Andrew Lobaczewski - Political Ponerology: A Science on the Nature of Evil Adjusted for Political Purposes
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 de jure and de facto is state capitalism and not Commu-
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 and the profits, will reject such a system as the “worst
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.”
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NORMAL PEOPLE UNDER PATHOCRATIC RULE
ership in one place always leads to degeneration. Capital must
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 deficiencies in the instinctive substratum; how-
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 not compensated by the special
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 can recognize
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 l interpretation of the phenomenon.
The development of familiarity with the phenomenon is ac-
companied by development of communicative language, by
108 Casuistry (argument by cases) is an attempt to determine the correct re-
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.]
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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 the genesis and nature
of evil are analogous irrespective of the social scale in which it
appears.
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
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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-
