Andrew Lobaczewski - Political Ponerology: A Science on the Nature of Evil Adjusted for Political Purposes
accepted principles of legal thought.
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Other psychopathies: The cases of essential psychopathy
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. Psychopathy and Delinquency. New York:
Grune & Stratton, 1956.
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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 asthenic psychopathy, which appears in every conceivable
intensity, from barely perceptible to an obvious pathologic
deficiency.
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.]
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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:
“IIf I had to start life all over again,
I’d do exactly the same: it’s organic
A feeling of being differ-
necessity, nor the dictates of duty. I
ent.
have one thing which keeps me going
and bids me be serene even when
The shallow nostalgia
things are so very sad. That is an
characteristic of this psy-
unshakable faith in people. Condi-
chopathy.
tions will change and evil will cease
to reign, and man will be a brother to
man, not a wolf as is the case today.
Vision of a new world.
My forebearance derives not from my Different psychological
fancy, but rather from my clear vision knowledge.-
of the cause which give rise to evil."
Those words were written in prison on December 15, 1913
by Felix Dzerzhinsky, a descendant of Polish gentry who was
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135
soon to originate the Cherezvichayka60 in the Soviet Union and
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 nor-
mal people. Having reconciled ourselves to the fact that such
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. Skirtoids64 are
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 skirtaô: to rebel, to jump. [Editor’s note.]
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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, but none of the deviations
described herein fits this picture. As a rule, essential psycho-
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.
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137
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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
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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
