical plentitude, wide
extension, or geographic isolation permit independence from
the primary pathocratic nation, more measured factors and the
society of normal people will thus find some way of influenc-
ing the governmental system, taking advantage of the opportu-
nities afforded by the dissimulative phase. In the presence of
advantageous conditions and skillful outside assistance, this
could lead to progressive depathologization of the system.
General Considerations
The path to comprehending the true contents of the phe-
nomenon and its internal causality can only be opened by over-
coming natural reflexes and emotions, and the tendency toward
moralizing interpretations, followed by assembling data elabo-
rated in difficult everyday clinical work and subsequent gener-
alizations in the form of theoretical ponerology. Such compre-
hension naturally also encompasses those who would create
such an inhuman system.
222
PATHOCRACY
The problem of biological determination of the behavior of
deviants is thus sketched in all its expressiveness, showing
primarily how their capacity for moral judgments and their
field of behavior selection is narrowed well below the levels
available to a normal person. The attitude of understanding
even one�s enemies is the most difficult for us humans. Moral
condemnation proves to be an obstacle along the path toward
curing the world of this disease.
A result of the character of the phenomenon described in
this chapter is that no attempt to understand its nature or to
track its internal causative links and diachronic transformations
would be possible if all we had at our disposal were the natural
language of psychological, social, and moral concepts even in
that partially perfected form used by the social sciences. It
would also be impossible to predict subsequent phases in the
development of this phenomenon or to distinguish its weak
times and weak spots for purposes of counteraction.
Elaboration of an appropriate and sufficiently comprehen-
sive conceptual language was thus indicated as essential; it
required more time and effort than studying the phenomenon
itself. It has therefore become necessary to bore readers some-
what by introducing this conceptual language in a manner both
parsimonious and adequate, which would at the same time be
comprehensible to those readers not trained in the area of psy-
chopathology.
Anyone who wants to repair television sets instead of mak-
ing them worse must first familiarize himself with electronics,
which is also beyond the ambit of our natural conceptual lan-
guage. However, upon learning to understand this macrosocial
phenomenon in the corresponding reference system, a scientist
stands in wonder as though before the open tomb of Tutank-
hamen for a while before he is able to understand the living
laws of the phenomenon with ever greater speed and skill,
thereupon complementing this comprehension with a huge
array of detailed data.
The first conclusion which suggested itself soon after meet-
ing with the �professor� introduced at the beginning of this
volume, was that the phenomenon�s development is limited by
nature in terms of the participation of susceptible individuals
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
223
within a given society. The initial evaluation of approximately
6% amenable individuals proved realistic; progressively col-
lected detailed statistical data assembled later were unable to
refute it. This value varies from country to country in the mag-
nitude of about one percentage point upward or downward.
Quantitatively speaking, this number is broken down into 0.6%
essential psychopaths, i.e. about 1/10 of this 6 %. However,
this anomaly plays a disproportionate role compared to the
numbers by saturating the phenomenon as a whole with its own
quality of thought and experience.
Other psychopathies, known as asthenic, schizoidal,
anankastic, hysterical, et al., definitely play second fiddle al-
though, in sum, they are much more numerous. Relatively
primitive skirtoidal individuals become fellow-travelers,
goaded by their lust for life, but their activities are limited by
considerations of their own advantage. In non-semitic nations,
schizoidia are somewhat more numerous than essential psy-
chopaths; although highly active in the early phases of the
genesis of the phenomenon, they betray an attraction to pathoc-
racy as well as the rational distance of efficient thinking; Thus
they are torn between such a system and the society of normal
people.
Persons less distinctly inclined in the pathocratic direction
include those affected by some states caused by the toxic ac-
tivities of certain substances such as ether,
and possibly some endotoxins,
104 Considering the fact that the last attempt to impose a Pathocracy on the
global scale, Naziism, campaigned vigorously against smoking, and the
current U.S. pathocracy is also behind the global attempt to �stamp out smok-
ing� as a �health hazard�, all the while generously distributing depleted
uranium, a far more dangerous substance, into the environment, as well as
refusing to join any environmental preservation activities, one has to wonder
if there is not some connection here? If carbon monoxide, one of the primary
substances inhaled when smoking, actually produces a state or condition that
is a defense against the mental predations of pathocrats, no wonder they wish
to eliminate it. That also suggests that all of the so-called �data� supporting
the anti-smoking campaign is possibly �cooked�. [Editor�s note.]
105 i.e., So-called �second hand smoke�. This actually suggests that second-
hand smoke can have highly beneficial effects on children specifically in
terms of immunizing them against psychopathic take-over! [Editor�s note.]
224
PATHOCRACY
Among individuals carrying other indications of brain-tissue
damage, only two described types have a somewhat measured
inclination, namely frontal and paranoidal characteropaths. In
the case of frontal characteropathy, this is principally the result
of an incapacity for self-critical reflection and an incapacity for
the abandonment of a dead-end street into which one has
thoughtlessly stumbled. Paranoidal individuals expect uncriti-
cal support within such a system. In general however, the carri-
ers of various kinds of brain-tissue damage lean clearly toward
the society of normal people, and as a result of their psycho-
logical problems, ultimately suffer even more than healthy
people under pathocracy.
It also turned out that the carriers of some
gists, and which are primarily hereditary in nature, manifest
split tendencies similar to schizoids. In a similar manner, peo-
ple whom nature has unfortunately saddled with a short life and
an early cancer-related death frequently indicate a characteris-
tic and irrational attraction for this phenomenon. These latter
observations were decisive in my agreeing to call the phe-
nomenon by this name, which had originally struck me as se-
mantically overly loose. An individual�s decreased resistance
to the effects of pathocracy and his attraction to this phenome-
non appear to be
merely of his psychological makeup alone.
Approximately 6% of the population constitutes the active
structure of the new rulership, which carries its own peculiar
consciousness of its own goals. Twice as many people consti-
tute a second group: those who have managed to warp their
personalities to meet the demands of the new reality. This leads
to attitudes which can already be interpreted within the catego-
ries of the natural psychological world view, i.e. the errors we
are committing are much smaller. It is of course not possible to
draw an exact boundary between these groups; the separation
adduced here is merely descriptive in nature.
This second group consists of individuals who are, on the
average, weaker, more sickly, and less vital. The frequency of
known mental diseases in this group is at twice the rate of the
national average. We can thus assume that the genesis of their
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
225
submissive attitude toward the regime, their greater susceptibil-
ity to pathological effects, and their skittish opportunism in-
cludes various relatively impalpable anomalies. We observe
not only physiological anomalies, but also the kinds described
above at the lowest intensity, with the exception of essential
psychopathy.
The 6% group constitute the new nobility; the 12% group
gradually forms the new bourgeoisie, whose economic situa-
tion is the most advantageous. Adapting to the new conditions,
not without conflicts of conscience, transforms this latter group
into both dodgers and, simultaneously, intermediaries between
the oppositional society and the active ponerological group,
whom they can talk to in the appropriate language. They play
such a crucial role within this system that both sides must take
them into account. Since their technical capacities and skills
are better than those of the active pathocratic group, they as-
sume various managerial positions. Normal people see them as
persons they can approach, generally without being subjected
to pathological arrogance.
So it is that only 18% of the country�s population is in favor
of the new system of government; but concerning the layer we
have called the bourgeoisie, we may even be doubtful of the
sincerity of their attitudes. This is the situation in the author�s
homeland. This proportion can be variously estimated in other
countries, from 15% in Hungary to 21% in Bulgaria, but it is
never more than a relatively small minority.
The great majority of the population forms the society of
normal people, gradually creating an informal communications
network. It behooves us to wonder why these people reject the
advantages conformity affords, consciously preferring the op-
posing role: poverty, harassment, and curtailment of human
freedoms. What ideals motivate them? Is this merely a kind of
romanticism representing ties to tradition and religion? Still, so
many people with a religious upbringing change their world
view to that of the Pathocrats very quickly. The next chapter is
dedicated to this question.
For the moment, let us limit ourselves to stating that a per-
son with a normal human instinctive substratum, good basic
intelligence, and full faculties of critical thought would have a
226
PATHOCRACY
difficult time accepting such a compromise; it would devastate
his personality and engender neurosis. At the same time, such a
system easily distinguishes and separates him from its own
kind regardless of his sporadic hesitations.
The above-described subdivision into three sections should
not be identified with membership in any party, which is offi-
cially ideological but in fact pathocratic. Such a system con-
tains many normal people forced to join such a party by various
circumstances, and who must pretend as best they can to repre-
sent said party�s more reasonable adherents. After a year or two
of obtusely executed instructions, they start becoming inde-
pendent and reestablishing their severed ties to society. Their
former friends begin to get the gist of their double game. This
is the situation of large numbers of the adherents of the former
ideology, which is now fulfilling its changed function. They are
also the first to protest that this system does not truly represent
their old political beliefs. We must also remember that
After a typical pathocratic structure has been formed, the
population is effectively divided � polarized - according to
completely different lines from what someone raised outside
the purview of this phenomenon might imagine, and in a man-
ner whose actual conditions are also impossible to comprehend
for someone lacking essential specialized training. However, an
intuitive sense for these causes gradually forms among the
majority of society in a country affected by the phenomenon. A
person raised in a normal man�s system is accustomed since
childhood to seeing economic and ideological problems in the
foreground, possibly also the results of social injustice. Such
concepts have proved illusory and ineffective in a most tragic
manner: the macrosocial phenomenon has its own properties
and laws which can only be studied and comprehended within
the appropriate categories.
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
227
However, in leaving behind our old natural method of com-
prehension and learning to track the internal causality of the
phenomenon, we marvel at the surprising exactness with which
the latter turns out to be subjected to its own regular laws. With
regard to individuals, there is always a greater scope of some
individualism and environmental influences. In statistical
analyses these variable factors disappear and the essential con-
stant characteristics surface. The entirety is thus clearly subject
to causative determination. This explains the relative ease of
transition from studying causation to predicting future changes
in the phenomenon. In time, the adequacy of collected knowl-
edge has been confirmed by the accuracy of these predictions.
Let us now take individual cases into consideration. For in-
stance: we meet two people whose behavior makes us suspect
they are psychopaths, but their attitudes to the pathocratic sys-
tem are quite different; the first is affirmative, the second pain-
fully critical. Studies on the basis of tests detecting brain tissue
damage will indicate such pathology in the second person, but
not in the first; in the second case we are dealing with behavior
which may be strongly reminiscent of psychopathy, but the
substratum is different.
If a carrier of an essential psychopathy gene was a member
of the decidedly anti-communist government party before the
war, he will be treated as an �ideological enemy� during the
pathocracy�s formative period. However, he soon appears to
find a
certain amount of tolerance. The moment when he becomes
transformed into an adherent of the new �ideology� and finds
the way back to the ruling party is only a matter of time and
circumstance.
If the family of a typical zealous pathocrat produces a son
who does not inherit the appropriate gene, thanks to a happy
genetic coincidence, (or he was born from a bio-
psychologically normal partner), such a son will be raised in
the corresponding youth organization, faithful to the ideology
and the party, which he joins early. By mature manhood, how-
ever, he will begin to list toward the society of normal people.
The opposition, that world which feels and thinks normally,
becomes ever closer to him; therein he finds himself and a set
228
PATHOCRACY
of values unknown � yet familiar - to him. A conflict eventu-
ally arises between himself and his family, party, and environ-
ment, under conditions which may be more or less dramatic.
This starts out with critical statements and the writing of rather
naive appeals requesting changes in the party, in the direction
of healthy common sense, of course. Such people then finally
begin to do battle on society�s side, enduring sacrifices and
suffering. Others decide to abandon their native country and
wander foreign lands, lonely among people who cannot under-
stand them or the problems under which they were raised.
With regard to the phenomenon as whole, one can predict
its primary properties and processes of change and estimate the
time at which they will occur. Regardless of its genesis, no
pathocratic activation of the population of a country affected by
this phenomenon can exceed the above discussed boundaries
set by biological factors.
The phenomenon will develop according to the patterns we
have already described, gnawing ever deeper into the country�s
social fabric. The resulting pathocratic monoparty will bifur-
cate from the very outset: one wing is consistently pathological
and earns nicknames such as �doctrinarian�, �hard-headed�,
�beton�, etc. The second is considered more liberal, and in fact
this is where the reverberation of the original ideology remains
alive for the longest. The representatives of this second wing
try as hard as their shrinking powers permit to bend this strange
reality into a direction more amenable to human reason, and
they do not lose complete touch with society�s links. The first
internal crisis of weakness occurs some
system has emerged; as a result, the society of normal people
gains a bit more freedom. During this time frame, skillful out-
side action can already count on internal cooperation.
The effects of the more ideational wing of the party and its
enlivening influence upon the workings of the entire country
gradually weaken. Typical pathocrats take over all the manage-
rial functions in a totally destroyed structure of a nation. Such a
state must be short-term, since no ideology can vivify it. The
time comes when the common masses of people want to live
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
229
like human beings again and the system can no longer resist.
There will be no great counter-revolution; a more or less
stormy process of regeneration will instead ensue.
Pathocracy is even less of a socioeconomic system than a
social structure or political system. It is a macrosocial disease
process affecting entire nations and running the course of its
characteristic pathodynamic properties. The phenomenon
changes too quickly in time for us to be able to comprehend it
in categories which would imply a certain stability, not ruling
out the evolutionary processes to which social systems are
subject. Any way of comprehending the phenomenon by im-
puting certain enduring properties to it thus quickly causes us
to lose sight of its current contents. The dynamics of transfor-
mation in time is part of the nature of the phenomenon; we
cannot possibly achieve comprehension from outside its pa-
rameters.
As long as we keep using methods of comprehending this
pathological phenomenon, which apply certain political doc-
trines whose contents are heterogeneous with regard to its true
nature, we will not be able to identify the causes and properties
of the disease. A prepared ideology will be able to cloak the
essential qualities from the minds of scientists, politicians, and
common people. In such a state of affairs, we will never elabo-
rate any causatively active methods which could stifle the phe-
nomenon�s pathological self-reproduction or its expansionist
external influences.
However, once we understand a disease�s etiological factors
and their activities as well as the pathodynamics of its changes,
we find that the search for a curative method generally be-
comes much easier. Something similar applies with regard to
the macrosocial pathological phenomenon discussed above.
CHAPTER VI
NORMAL PEOPLE
UNDER PATHOCRATIC RULE
As adduced above, the anomaly distinguished as essential
psychopathy inspires the overall phenomenon in a well-
developed pathocracy and betrays biological analogies to the
well known phenomenon called Daltonism, color-blindness or
near-blindness as regard to red and green. For the purpose of an
intellectual exercise, let us thus imagine that Daltonists have
managed to take over power in some country and have forbid-
den the citizens from distinguishing these colors, thus eliminat-
ing the distinction between green (unripe) and ripe tomatoes.
Special vegetable patch inspectors armed with pistols and pick-
ets would patrol the areas to make sure the citizens were not
selecting only ripe tomatoes to pick, which would indicate that
they were distinguishing between red and green. Such inspec-
tors could not, of course, be totally color-blind themselves
(otherwise they could not exercise this extremely important
function), They could not suffer more than near-blindness as
regards these colors. However, they would have to belong to
the clan of people made nervous by any discussion about col-
ors.
With such authorities around, the citizens might even be
willing to eat a green tomato and affirm quite convincingly that
it was ripe. But once the severe inspectors left for some other
garden far away, there would be the shower of comments it
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
231
does not behoove me to reproduce in a scientific work. The
citizens would than pick nicely vine-ripened tomatoes, make a
salad with cream, and add a few drops of rum for flavor.
May I suggest that all normal people whom fate has forced
to live under pathocratic rule make the serving of a salad ac-
cording to the above recipe into a symbolic custom. Any guest
recognizing the symbol by its color and aroma will refrain from
making any comments. Such a custom might hasten the rein-
stallation of a normal man�s system.
The pathological authorities are convinced that the appro-
priate pedagogical, indoctrinational, propaganda, and terrorist
means can teach a person with a normal instinctive substratum,
range of feelings, and basic intelligence to think and feel ac-
cording to their own different fashion. This conviction is only
slightly less unrealistic, psychologically speaking, than the
belief that people able to see colors normally can be broken of
this habit.
Actually, normal people cannot get rid of the characteristics
with which the
phylogenetic past. Such people will thus never stop feeling and
perceiving psychological and socio-moral phenomena in much
the same way their ancestors had been doing for hundreds of
generations. Any attempt to make a society subjugated to the
above phenomenon �learn� this different experiential manner
imposed by pathological egotism is, in principle, fated for fail-
ure regardless of how many generations it might last. It does,
however, call forth a series of improper psychological results
which may give the pathocrats the appearance of success.
However, it also provokes society to elaborate pinpointed,
well-thought-out self-defense measures based on its cognitive
and creative efforts.
Pathocratic leadership believes that it can achieve a state
wherein those �other� people�s minds become dependent by
means of the effects of their personality, perfidious pedagogical
means, the means of mass-disinformation, and psychological
terror; such faith has a basic meaning for them. In their concep-
tual world, pathocrats consider it virtually self-evident that the
�others� should accept their obvious, realistic, and simple way
of apprehending reality. For some mysterious reason, though,
232
NORMAL PEOPLE UNDER PATHOCRATIC RULE
the �others� wriggle out, slither away, and tell each other jokes
about pathocrats. Someone must be responsible for this: pre-
revolutionary oldsters, or some radio stations abroad. It thus
becomes necessary to improve the methodology of action, find
better �soul engineers� with a certain literary talent, and
Those experiences and intuitions whispering that this is a Sisy-
phean labor must be repressed from the field of consciousness
of the pathocrat.
The conflict is thus dramatic for both sides. The first feels
insulted in its humanity, rendered obtuse, and forced to think in
a manner contrary to healthy common sense. The other stifles
the premonition that if this goal cannot be reached, sooner or
later things will revert to normal man�s rule, including their
vengeful lack of understanding of the pathocrats� personalities.
So if it does not work, it is best not to think about the future,
just prolong the status quo by means of the above-mentioned
efforts. Toward the end of this book, it will behoove us to con-
sider the possibilities for untying this Gordian knot.
However, such a pedagogical system, rife with pathological
egotisation and limitations, produces serious negative results,
especially in those generations unfamiliar with any other condi-
tions of life. Personality development is impoverished, particu-
larly regarding the more subtle values widely accepted in socie-
ties. We observe the characteristic lack of respect for one�s
own organism and the voice of nature and instinct, accompa-
nied by brutalization of feelings and customs, to be explained
away by the excuse of injustice. The tendency to be morally
judgmental in interpreting the behavior of those who caused
one�s suffering sometimes leads to a
view. At the same time, adaptation and resourcefulness within
these different conditions become the object of cognition.
A person who has been the object of the egotistic behavior
of pathological individuals for a long time becomes saturated
with their characteristic psychological material to such an ex-
tent that we can frequently discern the kind of psychological
anomalies which affected him. The personalities of former
concentration-camp inmates were saturated with generally
psychopathic material ingested from camp commanders and
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
233
tormentors, creating a phenomenon so widespread that it later
became a primary motive to seek psychotherapy. Becoming
aware of this makes it easier for them to throw off this burden
and re-establish contact with the normal human world. In par-
ticular, being shown appropriate statistical data concerning the
appearance of psychopathy in a given population
their search for understanding of their nightmare years and a
rebuilding of trust in their fellow man.
This kind of psychotherapy would be extremely useful for
those people who need it most, but it has unfortunately proved
too risky for a psychotherapist. Patients easily make connective
transfers, unfortunately all too often correct, between the in-
formation learned during such therapy (particularly in the area
of psychopathy) and the reality surrounding them under the
rule of so-called �popular democracy�. Former camp inmates
are unhappily unable to hold their tongues in check, which
causes intervention on the part of political authorities.
When American soldiers returned from North Vietnamese
prison camps, many of them proved to have been subjected to
indoctrination and other methods of influencing by pathologi-
cal material. A certain degree of transpersonification appeared
in many of these. In the U.S.A. this was called �programming�
and outstanding psychotherapists proceeded to effect therapy
for the purpose of deprogramming them. It turned out that they
skills, among other things. When I heard about this, I breathed
a deep sigh and thought: Dear God, what interesting work that
would make for a psychotherapist who understands such mat-
ters well.
The pathocratic world, the world of pathological egotism
and terror, is so difficult to understand for people raised outside
the scope of this phenomenon that they often manifest childlike
naivet�, even if they have studied psychopathology and are
psychologists by profession. There are no real data in their
behavior, advice, rebukes, and psychotherapy. That explains
why their efforts are boring and hurtful and frequently come to
naught. Their egotism transforms their good will into bad re-
sults.
234
NORMAL PEOPLE UNDER PATHOCRATIC RULE
If someone has personally experienced such a nightmarish
reality, he considers people who have not progressed in under-
standing it within the same time frame to be simply presump-
tuous, sometimes even malicious. In the course of his experi-
ence and contact with this macrosocial phenomenon, he has
collected a certain amount of practical knowledge about the
phenomenon and its psychology and learned to protect his own
personality. This experience, unceremoniously rejected by
�people who don�t understand anything�, becomes a psycho-
logical burden for him, forcing him to live within a narrow
circle of persons whose experiences have been similar. Such a
person should rather be treated as the bearer of valuable scien-
tific data; understanding would constitute at least partial
psychotherapy for him, and would simultaneously open the
door to a comprehension of reality.
I would here like to remind psychologists that these kinds of
experiences and their destructive effects upon the human per-
sonality are not unknown to scientific practice and experience.
We often meet with patients requiring appropriate assistance:
individuals raised under the influence of pathological, espe-
cially psychopathic, personalities who were forced with a
pathological egotism to accept an abnormal way of thinking.
Even an approximate determination of the type of pathological
factors which operated on him allow us to pinpoint psycho-
therapeutic measures. In practice we most frequently meet
cases wherein such a pathological situation operated on a pa-
tient�s personality in early childhood, as a result of which we
must utilize long term measures and work very carefully, using
various techniques, in order to help him develop his true per-
sonality.
