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.]
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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.
~~~
Paranoid character disorders: It is characteristic of para-
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 paranoid characteropathy.
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.]
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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:
Symptom:
Lenin was always tactful, gentle, and
polite, but simultaneously characterized
Asthenization.
by an excessively sharp, ruthless, and
Fixation and stereotypia.
brutal attitude to political opponents. He
never allowed any possibility that they
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 Red
Star - a job which took him to the front lines of Stalingrad and ultimately to
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,