Life and Fate (Zhizn i Sudba) in the 1950s and - in the period of the Krush-
chev thaw, which had seen Alexander Solzhenitsyn allowed to publish A Day
on the Life of Ivan Denisovich - he submitted the manuscript to a literary
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ber in charge of ideology, is reported as having said it could not be published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 Life and Fate commits what was still, in a
‘liberal’ environment, the unthinkable sin of arguing for the moral equiva-
lence of Nazism and Soviet communism. [Editor’s note.]
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
113
might be even minimally right, nor that
Pathological egotism.
he might be even minimally wrong. He
would often call his opponents huck-
Paramoralisms.
sters, lackeys, servant-boys, mercenar-
ies, agents, or Judases bribed for thirty
pieces of silver. He made no attempt to
persuade his opponents during a dis-
pute. He communicated not with them,
Spellbinding and of con-
but rather with those witnessing the
sciousness and its effects.
dispute, in order to ridicule and com-
promise his adversaries. Sometimes
such witnesses were just a few people,
sometimes thousands of delegates to a
Lack of the self- criticism.
congress, sometimes millions worth
throngs of newspaper readers.
~~~
Frontal characteropathy: The frontal areas of the cerebral
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 spell-
bind others, and their influence finds it exceptionally easy to
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