Children under parental pathocratic rule are �protected� un-
til school age. Then they meet with decent, normal people who
attempt to limit the destructive influences as much as possible.
The most intense effects occur during adolescence and the
ensuing time frame of intellectual maturation which can occur
with the input of decent people. This rescues the society of
normal people from deeper deformations in personality devel-
opment and widespread neurosis. This period remains within
persistent memory and is thus amenable to insight, reflection,
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
235
and disillusion. Such people�s psychotherapy would consist
almost exclusively of utilizing the correct knowledge of the
essence of the phenomenon.
Regardless of the social scale within which human indi-
viduals were forcibly reared by pathological persons, whether
individual, group, societal, or macrosocial, the principles of
psychotherapeutic action will thus be similar, and should be
based upon data known to us, and an understanding of the psy-
chological situation. Making a patient aware of the kind of
pathological factors which affected him, and jointly under-
standing the results of such effects, is basic to such therapy. We
do not utilize this method if, in an individual case, we have
indications that the patient has
such limitations should not be consistent with regard to macro-
social phenomena affecting the welfare of entire nations.
From the Perspective of Time
If a person with a normal instinctive substratum and basic
intelligence has already heard and read about such a system of
ruthless autocratic rule �based on a fanatical ideology�, he feels
he has already formed an opinion on the subject. However,
direct confrontation with the phenomenon will inevitably pro-
duce in him the feeling of intellectual helplessness. All his
prior imaginings prove to be virtually useless; they explain next
to nothing. This provokes a nagging sensation that he and the
society in which he was educated were quite naive.
Anyone capable of accepting this bitter void with an aware-
ness of his own nescience, which would do a philosopher
proud, can also find an orientation path within this deviant
world. However, egotistically protecting his world view from
disintegrative disillusionment and attempting to combine them
with observations from this new divergent reality, only reaps
mental chaos. The latter has produced unnecessary conflicts
and disillusionment with the new rulership in some people;
others have subordinated themselves to the pathological reality.
One of the differences observed between a normally resistant
person and somebody who has undergone a transpersonifica-
tion is that the former is better able to survive this disintegrat-
236
NORMAL PEOPLE UNDER PATHOCRATIC RULE
ing cognitive void, whereas the latter fills the void with the
pathologic propaganda material without sufficient controls.
When the human mind comes into contact with this new re-
ality so different from any experiences encountered by a person
raised in a society dominated by normal people, it releases
psychophysiological shock symptoms in the human brain with
a higher tonus of cortex inhibition and a stifling of feelings,
which then sometimes gush forth uncontrollably. The mind
then works more slowly and less keenly because the associative
mechanisms have become inefficient. Especially when a person
has direct contact with psychopathic representatives of the new
rule, who use their specific experience so as to traumatize the
minds of the �others� with their own personalities, his mind
succumbs to a state of short-term catatonia. Their humiliating
and arrogant techniques, brutal paramoralizations, and so forth
deaden his thought processes and his self-defense capabilities,
and their divergent experiential method anchors in his mind. In
the presence of this kind of phenomenon, any moralizing
evaluation of a person�s behavior in such a situation thus be-
comes inaccurate at best.
Only once these unbelievably unpleasant psychological
states have passed, thanks to rest in benevolent company, is it
possible to reflect, always a difficult and painful process, or to
become aware that one�s mind and common sense have been
fooled by
Man and society stand at the beginning of a long road of
unknown experiences which, after much trial and error, finally
leads to a certain hermetic knowledge of what the qualities of
the phenomenon are and how best to build up psychological
resistance thereto. Especially during the dissimulative phase,
which makes it possible to adapt to life in this different world
and thus arrange more tolerable living conditions. We shall
then be able to observe psychological phenomena, knowledge,
immunization, and adaptation such as could not have been
predicted before and which cannot be understood in the world
remaining under the rule of normal man�s systems. A normal
person, however, can never completely adapt to a pathological
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
237
system; it is easy to be pessimistic about the final results of
this.
Such experiences are exchanged during evening discussions
among a circle of friends, thereby creating within people�s
minds a kind of cognitive conglomeration which is initially
incoherent and contains factual deficiencies. The participation
of moral categories in such a comprehension of the macrosocial
phenomenon, and the manner in which particular individuals
behave, is proportionally much greater within such a new
world view than the above adduced scientific knowledge would
dictate. The ideology officially preached by the pathocracy
continues to retain its ever-diminishing suggestive powers until
such time as human reason manages to localize it as something
subordinate, which is not descriptive of the essence of phe-
nomenon.
Moral and religious values, as well as a nation�s centuries-
old cultural heritage, furnish most societies with support for the
long road of both individual and collective searching through
the jungle of strange phenomena. This apperceptive capacity
possessed by people within the framework of the natural world
view contains a deficiency which hides the nucleus of the phe-
nomenon for many years. Under such conditions, both instinct
and feelings, and the resulting basic intelligence, play instru-
mental roles, stimulating man to make selections which are to a
great extent subconscious.
Under the conditions created by imposed pathocratic rule in
particular, where the described psychological deficiencies are
decisive in joining the activities of such a system, our natural
human instinctive substratum is an instrumental factor in join-
ing the opposition.
Similarly, the environmental, economic, and ideological
motivations which influenced the formation of an individual
personality, including those political attitudes which were as-
sumed earlier, play the role of modifying factors, though they
are not as enduring in time. The activity of these latter factors,
albeit relatively clear with relation to individuals, disappear
within the statistical approach and diminish through the years
of pathocratic rule. The decisions and the choices made for the
side of the society of normal people are once again finally de-
238
NORMAL PEOPLE UNDER PATHOCRATIC RULE
cided by factors usually inherited by biological means, and thus
not the product of the person�s option, and predominantly in
subconscious processes.
Man�s general intelligence, especially his intellectual level,
plays a relatively limited role in this process of selecting a path
of action, as expressed by statistically significant but low corre-
lation (-0.16). The higher a person�s general level of
harder it usually is for him to reconcile himself with this differ-
ent reality and to find a
At the same time, there are gifted and talented people who
join the pathocracy, and harsh words of contempt for the sys-
tem can be heard on the part of simple, uneducated people.
Only those people with the
which, as mentioned, does
unable to find meaning to life within such a system.106 They are
sometimes able to take advantage of their superior mentality in
order to find exceptional ways in which to be useful to others.
Wasting the best talents spells eventual catastrophe for any
social system.
Since those factors subject to the laws of genetics prove de-
cisive, society becomes divided, by means of criteria not
known before, into the adherents of the new rule, the new mid-
dle class mentioned above, and the
the properties which cause this new division appear in more or
less equal proportions within any old social group or level, this
new division cuts right through the traditional layers of society.
If we treat the former stratification, whose formation was deci-
sively influenced by the talent factor, as horizontal, the new
one should be referred to as vertical. The most instrumental
factor in the latter is good basic intelligence which, as we al-
ready know, is widely distributed throughout all social groups.
Even those people who were the object of social injustice in
the former system and then bestowed with another system,
which allegedly protected them, slowly start criticizing the
latter. Even though they were forced to join the pathocratic
party, most of the former prewar Communists in the author�s
106 Historically, pathocracies target the intelligentsia for elimination first. As
!obaczewski points out, this wasting of the best minds and talents eventually
leads to catastrophe. [Editor�s note.]
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
239
homeland later gradually became critical, using the most em-
phatic of language. They were first to deny that the ruling sys-
tem was Communist in nature, persuasively pointing out the
actual differences between the ideology and reality. They tried
to inform their comrades in still independent countries of this
by letters. Worried about this �treason�, these comrades trans-
mitted such letters to their local party in those other countries,
from where these were returned to the security police of the
country of origin. The authors of the letters paid with their lives
or with years of prison; no other social group was finally sub-
jected to such stringent police surveillance as were they.
Regardless of whatever our evaluation of Communist ideol-
ogy or the parties might be, we are presumably justified in
believing that the old Communists were quite competent to
distinguish what was and what was not in accordance with their
ideology and beliefs. Their highly emphatic statements on the
subject, quite popular among Poland�s old Communists circles,
are impressive or even persuasive.107 Because of the operational
language used therein, however, we must designate them as
overly moralizing interpretations not in keeping with the char-
acter of this work. At the same time, we must admit that the
majority of Poland�s prewar Communists were not psycho-
paths.
From the point of view of economics and reality, any sys-
tem wherein most of the property and workplaces are state
owned
nism. Such a system exhibits the traits of a primitive nine-
teenth-century capitalist exploiter who had an insufficient grasp
of his role in society and of how his interests were linked to his
workers� welfare. Workers are very much aware of these traits,
especially if they have collected a certain amount of knowledge
in connection with their political activities.
A reasonable socialist aiming to replace capitalism with
some system in conformity with his idea, which would be
based on worker participation in the administration of the work
place
variety of capitalism�. After all, concentrating capital and rul-
107 �A hoard of sons of bitches who climbed up to the feeding trough upon
the backs of the working class.�
240
NORMAL PEOPLE UNDER PATHOCRATIC RULE
ership in one place
be subject to the authority of fairness. Eliminating such a de-
generate form of capitalism should thus be a priority task for
any socialist. Nonetheless, such reasoning by means of social
and economic categories obviously misses the crux of the mat-
ter.
The experience of history teaches us that any attempt to re-
alize the Communist idea by way of revolutionary means,
whether violent or underhanded, leads to a skewing of this
process in the direction of anachronic and pathological forms
whose essence and contents remain inaccessible to minds util-
izing the concepts of the natural world view. Evolution con-
structs and transforms faster than revolution, and without such
tragic complications.
One of the first discoveries made by a society of normal
people is that it is superior to the new rulers in intelligence and
practical skills, no matter what geniuses they seek to appear to
be. The knots stultifying reason are gradually loosened, and
fascination with the new rulership�s non-existent secret knowl-
edge and plan of action begins to diminish, followed by famili-
arization with the accurate knowledge about this new deviant
reality.
The world of normal people is always superior to the devi-
ant one whenever constructive activity is needed, whether it be
the reconstruction of a devastated country, the area of technol-
ogy, the organization of economic life, or scientific and medi-
cal work. �They want to build things, but they can�t get much
done without us.� Qualified experts are frequently able to make
certain demands; unfortunately, they are just as often only con-
sidered qualified until the job has been done, at which point
they can be eliminated. Once the factory has started up, the
experts can leave; management will be taken over by someone
else, incapable of further progress, under whose leadership
much of the effort expended will be wasted.
As we have already pointed out, every psychological anom-
aly is in fact a kind of deficiency. Psychopathies are based
primarily upon
ever, their influence exerted upon the mental development of
others also leads to deficiencies in general intelligence, as dis-
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
241
cussed above. This deficiency of intelligence in a normal per-
son, induced by psychopathy, is
psychological knowledge we observe among some psycho-
paths. Such knowledge loses its mesmerizing power when
normal people learn to understand these phenomena as well.
The psychopathologist was thus not surprised by the fact that
the world of normal people is dominant regarding skill and
talent. For that society, however, this represented a discovery
which engendered hope and psychological relaxation.
Since our intelligence is superior to theirs, we
them and understand how they think and act. This is what a
person learns in such a system on his own initiative, forced by
everyday needs. He learns it while working in his office,
school, or factory, when he needs to deal with the authorities,
and when he is arrested, something only a few people manage
to avoid. The author and many others learned a good deal about
the psychology of this macrosocial phenomenon during com-
pulsory indoctrinational schooling. The organizers and lectur-
ers cannot have intended such a result. Practical knowledge of
this new reality thus grows, thanks to which the society gains a
resourcefulness of action which enables it to take ever better
advantage of the weak spots of the rulership system. This per-
mits gradual reorganization of societal links, which bears fruit
with time.
This new science is incalculably rich in casuist108 detail; I
would nevertheless characterize it as overly literary. It contains
knowledge and a description of the phenomenon in the catego-
ries of the natural world view, correspondingly modified in
accordance with the need to understand matters which are in
fact outside the scope of its applicability. This also opens the
door to the creation of certain doctrines which merit separate
study because they contain a partial truth, such as a de-
monologica
The development of familiarity with the phenomenon is ac-
companied by development of communicative language, by
108
sponse to a moral problem, often a moral dilemma, by drawing conclusions
based on parallels with agreed responses to pure cases, also called paradigms.
Casuistry is a method of ethical case analysis. [Editor�s note.]
242
NORMAL PEOPLE UNDER PATHOCRATIC RULE
means of which society can stay informed and issue warnings
of danger. A third language thus appears alongside the ideo-
logical doubletalk described above; in part, it borrows names
used by the official ideology in their transformed modified
meanings. In part, this language operates with words borrowed
from still more lively circulating jokes. In spite of its strange-
ness, this language becomes a useful means of communication
and plays a part in regenerating societal links. Lo and behold,
this language can be translated and communicated in relations
with residents of other countries with analogous governmental
systems, even if the other country�s �official ideology� is dif-
ferent. However, in spite of efforts on the part of literati and
journalists, this language remains only communicative inside;
it becomes hermetic outside the scope of the phenomenon,
uncomprehended by people lacking the appropriate personal
experience.
The specific role of certain individuals during such times is
worth pointing out; they participate in the discovery of the
nature of this new reality and help others find the right path.
They have a normal nature but experienced an unfortunate
childhood, being subjected very early to the domination of
individuals with various psychological deviations, including
pathological egotism and methods of terrorizing others. The
new rulership system strikes such people as a large scale socie-
tal multiplication of what they knew from personal experience.
From the very outset, such individuals saw this reality much
more prosaically, immediately treating the ideology in accor-
dance with the paralogistic stories well known to them, whose
purpose was to cloak the bitter reality of their youthful experi-
ences. They soon reach the truth, since
Such people are rarely understood in happy societies, but
they were invaluable then; their explanations and advice
proved accurate and were transmitted to others joining the net-
work of this apperceptive heritage. However, their own suffer-
ing was doubled, since this was too much of a similar kind of
abuse for one life to handle. They therefore nursed dreams of
escaping into the freedom still existing in the outside world.
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
243
Finally, society sees the appearance of individuals who have
collected exceptional intuitive perception and practical knowl-
edge in the area of how pathocrats think and how such a system
of rule operates. Some of them become so proficient in their
deviant language and its idiomatics that they are able to use it,
much like a foreign language they have learned well. Since
they are able to decipher the rulership�s intentions, such people
then offer advice to people who are having trouble with the
authorities. These advocates of the society of normal people
play a irreplaceable role in the life of society.
The pathocrats, however, can never learn to think in normal
human categories. At the same time, the inability to predict the
reaction of normal people to such an authority also leads to the
conclusion that the system is rigidly causative and lacking in
the natural freedom of choice.
This new science, expressed in language derived from a de-
viant reality, is something foreign to people who wish to under-
stand this macrosocial phenomenon but think in the categories
of the countries of normal man. Attempts to understand this
language produce a certain feeling of helplessness which gives
rise to the tendency of creating one�s own doctrines, built from
the concepts of one�s own world and a certain amount of ap-
propriately co-opted pathocratic propaganda material. Such a
doctrine, for example, would be the American anti-Communist
propaganda. Such twisted and distorted concepts makes it even
more difficult to understand that other reality. May the objec-
tive description adduced herein enable them to overcome the
impasse thus engendered.
In countries subjected to pathocratic rule, this knowledge
and language, especially human experience, create a mediating
concatenation in such a way that most people could assimilate
this objective description of the phenomenon without major
difficulties with the help of active apperception. Difficulties
will only be encountered by the oldest generation and a certain
proportion of young people raised in the system from child-
hood, and these are psychologically understandable.
I was once referred a patient who had been an inmate in a
Nazi concentration camp. She came back from that hell in such
exceptionally good condition that she was able to marry and
244
NORMAL PEOPLE UNDER PATHOCRATIC RULE
bear three children. However, her child rearing methods were
so extremely iron-fisted as to be reminiscent of the concentra-
tion camp life so stubbornly persevering in former prisoners.
The children�s reaction was neurotic protest and aggressiveness
against other children.
During the mother�s psychotherapy, we recalled the figures
of male and female SS officers to her mind, pointing out their
psychopathic characteristics (such people were primary re-
cruits). In order to help her eliminate their pathological mate-
rial from her person, I furnished her with the approximate sta-
tistical data regarding the appearance of such individuals
within the population as a whole. This helped her reach a more
objective view of that reality and re-establish trust in the soci-
ety of normal people.
During the next visit, the patient showed to me a little card
on which she had written the names of local pathocratic nota-
bles and added her own diagnoses, which were largely correct.
So I made a hushing gesture with my finger and admonished
her with emphasis that we were dealing only with her prob-
lems. The patient understood and, I am sure, she did not make
her reflections on the matter known in the wrong places.
Parallel to the development of practical knowledge and a
language of insider communication, other psychological phe-
nomena take form; they are truly significant in the transforma-
tion of social life under pathocratic rule, and discerning them is
essential if one wishes to understand individuals and nations
fated to live under such conditions and to evaluate the situation
in the political sphere. They include people�s psychological
immunization and their adaptation to life under such deviant
conditions.
The methods of psychological terror (that specific
pathocratic art), the techniques of pathological arrogance, and
the striding roughshod into other people�s souls initially have
such traumatic effects that people are deprived of their capacity
for purposeful reaction; I have already adduced the psycho-
physiological aspects of such states. Ten or twenty years later,
analogous behavior is already recognized as well known buf-
foonery and does not deprive the victim of his ability to think
and react purposefully. His answers are usually well-thought-
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
245
out strategies, issued from the position of a normal person�s
superiority and often laced with ridicule. When Man can look
suffering and even death in the eye with the required calm, a
dangerous weapon falls out of the ruler�s hands.
We have to understand that this process of immunization is
not merely a result of the above-described increase in practical
knowledge of the macrosocial phenomenon. It is the effect of a
many-layered, gradual process of growth in knowledge, famili-
arization with the phenomenon,
and moral principles, being worked out in the meantime. After
several years, the same stimuli which formerly caused chilly
spiritual impotence or mental paralysis now provoke the desire
to gargle with something strong so as to get rid of this filth.
There was a time when many people dreamed of finding
some pill which would make it easier to endure dealing with
the authorities or attending the forced indoctrination sessions
generally chaired by a psychopathic character. Some antide-
pressants did in fact prove to have the desired effect. Twenty
years later, this had been forgotten entirely.
~~~
246
NORMAL PEOPLE UNDER PATHOCRATIC RULE
At that time, I knew not only that up to 1/5 of all secret po-
lice officials wind up in psychiatric hospitals, I also knew that
their �occupational disease� is the
merly encountered only among old prostitutes. Man cannot
violate the natural human feelings inside him with impunity, no
matter what kind of profession he performs. From that view-
point, Comrade Captain was partially right. At the same time,
however, my reactions had become resistant, a far cry from
what they had been seventeen years earlier.
All these transformations of human consciousness and un-
consciousness result in individual and collective adaptation to
living under such a system. Under altered conditions of both
material and moral limitations, an existential resourcefulness
emerges which is prepared to overcome many difficulties. A
new network of the society of normal people is also created for
self-help and mutual assistance.
This society acts in concert and is aware of the true state of
affairs; it begins to develop ways of influencing various ele-
ments of authority and achieving goals which are socially use-
ful. Patiently instructing and convincing the rulership�s medio-
cre representatives takes considerable time and requires peda-
gogical skills. Therefore, the most even-tempered people are
selected for this job, people with sufficient familiarity with
their psychology and a specific talent for influencing
pathocrats. The opinion that society is totally deprived of any
influence upon government in such a country is thus inaccu-
rate. In reality, society does co-govern to a certain extent,
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
247
sometimes succeeding and sometimes failing in its attempt to
create more tolerable living conditions. This, however, occurs
in a manner totally different from what happens in democratic
countries.
These cognitive processes, psychological immunization,
and adaptation, permit the creation of new interpersonal and
societal links, which operate within the scope of the large ma-
jority we have already called the �society of normal people�.
These links extend discretely into the world of the regime�s
middle class, among people who can be trusted to a certain
extent. In time, the social links created are significantly
effective than those active in societies governed by normal
human systems. Exchange of information, warnings, and assis-
tance encompass the entire society. Whoever is able to do so
offers aid to anyone who finds himself in trouble, often in such
a way that the person helped does not even know who rendered
the assistance. However, if he caused his misfortune by his
own lack of circumspection with regard to the authorities, he
meets with reproach, but never the withholding of assistance.
It is possible to create such links because this new division
of society gives only limited consideration to factors such as
the level of talent, education or traditions attached to the former
social layers. Neither do reduced prosperity differences dis-
solve these links. One side of this division contains those of the
highest mental culture, simple ordinary people, intellectuals,
headwork specialists, factory workers, and peasants joined by
the common protest of their human nature against the domina-
tion of para-human experiential and governmental methods.
These links engender interpersonal understanding and fellow-
feeling among people and social groups formerly divided by
esses serving these links are of a more psychological character,
able to comprehend someone else�s motivations. At the same
time, the ordinary folk retain respect for people who have been
educated and represent intellectual values. Certain social and
moral values also appear and may prove to be permanent.
The genesis, however, of this great interpersonal solidarity
only becomes comprehensible when we know the nature of the
pathological macrosocial phenomenon which brought about the
248
NORMAL PEOPLE UNDER PATHOCRATIC RULE
liberation of such attitudes, complete with recognition of one�s
own humanity and that of others. Another reflection suggests
itself, namely how very different these great links are from
America�s �competitive society�, for whom the former � eco-
nomic and social differences - represent something which is
operational even though it crosses the boundaries of the imagi-
nation.
One would think that a nation�s cultural and intellectual life
would quickly degenerate when subjected to the country�s iso-
lation from the cultural and scientific links with other nations,
pathocratic limitations upon the development of one�s thought,
a censorship system, the mental level of the executives, and all
those other attributes of such rule. Reality nevertheless does
not validate such pessimistic predictions.
The necessity for constant mental effort so crucial for find-
ing some tolerable way of life, not totally bereft of moral sense
within such a deviant reality, causes the development of
phenomena. Protecting one�s mind from the effects of paralo-
gistic propaganda, as well as one�s personality from the influ-
ence of paramoralisms and the other techniques already de-
scribed,
to discern these phenomena. Such training is also a special kind
of common man�s university.
During such times, society reaches for historical sources in
searching for the ancient causes of its misfortunes and for ways
to improve its fate in the future. Scientific and societal minds
laboriously review the national history in quest of interpreta-
tions of the facts which would be more profound from the point
of view of psychological and moral realism. We soberly dis-
cern what happened years and centuries ago, perceiving the
errors of former generations and the results of intolerance or
emotionally weighted decision-making. Such a great review of
individual, social, and historical world views in this search for
meaning of life and history is a product of unhappy times and
will help along the way back to happy ones.
Another object of consideration became: moral problems
applicable in individual life as well as in history and politics.
The mind starts reaching ever deeper in this area, achieving
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
249
ever more subtle understanding of the matter, because it is
precisely in this world that the old oversimplifications proved
to be unsatisfactory. An understanding of other people, includ-
ing those who commit errors and crimes, appears in a problem-
solving way which was formerly underrated. Forgiveness is
only one step beyond understanding. As Mme. de Stael wrote:
�Tout comprendere, c�est tout pardoner�109.
A society�s religion is affected by analogous transforma-
tions. The proportion of the people maintaining religious be-
liefs is not significantly affected, particularly in countries
wherein the pathocracy was imposed; it does, however, un-
dergo a modification of the contents and quality of such beliefs
in such a way that religion in time becomes more attractive to
people raised indifferent to faith. The old religion, dominated
by tradition, ritual, and insincerity, now becomes transformed
into faith, conditioned by necessary studies and convictions
which determine behavioral criteria.
Anyone reading the Gospel during such times finds some-
thing that is hard to understand for other Christians. So real is
the similarity between the social relations, there under the gov-
ernment of ancient pagan Rome, and these under the atheistic
pathocracy, that the reader imagines the situations described
more easily and senses the reality of occurrences more vividly.
Such reading also furnishes him with encouragement and ad-
vice which he can use in his situations. Thus, during brutal
times of confrontation with evil, human capabilities of dis-
criminating phenomena become subtler; apperceptive and
moral sensibility develops. Critical faculties sometimes border
with cynicism.
~~~
�
109 �To understand all is to forgive all.�
110 Boles"aw Le#mian (born Boles"aw Lesman; 18781-1937) was a Polish
poet, artist and member of the Polish Academy of Literature. He was one of
the most influential poets of the early 20th century in Poland.[Editor�s note.]
250
NORMAL PEOPLE UNDER PATHOCRATIC RULE
As a result of all these transformations, including the de-
egotization of thought and attitude connected thereto, society
becomes capable of a mental creativity which goes beyond
normal conditions. This effort could be useful in any cultural,
technical, or economic area if the authorities did not oppose
and stifle it because they feel threatened by such activity.
Human genius is not born of lazy prosperity and among
genteel camaraderie, but rather stands in perpetual confronta-
tion with a recalcitrant reality which is different from ordinary
human imaginations. Under such conditions, wide-scale theo-
retical approaches are found to have practical existential value.
The old system of thought which remains in use in free coun-
tries starts to look backward, naive, and bereft of feeling of
values.
If nations which arrived at such a state were to regain their
freedom, many valuable accomplishments of human thought
would mature within a short time. No excessive fears would be
in order as to whether such a nation would then be capable of
elaborating a workable socio-economic system. Quite the con-
trary: the absence of egoistical pressure groups, the conciliatory
nature of a society which has years of bitter experience behind
it, and the penetrating, morally profound thought processes
would permit the way out to be found relatively rapidly. Dan-
ger and difficulty would rather come from outside pressures on
the part of nations which do not adequately understand the
conditions in such a country. But unfortunately, the pathocracy
cannot be dosed as a bitter medicine!
The older generation, raised in a normal man�s country,
generally reacts by developing the above-mentioned skills, i.e.
by enrichment; the younger generation, however, was raised
under pathocratic rule and thus succumbs to a greater world
view impoverishment, reflex rigidification of personality, and
domination by habitual structures, those typical results of the
operation of pathological personalities. Paralogistic propaganda
and its corresponding indoctrination are consciously rejected;
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
251
however, this process demands time and effort which could
better be used for active apperception of valuable contents. The
latter are accessible only with difficulty, due both to limitations
and to apperceptive problems. There arises the feeling of a
certain void which is hard to fill. In spite of human good will,
certain paralogisms and paramoralisms, as well as cognitive
materialism, anchor and persevere in brains. The human mind
is not able to disprove every single falsity which has been sug-
gested to it.
The emotional life of people raised within such a deviant
psychological reality is also fraught with difficulties. In spite of
critical reason, a certain saturation of a youngster�s personality
with pathological psychological material is unavoidable, as is a
degree of primitivization and rigidity of feelings. The constant
efforts to control one�s emotions, so as to avoid having some
stormy reaction provoke repression on the part of a vindictive
and retentive regime, cause feelings to be repressed into a role
of something rather problematic, something which should not
be given a natural outlet. Suppressed emotional reactions sur-
face later, when the person can afford to express them; they are
delayed and inappropriate to the situation at hand. Worries
about the future awaken egotism among people thus adapted to
life in a pathological social structure.
Neurosis is a natural response of human nature if a normal
person is subordinated to domination of pathological people.
The same applies to the subordination of a society and its
members to a pathological system of authority. In a pathocratic
state, every person with a normal nature thus exhibits a certain
chronic neurotic state, controlled by the efforts of reason. The
intensity of these states varies among individuals, depending
upon different circumstances, usually more serious in direct
proportion to the individual�s intelligence. Psychotherapy upon
such people is only possible and effective if we can rely on
adequate familiarity with the causes of these states. Western
educated psychologists thus prove completely impractical with
regard to such patients.
A psychologist working in such a country must develop
special operational techniques unknown and even unfathom-
able to specialists practicing in the free world. They have the
252
NORMAL PEOPLE UNDER PATHOCRATIC RULE
purpose of partially liberating the voice of instinct and feeling
from this abnormal over-control, and of rediscovering the voice
of nature�s wisdom within, but this must be done in such a way
as to avoid exposing the patient to the unfortunate results of
must live. A psychotherapist must operate carefully, with the
help of allusions, because only rarely may he openly inform the
patient of the system�s pathological nature. However, even
under such conditions, we can achieve a greater experiential
freedom, more appropriate thought processes, and better deci-
sion making capabilities. As a result of all this, the patient sub-
sequently behaves with greater caution and feels much safer.
If Western radio stations, unhampered by the fears of psy-
chologists on the other side, abandoned the simple counter
propaganda in favor of a similar psychotherapeutic technique,
they would contribute mightily to the future of countries still
under pathocratic rule today. Toward the end of this book, I
shall attempt to persuade the reader that psychological matters
are as important to the future as grand politics or powerful
weapons.
Understanding
Comprehending those normal people, whether outstanding
or average, fated to live under pathocratic rule, their human
nature and their responses to this basically deviant reality, their
dreams, their methods of comprehending such a reality (includ-
ing all the difficulties along the road), and their need to adapt
and become resistant (including the side-effects) is a
tively assist them in their efforts to achieve a normal man�s
system. It would be psychologically impossible for a politician
in a free country to incorporate the practical knowledge such
people acquired over many years of day to day experience.
This knowledge cannot be transmitted; no journalistic or liter-
ary efforts will ever achieve anything in this area. However, an
analogous science formulated in objective naturalistic language
can be communicated in both directions. It can be assimilated
by people who have no such specific experiences; it can also be
back transmitted over there where a great need for this science
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
253
exists as do the minds which are already prepared to receive it.
Such a science would actually act upon their battered personali-
ties in much the same way as the best of medicines. Mere
awareness that one was subject to the influence of a mental
deviant is in and of itself a crucial part of treatment.
Whoever wants to maintain the freedom of his country and
of the world already threatened by this macrosocial pathologi-
cal phenomenon, whoever would like to heal this sick planet of
ours, should not only understand the nature of this great dis-
ease, but should also be conscious of potentially regenerative
healing powers.
Every country within the scope of this macrosocial phe-
nomenon contains a large majority of normal people living and
suffering there who will never accept pathocracy; their protest
against it derives from the depths of their own souls and their
human nature as conditioned by properties transmitted by
means of biological heredity. The forms of this protest and the
ideologies by which they would like to realize their natural
wishes may nevertheless change.
The ideology or societal structure via which they would like
to regain their human right to live in a normal man�s system
are, however, of secondary importance to these people. There
are of course differences of opinion in this area, but they are
not likely to lead to overly violent conflict among persons who
see before them a goal worthy of sacrifice.
Those whose attitudes are more penetrating and balanced
see the original ideology as it was before its caricaturization by
the ponerization process, as the most practical basis for effect-
ing society�s aims. Certain modifications would endow this
ideology with a more mature form more in keeping with the
demands of present times; it could thereupon serve as the foun-
dation for a process of evolution, or rather transformation, into
an socio-economic system capable of adequate functioning.
The author�s convictions are somewhat different. Grave dif-
ficulties could be caused by outside pressure aiming at the in-
troduction of an economic system which has lost its historically
conditioned roots in such a country.
People who have long had to live in the strange world of
this divergence are therefore hard to understand for someone
254
NORMAL PEOPLE UNDER PATHOCRATIC RULE
who has fortunately avoided that fate. Let us refrain from im-
posing imaginings upon them which are only meaningful
within the world of normal man�s governments; let us not pi-
geonhole them into any political doctrines which are often
quite unlike the reality they are familiar with. Let us welcome
them with feelings of human solidarity, reciprocal respect, and
a greater trust in their normal human nature and their reason.
CHAPTER VII
PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY
UNDER PATHOCRATIC RULE
If there were ever such a thing as a country with a commu-
nist structure as envisaged by Karl Marx, wherein the working
people�s leftist ideology would be the basis for government,
which, I believe, would be stern, but not bereft of healthy hu-
manistic thought, the contemporary social, bio-humanistic, and
medical sciences would be considered valuable and be appro-
priately developed and used for the good of the working peo-
ple. Psychological advice for youth and for persons with vari-
ous personal problems would naturally be the concern of the
authorities and of society as a whole. Seriously ill patients
would have the advantage of correspondingly skillful care.
However, quite the opposite is the case within a pathocratic
structure.
When I came to the West, I met people with leftist views
who unquestioningly believed that communist countries existed
in more or less the form expounded by American versions of
communist political doctrines. These persons were almost cer-
tain that psychology and psychiatry must enjoy freedom in
those countries referred to as communist, and that matters were
similar to what was mentioned above. When I contradicted
them, they refused to believe me and kept asking why, �why
256
PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY
isn�t it like that?�
111
My attempts to explain what that other reality looks like met
with the difficulties we are already familiar with, although
some people had previously heard about the abuse of psychia-
try. However, such �whys� kept cropping up in conversation,
and remained unanswered.
The situation in these scientific areas, of social and curative
activities, and of the people occupied in these matters, can only
be comprehended once we have perceived the true nature of
pathocracy in the light of the ponerological approach.
Let us thus imagine something which is only possible in
theory, namely, that a country under pathocratic rule is inadver-
tently allowed to freely develop these sciences, enabling a
normal influx of scientific literature and contacts with scientists
in other countries. Psychology, psychopathology, and psychia-
try would flourish abundantly and produce outstanding repre-
sentatives.
What would the result be?
111 In 1950, the Russian Academy of Sciences determined everyone would
follow the theory of the Moscow professor Andrei Snezhnevsky, which held
that �anybody could suffer from �slowly progressing schizophrenia�. One
could suffer from it without knowing, but once Snezhnevsky or one of his
followers had ascertained that you were ill with it, you had to be locked up
and knocked down with sedatives immediately, or the disease would �pro-
gress�. ...dissidents are simply locked up in a psychiatric institution and said
to be insane.�
Up until his death in 1987 Snezhnevsky denied that his theory was being
abused by the Soviet regime. But his former assistants now admit, that he
knew �all too well� what was going on. The only problem is, that those assis-
tants still talk about it only on the sly. They work at the Moscow institutes
where the scientific successors of Snezhnevsky are still in charge. This clique
of about thirty or forty psychiatrists at the time controlled all the important
institutes for scientific research in Moscow and this is practically the same up
to now. The consequence of Snezhnevsky�s ideas, apart from the fact that
Soviet Union �is confronted with a gap of about fifty years�. Western litera-
ture on psychiatry was forbidden in the Soviet Union,
try�, an interview with Robert van Voren, General Secretary of Geneva Ini-
tiative on Psychiatry, published in the Dutch newspaper
August 9, 1997 [Editor�s note.]
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
257
This accumulation of proper knowledge would, within a
very short time, enable the undertaking of investigations whose
meaning we already understand. Missing elements and insuffi-
ciently investigated questions would be complemented and
deepened by means of the appropriate detailed research. The
diagnosis of the pathocratic state of affairs would then be
elaborated within the first dozen or so years of the formation of
the pathocracy, especially if the latter is imposed. The basis of
the deductive rationale would be significantly wider than any-
thing the author can present here, and would be illustrated by
means of a rich body of analytical and statistical material.
Once transmitted to world opinion, such a diagnosis would
quickly become incorporated into it that opinion, forcing naive
political and propaganda doctrines out of societal conscious-
ness. It would reach the nations that were the objects of the
pathocratic empire�s expansionist intentions. This would render
the usefulness of any such propagandized ideology as a
pathocratic Trojan horse doubtful at best.
In spite of differences among them, other countries with
normal human systems would be united by characteristic soli-
darity in the defense of an understood danger, similar to the
solidarity linking normal people living under pathocratic rule.
This consciousness, popularized in the countries affected by
this phenomenon, would simultaneously reinforce psychologi-
cal resistance on the part of normal human societies and furnish
them with new measures of self defense.
Can any pathocratic empire risk permitting such a possibil-
ity?
In times when the above-mentioned disciplines are develop-
ing swiftly in many countries, the problem of preventing such a
psychiatric threat becomes a matter of �to be or not to be� for
pathocracy. Any possibility of such a situation emerging must
thus be staved off prophylactically and skillfully, both within
and without the empire. At the same time, the empire is able to
find effective preventive measures thanks to its consciousness
of being different as well as that specific psychological knowl-
edge of psychopaths with which we are already familiar, par-
tially reinforced by academic knowledge.
258
PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY
Both inside and outside the boundaries of countries affected
by the above-mentioned phenomenon,
Any scientific papers published under such governments or
imported from abroad must be monitored to ascertain that they
do not contain any data which could be harmful to the pathoc-
racy. Specialists with superior talent become the objects of
blackmail and malicious control. This of course causes the
results to become inferior with reference to these areas of sci-
ence.
The entire operation must of course be managed in such a
way as to avoid attracting the attention of public opinion in
countries with normal human structures. The effects of such a
�bad break� could be too far-reaching. This explains why peo-
ple caught doing investigative work in this area are destroyed
without a sound and suspicious persons are forced abroad to
become the objects of appropriately organized harassment
campaigns there.112
Battles are thus being fought on secret fronts which may be
reminiscent of the Second World War. The soldiers and leaders
fighting in various theaters were not aware that their fate de-
pended on the outcome of that other war, waged by scientists
and other soldiers, whose goal was preventing the Germans
from producing the atom bomb. The Allies won that battle, and
the United States became the first to possess this lethal weapon.
For the present, however, the West keeps losing scientific and
political battles on this new secret front. Lone fighters are
looked upon as odd, denied assistance, or forced to work hard
for their bread. Meanwhile, the ideological Trojan horse keeps
invading new countries.
An examination of the methodology of such battles, both on
the internal and the external fronts, points to that specific
pathocratic knowledge so difficult to comprehend in the light
of the natural language of concepts. In order to be able to con-
trol people and those relatively non-popularized areas of sci-
112 This is also why !obaczewski was deprived of the data he had assembled
over so many years that would have supported the information presented in
this book. [Editor�s note.]
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
259
ence, one must know, or be able to sense, what is going on and
which fragments of psychopathology are most dangerous. The
examiner of this methodology thus also becomes aware of the
boundaries and imperfections of this self-knowledge and prac-
tice, i.e. the other side�s weaknesses, errors, and gaffes, and
may manage to take advantage of them.
In nations with pathocratic systems, supervision over scien-
tific and cultural organizations is assigned to a special depart-
ment of especially trusted people, a �Nameless Office� com-
posed almost entirely of relatively intelligent persons who be-
tray characteristic psychopathic traits. These people must be
capable of completing their academic studies, albeit sometimes
by forcing examiners to issue generous evaluations. Their tal-
ents are usually inferior to those of average students, especially
regarding psychological science. In spite of that, they are re-
warded for their services by obtaining academic degrees and
positions and are allowed to represent their country�s scientific
community abroad. As especially trusted individuals, they are
allowed to
even to avoid joining it entirely. In case of need, they might
then pass for non-party. In spite of that, these scientific and
cultural superintendents are well known to the society of nor-
mal people, who learn the art of differentiation rather quickly.
They are not always properly distinguished from agents of the
political police; although they consider themselves to be in a
better class than the latter, they must nevertheless cooperate
with them.
We often meet with such people abroad, in the countries of
normal people, where various foundations and institutes give
them scientific grants with the conviction that they are thereby
assisting the development of proper knowledge in countries
under �communist� governments. These benefactors do not
realize that they are rendering a disservice to such science and
to real scientists by allowing the supervisors to attain a certain
semi-authentic authority, and by allowing them to become
more familiar with whatever they shall later deem to be dan-
gerous.
After all, those people shall later have the power to permit
someone to take a doctorate, embark upon a scientific career,
260
PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY
achieve academic tenure, and become promoted. Very medio-
cre scientists themselves, they attempt to knock down more
talented persons, governed both by self-interest and that typical
jealousy which characterizes a pathocrat�s attitude toward nor-
mal people. They will be the ones monitoring scientific papers
for their �proper ideology� and attempting to ensure that a
good specialist will be denied the scientific literature he
needs.113
Controls are exceptionally malicious and treacherous in the
psychological sciences in particular, for reasons now under-
standable to us. Written and unwritten lists are compiled for
subjects that may not be taught, and corresponding directives
are issued to appropriately distort other subjects. This list is so
vast in the area of psychology that nothing remains of this sci-
ence except a skeleton picked bare of anything that might be
subtle or penetrating.
A psychiatrist�s required curriculum contains neither the
minimal knowledge from the areas of general, developmental,
and clinical psychology, nor the basic skills in psychotherapy.
Due to such a state of affairs, the most mediocre or privileged
of physicians become a psychiatrist after a course of study
lasting only weeks. This opens the door of psychiatric careers
to individuals who are by nature inclined to serving the
pathocratic authority, and it has fateful repercussions upon the
level of the treatment. It later permits psychiatry to be abused
for purposes for which it should never be used.114
113 Based on many reports of the past 5 years, it seems that the United States
is well on its way to having a similar system. In fact, careful analysis indi-
cates that such a system has been in place for some time now. [Editor�s note.]
114 In Ukraine brain surgery is being performed on schizophrenics. �Ukraine
is confronted with a lack of money, which means no money to buy medi-
cines, so they look for alternative methods of treatment. Then there are psy-
chiatrists in Dnepropetrovsk who think: suppose we cut away a piece of
brain, then we can get rid of schizophrenia cheaply.� Van Voren imagines
what they might think: �Maybe we�ll even get the Nobel prize! One can never
know!.�
� �On the other hand�, he continues, �they know just as well that this kind of
operation is not really accepted. So these schizophrenics become supposedly
epileptic, since in extreme cases of epilepsy surgery might be performed.
Under this pretext they cut away pieces of brain.� The Institute of Neurosur-
gery in Kiev goes even further: there, brain tissue of aborted embryos is
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
261
Since they are undereducated, these psychologists then
prove helpless in the face of many human problems, especially
in cases where detailed knowledge is needed. Such knowledge
must then be acquired on one�s own, a feat not everyone is able
to manage.
Such behavior carries in its wake a good deal of damage
and human injustice in areas of life which have nothing what-
soever to do with politics. Unfortunately, however,
Specialists in the areas of psychology and psychopathology
would find an analysis of this system of prohibitions and rec-
ommendations to be highly interesting. This makes it possible
implanted in the brains of mentally disabled people. �They say they can cure
disabled people that way. Of course nothing happens or their situation even
worsens, but they ask thousands of dollars for it.�
�In Ukrainian psychiatry insulin is being used as a tranquillizer, i.e. it is
administered in such doses, that the patient lapses into a coma. �A kill or cure
remedy. It is being applied in high doses, while diabetics are dying because
there is not enough insulin. Nonsense, absolute nonsense.� He continues:
�Electroshocks, on large scale.� In the Central Psychiatric Institution in Kiev
they are given a dozen a time, without anaesthesia or muscle-relaxant drugs.
Once patients have been given a clean bill of health, they can get another
dozen of shocks on the day of departure: �something like a severance pay.
And all of this is happening now�, concludes Van Voren, �it is happening
today, at this very moment.�
�In Russian newspapers one can freely write about the political abuse of
psychiatry. But officially the doctrine of Snezhnevsky was never revoked.
Most psychiatrists in Moscow still even believe in it. �As a consequence, no
structural change is possible in Moscow. Even now people who hold a posi-
tion at one of those institutes and who want to talk in public about the abuse
of psychiatry are being told that they should better shut up or find themselves
a job elsewhere. This way much of the old power is maintained.�
�Under the pretext of �progressing schizophrenia� dissidentss are still being
locked up in the former Soviet Union, but mainly in the provinces and it is
not so �easy� to do anymore, says Van Voren.
People who are unwelcome to the local authorities might land in an institu-
tion, but nowadays there are organisations for human rights and media who
can get them out. In Turkmenistan it still happens officially. �That is a mu-
seum of the old Stalinist Soviet Union and there the theory has been re-
stored.�� �A Mess in Psychiatry�, an interview with Robert van Voren, Gen-
eral Secretary of Geneva Initiative on Psychiatry, published in the Dutch
newspaper
262
PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY
to realize that this may be one of the roads via which we can
reach the crux of the matter or the nature of this macrosocial
phenomenon. The prohibitions engulf
analysis of the human
As already pointed out in the chapter introducing some in-
dispensable concepts, an understanding of human instinct is a
key to understanding man; however, a knowledge of said in-
stinct�s anomalies also represents a key to understanding
pathocracy.
Although used ever more rarely in psychological practice,
dream analysis shall always remain the best school of psycho-
logical thought; that makes it dangerous by nature. Conse-
quently, even research on the psychology of mate selection is
frowned upon, at best.
The essence of psychopathy may not, of course, be re-
searched or elucidated. Darkness is cast upon this matter by
means of an intentionally devised definition of psychopathy
which includes various kinds of character disorders, together
with those caused by completely different and known causes.115
This definition must be memorized not only by every lecturer
in psychopathology, psychiatrist, and psychologist, but also by
some political functionaries with no education in that area.
This definition must be used in all public appearances
whenever it is for some reason impossible to avoid the subject.
However, it is preferable for a lecturer in such areas to be
someone who always believes whatever is most convenient in
his situation, and whose intelligence does not predestine him to
delve into subtle differentiations of a psychological nature.
It is also worth pointing out here that the chief doctrine of
said system reads �
it belongs to psychology rather than to any political doctrine.
This doctrine actually contradicts a good deal of empirical data
indicating the role of hereditary factors in the development of
man�s personality and fate. Lecturers may refer to research on
identical twins, but only in a brief, cautious, and formal fash-
115 This is also the case in the U.S. as noted in several articles by Robert
Hare. [Editor�s note.]
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
263
ion. Considerations on this subject may, however, not be pub-
lished in print.
We return once more to this system�s peculiar psychological
�genius� and its self-knowledge. One might admire how the
above mentioned definitions of psychopathy effectively blocks
the ability to comprehend phenomena covered therein. We may
investigate the relationships between these prohibitions and the
essence of the macrosocial phenomenon they in fact mirror.
We may also observe the limits of these skills and the errors
committed by those who execute this strategy. These shortcom-
ings are skillfully taken advantage of for purposes of smug-
gling through some proper knowledge on the part of the more
talented specialists, or by elderly people no longer fearful for
their careers or even their lives.
The �ideological� battle is thus being waged on territory
completely unperceived by scientists living under governments
of normal human structures and attempting to imagine that
other reality. This applies to all people denouncing �Commu-
nism�, as well as those for whom this ideology has become
their faith.
Shortly after arriving in the U.S.A. , I was handed a news-
paper by a young black man on some street in Queens, N.Y. I
reached for my purse, but he waved me off; the paper was free.
The front page showed a picture of a young and handsome
Brezhnev decorated with all the medals he did not in fact re-
ceive until much later. On the last page, however, I found a
quite well-worked-out summary of investigations performed at
the University of Massachusetts on identical twins raised sepa-
rately. These investigations furnished empirical indications for
the important role of heredity, and the description contained a
literary illustration of the similarity of the fates of twin pairs.
How far �ideologically disorientated� the editors of this paper
must have been to publish something which could never have
appeared in the area subjected to a supposedly Communist
system.116
116 The freedom that !obaczewski noted in the U.S. in the 1980 is fast being
replaced by an almost total pathocracy. It won�t be long before such articles
are censored in U.S. newspapers as well, unless, of course, the study is �de-
signed� to prove the superiority of psychopathy. [Editor�s note.]
264
PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY
In that other reality, the battlefront crosses every study of
psychology and psychiatry, every psychiatric hospital, every
mental health consultation center, and the personality of every-
one working in these areas. What takes place there: hidden
thrust-and-parry duels, a smuggling through of true scientific
information and accomplishments, and harassment.
Some people become morally derailed under these condi-
tions, whereas others create a solid foundation for their convic-
tions and are prepared to undertake difficulty and risk in order
to obtain honest knowledge so as to serve the sick and needy.
The initial motivation of this latter group is thus not political in
character, since it derives from their good will and professional
decency. Their consciousness of the political causes of the
limitations and the political meaning of this battle is raised
later, in conjunction with experience and professional maturity,
especially if their experience and skills must be used in order to
save persecuted people.
In the meantime, however, the necessary scientific data and
papers must be obtained somehow, taking difficulties and other
people�s lack of understanding into account. Students and be-
ginning specialists not yet aware of what was removed from
the educational curricula attempt to gain access to the scientific
data stolen from them. Science starts to be degraded at a worri-
some rate once such awareness is missing.
~~~
We need to understand the nature of the macrosocial phe-
nomenon as well as that basic relationship and controversy
between the pathological system and those areas of science
which describe psychological and psychopathological phenom-
ena. Otherwise, we cannot become fully conscious of the rea-
sons for such a government�s long published behavior.
A normal person�s actions and reactions, his ideas and
moral criteria, all too often strike abnormal individuals as
ier if he possesses authority, then he would consider a normal
person different and therefore abnormal, whether in reality or
as a result of conversive thinking. That explains why such peo-
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
265
ple�s government shall always have the tendency to treat any
dissidents as �mentally abnormal�.
Operations such as driving a normal person into psycho-
logical illness and the use of psychiatric institutions for this
purpose take place in many countries in which such institutions
exist. Contemporary legislation binding upon normal man�s
countries is not based upon an adequate understanding of the
psychology of such behavior, and thus does not constitute a
sufficient preventive measure against it.
Within the categories of a normal psychological world
view, the motivations for such behavior were variously under-
stood and described: personal and family accounts, property
matters, intent to discredit a witness� testimony, and even po-
litical motivations. Such defamatory suggestions are used par-
ticularly often by individuals who are themselves not entirely
normal, whose behavior has driven someone to a nervous
breakdown or to violent protest. Among hysterics, such behav-
ior tends to be a projection onto other people of one�s own self-
critical associations.
Therefore, when we set up a sufficient number of examples
of this kind or collect sufficient experience in this area, another
more essential motivational level for such behavior becomes
apparent. What happens as a rule is that the idea of driving
someone into mental illness issues from minds with various
aberrations and psychological defects. Only rarely does the
component of pathological factors take part in the ponerogene-
sis of such behavior from outside its agents. Well thought out
and carefully framed legislation should therefore require testing
of individuals whose suggestions that someone else is psycho-
logically abnormal are too insistent or too doubtfully founded.
On the other hand, any system in which the abuse of psy-
chiatry for allegedly political reasons has become a common
phenomenon should be examined in the light of similar psycho-
logical criteria extrapolated onto the macrosocial scale. Any
person rebelling internally against a governmental system,
which shall always strike him as foreign and difficult to under-
stand, and who is unable to hide this well enough, shall thus
266
PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY
easily be designated by the representatives of said government
as �mentally abnormal�, someone who should submit to psy-
chiatric treatment. A scientifically and morally degenerate psy-
chiatrist becomes a tool easily used for this purpose. Thus is
born the sole method of terror and human torture unfamiliar
even to the secret police of Czar Alexander II.
knowledge and treatment must first be degraded to prevent it
from jeopardizing the system itself by pronouncing a dramatic
diagnosis, and must then be used as an expedient tool in the
hands of the authorities. In every country, however, one meets
with people who notice this and act astutely against it.
The pathocracy feels increasingly threatened by this area
whenever the medical and psychological sciences make pro-
gress. After all, not only can these sciences knock the weapon
of
strike at its very nature, and from inside the empire, at that.
A specific perception of these matters therefore bids the
pathocracy to be �ideationally alert� in this area. This also ex-
plains why anyone who is both too knowledgeable in this area
and too far outside the immediate reach of such authorities
should be accused of anything that can be trumped up, includ-
ing psychological abnormality.
CHAPTER VIII
PATHOCRACY AND RELIGION
Monotheistic faith strikes a contemporary thinker primarily
as an incomplete induction derived from ontological knowl-
edge about the laws governing microcosmic and macrocosmic
material and organic and psychological life, as well as being a
result of certain encounters accessible by means of introspec-
tion. The rest complements this induction by means of items
man gains by other ways and accepts either individually or in
accordance with the dictates of his religion and creed. A sound-
less, wordless voice unconsciously awakens our associations,
reaches our awareness in the quiet of mind, and either comple-
ments or rebukes our cognition; this phenomenon is every bit
as true as whatever has become accessible to science thanks to
modern investigative methods.
In perfecting our cognition in the psychological field and at-
taining truths formerly available only to mystics, we render
ever narrower the space of nescience which until recently sepa-
rated the realm of spiritual perception from naturalistic science.
Sometime in the not too distant future, these two cognitions
will meet and certain divergences will become self evident. It
would thus be better if we were prepared for it. Almost from
the outset of my deliberations on the genesis of evil, I have
been conscious of the fact that the investigative results con-
cisely presented in this work can be used to further complete
that space which is so hard for the human mind to enter.
268
PATHOCRACY AND RELIGION
The ponerological approach throws new light upon age-old
questions heretofore regulated by the dictates of moral systems
and must of necessity bring about a revision in thought meth-
ods. As a Christian, the author was initially apprehensive that
this would cause dangerous collisions with ancient tradition.
Studying the question in the light of the Scriptures caused these
apprehensions gradually to fade away. Rather, this now appears
to be the way to bring our thought processes closer to that
Quite characteristically, reading the Gospels can provide teach-
ings clearly convergent with the method of understanding evil
derived from naturalistic investigations on its origin. At the
same time, we must foresee that the process of correction and
conformation will be laborious and time consuming, which
ultimately will probably prevent any major tumult.
Religion is an eternal phenomenon. A sometimes overly ac-
tive imagination would at first complement whatever esoteric
perception could not handle. Once civilization and its concur-
rent discipline of thought reaches a certain level of develop-
ment, a monotheistic idea tends to emerge, generally as a con-
viction of a certain mental elite. Such development in religious
thought can be considered a historical law rather than individ-
ual discovery by such people like Zarathustra or Socrates. The
march of religious thought through history constitutes an indis-
pensable factor of the formation of human consciousness.
Acceptance of religion�s basic truths opens to man a whole
field of possible cognition wherein his mind can search for the
truth. At that point, we also free ourselves of certain psycho-
logical impediments and gain a certain freedom of cognition in
areas accessible to naturalistic perception. Rediscovering the
true, ancient, religious values strengthens us, showing us the
meaning of life and history. It also facilitates our introspective
acceptance of phenomena within ourselves for which naturalis-
tic perception proves insufficient. Parallel to our self knowl-
edge, we also develop our ability to understand other people,
thanks to the acceptance of the existence of an analogous real-
ity within our neighbor.
These values become priceless whenever man is forced into
maximum mental effort and profound deliberations in action so
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
269
as to avoid stumbling into evil, danger, or exceptional difficul-
ties. If there is no possibility of apprehending a situation fully,
but a way out must nevertheless be found for one�s self, family,
or nation, we are indeed fortunate if we can hear that silent
voice within saying �Don�t do this� or �trust me, do this�.
We could thus say that this cognition and faith simultane-
ously supporting our mind and multiplying our spiritual
strength constitute the sole basis for survival and resistance in
situations wherein a person or nation is threatened by the prod-
ucts of ponerogenesis, which cannot be measured in the catego-
ries of the natural world view. That is the opinion of many
righteous people. We cannot contradict the basic value of such
a conviction, but
No major religion indicates the nature of the macrosocial
pathological phenomenon; therefore we cannot consider relig-
ious dictates as a specific basis for overcoming this great his-
torical disease. Religion is neither a specific serum nor an ae-
tiotropically active antibiotic with regard to the phenomenon of
pathocracy. Although it constitutes a regenerative factor for the
spiritual strength of individuals and societies, religious truth
does not contain the specific naturalistic knowledge which is
essential for understanding the pathology of the phenomenon,
and which is simultaneously a curative and a resistance gener-
ating factor for human personalities. Rather, religious faith and
the phenomenon of pathocracy are in fact at
there can be no true collision between religion and the pone-
rological knowledge about the macrosocial pathological phe-
nomenon.
If we based our societal defense and treatment with regard
to destructive influences of pathocracy only upon the truest
religious values, this would be reminiscent of curing an insuffi-
ciently comprehended disease exclusively by measures which
strengthen body and soul. Such general therapy may furnish
satisfactory results in many cases, but
270
PATHOCRACY AND RELIGION
gory.
The fact that this pathocratic phenomenon, which has
spread to the most wide-ranging scale in human history, dem-
onstrates hostility to any and all religion does not imply the
conclusion that it is the opposite of religion. This dependence
would be structured differently under other historical and con-
temporary conditions. In the light of historical data,
The specific basis for healing our sick world, which is also a
curative factor for restoring full reasoning capabilities to the
human personality, must therefore be the kind of science which
renders the essence of the phenomenon evident and describes it
in sufficiently objective language. Resistance to the acceptance
of such knowledge is often justified by religious motivation; it
is largely caused by the egotism of the natural world view in its
traditional overrating of its values and fear of disintegration,
and it must be constructively overcome.
~~~
The pathocratic phenomenon has appeared many times in
history, feeding parasitically upon various social movements,
deforming their structures and ideologies in a characteristic
fashion. It must therefore have met with various religious sys-
tems and with a variety of historical and cultural backgrounds.
Two basic possibilities for a relationship between this phe-
nomenon and a religious system can thus be adduced. The first
occurs when the religious association itself succumbs to infec-
tion and the ponerogenic process, which leads to development
of the above-mentioned phenomena within it. The second pos-
sibility emerges if a pathocracy develops as a parasite upon
some social movement whose character is secular and political,
which must inevitably lead to collision with religious organiza-
tions.
117 Not to mention the fact that currently, the neocon-Bush administration is
using Christianity as the ideology by which they mask pathocracy. [Editor�s
note.]
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
271
In the first case, the religious association succumbs to de-
struction from within, its organism becomes subordinated to
goals completely different from the original idea, and its the-
osophic and moral values fall prey to characteristic deforma-
tion, thereupon serving as a disguise for domination by patho-
logical individuals.
Anyone criticizing such a state of affairs is condemned with
idea and faith in God, but actually because he feels and thinks
within the categories of normal people. Such a system retains
the name of the original religion and many other specific
names, swearing on the prophet�s beard while using this for its
doubletalk.
When such phenomena are long-lasting, those people who
have retained their faith in religious values will condemn such
a state of affairs, thereby indicating that it diverges widely from
the truth. They will unfortunately do so without understanding
the nature and causes of the pathological phenomenon, i.e. in
moral categories, thus committing the malignant error with
which we are already familiar. They shall take advantage of
some amenable geopolitical situation in protesting such a state
of affairs, breaking away from the original system and creating
various sects and denominations.
This kind of breakdown can be considered a characteristic
consequence of any movement�s infection by this disease, be it
religious or secular. Religious conflict thereupon assumes the
character of political partitions, giving rise to warfare among
various believers in the same God.
As we know, this state evolves into the dissimulative phase
once human rancor starts to become exhausted; however, this
form will be much more long-lasting than a pathocracy feeding
on a secular movement. Human individuals cannot easily con-
tain the entire process within their frame of reference, since
118 As is the case in the United States and Israel today. [Editor�s note.]
272
PATHOCRACY AND RELIGION
such a state spans many generations; their criticism will thus be
limited to the questions they are immediately familiar with.
However, this gives rise to a gradual but uncoordinated pres-
sure front of reasonable people, thereby instigating some kind
of evolution within any group thus engendered.
Whether this process achieves its definitive goals depends
upon two conditions:
place us in a position wherein the definitive elimination of the
effects of the surmounted illness requires an
the leftover pathological deformations which would survive as
a factor opening the door to renewed contamination.
Some religious groups may have been started by persons
who were carriers of certain psychological anomalies. Particu-
lar attention should be focused upon largely paranoidal charac-
teropathies and their above-discussed role in instigating new
phases of ponerogenesis. For such people, the world of normal
human experience (including religious experience) succumbs
to deformation; spellbinding of self and others easily follows,
imposed upon other people by means of pathological egotism.
We can observe marginal Christian sects today whose begin-
nings were doubtless of this nature.
If a religion which later fell apart into numerous doctrinal
variations had such a beginning, the above-mentioned regen-
erative processes effected by healthy common sense will bring
about a point of advancement that the said religion�s ministers
perceive to be a threat to the religion�s existence.
Such is the state of affairs we may be actually witnessing to-
day.
However, the mere fact that some religious association has
succumbed to the ponerization process does not constitute
proof that the original gnosis or vision was contaminated from
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
273
the outset by errors which opened the door to invasion by
pathological factors, or that it was an effect of their influence.
In order for the doors to be opened to infection by pathological
factors and furthering progressive degeneration, it suffices for
such a religious movement to succumb to contamination
on the part of initially foreign archetypes of secular civiliza-
tion, or of compromises with the goals of the country�s rulers.
This succinct summary repeats my above adduced causes
and laws of the course of the ponerological process, this time
with regard to religious groups. Important differences should
be underscored, however. Religious associations are among the
most enduring and long-lived social structures, historically
speaking.
ion so much that every such group, provided it is numerous
enough, will contain a large number of normal people (gener-
ally the majority) who do not become discouraged and form a
permanent wing inhibiting the process of ponerization. The
equilibrium of the dissimulative phase is thus also to the advan-
tage of those people whose human and religious feelings are
normal. Nonetheless, isolated generations may thus have the
impression that the observed state represents its permanent and
essential characteristics, including the errors they cannot ac-
cept.
We must therefore pose the following question: Can the
most constant and sensible action based on the natural world
view and theological and moral reflections ever completely
eliminate the effects of a ponerological process which has long
been surmounted?
Based on experience gleaned from individual patients, a
psychotherapist would doubt such a possibility. The conse-
quences of the influence of pathological factors can only be
definitely liquidated if a person becomes aware that he was the
object of their activity. Such a method of careful correction of
detail may sound reminiscent of the work done by an art re-
storer who decided against removing all later paint-overs and
revealing the master�s original work in toto, but rather retained
and conserved a few failed corrections for posterity.
274
PATHOCRACY AND RELIGION
Even against the conditional backdrop of time furthering the
healing process, such efforts at step-by-step untying of knots
based on the natural world view only leads toward a moralizing
interpretation of the effects of uncomprehended pathological
factors, with the consequence of panic and the tendency to
retreat to an apparently safer side. The organism of the relig-
ious group thus will retain some dormant foci of the disease
which may become active under certain permitting conditions.
We should therefore realize that following the path of natu-
ralistic apperception of the process of the genesis of evil, at-
tributing the proportionate �fault� to the influence of various
pathological factors, can ease our minds of the burden repre-
sented by the disturbing results of a moralizing interpretation of
their role in ponerogenesis. This also permits more detailed
identification of the results of their operation, as well as defini-
tive elimination thereof. Objective language proves to be not
only more accurate and economical to work with, but also
much safer as a tool of action when dealing with difficult situa-
tions and delicate matters.
Such a more precise and consistent solution for the prob-
lems inherited from centuries of ponerological nescience is
possible
courageous approach to remedying conditions caused by pres-
ently perceptible poneric processes, or by chronic perseverance
of survivals from such states far in the past, thus demands both
acceptance of this new science and a clear conviction of origi-
nal truth and basic science. Doubts will otherwise block any
such intent by means of insufficiently objectified fear, even if
they have been repressed deep into the subconscious.
With regard to the second above-mentioned situation, when
the ponerogenic process leading to pathocracy has affected
some secular and political movement, the situation of religion
in such a country will be completely different. Polarization of
attitudes with regard to religion then becomes inevitable. The
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
275
social religious organization cannot help but assume a critical
attitude, becoming a support for opposition on the part of the
society of normal people. This in turn provokes the movement
affected by this phenomenon to an ever more intolerant attitude
toward religion. Such a situation thus places a given society�s
religion before the specter of physical destruction.
As a rule, the religious organizations of any given country
have sufficient influence upon society to be able to oppose
nascent evil if they act with courage and reason. If they cannot,
this is the result of either fragmentation and strife among vari-
ous denominations or of internal corruption within the religious
system. As a result, religious organizations have long tolerated
and even uncritically inspired the development of pathocracy.
This weakness later becomes the cause of religion�s disasters.
In the case of an artificially infected pathocracy, the relig-
ious system�s joint liability may be lesser, albeit still generally
concrete.
ious organizations have the morally stronger defensive posi-
tion, are able to accept material losses, and can also undergo
their own recuperative process.
Pathocrats may be able to use primitive and brutal means to
combat religion, but it is very difficult for them to attack the
essence of religious convictions. Their propaganda proves
overly primitive and brings about the familiar phenomena of
immunization or resistance on the part of normal people, with
they feel the latter�s weakness. The principle of �divide and
conquer� can be used if there are various denominations with a
long history of enmity, but the effects of such measures are
generally ephemeral and can lead to unity among the denomi-
nations.
The specific practical knowledge collected by the society of
normal people under pathocratic rule, together with the phe-
276
PATHOCRACY AND RELIGION
nomenon of the psychological immunization, begin to exert
their own characteristic effect upon the structure of religious
denominations. If some religious system succumbed to ponero-
genic infection sometime during its history, the effects and
chronic survivals thereof persevere within for centuries. As
already adduced, remedying this by means of philosophical and
moral reflections meets with specific psychological difficulties.
But under pathocratic rule, in spite of the abuse suffered by
such a religious organization, the latter organism specific anti-
bodies are transfused which cure the ponerogenic survivals.
Such a specific process aims at ridding the religious struc-
ture of those deformations which were the effect of the opera-
tion of the pathological factors familiar to us. Insofar as the
appearance of pathocracy in various guises throughout human
history, always resulting from human errors which opened the
door to the pathological phenomenon, one must also look on
the other side of the coin. We should understand this in the
light of that underrated law, when the effect of a particular
causative structure has a teleological meaning of its own. It
would, however, be highly advantageous for this recuperative
process to be accompanied by greater awareness of the nature
of the phenomena, which also acts similarly in terms of devel-
oping psychological immunity and healing human personali-
ties. Such awareness could also help elaborate safer and more
effective plans of action.
If individuals and groups believing in God are able to accept
an objective understanding of macrosocial pathological phe-
nomena, especially this most dangerous one, the natural out-
come will thus prove to be a certain separation of religious and
ponerological problematics, which qualitatively occupy differ-
ent levels of reality. Church attention can then revert to ques-
tions regarding man�s relationship with God, an area for which
churches have a calling. On the other hand, resistance to pone-
rological phenomena and their worldwide spread should be
largely assumed by scientific and political institutions whose
actions are based on a naturalistic understanding of the nature
and genesis of evil. Such a separation of duties can never be
quite consistent, since the genesis of evil includes participation
of human moral failings, and overcoming these based on relig-
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
277
ious premises has been the responsibility of religious associa-
tions since times immemorial.
Some religions and denominations subjected to pathocratic
rule are forced by such circumstance to become overly in-
volved in matters conventionally referred to as political, or
even in economic efforts. This is necessary both in order to
protect the existence of the religious organization itself and in
order to help fellow believers or other citizens suffering abuse.
It is important, however, to avoid having such a state of affairs
become permanent in the shape of habit and tradition, since this
could later make it more difficult to revert to normal human
government.
In spite of existing differences of conviction and tradition,
the basis for cooperative effort on the part of people with good
will should contain that characteristic convergence of the con-
clusions we deduce between the precepts of the Christian Gos-
pels (and other monotheistic religions) and a ponerological
view of the genesis of evil. The faithful of various religions and
denominations do in fact believe in the same God, and at pre-
sent they are threatened by the same macrosocial pathologic
phenomenon. This creates sufficient data to enable a search for
cooperation in affecting achievements whose value is so obvi-
ous.
CHAPTER IX
THERAPY FOR THE WORLD
For centuries, attempts were made to treat various diseases
based on naive understanding and upon experience transmitted
from generation to generation. This activity was not ineffec-
tive; in many cases it produced advantageous results. Supersed-
ing this traditional medicine with the newly generating modern
science in Europe caused social health to deteriorate initially.
However, it was only with the help of modern science that
many diseases were vanquished, ailments against which tradi-
tional medicine had been helpless. This occurred because a
naturalistic comprehension of disease and its causes created a
basis for counteraction.
Regarding the phenomena discussed in this work, our situa-
tion is similar to the one engendered by the above-mentioned
crisis with reference to the health of European nations. We
have left behind the traditional socio-moral organization but
have not yet elaborated a more valuable science, one which
would fill in the gap. We therefore need newly established
criteria which can become the basis for an analogous discipline
with an enduring structure; simultaneously, this would fulfill a
burning need in today�s world.
According to contemporary understanding, effective treat-
ment of a disease becomes possible once we have apprehended
its essence, its etiological factors and their properties, and its
pathodynamic course within organisms with dissimilar biologi-
cal properties. Once such knowledge is available, finding the
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
279
proper treatment measures generally proves a less difficult and
dangerous duty. For doctors, disease represents an interesting,
even fascinating, biological phenomenon. They often accepted
the risk of contact with the contagious pathogenic factors and
suffered losses in order to comprehend the ailment so as to be
able to heal people. Thanks to this, they achieved the possibil-
ity of etiotropic disease treatment and artificial immunization
of human organisms to disease. The doctor�s own health is thus
also better protected today; but he ought never to feel any con-
tempt for the patient or his disease.
When we are faced with a macrosocial pathological phe-
nomenon which requires us to proceed in a manner analogous
in principle to that governing contemporary medicine, espe-
cially with reference to overcoming diseases which quickly
propagate among the populations, the law demands necessary
rigorous measures which become binding upon healthy people
as well. It is also worth pointing out that people and political
organizations whose world view is leftist generally represent a
more consistent attitude in this matter, demanding such sacri-
fices in the name of the common good.
We must also be aware that the phenomenon facing us is
analogous to those diseases against which the old traditional
medicine proved inadequate. In order to overcome this state of
affairs, we must therefore utilize new means based upon an
understanding of the essence and causes of the pathocratic
phenomenon, i.e. according to principles analogous to those
governing modern medicine. The road to comprehension of the
phenomenon was also much more difficult and dangerous than
the one which should lead from such understanding to the find-
ing of naturalistically and morally justified, and properly orga-
nized, therapeutic activities. These methods are potentially
possible and feasible, since they derive from an understanding
of the phenomenon per se and become an extension thereof. In
this �disease�, as in many cases treated by psychotherapists, the
understanding alone already begins to heal human personali-
ties. The author confirmed this in practice in individual cases.
It will also appear that many known experiential results will
similarly become applicable.
280
THERAPY OF THE WORLD
The insufficiency of efforts based upon the best moral val-
ues has become common knowledge after years of rebounding
as though from rubber bands. The powerful military weapons
that jeopardize all humanity can, on the other hand, be consid-
ered as indispensable as a strait-jacket, something whose use
diminishes in proportion to the improved skills governing the
behavior of those persons entrusted with the healing arts. We
need measures which can reach all people and all nations and
which can operate upon the recognized causes of great diseases
Such therapeutic measures cannot be limited to the phe-
nomenon of pathocracy. Pathocracy will always find a positive
response if some independent country is infected with an ad-
vanced state of hysterization, or if a small privileged caste op-
presses and exploits other citizens, keeping them backward and
in the dark; anyone willing to treat the world can then be
hounded, and his moral right to act be questioned. Evil in the
world, in fact, constitutes a continuum: one kind opens the door
to another, irrespective of its qualitative essence or the ideo-
logical slogans cloaking it.
It also becomes impossible to find effective means of thera-
peutic operation if the minds of people undertaking such tasks
are affected by a tendency to conversive thinking like subcon-
scious selection and substitution of data, or if some doctrine
preventing an objective perception of reality becomes manda-
tory. In particular, a political doctrine, for which a macrosocial
pathological phenomenon, in accordance with its famous ide-
ology, has become a dogma, blocks an understanding of its real
nature so well that purposeful action becomes impossible.
Anyone administering such action should undergo an appropri-
ate prior examination, or even a kind of psychotherapy, in or-
der to eliminate any tendencies toward even slightly sloppy
thinking.
Like every well-managed treatment, therapy of the world
must contain two basic demands: strengthening the overall
defensive powers of the human community and attacking its
most dangerous disease, etiotropically if possible. Taking into
account all the aspects referred to in the theoretical chapter on
ponerology, therapeutic efforts should be directed at subjecting
the operations of the known factors of the genesis of evil, as
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
281
well as the processes of ponerogenesis itself, to the controls of
scientific and societal consciousness.
Present attempts at trusting moral data alone, no matter how
sincerely perceived, also prove inadequate as would trying to
operate solely on the basis of the data contained within this
book, ignoring the essential support of moral values. A pone-
rologist�s attitude underscores primarily the naturalistic aspects
of phenomena; nevertheless, this does not mean that the tradi-
tional ones have diminished in value. Efforts aimed at endow-
ing the life of nations with the necessary moral order should
therefore constitute a second wing, working in parallel and
rationally supported by naturalistic principles.
Contemporary societies were pushed into a state of moral
recession during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centu-
ries; leading them back out is the general duty of this genera-
tion and should remain an overall backdrop to activity as a
whole. The basic position should be the intent to fulfill the
commandment of loving one�s neighbor, including even those
who have committed substantial evil, and even if this love indi-
cates taking proplylactic action to protect others from that evil.
A great therapeutic endeavor can only be affected once we do
this with the honest control of moral consciousness, moderation
of words and thoughtfulness of action. At that point, ponerol-
ogy will prove its practical usefulness in fulfilling this task.
People and values mature in action. Thus, a synthesis of tradi-
tional moral teachings and this new naturalistic approach can
only occur with reasoned behavior.
Truth is a Healer
It would be difficult to summarize here the statements of the
many famous authors on the subject of the psychotherapeutic
role of making a person aware of what has crowded his sub-
conscious, stifled within by constant painful effort, because he
feared to look an unpleasant truth in the eye, lacked the objec-
tive data to derive correct conclusions, or was too proud to
permit the awareness that he had behaved in a preposterous
fashion. In addition to being quite well understood by special-
ists, these matters have also become common knowledge to an
adequate degree.
282
THERAPY OF THE WORLD
In any method or technique of analytical psychotherapy, or
autonomous psychotherapy, as T. Szasz119 called it, the guiding
operational motivation is exposing to the light of consciousness
whatever material has been suppressed by means of subcon-
scious selection of data, or given up in the face of intellectual
problems. This is accompanied by a disillusionment of substi-
tutions and rationalizations, whose creation is usually in pro-
portion to the amount of repressed material.
In many cases, it turns out that the material fearfully elimi-
nated from the field of consciousness, and frequently substi-
tuted by ostensibly more comfortable associations, would never
have had such dangerous results if we had initially mustered
the courage to perceive it consciously. We would then have
been in the position to find an independent and often creative
way out of the situation.
In some cases, however, especially when dealing with phe-
nomena which are hard to understand within the categories of
our natural world view, leading the patient out of his problems
demands furnishing him with crucial objective data, usually
from the areas of biology, psychology, and psychopathology,
and indicating specific dependencies which he was unable to
comprehend before. Instructional activity begins to dominate in
psychotherapeutic work at this point. After all, the patient
needs this additional data in order to reconstruct his disinte-
grated personality and form a new world view more appropri-
ate to reality. Only then can we go on to the more traditional
methods. If our activities are to be for the benefit of the people
who remained under the influence of pathocratic system, this
last pattern of behavior is the most appropriate; the objective
data furnished to the patients must derive from an understand-
ing of the nature of the phenomenon.
As already adduced, the author has been able to observe the
workings of such a process of making someone consciously
aware of the essence and properties of the macrosocial phe-
nomenon, on the basis of individual patients rendered neurotic
by the influence of pathocratic social conditions. In countries
119 Thomas Szasz, an American psychiatrist who has argued since the 1950s
that compulsory psychiatry is incompatible with a free society. [Editor�s
note.]
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
283
ruled by such governments, almost every normal person carries
within him some neurotic response of varying intensity. After
all,
In spite of the anxiety which such courageous psychothera-
peutic operations necessarily engendered on both sides, my
patients quickly assimilated the objective data they were fur-
nished, complemented them with their own experiences, and
required additional information and verification of their appli-
cations of this information. Spontaneous and creative reintegra-
tion of their personalities took place soon thereafter, accompa-
nied by a similar reconstruction of their world view. Subse-
quent psychotherapy merely continued assistance in this ever
more autonomous process and in resolving individual prob-
lems, i.e. a more traditional approach. These people lost their
chronic tensions; their perceptive view of this deviant reality
became increasingly realistic and laced with humor. Rein-
forcement of their capacity to maintain their own psychological
hygiene, self-therapy, and self-pedagogy was much better than
expected. They became more resourceful in practical life mat-
ters and were able to offer others good advice. Unfortunately,
the number of persons whom a psychotherapist could trust
adequately was very limited.
A similar effect should be attained on a macrosocial scale,
something technically feasible under present conditions. At
such an operational scale, it will liberate spontaneous interac-
tion among such enlightened individuals and the social multi-
plication of therapeutic phenomena. The latter will then create
a qualitatively new and most probably rather stormy social
reaction; we should be prepared for this in order to calm it
down. Finally, this will bring an overall feeling of relaxation
and a triumph of proper science over evil; this cannot be ne-
gated by any verbalistic means, and physical force also be-
comes meaningless. Using measures so different from anything
utilized before will engender an �end of an era� feeling during
which this macrosocial phenomenon was able to emerge and
develop, but is now dying. That would be accompanied by a
sensation of well-being on the part of normal people.
284
THERAPY OF THE WORLD
Within this suggested global psychotherapy, additional ob-
jectified material in the form of a naturalistic understanding of
the phenomenon constitutes the keystone material; this book
has therefore collected the most essential data the author was
able to obtain and to present here in a partially simplified ap-
proach. This no doubt does not represent the entirety of the
knowledge needed; further supplementation will be necessary.
On the other hand, I have devoted less attention to methods,
since this would constitute a manifold duplication of those
kinds of therapies many specialists already know and use in
their practice.
The purpose of this activity will be letting the world regain
its capacity to make use of healthy common sense and to rein-
tegrate world views based on scientifically objectified and ap-
propriately popularized data. The consciousness thus created
would be far more appropriate to the reality which was misun-
derstood until recently; as a result, man will become more sen-
sible in practical activity, more independent and resourceful in
solving life�s problems, and he will feel safer. This task is noth-
ing new; it constitutes a good psychotherapist�s daily bread.
The problem is technical rather than theoretical, namely how to
disseminate such sorely needed influences throughout the
globe.
~~~
Every psychotherapist must be prepared for difficulties
caused by the psychological resistance derived from persistent
attitudes and convictions whose lack of foundation becomes
revealed in the course of work. Particularly in the case of a
numerous group of people, these resistances become more
demonstratively manifest; however, among the members of
such a group we also find allies who help us break down these
resistances. In order to visualize this, let us revert once more to
the N. family example, wherein a dozen or so persons collabo-
rated in abusing a pleasant and intelligent thirteen-year-old
scapegoat.
When I explained to the uncles and aunts that they had been
under the influence of a psychologically abnormal person for
years, accepting her delusional world as real and participating
(with perceived honor) in her vindictiveness to the boy who
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
285
was allegedly to blame for her failures, including those which
occurred years before his birth, the
their indignation. There was no subsequent attack, probably
because this took place in my office of the public health service
and I was protected by the white coat I would usually don
whenever I did not feel completely safe. I thus suffered only
verbal threats. A week later, however, they started returning
one by one, pale and rueful; albeit with difficulty, they did
offer their cooperation in helping to repair the family situation
and the future of this unfortunate boy.
Many people suffer an inevitable
position, protest, and
when informed of such a state of affairs, namely that they have
been under the spellbinding and traumatizing influence of a
macrosocial pathological phenomenon, regardless of whether
they were followers or opponents thereof. Many people are
awakened to anxious protest by the fact that the ideology they
either condemned or somehow accepted, but considered a guid-
ing factor, is now being treated as something secondary in im-
portance.
The noisiest protests will come from those who consider
themselves fair because they condemned this macrosocial phe-
nomenon with literary talent and raised voices, utilizing the
name derived from its most current ideology, as well as making
excessive use of moralizing interpretations with regard to
pathological phenomena. Forcing them to an apperception of a
correct understanding of the pathocracy will be quite a Sisy-
phean labor, since they would have to become conscious of the
fact that their efforts largely served goals which were the oppo-
site of their intentions. Especially if they engaged in such ac-
tivities professionally, it is more practical to avoid liberating
their aggressions; one could even consider such generally eld-
erly people too old for therapy.
Transforming the world view of people living in countries
with normal man�s systems proves a more troublesome task,
since they are much more egotistically attached to the imagin-
ings suggested to them since childhood, making it more diffi-
cult for them to reconcile themselves with the fact that there are
matters which their natural conceptual system cannot assimi-
286
THERAPY OF THE WORLD
late. They also lack the specific experience available to people
who have lived under pathocratic rule for years. We must
therefore expect resistance and attack on the part of people
protecting their livelihoods and positions as well as defending
their personalities from a vexatious disintegration. Refraining
from such estrangement, we have to count on the accordant
reactions of the majority.
The acceptance of such psychotherapy will be different in
countries where societies of normal people have already been
created, offering solid resistance to pathocratic rule. Many
years of experience, practical familiarity with the phenomenon,
and psychological immunization there long ago produced fer-
tile ground for sowing the seeds of objective truth and natural-
istic comprehension. An explanation of the essence of macro-
social phenomenon will be treated like delayed psychotherapy
which should regrettably have been served much earlier (that
would have enabled the patient to avoid many errors) but is
nevertheless useful because it provides order and relaxation
and permits subsequent reasoned action. Such data, accepted
via a rather painful process there, will be associated with the
experience already possessed. There will be no egoistically or
egotistically inspired protests in that world. The value of an
objective view will be appreciated much more rapidly, since it
ensures a basis for reasoned activity. Soon thereafter, the feel-
ing of realism in apprehending the surrounding world, followed
by a sense of humor, would begin to compensate these people
for the experience they have survived, namely the disintegra-
tion of their human personalities caused by such therapy.
This disintegration of the prior world view structure will
create a temporary feeling of an unpleasant void. Therapists
well know the consequent responsibility of filling this void as
quickly as possible with material more credible and trustworthy
than the contents which were disabused, thus helping to avoid
primitive methods of personality reintegration. In practice, it is
best to minimize patient anxiety by making advance promises
that appropriately objectified material will be furnished in the
form of truthful data. This promise must then be kept, partially
anticipating the appearance of disintegrative states. I have suc-
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
287
cessfully tested this technique on individual patients and would
advise its implementation on a mass scale as safe and effective.
For the people who have already developed natural psycho-
logical immunity, their increased resistance to the pathocracy�s
destructive influence upon their personalities, gained due to a
consciousness of pathocracy�s essence, may be of lesser sig-
nificance, but still not without value, since it leads to an ame-
liorated immunization quality at a less burdensome cost in
terms of nervous tension. However, for those hesitant people
who constitute the part of well-adjusted members of the new
middle class, immunizing activities furnished by an awareness
of the pathological nature of the phenomenon may tip their
attitudinal scale in the direction of decency.
The second key aspect of such operations that should be
considered is the influence of such enlightening behavior upon
the personalities of the pathocrats themselves.
In the course of individual psychotherapy, we tend to avoid
making patients aware of permanent aberrations, especially
when we have reason to believe that they are conditioned by
hereditary factors. Psychotherapists, however, are guided by
the consciousness of this condition�s existence in their decision
making. Only in the case of the results of slight brain-tissue
lesions do we decide to make the patient aware of this, so as to
help him elaborate a better tolerance of his difficulties and to
abrogate unnecessary fears. Regarding psychopathic individu-
als, we treat their deviations by means of tactful allusive lan-
guage, bearing in mind that they have a kind of self-
knowledge, and we proceed with the techniques of behavior
modification to correct their personalities, keeping the interests
of society in mind as well.
As far as operations on the macrosocial scale, it will of
course not be feasible to retain these latter cautious tactics of
activity. Traumatizing the pathocrats will be unavoidable to a
certain extent, and even intentional and morally justified in the
interests of peace on earth. Similarly, however, our attitude
must be defined by an acceptance of biological and psycho-
logical facts; renouncing any morally or emotionally charged
interpretation of their psychological deviations. In undertaking
such work, we must consider the good of society to be para-
288
THERAPY OF THE WORLD
mount; nevertheless, we must not abandon our psychotherapeu-
tic attitude and refrain from punishing those whose guilt we are
unable to evaluate. Should we forget this, we would increase
the risk of their uncontrolled reaction, which could bring about
a world catastrophe.
At the same time, we should not nourish exaggerated fears,
for example, that such public enlightenment activities will pro-
voke overly dramatic reactions among pathocrats, e.g. a wave
of cruelty or suicide. No! Those individuals described as essen-
tial psychopaths, in addition to many other carriers of related
hereditary anomalies, have since childhood elaborated a feeling
of being psychologically different from others. Revealing this
awareness to them is less traumatizing than, for instance, sug-
gesting psychological abnormality to a normal person. The ease
with which they repress uncomfortable material from their field
of consciousness will protect them from violent reactions.
What can they do if no ideology can be used as a mask any
more? Once the essence of the phenomenon has been scientifi-
cally unmasked, the psychological result is that they then feel
their historical role to have reached the end. Their work fur-
thermore takes on some historically creative meaning, if the
world of normal people offers them conciliation upon unprece-
dented advantageous conditions. This will cause overall demo-
bilization of the pathocracy, especially in those countries
where, practically speaking, the support of an ideology has
already been lost. This internal demobilization they fear so
much constitutes the second important goal.
A crucial condition and a complement of therapeutic work
must be forgiveness for the pathocrats as derived from under-
standing, both of them and of the signs of the times. This must
be effected by means of correspondingly amended law based
on comprehension of man and of the processes of the genesis
of evil operating within societies, which will counteract such
processes in a causative manner and supersede the former �pe-
nal� law. Forecasting the creation of such law must not be
treated merely as a psychotherapeutic promise; it must be sci-
entifically prepared and thereupon effected.
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
289
Forgiveness
The contemporary evolution of legal concepts and democ-
ratic social morality is geared toward dismantling the old tradi-
tions of maintaining law and order by means of punitive re-
pression. Many countries have abandoned capital punishment,
disturbed by its genocidal abuses during the last world war.
Other punishments and the methods of their execution have
also been mitigated, taking psychological motivation and the
circumstances of the crime into account. The conscience of the
civilized nations protests against the Roman principle
bility that many presently unbalanced people can revert to
normal social life thanks to appropriate pedagogical measures;
practice confirms it only partially, however.
The reason is that mitigating the law has not been balanced
with the corresponding methods of stifling the processes of the
genesis of evil as based upon its comprehension . This pro-
vokes a crisis in the area of societies� anti-crime protection and
makes it easier for pathocratic circles to utilize terrorism in
order to realize their expansionist goals. Under such conditions,
many people feel that returning to the tradition of legal severity
is the only way to protect society from an excess of evil. Others
believe that such traditional behavior morally cripples us and
opens the door to irrevocable abuses. They therefore subsume
others� life and health to humanistic values.
In order to emerge from this crisis, we must galvanize all
our efforts in a search for a new road, one which would both be
more humanitarian and would effectively protect defenseless
individuals and societies. Such a possibility exists and can be
implemented, based on an objective comprehension of the
genesis of evil.
In factual essence, the unrealistic tradition of a relationship
between a person�s �crime�, which no other person is in the
position to evaluate objectively, and his �punishment�, which
is rarely effective in reforming him, should be relegated to
history. The science of the causes of evil should strengthen
society�s moral discipline and have a prophylactic effect. Often
merely making a person aware that he was under the influence
of a pathological individual breaks the circle of destructiveness.
290
THERAPY OF THE WORLD
An appropriate psychotherapy should therefore be permanently
included in any measures to counteract evil. Unfortunately, if
someone is shooting at us, we must shoot back even better. At
the same time, however, we should bring back the law of for-
giveness, that old law of wise sovereigns. After all, it has pro-
found moral and psychological foundations and is more effec-
tive than punishment in some situations.
The codices of penal law foresee that the perpetrator of a
penal act who, at the time of his transgression, was limited in
his ability to discern the meaning of the act or to direct his own
behavior as a result of mental illness or some other psychologi-
cal deficiency, receives a lesser sentence to the appropriate
degree. If we should therefore consider the responsibility of
pathocrats in the light of such regulations and in light of what
we have already said about the motivations for their behavior,
we must then considerably mitigate the scope of justice within
the frame of existing regulations.
The above-mentioned legal regulations, which are more
modern in Europe than in the U.S.A., are rather outdated eve-
rywhere and insufficiently congruent with bio-psychological
reality. They are a compromise between traditional legal think-
ing and medical humanism. Furthermore, the legislators were
in no position to perceive macrosocial pathological phenomena
that dominate individuals and significantly limit their ability to
discern the meaning of their own behavior. Susceptible indi-
viduals are sucked in surreptitiously, since they are unaware of
the pathological quality of such a phenomenon. The specific
properties of these phenomena cause the selection of attitudes
to be decisively determined by unconscious factors, followed
by pressure from pathocratic rulers, who are none too fastidi-
ous as to their methods, not even with regard to their own ad-
herents. How should the degree of penal mitigation then judge
them fairly?
For instance, if essential psychopathy is virtually 100% pre-
dictive concerning attraction to and inclusion in pathocratic
activity, should a judgment recognize similar mitigation of
punishment? This should also be applied to other hereditary
anomalies to a lesser extent, since they too have proved to be
primary factors in the selection of attitudes.
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
291
We should not fault anyone for having inherited some psy-
chological anomalies from his parents any more than we fault
someone in the case of physical or physiological anomalies
such as Daltonism. We should also stop blaming people who
succumbed to traumas and diseases, leaving brain tissue dam-
age behind, or those who become the object of inhuman peda-
gogical methods.
In the name of their good and that of society, we should use
force with regard to such people, sometimes including forced
psychotherapy, supervision, prevention, and care. Any concept
of blame or guilt would only make it more difficult to behave
in a way which is not only humanitarian and purposeful, but
more effective as well.
In dealing with a macrosocial phenomenon, particularly one
whose life is longer than an individual�s active life, its perma-
nent influence forces even normal people to adapt to a certain
degree. Are we, whose instincts and intelligence are normal
and, according to the criteria of our moral world view, in the
position to evaluate the guilt of these others for actions they
performed within pathocracy�s collective madness? Judging
them in accordance with traditional legal regulations would
constitute reverting to the imposition of normal man�s force
upon psychopathic individuals, i.e. to the initial position which
engendered pathocracy to begin with. Is subjecting them to
vindictive justice worth prolonging the duration of pathocracy
for even a single year, let alone an unspecified time? Would
eliminating a certain number of psychopaths significantly di-
minish these anomalies� burden upon society�s gene pool and
contribute toward a solution to this problem?
Unfortunately, the answer is no!
People with various psychological deviations have always
existed in every society on earth. Their way of life is always
some form of
since their own creative capabilities are generally substandard.
Whoever plugs into this system of organized parasitism gradu-
ally loses whatever limited capacity for legal work he might
have had.
This phenomenon and its brutality are actually maintained
by the threat of legal retaliation or, even worse, of retribution
292
THERAPY OF THE WORLD
on the part of the enraged masses. Dreams of revenge distract a
society�s attention from understanding the bio-psychological
essence of the phenomenon and stimulate the moralizing inter-
pretations whose results we are already familiar with. This
would make it more difficult to find a solution to the present
dangerous situation and would similarly complicate any possi-
bilities of solving the problem of burdening society�s gene pool
with psychological anomalies with a view to future genera-
tions. These problems, however, both present and future, can
be solved if we approach them with an understanding of their
naturalistic essence and a comprehension of the nature of those
people who commit substantial evil.
Legal retribution would be a repetition of the Nuremberg er-
ror. That judgment upon war criminals could have been a
never-to-be repeated opportunity to show the world the entire
psychopathology of the Hitlerian system, with the person of the
�Fuehrer� at the head. That would have led to a faster and
deeper disabusement of the Nazi tradition in Germany. Such
conscious exposure of the operations of pathological factors on
a macrosocial scale would have reinforced the process of psy-
chological rehabilitation for Germans and the world as a whole
by means of the naturalistic categories applicable to that state
of affairs. That would also have constituted a healthy precedent
for illuminating and stifling other pathocracies� operations.
What actually happened is that psychiatrists and psycholo-
gists succumbed all too easily to the pressures of their own
emotions and political factors, their judgments giving short
shrift to the actual pathological properties of both the majority
of the defendants and of Nazism as a whole. Several famous
individuals with psychopathic features or other deviations were
hanged or sentenced to prison terms. Many facts and data
which could have served the purposes adduced in this work
were hanged and imprisoned along with these individuals. We
can thus easily understand why pathocrats were so eager to
achieve this precise result. We are not allowed to repeat such
errors, since the results make it more difficult to comprehend
the essence of macrosocial pathological phenomena, and they
thereby limit the possibilities of stifling their internal causation.
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
293
In today�s real world situation, there is only one scientifi-
cally and morally justified solution which could remedy our
current plight of nations and also furnish a proper beginning for
solving the problem of societies� genetic burden with a view to
the future. That would be an appropriate law based upon the
best possible understanding of macrosocial pathological phe-
nomena and their causes, which would limit pathocrats� re-
sponsibility to those cases alone (usually of a criminal sadistic
nature) in which it is hard to accept the inability to discern the
meaning of such an act. Nothing else could enable the societies
of normal people to take over power and liberate the internal
talents which could ensure a nation�s return to normal life.
Such an act of forgiveness is in fact justified by nature,
since it is derived from a recognition of the psychological cau-
sation governing a person while committing evil, both within
the scope of our cognition and outside the area we have been
able to understand. This scope accessible to scientific cognition
increases along with progress in general knowledge; in a
pathocracy, however, the image of the phenomenon is so
dominated by causality that there is not much room left for free
choice.
We shall in fact never be in the position to evaluate the
scope of free choice with which an individual person has been
endowed. In forgiving, we subordinate our minds to the laws of
nature, to a basic extent.
Forgiveness thus leads our reason into a state of intellectual
discipline and order, thereby permitting us to discern life�s
realia and their causative links more clearly. This makes it
easier for us to control our instinct�s vindictive reflexes and
protect our minds from the tendency to impose moralizing
interpretations upon psychopathological phenomena. This is of
course to the advantage of both individuals and of societies.
Simultaneously, and in accordance with the precepts of
great religions, forgiveness helps us enjoy supernatural order
and thereby gain the right to self forgiveness. It makes us better
able to perceive the voice within saying �do this� or �don�t do
294
THERAPY OF THE WORLD
that�. This improves our capacity for proper decision making in
thorny situations when we are lacking some necessary data. In
this extremely difficult battle, we may not renounce this assis-
tance and privilege; they may be decisive in tipping the scales
toward victory.
Nations which have long had to endure pathocratic rule are
now close to accepting such a proposition as a result of their
practical knowledge of that other reality and the characteristic
evolution of their world view. However, their motivations are
dominated by practical data which are also derived from adap-
tation to life in that divergent reality. Religious motivations
also appear; comprehension and affirmation thereof mature
under such specific conditions. Their thought process and so-
cial ethics also evidence a feel for a certain teleological mean-
ing to phenomena, in the sense of a historical watershed.
Such an act of renunciation of judicial and emotional re-
venge with regard to people whose behavior was conditioned
by psychological causation, especially certain specific heredi-
tary factors, is justified by naturalism to a significant degree.
Therefore, such naturalistic and rational principles should per-
mit the definitive decisions to mature. The intellectual effort
involved in cutting the links to a natural comprehending of the
problems of evil and a confrontation thereof with moral pre-
cepts shall bear fruit in many products of human thought.
People who have lost their ability to adapt to sensible work
for hire will have to be guaranteed tolerable living conditions
and assistance in their efforts to readapt. The costs incurred by
society with regard thereto will probably be less than those
involved with any other solution. All this will require appropri-
ate organizational efforts based on this manner of understand-
ing such matters, which will be far removed from traditional
legal practice. The promises should be made to the pathocrats,
and then kept with the honesty worthy of a society of normal
people. Such an act and its execution should therefore be pre-
pared ahead of time from the moral, legal and organizational
points of view.
Just as the idea adduced herein finds a lively response
among people familiar with the above-described macrosocial
phenomenon from experience, it insults the vengeful feelings
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
295
of numerous political �migr�s who retain the old experiential
methods regarding social and moral problems. We should thus
expect more opposition from this quarter, justified by moral
indignation. Persuasive efforts should therefore be made in that
direction.
It would also be advantageous if the solution to this prob-
lem could be prepared with a view to the contemporary heri-
tage of the bio-humanistic sciences, a heritage which aims at a
similar evolution of law even though it continues to hide in the
academic world, too immature for practical realization. The
value of scientific studies in this area tends to be underrated by
conservative-minded societies. The work may be facilitated by
means of using such information with a view toward the need
for rapid preparation or updating of the law.
Our civilization�s legislations arose first from the tradition
of Roman law, then from the rights of sovereigns ruling by
�divine right�, a system which predictably defended their posi-
tion, and though they were commanding the law of grace, they
proved almost completely soulless and vengeful within today�s
conception of codified regulations. Such a state of affairs abet-
ted rather than prevented the emergence of pathological sys-
tems of force.
This explains the actual need to effect an essential break-
through and formulation of
Having emerged from great suffering and a comprehension
of its causes, such legislation will be more modern and humani-
tarian as well as more effective in the area of protecting socie-
ties from the products of ponerogenesis. The great decision to
forgive similarly derives from the most credible precepts of
eternal moral teachings, something also in accordance with
contemporary evolution in societal thought. It expresses practi-
cal concerns as well as a naturalistic comprehension of the
genesis of evil. Only such an act of mercy, unprecedented in
history, can break the age-old chain of the ponerogenic cycles
and open the door both to new solutions for perennial problems
and to a new legislative method based on an understanding of
the causes of evil.
296
THERAPY OF THE WORLD
Such a difficult decisions therefore appear in keeping with
the signs of the times. The author believes that this precise kind
of breakthrough in the methodology of thought and action is
within the Divine Plan for this generation.
Ideologies
Just as a psychiatrist is mainly interested in disease, paying
less attention to the patient�s delusional system deforming
whatever individual reality he has, the object of global therapy
should be the world�s diseases. The deformed ideological sys-
tems which grew from historical conditions and a given civili-
zation�s weaknesses should be understood insofar as they are a
disguise, operational instrument, or Trojan horse for
pathocratic infection.
Societal consciousness should first separate these two het-
erogeneous layers of the phenomenon by means of analysis and
scientific evaluation effected upon them. Such a correct and
selective understanding should become part and parcel of all
nations� consciousness in some appropriately accessible form.
This would correspondingly reinforce their capacity for inde-
pendent orientation within today�s complicated reality by
means of discriminating such phenomena in keeping with its
nature. This will bring about a correction in moral and world
view attitudes. Concentrating our efforts upon the pathological
phenomenon shall then produce proper understanding and suf-
ficiently complete results.
The absence of this basic discrimination in political opera-
tions is an error leading to wasted effort. We may not agree
with ideologies, since all nineteenth-century political ideolo-
gies oversimplified social reality to the point of crippling it,
even in their original form, not to mention their pathologically
deformed versions. The foreground should nevertheless be
occupied by an identification of their role within the macroso-
cial phenomenon; analysis, criticism, and even, more particu-
larly, combating them can be placed in the background. Any
discussions regarding directions needed to change social struc-
tures may be held concurrently as long as they take this basic
separation of phenomena into account. Thus corrected, social
consciousness can effect a solution to these problems more
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
297
easily, and social groups which are intransigent today will be-
come more amenable to compromise.
Once a mentally ill person has been successfully cured of
his illness, we often try to restore the former patient to the
world of his more real convictions. The psychotherapist then
searches the delusionally caricaturized world for the primeval
and always more sensible contents, thereupon building a bridge
right over the period of madness to a now healthy reality. Such
an operation of course requires the necessary skills in the do-
main of psychopathology, since every disease has its own style
of deforming the patient�s original world of experiences and
convictions. The deformed ideological system created by
pathocracy should be subjected to analogous analysis, fishing
out the primeval and certainly more sensible values. This must
utilize knowledge of the specific style whereby a pathocracy
caricaturizes the ideology of a movement upon which it feeds
parasitically.
This great disease of Pathocracy accommodates various so-
cial ideologies to its own properties and the pathocrats� inten-
tions, thereby depriving them of any possibility of natural de-
velopment and maturation in the light of man�s healthy com-
mon sense and scientific reflection. This process also trans-
forms these ideologies into destructive factors, preventing them
from participating in the constructive evolution of social struc-
tures and condemning their adherents to frustration. Along with
its degenerate growth, such an ideology is rejected by all those
social groups governed by healthy common sense. The activi-
ties of such an ideology thus induce nations to stick to their old
tried-and-true basics in terms of structural forms, providing
hard-line conservatives with the best weapon possible. This
causes stagnation of the evolutionary processes, which is con-
trary to the overall laws of social life, and brings about a po-
larization of attitudes among various social groups, resulting in
revolutionary moods. The operations of the pathologically al-
tered ideology thus facilitate the pathocracy�s penetration and
expansion.
Only by means of retrospective psychological analysis upon
the ideology, reverting to the time which preceded ponerogenic
infection, and taking into account the pathological quality and
298
THERAPY OF THE WORLD
the causes for its deformation, can the original creative values
be discovered and bridges built right over the time frame of
morbid phenomena.
Such skillful unhusking of the original ideology, including
some reasonable elements which emerged after the ponero-
genic infection appeared, may be enriched by values elaborated
in the meantime and become capable of further creative evolu-
tion. It will thus be in the position to activate transformations in
accordance with the evolutionary nature of social structures,
which will in turn render these societies more resistant to pene-
tration by pathocratic influences.
Such analysis presents us with problems which must be
skillfully overcome, namely finding the proper semantic desig-
nates. Thanks to characteristic creativity in this area, pathoc-
racy produces a mass of suggestive names prepared in such a
way as to divert attention from a phenomenon�s essential quali-
ties. Whoever has been ensnared in this semantic trap even
once loses not only the capacity for objective analysis of that
type of phenomenon; he also partially loses his ability to use
his common sense. Producing such effects within human minds
is the specific purpose of this patho-semantics; one must first
protect one�s own person against them and then proceed to
protect social consciousness.
The only names we can accept are those with a historical
tradition contemporary to the facts and reaching back to pre-
infection times. For instance, if we call pre-Marxist socialism
�Utopian socialism�, it will be difficult for us to understand
that it was much more realistic and socially creative than the
later movements already laced with pathological material.
However, such caution does not suffice when we are deal-
ing with phenomena which cannot be measured within the
natural structure of concepts because they were produced by a
macrosocial pathological process. We must thus again under-
score that the light of natural healthy common sense is insuffi-
cient for effecting such retrospective refinement of ideological
values later deformed by such a process. Psychological objec-
tivity, adequate knowledge in the area of psychopathology, and
the data contained in the prior chapters of this book are indis-
pensable for this purpose.
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
299
Thus equipped, we also become qualified to create indis-
pensable new names which would elucidate the actual proper-
ties of phenomena, providing we pay sufficient attention to
precepts of semantics with all the probity and economy, as
would demand William of Ockham. After all, these names will
spread throughout the earth and help many people correct their
world view and social attitude. Such activity, albeit legalistic,
actually aims at depriving pathocratic circles of their name
controlling monopoly; their predicable protests will merely
prove that we are on the right track.
Ideology thus regenerated regains the natural life and evolu-
tionary capacity which pathologization has stifled. At the same
time, however, it loses its ability to fulfill imposed functions
such as feeding a pathocracy and cloaking it from both healthy
common sense criticism and something even more dangerous,
namely a feel for psychological reality and its humorous as-
pects.
Condemning an ideology because of its errors, whether con-
tained from the outset or absorbed later, will never deprive it of
this imputed function, especially not in the minds of people
who failed to condemn it for similar reasons. If we further at-
tempt to analyze such a condemned ideology, we will never
achieve the effect which has a curative influence upon the hu-
man personality; we will simply miss the truly important fac-
tors and be unable to fill a certain space with contents. Our
thoughts will then be forced to evade whatever blocks their
freedom, thereby erring among ostensible truths. Once some-
thing succumbs to psychopathological factors, it cannot be
understood unless the proper categories are utilized.
Immunization
Many infectious diseases give an organism a natural immu-
nity for a period between a few years and many. Medicine imi-
tates this biological mechanism by introducing vaccines which
enable an organism to become immune without passing
through the disease. More and more frequently, psychothera-
pists attempt to immunize a patient�s psyche to various trauma-
tizing factors which are too difficult to eliminate from his life.
In practice, we use this most often with people subjected to the
300
THERAPY OF THE WORLD
destructive influence of characteropathic individuals. Immuniz-
ing someone against the destructive effects of psychopathic
personalities is somewhat more difficult; however, it represents
a closer analogy to the task which should be performed with
regard to nations succumbing to the influence of pathocratic
psychological diversion.
Societies governed by a pathocratic system for many years
develop the above-described natural immunization, along with
the characteristic detachment from the phenomenon and sar-
donic humor. In combination with the growth of practical
knowledge, this state should be taken into account every time
we wish to evaluate a given country�s political situation. We
should also underscore that this immunity refers to the patho-
logical phenomenon per se, not its ideology, which explains
why it is also effective against any other pathocracy, no matter
the ideological mask. The psychological experience gained
permits the same phenomenon to be recognized according to its
actual properties; the ideology is treated in accordance with its
true role.
Psychotherapy properly run upon an individual who suc-
cumbed to the destructive influence of the life conditions under
pathocratic rule, always brings about a significant improvement
in psychological immunization. In making a patient conscious
of the pathological qualities of such influences, we facilitate his
development of that critical detachment and spiritual serenity
which natural immunization could not have produced. We thus
do not merely imitate nature; we actually achieve a better-than-
natural quality of immunity, which is more effective in protect-
ing a patient from neurotic tensions and reinforcing his practi-
cal everyday resourcefulness. An awareness of the biological
essence of the phenomenon provides them with a preponder-
ance both over the phenomenon and those people who lack
such awareness.
This type of psychological immunity also proves more per-
manent. If natural immunity lasts the life of the generation
wherein it was produced, scientifically-based immunity can be
transmitted further. Similarly, natural immunity plus the practi-
cal knowledge upon which it is based may be very difficult to
transmit to nations which have not had such immediate experi-
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
301
ence, but the kind which is based on generally accessible scien-
tific data can be transmitted to other nations without superhu-
man efforts.
We are faced with two related goals. In countries affected
by the above-discussed phenomenon, we should attempt to
transform the existing natural immunity into that better-quality
immunity, thus making it possible to increase operative ease
while lowering psychological tensions. With regard to those
individuals and societies which indicate an obvious immunode-
ficiency and are threatened by pathocratic expansion, we
should facilitate the development of artificial immunity.
This awareness causes a stormy experiential period not be-
reft of protest, but this substitute disease process is short-lived.
Stripping the naturalistic reality heretofore protected by an
ideological mask is an effective and necessary assistance for
individuals and societies. Within a short period of time, this
begins to protect them from the ponerogenic activities of patho-
logical factors mobilized within the pathocracy�s monolithic
front. Appropriate indications of the practical means for pro-
tecting one�s own mental hygiene will facilitate and accelerate
the creation of such valuable psychological immunity in a
manner similar to the results of a vaccine activity.
Such individual and collective psychological immunity,
based on a naturalistically objectified understanding of this
other reality, is colored by a feeling of proper knowledge,
which thus creates a new human network; achieving such im-
munity appears a necessary precondition for success regarding
any efforts and actions of a political nature which would aim at
having governments taken over by a society of normal people.
Without such consciousness and immunization, it will always
be difficult to achieve cooperation between free countries and
nations suffering under pathocratic rule. No language of com-
mon communication can be guaranteed by any political doc-
trines based on the natural imagination of people lacking both
the practical experience and a naturalistic understanding of the
phenomenon.
302
THERAPY OF THE WORLD
~~~
The most modern and expensive weapons threatening hu-
manity with global catastrophe are presently obsolete the very
day they are produced.
Why?
They are the weapons of a war which must never take place,
and the nations of the world pray that it never does.
The history of mankind has been a history of wars, which
makes it lack eternal meaning in our eyes. A new great war
would represent the triumph of madness over the nations� will
to live.
International reason must therefore prevail, reinforced by
the newly discovered moral values and naturalistic science
concerning the causes and genesis of evil.
The �new weapon� suggested herein kills no one; it is nev-
ertheless capable of stifling the process of the genesis of evil
within a person and activating his own curative powers. If so-
cieties are furnished an understanding of the pathological na-
ture of evil, they will be able to effect concerted action based
on moral and naturalistic criteria.
This new method of solving eternal problems will be the
most humanitarian weapon ever used in human history, as well
as the only one which can be used safely and effectively. We
may also hope that using such a weapon will help end centuries
of warfare among nations.
CHAPTER X
A VISION OF THE FUTURE
If it is to bear ripe fruit, every human activity must take root
in the soil of two time frames: past and future. The past pro-
vides us knowledge and experience which teach us to solve
problems and warn us when we are about to commit errors
reminiscent of past mistakes. A realistic apperception of the
past and a sometimes painful understanding of its errors and
evils thus become necessary preconditions for building a hap-
pier future.
A similarly realistic vision of the future, complemented by
well thought out detailed data, endows our contemporary ac-
tivities with a direction and renders their goals more concrete.
Mental effort aimed at forming such a vision enables us to
overcome psychological barriers to free reason and imagina-
tion, barriers caused by egotism and survival of habits from the
past. People fixated upon the past gradually lose contact with
the present and are thus incapable of doing much good for the
future. Let us therefore direct our minds toward the future,
beyond the ostensibly insuperable realities of present age.
There are many advantages to be gained from constructively
planning the future, including the more distant time perspec-
tive, if we can foresee its shape and facilitate pinpointed solu-
tions. This requires that we properly analyze reality and make
correct predictions, i.e. discipline of thought so as to exclude
any subconscious data manipulation and any excessive influ-
ence from our emotions and preferences. Elaborating such an
304
A VISION OF THE FUTURE
original vision so as to make it a reified blueprint for a new
reality is the best way to educate human minds for other simi-
larly difficult tasks in the concrete future.
This would also permit timely elimination of many differ-
ences of opinion which could later lead to violent conflicts;
these sometimes result from an insufficiently realistic apper-
ception of the present state of affairs, various pipe-dream atti-
tudes, or propaganda activities. If it is logically developed and
avoids collisions with an adequately objective understanding of
phenomena which have already been discussed in part, such a
constructive vision can come true in future reality.
Such planning should be reminiscent of a well-organized
technical project, wherein the designers� work is preceded by
an examination of conditions and possibilities. Executing the
work also requires time-frame planning in accordance with the
appropriate technical data and the human safety factor. We
know from experience that increasing the scope and accuracy
of design activities makes their execution and utility more prof-
itable. Similarly, the more modern and inventive constructions
generally prove more effective than tradition-bound ones.
The design and construction of a new social system should
also be based upon proper distinctions of reality and should
receive appropriate elaboration in many details in order to
prove effective in execution and action. This will require aban-
doning some traditional customs of political life which allowed
human emotions and egoism to play too great a role. Creative
reasoning has become the sole and necessary solution, since it
determines real data and finds novel solutions without losing
the ability to act under real-life conditions.
The absence of such prior constructive effort would lead
both to knowledge gaps about the reality to be operated in and
to a shortage of people with the crucial preparation needed for
creating new systems. Particularly for a nation now affected by
pathocracy, when regaining the right to decide one�s own fate,
would be improvisation which is expensive and dangerous.
Violent disputes among the adherents of various structural
concepts which may often be unrealistic, immature, or outdated
because they have lost their historical significance in the mean-
time, may even cause a civil war.
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
305
Wherever old social systems created by historical processes
have been almost totally destroyed by the introduction of state
capitalism and the development of pathocracy, that nation�s
social and psychological structure has been obliterated. The
replacement is a pathological structure reaching into every
corner of a country, causing all areas of life to degenerate and
become unproductive. Under such conditions, it proves unfea-
sible to reconstruct a social system based on outdated traditions
and the unrealistic expectations that such a structure does exist.
What is needed is a design of action which will first permit the
fastest possible reconstruction of this basic socio-psychological
structure and then allow it to participate in social life�s
autonomization process.
The past has furnished us virtually no pattern for this indis-
pensable activity, which can thus be based only upon the more
general kind of data described at the beginning of this work.
We are therefore immediately faced with the need to rely upon
modern science. At least one generation�s worth of time has
also been lost, and with it the evolution which should have
creatively transformed the old structural forms. We should thus
be guided by imaginings of what
given society had had the right to free development during this
time, rather than by data from the past, presently outdated,
albeit historically real.
In the meantime, many divergent ways of thinking have
taken root in those countries. Private capitalism�s world of
social institutions has become distant and hard to understand.
There is no longer anybody left who could be a capitalist or act
independently within such a system. Democracy has become an
imperfectly comprehended slogan for communicating within
the society of normal people. The workers cannot imagine the
reprivatization of great industrial plants and oppose any efforts
in that direction. They believe that rendering the country inde-
pendent would bring them participation in both management
and profits. Those societies have accepted some social institu-
tions, such as a public health service and free education
through university level. They want the operation of such insti-
tutions reformed by subordinating them to healthy common
sense and appropriate scientific criteria as well as tried �and
306
A VISION OF THE FUTURE
true elements of valid traditions. What should be restored is the
general laws of nature which should govern societies; the struc-
tural forms should be reconstructed in a more modern manner,
which will facilitate their acceptance.
Some transformations already made are historically irre-
versible. Regaining the right to shape one�s own future would
thus create a dangerous and even tragic �system void�. A pre-
monition of such a critical situation already worries people in
those countries, stifling their will to act; this situation should be
prevented immediately. The only way is well-organized effort
in analytical and constructive thought directed toward a socie-
tal system with highly modern economic and political founda-
tions.
Nations suffering under pathocratic governments would also
participate in such a constructive effort, which would represent
excellent input to the above-mentioned general task of treating
our sick world. Undeterred in our hope that the time will soon
come when such nations will revert to normal human systems,
we should build a social system with a view to what will hap-
pen after pathocracy.
This social system will be different from and better than
anything which existed earlier. A realistic vision of a better
future and participation in creating it will heal battered human
souls and bring order into thought processes. This constructive
work trains people to govern themselves under such different
conditions and knocks the weapon out of the hands of anyone
who serves evil, increasing the latter�s feeling of frustration
and an awareness that his pathological work is nearing an end.
A careful reading of this book may cause us to discern the
outlines of a creative vision of such a future societal system so
sorely needed by nations suffering under pathocratic rule; if so,
this represents a reward for the author�s effort rather than re-
sults of pure chance. Just such a vision accompanied me
throughout the period of my work on this book (although the
latter nowhere indicates a name nor any more precise details
for it), rendering assistance and proving a useful support in the
future. In some way, it is thus present on the pages and be-
tween the lines of this work.
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
307
Such a social system of the future would have to guarantee
its citizens wide scope personal freedom and an open door to
utilizing their creative possibilities in both individual and col-
lective efforts. At the same time, however, it must not indicate
the well known weaknesses manifested by a democracy in its
domestic and foreign policy. Not only should individuals� per-
sonal interest and the common good be appropriately balanced
in such a system; they should be woven right into the overall
picture of social life at the level where an understanding of its
laws causes any discrepancy between them to disappear. The
opinion of the wide mass of the citizenry, dictated primarily by
the voices of basic intelligence and dependent upon the natural
world view, should be balanced by the skills of people who
utilize an objective cognition of reality and possess the appro-
priate training in their special areas. Appropriate and well
thought out system solutions should be used for this purpose.
The foundations for practical solutions within such an im-
proved system would contain criteria such as creating the right
conditions for enriched development of human personalities
including the psychological world view, whose societal role
has already been adduced. Individual socio-professional adap-
tation, the creation of an interpersonal network, and a healthy
active socio-psychological structure should be facilitated to the
maximum possible extent.
Structural, legal, and economic solutions should be consid-
ered in such a way that fulfilling these criteria would also open
the door for an individual�s optimal self-realization within so-
cial life, which would simultaneously be for the good of the
community. Other traditional criteria such as the dynamics of
economic development will thereupon prove secondary to these
more general values. The result of this would be the nation�s
economic development, political skill, and creative role in the
international sphere.
The priorities in terms of value criteria would thus shift
consistently in the direction of psychological, social, and moral
data. This is in keeping with the spirit of the times, but actual
execution thereof demands imaginative effort and constructive
thought in order to achieve the above-mentioned practical
308
A VISION OF THE FUTURE
goals. After all, everything begins and ends within the human
psyche.
Such a system would have to be evolutionary by nature, as
it would be based upon an acceptance of evolution as a law of
nature. Natural evolutionary factors would play an important
role therein, such as the course of cognition continually proc-
essing from more primitive and easily accessible data to more
actual, intrinsic, and subtle matters. The principle of evolution
would have to be imprinted firmly enough upon the basic phi-
losophical foundations of such a system so as to protect it con-
sistently from future revolution.
Such a social system would by nature be more resistant to
the danger of having macrosocial pathological phenomena
develop within. Its foundations would be an improved devel-
opment of the psychological world view and society�s links
structure coupled with a scientific and social consciousness of
the essence of such phenomena. This should furnish the foun-
dation for mature methods of education. Such a system should
also have built-in permanent institutions which were heretofore
unknown and whose task will be preventing the development
of ponerogenic processes within society, particularly among
governing authorities.
A �Council of Wise Men� would be an institution com-
posed of several people with extremely high general, medical,
and psychological qualifications; it would have the right to
examine the physical and psychological health of candidates
before the latter are elected to the highest government posi-
tions. A negative council opinion should be hard to challenge.
That same council would serve the head of state, the legislative
authorities, and the executives regarding counsel in matters
entering its scope of scientific competence. It would also ad-
dress the public in important matters of biological and psycho-
logical life, indicating essential moral aspects. Such a council�s
duties would also include maintaining contact and discussions
with the religious authorities in such matters.
The security system for persons with various psychological
deviations would be in charge of making their life easier while
skillfully limiting their participation in the processes of the
genesis of evil. After all, such persons are not impervious to
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
309
persuasion provided it is based upon proper knowledge of the
matter. Such an approach would also help progressively dimin-
ish societies� gene pool burdens of hereditary aberrations. The
Council of Wise Men would furnish the scientific supervision
for such activities.
The legal system would be subjected to wide ranging trans-
formations in virtually every area, progressing from formulae
whose establishment was based on a society�s natural world
view and ancient tradition to legal solutions based upon an
objective apperception of reality, particularly the psychological
one. As a result, law studies would have to undergo true mod-
ernization, since the law would become a scientific discipline
sharing the same epistemological principles as all the other
sciences.
What is now called �penal� law would be superseded by
another kind of law with a completely modernized foundation
based on an understanding of the genesis of evil and of the
personalities of people who commit evil. Such law would be
significantly more humanitarian while furnishing individuals
and societies more effective protection from undeserved abuse.
Of course, the operational measures would be much more
complex and more dependent upon a better understanding of
causation than could ever possibly be the case in a punitive
system. A trend toward transformations in this direction is evi-
dent in the legislation of civilized nations. The social system
proposed herein would have to break through traditions in this
area in a more effective way.
No government whose system is based on an understanding
of the laws of nature, whether concerning physical and biologi-
cal phenomena or the nature of man, can lay a claim to sover-
eignty in the meaning we have inherited from the nineteenth
century and subsequent nationalistic or totalitarian systems. We
share the same air and water throughout our planet. Common
cultural values and basic moral criteria are becoming wide
spread. The world is interlinked in transportation, communica-
tion, and trade and has become Our Planet. Under such condi-
tions, interdependence and cooperation with other nations and
supranational institutions, as well as moral responsibility for
overall fate, become a law of nature. The national organism
310
A VISION OF THE FUTURE
becomes autonomous but not independent. This must be regu-
lated by means of the appropriate treaties and incorporated into
national constitutions.
A system thus envisaged would be superior to all its prede-
cessors, being based upon an understanding of the laws of na-
ture operating within individuals and societies, with objective
knowledge progressively superceding opinions based upon
natural responses to phenomena. We should call it a
�LOGOCRACY�.
Due to their properties and conformity to the laws of nature
and evolution, logocratic systems could guarantee social and
international order on a long-term basis. In keeping with their
nature, they would then become transformed into more perfect
forms, a vague and faraway vision of which may beckon to us
in the present.
The author has survived many dangerous situations and be-
come disappointed with many people and institutions. How-
ever, the Great Providence has never disappointed him under
the most difficult circumstances. This condition suffices to
permit him to promise that elaborating a more detailed draft for
such a necessary better system will also be possible.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adler, Alfred:
Allilueva, Svetlana :
London 1967
Assagiolli, Roberto:
York Research Foundation 1959
Becker, Ernest:
Bilikiewicz, Adam (ed.):
Buhler, Charlotte Malachowski:
1968)
Campbell, Philip: �The nature of belief systems in mass publics.� in
David Apter, ed.,
1964
Chirot, Daniel:
ton, New Jersey 1994
Cleckley, Hervey:
1983
Dabrowski, Kazimierz:
cations Ltd;, London 1972
DeMause, Lloyd:
New York, 1982
Doren, Denis M.:
Wiley & Sons, New York 1987
Drewa, Gerard (ed.):
Edwards, Paul, Editor-in-Chief:
Millan Publishing Co., Inc & Free Press, New York 1972
Ehrlich, S. K. and R.P. Keogh: �The psychopath in a mental institu-
tion� � Archiv neurol.
Ferrari, Giuseppe:
Freud, Sigmund:
312
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Freud, Sigmund:
Goertzel, Ted: �Generational Conflict and Social Change�,
Goleman, Daniel:
Posna$ 1997
Gordon, Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts:
Library, New York 1964
Granovetter, Mark: �Threshold Models of Collective Behavior�,
Gray, K.C. and H.C. Hutchinson: �The psychopathic personality � a
survey of Canadian psychiatrists� opinions�.
Greenfield, Susan (ed.):
Hartau, Frederyk:
Herling-Grudzinski, Gustav:
1996
Hoess, Rudolf:
Horney, Karen:
Company, New York 1950
Horney, Karen:
& Company, New York 1959
Irving, David:
London 1991
Jenkins, Richard:
Jenkins, Richard: �The psychopathic or antisocial personality, J. nerv.
Ment�.
Keller, Morton: �Reflections on Politics and Generations in Amer-
ica.� Pp. 123-135 in Stephen Graubard, ed.,
New York, 1979
K%pi$ski, Antoni:
Koestler, Arthur:
Klinberg, Frank: �The historical alternation of moods in American
foreign policy�.
Konorski, Jerzy:
1969
Kraupl Taylor, Frederick:
The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1979
Kretshmer, E.:
Klinberg, Frank: �The historical alternation of moods in American
foreign policy�.
!obaczewski, Andrew M.:
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
313
!obaczewski, Andzrej:
!obaczewski, Andzrej:
!uria, Aleksander R.:
Maher, Brendan, selected by:
Penguin Books Ltd. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England 1974
Mannheim, Karl:
and Kegan Paul, London. 1952
Marias, Julian:
Alabama Press, translation, 1970
McCord, W. and J.:
1956
Merz, Ferdinand und I. Stelz:
Verlag W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgard und Berlin 1977
Miller, Alice:
am Main 1951
Neumayr, Anton:
Ed Press 1995
Poradowski, Ks. Michal:
Warszawa 1992
American Psychological Association
Russell, E.S.:
Schlesinger, Arthur M., Sr:
York, 1949
Simonton, Dean Keith.: �Does Sorokin's data support his theory?: A
study of generational fluctuations in philosophical beliefs.�
Sommerhoff, G.,
Sorokin, Pitirim:
New York. 1941
Sorokin, Pitirim:
Stycze$, Tadeusz SDS:
owe KUL, Lublin 1995
Stout, Martha:
Taylor, Frederick K.:
Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 1979
314
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ziskind E, Somerfield-Ziskind E. Peter Jacob FROSTIG, 1896-1959.
About the Author
Andrew M. !obaczewski was born in 1921 and grew up on
a rural estate in the beautiful piedmountain vicinity of Poland.
Under the Nazi occupation he worked on the farm, was an
apiarist, and then a soldier of the Home Army, an underground
Polish resistance organisation. After the Soviet invasion of
Poland, the family estate was confiscated and the owners
driven out from their old house.
Working hard for living, he studied psychology at Yagiello-
nian University in Cracow. The conditons under �Communist�
rule turned his attention to the matters of psychopathology,
especially to the role of psychopathic persons in such a gov-
ernmental system. He was not the first such researcher who
followed a similar path. The work was begun by a secret un-
derstanding of scientists of the older generation, which was
destroyed shortly after by the Red security authorities.
!obaczewski then later became the one who succeeded in ac-
complishing the work and putting it down on paper.
Working in a mental hospital, than a general hospital, and in
open mental health service, the author improved his skills in
clinical diagnosis and psychotherapy. Finally, when suspected
by the political authorities of knowing too much in the matter
of the pathological nature of the system, he was forced to emi-
grate in 1977. In the USA he became engulfed by the activity
of the long paws of the Red diversion. Instead of his very hard
times, the work presented now was written in New York in
1984. All attempts to publish this book at this time failed.
With broken health, he returned in 1990 to Poland and went
under the care of doctors, his old friends. His condition im-
proved gradually, and he became able to work and to publish
another of his works in matters of psychotherapy and socio-
psychology. He is still living in his homeland.
INDEX
Acquired deviations, 105
Braithwaite, R.B., 87
Adler�s Rhombus, 184
Brzezicki, Eug., 135
Alexander II, 266
Bulgaria, 225
Alliluieva, Svetlana, 117
Bush, George W., 8, 24, 109,
America, 91.
207
States of America.
Caesar, Julius, 105
United States of America
Canup, Robert, 20
Anti-Smoking Campaign, 223
Capitalism, 239, 305
Asperger�s Syndrome, 133
Communist societies as
Association, 157, 158, 161,
state capitalist, 239
164, 168, 169, 170, 172,
Catholic Church, 8, 27, 58,
312, 313
134
Asthenic psychopathy, 133,
Censorship, 49, 177, 248
134, 223
Characteropathy, 106, 111,
Auschwitz, 38, 312
113, 116, 117, 120, 137,
Bad Times, 88
148, 154, 155, 188, 189,
Psychological Value of, 85,
214
87
and religious groups, 272
Behaviorists, 49
And social movements, 189
Beria, L., 116
Effects on Normal People,
Biological factors, 55, 186,
107, 109
228
Elimination of from social
Blocking out, 152
movements, 192
Bonaparte, Napoleon, 105
Relation to schizoids in
Borman, Martin, 163
ponerogenesis, 188
Brain Cortex Damage, 114
Role in Ponerogenesis, 106
Brain Tissue Lesions, 89, 100,
Characteropathy, 110
105, 106, 111, 113, 118,
Charcot, Jean-Martin, 90, 176
132, 227, 291
Cheney, Dick, 191
Acquired deviations and,
Christianity, 45, 46, 47, 167
105
and Greek Heritage, 47
318
INDEX
and Roman Influence, 48
112, 131, 145, 146, 147,
Appropriates Roman forms,
148, 155, 177, 181, 185,
47
189, 196, 231, 233, 234,
Appropriates Roman forms,
242, 251, 269, 270, 272,
48
303
Church, 276
Ehrlich, S.K., 122, 311
Circumcision, 150
Eliade, Mircea, 8
Cleckley, 15
Emotion, 53, 63, 81, 89, 91
Cleckley, Hervey, 17, 22,
Emotional life, 251
122, 128, 132, 148, 311
Engels, Frederick, 186
Cognition, 47, 48, 49, 51, 58,
Essential Pathocracy
121, 267, 269, 293, 307,
Former opponents integrate
308
into new regime, 227
and acceptance of religious
Essential Psychopathy, 29, 43,
truths, 268
125, 132, 133, 136, 137,
Communism, 25, 37, 112,
138, 140, 162, 189, 193,
116, 160, 166, 239, 240,
195, 219, 225, 230, 288,
263, 315
290
And social movements,
Comte, Auguste, 57
190, 191
law of three phases, 57
Desire to change world,
Conscience, 133, 143, 151,
190
164, 181, 199, 289
Conscious of their
in new pathocratic
difference, 204
bourgeoisie, 225
Inspirational role in social
movements, 193
Conversive thinking, 63, 91,
Involved in pathocratic
151, 152, 153, 177, 211,
activity, 194
264, 280
Percentage of population,
Dabrowski, Kasimir, 311
223
Dabrowski, Kazimierz, 126,
Role in pathocracy, 198
146
special knowledge of, 35
Dabrowski, Kazimierz, 126
Europe, 8, 90, 91, 92, 93, 108,
Daltonists, 121
115, 135, 136, 175, 177,
Analogy to pathocratic
214, 278, 290
system, 230
Evil, 30, 38, 39, 40, 42, 43,
48, 55, 62, 69, 70, 78, 86,
Doubletalk, 165, 205, 242
87, 88, 93, 95, 96, 97, 98,
and religion, 271
99, 101, 102, 103, 104,
Drury, Shadia, 192
106, 109, 116, 117, 120,
Dzerzhinsky, Felix, 134, 135
122, 126, 129, 132, 134,
Egotism, 41, 43, 54, 55, 56,
135, 141, 142, 143, 144,
82, 88, 89, 91, 95, 106,
148, 149, 150, 157, 164,
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
319
172, 173, 178, 179, 180,
Freudian Psychology, 91
181, 182, 188, 242, 249,
Frontal Characteropathy, 113,
267, 269, 274, 275, 276,
140, 162, 189, 224
277, 280, 281, 283, 288,
Frostig, Peter Jacob, 186
289, 292, 293, 294, 295,
Germany, 38, 107, 109, 258,
302, 306, 308, 309, 311
292
as a continuum, 280
Psychiatry and praise of
Christian civilizations loses
pathological types, 69
immunity to, 48
Gray, K.C., 122, 312
Deficiencies in instinct and,
Greece, 45
62
Greek philosophy, 45
Genesis of, 30, 38, 40, 42,
Grossman, Arthur, 112
43, 69, 96, 97, 98, 99,
Grossman, Vassily, 112
101, 102, 103, 104, 106,
Guilt, 109, 128, 129, 131,
109, 120, 122, 126, 132,
132, 180, 288, 291
134, 141, 142, 143, 144,
Happy times, 84, 89, 154, 176
148, 173, 178, 179, 180,
Hare, 15
267, 274, 276, 277, 280,
Hare, Robert, 15, 126, 131,
288, 289, 295, 302, 308,
262
309
Harrington, Alan, 18
Macrosocial, 7
Herder, J.S., 86
Moral, 42
Herling-Grudzinsk, Gustav,
Moral interpretation of, 100
38
Moralistic interpretation of,
History, 9
149
Hitler, Adolf, 163
Moralistic interpretaton of,
Hitlerism, 91, 200
102
Hungary, 28, 225
Psychobiological, 42
Hutchison, H.C., 122
Relationship of
Hysteria, 90, 114, 115, 147,
pathological types to, 99
154, 175, 176, 177, 183,
Religion, 268
217, 280, 312
Study of using model of
Europe, 108
medicine, 98
Social, 89
Extraordinary Rendition, 205
Hysteriodal Cycle
Family, 37, 52, 58, 90, 114,
European, 90
115, 137, 142, 150, 151,
Length of, 90
155, 265, 269, 284, 285,
Hysteroidal Cycle, 84, 183,
315
203
and society, 70
Hysteroidal Cycle
Children of pathocrats, 227
America, 91, 92, 94
Fascism, 91, 166
European, 92
Forgiveness, 47, 182, 249,
Ideology, 30, 37, 68, 74, 145,
288, 289, 290, 293
155, 156, 157, 158, 160,
320
INDEX
162, 164, 165, 166, 167,
Individual, 28, 32, 34, 35, 36,
171, 172, 185, 188, 189,
38, 42, 46, 48, 49, 54, 57,
190, 191, 193, 195, 199,
59, 62, 65, 71, 72, 73, 79,
200, 201, 202, 203, 204,
82, 83, 85, 89, 91, 92, 96,
205, 209, 214, 217, 218,
101, 102, 106, 108, 110,
219, 220, 226, 227, 228,
114, 120, 123, 137, 140,
229, 235, 237, 239, 242,
141, 145, 153, 156, 160,
253, 255, 257, 260, 263,
162, 163, 165, 175, 176,
270, 280, 285, 288, 296,
178, 180, 181, 182, 189,
297, 299, 300
215, 218, 224, 235, 237,
And Pathocracy, 200, 205
242, 251, 268, 273, 279,
and pedagogues, 74
282, 283, 287, 289, 291,
And psychological warfare,
293, 296, 300, 301, 307
218
Ability to intuit
As camouflage for
psychological states in
pathocracy, 200
others, 60
Confrontation with original
Adaptation to pathocratic
adherents, 200
system, 246
Contamination of, 201
and place in society, 75
Pathological, 86
and practical knowledge of
Pathological ideas hide
pathocracy, 93
within, 184
and society, 70
Primitive character of 19th
century, 71
Split in social movements
Healing, 44
between founders and
Hysteroidal Cycle, 86
pathological types, 192
Overpowered by schizoids,
185
30, 44, 229
Pathologizing of, 195
Immunity, 36, 47, 48, 82, 88,
vs. collective interests, 81
120, 140, 141, 154, 156,
World view as basis for
160, 179, 206, 217, 234,
decision-making, 53
236, 244, 245, 247, 275,
Individual and place in
276, 277, 279, 286, 287,
society, 75
288, 289, 293, 298, 299,
Individual freedom, 81
300, 301, 308
Individual psychological
anomalies, 43
Indoctrination, 33, 34, 195,
From psychopathy, 34
197, 245, 250
of human reason, 88
Failure of, 196
Of normal people against
Of American soldiers by
pathocracy, 196
North Vietnamese, 233
of society, 78
Induction, 36, 147, 267
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
321
Pathological, 142
Level of and understanding
Information selection, 152
of pathocracy, 238
Innate traits, 52
Normal people�s superior,
Instinct, 53, 60, 61, 62, 63,
240, 241
71, 80, 81, 82, 127, 148,
Percentage of gifted, 64
213, 232, 237, 252, 262,
Specific of pathocracy, 211
293
Introspection, 49, 63, 85, 267
Inability to distinguish
Israel, 271
pathological aberrations,
Jackals, 136
61
Jenkins, R., 122, 312
Pathological aberrations, 61
Jung, C.G., 49
sthenic, 62
Knowledge, 28, 31, 42, 44,
Instinctive endowment, 59,
47, 48, 49, 57, 68, 69, 70,
60, 150
77, 83, 85, 88, 93, 94, 95,
Instinctive substratum, 60,
102, 103, 104, 110, 127,
118, 124, 126, 145, 225,
129, 134, 135, 137, 143,
240, 262
148, 152, 172, 173, 179,
Deficits in allow
227, 235, 239, 241, 243,
pathological influence
257, 259, 260, 261, 262,
of, 36
263, 264, 266, 267, 269,
Factor in joining the
278, 280, 281, 284, 293,
opposition, 237
294, 297, 298, 300, 301,
Human difference from
303, 304, 309, 310
animals, 60
Acquired, 62
Normal, 235
and religion, 268
Pathocratic belief they can
Emergence of individuals
change others, 231
who understand the
Intelligence, 64, 77, 78, 102,
pathocracy, 243
113, 114, 115, 121, 124,
Illusory, 158
127, 157, 202, 210, 225,
Incorporating practical
231, 235, 237, 238, 251,
knowledge, 252
262, 291, 307
Misformed through
and instinctual substratum,
characteropathy, 107
64
Moral knowledge, 268
Collective, 73
Natural, 185
Correlation with internal
Objective, 220
projection, 64
Objective Nautral, 30
Deficiencies in pathological
of psychological resistance
types, 240
to pathocracy, 236
Individual differences in,
Practical k. about
64
pathocracy, 234
Judgments by people on, 77
322
INDEX
Practical knowledge of
Influence of Greek on
pathocracy, 196, 220,
Christianity, 47
241, 244, 245, 275
Limits in describing
Religious justification to
psychopathy, 39
reject, 270
Moralizing, 104
Scientific, 237
Natural, 39, 42, 55, 68, 72,
Secret, 34
73, 89, 127, 206, 222,
Special knowledge of
258
pasychopaths, 211
Inability to explain
Special knowledge of
world, 53
psychopath, 36
Natural conceptual, 158
Special knowledge of
Need for objective
psychopaths, 127, 128,
language to understand
145, 171, 240, 241
pathocracy, 222
Special knowledge of the
Objective, 42, 51, 53, 55,
psychopath, 36
66, 70, 72, 270, 274
Specific knowledge of
Elaboration of, 55
psychopaths, 257
Psychological, 50, 51, 59,
Koestler, Arthur, 38
74
Kraepelin, Emil, 123
Scientific, 40, 41
Kraul Taylor, F., 122, 312
Semiotics, 72
Kretschmer, E., 135, 136
Social Science, 41
Kretschmer, Ernst, 135
Using pathocratic language,
Language, 27, 39, 41, 42, 45,
243
51, 55, 58, 70, 97, 128,
Law, 45, 47, 85, 87, 121, 142,
165, 173, 188, 225, 239,
143, 148, 157, 168, 193,
243, 244, 252, 274, 287,
207, 213, 276, 279, 288,
301
289, 290, 293, 295, 308,
Common among
309
pathcracies, 200
Beyond moralizing, 309
Conceptual, 50
Botany, 103
Content Plane, 72
Emergence of monotheistic
Description of psychopathy
idea, 268
through natural
Incapable of counteracting
language, 38
pathocractic phenomena,
Expression Plane, 72
212
Formation of new language
Moral, 151
of normal people, 241
Natural, 138, 139
Formulated for this work,
Roman, 46
57
Simplified notion of a
Inability to deal with
being, 48
analysis of psychopathy,
Laws of social life, 71, 94,
56
297
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
323
Lecter, Hannibal, 10
Moralizing interpretation, 42,
Legal Argument, 20
53, 148, 151, 157, 181,
Lenin, V.I., 112
184, 207, 220, 221, 239,
Le#mian, Boles"aw, 249
274, 285, 292, 293
Of schizoidal declaration,
!obaczewski, 7
187
!obaczewski, Andrew, 15,
Mumps, 119, 159
16, 19, 25, 72, 73, 144,
Munthe, Axel, 89
238, 258, 263
Mythological imagination, 46
Biography, 315
Neoconservatives, 8, 24, 109,
Lorenz, Konrad, 60
186, 207
Luria, 113
Neoconsevratives, 206
Macropathy, 79, 80
Neurosis, 139, 226, 234, 283,
Macrosocial pathological
312
phenomenon, 82, 128, 203,
Natural reaction to
206, 216, 229, 253, 279,
subordination to
280, 285
pathocrats, 251
and religion, 269
Macrosocial Phenomena, 42,
Opinion Polls, 77
43
Paralogism, 90, 154, 205,
Macrosocial Phenomenon, 28,
211, 251
29, 55, 91, 203, 204, 213,
Paralogistics, 155
226, 241, 243, 245, 247,
Paramoralism, 110, 149, 150,
253, 262, 263, 264, 282,
151, 155, 205, 211, 218,
283, 285, 291, 294, 301
236, 248, 251, 271
Magid, Ken, 18
Paramoralism, 170, 171
Marx, Karl, 125, 188, 255
Paranoid Character Disorders,
As example of schizoidal
110
personality, 186
Paranoid Disorder
Schizoidia, 188
Effects on Normal People,
Marxism, 166
110
Pathcracy
(Cleckley), 128, 311
Imposed by force, 220
McKelvey, Caroline, 18
Pathocracy, 36, 43, 175, 177,
Mill, J.S., 58
180, 183, 184, 195, 196,
Mill, John Stuart, 58
197, 199, 200, 201, 202,
Moral judgment, 54, 180, 181
204, 208, 212, 213, 214,
and pathocrats, 222
216, 218, 219, 220, 221,
As result of natural world
223, 224, 227, 228, 230,
view, 53
237, 238, 249, 250, 253,
Moral reason, 64, 78, 150
256, 257, 266, 269, 270,
Moralizing interpretation, 39
271, 275, 276, 280, 285,
287, 288, 291, 293, 297,
324
INDEX
298, 299, 300, 301, 304,
imposed by force, 203, 213,
305, 306
214, 221, 275
Affecting susceptible
Incapable of management,
personalities, 211
210
and Children, 234
Inherent economic
And conquest, 210
weakness, 210
And Ideology, 200
Key roles filled by
pathological types, 194
and Religion, 267, 269
Lack of creative skills, 198
Art of psychological terror,
Legalistic thinking, 212
244
Limited by military of
artificially infected, 203,
others, 210
216
Need for expansionism,
and religion, 275
209
As disease, 44
New bourgeoisie of, 225
as macrosocial disease, 229
Percentage of population,
Control over psychology,
223
257
Period of maturation, 195
Control over scientific
Psychophysiological shock
organizations, 259
of, 236
Definition of, 193
Purging of transitional
leadership, 220
Religion under, 274
Revenge upon normal
Dissimulative form, 220
people, 215
Double game of new
Role of characteropathy in,
bourgeoisie, 226
188
Effects on normal people,
Role of instincts in, 262
244
Role of liberal pathocrats,
Eliminating books from
197
libraries, 35
Role of schizoids in
Essential factors in genesis
formation of, 185
of, 183
Science a danger to, 258
Etiological factors of, 203
Second group of influence,
Expansion of, 206
224
Expansionism derived from
Structure of, 226
very nature of, 209
Susceptible individuals,
225
Percentage of
Found in all societies and
population, 223
social movements, 199
Terror, 233
Immunity by effects of
toxic substances, 223
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
325
War as means of
Destructive effects upon,
eliminating normal
234
people, 208
Development of, 94
Weakness of, 198, 199
Disintegrative states, 67,
Pathological conspiracies, 78
145, 153, 286
Pathological factors, 42, 69,
Effects of pathocracy upon,
87, 101, 102, 104, 105,
231
109, 111, 116, 119, 122,
Effects of pathological
137, 141, 143, 145, 149,
types on, 140
151, 154, 155, 157, 160,
Egotization of, 67
163, 167, 168, 169, 177,
Emotional factors affect
180, 181, 188, 218, 234,
perception, 53
235, 265, 273, 274, 276,
Formation of, 70
292, 301
how influenced by
And final transformation of
characteropathy, 106
social movments, 189
In the face of psychopathy,
And ideology, 201
34
Monitoring of, 103
Instability of, 66
Pathological thought, 74
Judeo-Christian Notion, 46
Pathological types
Oversimplifications by
Inherited deviations, 162
Church, 58
Paranoid, 189
Pathocracy and children,
Pavlov, Ivan, 49, 111
251
Perinatal damage, 105, 113,
Psychological causation of,
114, 116, 142
65
Personality, 34, 42, 48, 51,
Psychological differences
59, 62, 63, 67, 71, 72, 85,
in, 65
87, 94, 102, 103, 110, 111,
Psychological View, 49, 50
112, 114, 115, 117, 139,
Recession of in happy
140, 145, 146, 147, 152,
times, 89
155, 157, 176, 182, 185,
Reconstruction of, 282
187, 211, 213, 217, 226,
Reintegrative state, 67
232, 234, 237, 248, 250,
Roman notion, 46
262, 264, 270, 285, 286,
Supra-sensory causation
299, 312
and, 66
6% succomb to pathocratic
PersonalityEffects of
influences, 35
pathological factors upon,
Causality of, 51
142
Changes of due to shock,
Poland, 28, 32, 37, 99, 124,
214
136, 239, 249, 315
Characteropathic influence
Ponerization process, 160,
of Wilhelm II, 106
161, 165, 167, 168, 169,
253, 272
326
INDEX
Ponerogenesis, 40, 42, 43, 99,
Attacking religious
158, 173, 178, 180, 184,
convictions, 275
203, 213, 221, 265, 269,
Ineffectual propaganda
274, 281, 295
against pathocracy, 243
Dissimulative phase, 172,
To hide true character of
197, 198, 215, 221, 236,
pathocracy from world,
273
197
in a religious movement,
Psychiatry, 123, 135, 256
271
in religious groups, 272
Abuse of for political
Transitional phase, 193
purposes, 265
Ponerogenic Association
Disease and delusions, 202
and Religion, 271, 272
in Soviet Union, 256
Ponerogenic associations,
in the Ukraine, 260
158, 160
Under Communism, 255
Primary and secondary,
Under pathocracy, 260
160, 161
Under pthocracy, 264
Secondary, 161, 162, 164
Psychology, 31, 35, 42, 50,
Ponerogenic process, 101,
58, 59, 62, 66, 91, 95, 98,
103
104, 132, 136, 137, 142,
Ponerogenic process, 164
144, 154, 172, 176, 178,
Ponerogenic processes, 144,
234, 241, 246, 256, 260,
145, 149, 154
261, 262, 265, 282, 311,
313, 315
Ponerology
Association, 63
Monitoring of pathological
Barren under Roman rule,
factors, 103
46
Ponerology, 29, 32, 42, 43,
Behaviorists, 49
99, 122, 149, 157, 170,
Common substratum, 61
176, 178, 179, 180, 181,
Consequences of repressed
221, 280, 281, 312
attitudes, 66
first criterion of, 158, 170,
Historical overview, 49
176
Need for solitude, 63
Powell, Colin, 198
Possibility of subjective
Project For A New American
error, 49
Century, 186
Progress depends upon
Propaganda, 33, 43, 71, 163,
practitioners, 49
164, 165, 193, 197, 201,
Study of personality, 49
211, 226, 231, 236, 248,
Suffers censorship, 49
250, 252, 257, 304
Under Communism, 255
Activation of pathological
Under pathocracy, 260
ideas in society, 189
Under pthocracy, 264
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
327
Universal law on
Succombs to
psychological
ponerogenesis, 270
differences in a
Reverse blocking, 211
population, 65
Reversion blockades, 155
Used to study moral
Reversive blockade, 151
problems, 98
Rice, Condoleeza, 198
Psychopathology, 27, 28, 31,
Roman civilization, 45, 168
35, 41, 42, 43, 69, 101,
Rome, 47, 249
122, 145, 154, 178, 212,
Philosophy in, 46
222, 233, 256, 259, 261,
Roosevelt, F.D., 119
262, 282, 292, 297, 298,
Rove, Karl, 191
313, 315
Rumsfeld, Donald, 191
Frozen evolution of
Russell, E.S., 87, 313
personality, 66
Saint Augustine, 7
Psychopathy, 29, 43, 123,
Salekin, Trobst, and
125, 129, 131, 133, 134,
Krioukova, 129
136, 137, 140, 154, 227,
Salekin, Trobst, Krioukova,
233, 240, 263, 312, 313
126
Awareness of as healer,
Schizoid declaration, 124,
233
125, 186
Characteristics of, 130
Correction of, 187
Imitating feelings, 21
How interpreted by normal
person, 186
(W. and J. McCord), 131,
313
187
PsychopathyStudy of under
Three reactions to, 187
pathocracy, 262
Schizoida, 214, 223
Purusha, 51
Schizoidia, 123, 137, 186, 188
Quantum Future Group, 30
And Jews, 186
Rasputin, 87
Impose conceptual views
Reasoning, 49, 60, 68, 87, 90,
on others, 185
102, 110, 116, 117, 122,
Schizophrenia, 123, 124, 165,
124, 133, 146, 150, 152,
167
154, 175, 176, 188, 203,
Search for Truth, 85
240, 270, 304
See
and Moralists, 103
Selection of premises, 152
Deterioration of, 75
Semiotics, 72
Examples of objective, 72
September 11, 2001, 209
in Hysteroidal Cycle, 91
Shah of Iran, 118
Ongoing development of,
Silberman, Steve, 133
63
Religion, 150
Skirtoidal, 223
Skirtoids, 135, 136
328
INDEX
Creative potential of, 65
Snezhnevsky, Andrei, 256
Democracy, 305
Social hysteria, 89
Deviants in, 74
Social order indicator, 76
Division of under
Social Science, 41, 55, 87,
pathocracy, 238
222
Dreams of obtaining power
and psychological
in, 78
complexity, 68
Effects of upward and
Reaction to Psychology, 59
downward social
adjustment, 76
Society, 35, 48, 49, 51, 52,
Eugenics, 143
59, 64, 70, 72, 73, 74, 75,
European study of, 45
77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 83, 85,
Expansion of pathocracy
86, 89, 108, 120, 124, 131,
within, 207
133, 135, 136, 138, 140,
Family as unit (Comte), 58
141, 154, 156, 159, 160,
Foreign character of
161, 168, 169, 172, 173,
imposed pathocracy, 215
174, 176, 177, 179, 181,
Hysteroidal Cycle, 86
183, 184, 190, 193, 194,
Man as basic unit of, 59
195, 196, 197, 203, 207,
Network of normal people,
208, 209, 213, 214, 216,
246
217, 218, 219, 221, 224,
Normal people majority in
225, 226, 227, 228, 231,
pathocratic, 225
232, 234, 235, 236, 237,
of normal people under
239, 240, 241, 242, 243,
pathocracy, 246
244, 247, 248, 250, 253,
Pathocracy potentially
255, 259, 275, 287, 289,
present in all, 183
291, 292, 294, 301, 305,
Pathologizing of, 195
308, 309
Poisoned by schizoid ideas,
Ability to progress, 71
186
Ability to understand
Psychologist�s view of, 72
psychological
Psychopath�s view of, 141
phenomena, 74
Quality of psychological
and Deviants, 78
world view in, 73
and neurosis, 251
Role of instinctual
And pathocracy, 193
substratum in, 62
and pathological members,
68
Science useful for, 50
and religion, 249
Stratification of under
and self-involved
pathocracy, 214
pedagogues, 73
vs. individual survival, 61
Apiary, 71
with non-homogeneous
Consequences of large, 79
populations, 79
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
329
Socrates, 88, 268
Inability of pathocrat to
Solzhenitsyn, A, 38
think like normal people,
Solzhenitsyn, Alexander, 112
243
Sommerhoff, G., 87, 313
Man�s ability for abstract,
Soviet system, 59
63
Spellbinders, 145, 155, 156,
Mental effort develops
157, 162, 163, 166, 171,
understanding, 248
178, 188, 217, 218
Pathological anomalies in,
Spiritual crisis, 169, 174, 183
86
Stalin, Josef, 116, 117, 313
Pathologizing of, 195
Stout, Martha, 12, 17, 24, 126
Philosophical, 98
Strauss, Leo, 191
Psychological, 51
Subconscious Selection, 91,
Tillier, William, 146
108, 115, 176, 280, 282
Transpersonification, 36, 233,
Szasz, Thomas, 282
235
Szmaglewska, Severina, 38
At university, 35
Szmaglewska, Seweryna, 38
Pathological nature of, 35
United States of America, 26,
80, 202, 260, 263, 271
and atomic bomb, 258
Thought, 47, 49, 53, 57, 66,
and ignorance of pathcracy,
70, 75, 86, 90, 104, 108,
263
109, 111, 114, 115, 124,
On way to pathocracy, 217
130, 132, 153, 154, 167,
Upward social adjustment, 76
177, 179, 181, 223, 225,
van Voren, Robert, 59, 256,
247, 250, 252, 262, 268,
260, 261
294, 295, 296, 306, 307
Vatican, 27
Ability for complex
War on Terror, The, 211
operations of, 64
Wikipedia, 123
Characteropathic defects
Wilhelm II of Germany, 107
of, 188
William of Ockham, 299
Deadened by contact with
World View, 51, 52, 102, 248
psychopathy, 236
Causative conditioning of,
De-Criterialization of, 140
51
Discipline of, 303
Deviant, 55, 74
Early Christian, 47
Natural, 41, 43, 53, 54, 57,
Gap between thought and
82, 106, 127, 140, 142,
psychological reality, 48
144, 145, 160, 214, 237,
In a truly Communist
240, 241, 269, 270, 273,
society, 255
274, 282, 307, 309
in Hysteroidal Cycle, 85
Egotism of, 54
Errors of, 52
330
INDEX
Mirrors reality or
Objective, 73
perception, 53
Psychopathic, 54
Moralistic categories of,
World View
83
Objective, 41
Tendencies towards
XYY Karyotype, 121, 137
deformation, 53
Zarathustra, 268