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acterized by similar moods , inclinations, judgments, and prejudices .
The behavior in question derives both from instinctual vicissitudes
characteristic of current society and from such non-psychological
influences as poverty , hunger , and overcrowding .
Furthermore , we must raise the question ofwhat kind of reverber–
ation the unintended side effects of progress in the individual leave–
the limitless population explosion , the pollution of the human hab–
itat , the thoughtless intervention in the ecological household of earth
in innumerable places. It seems reasonable to assume that this progress
could contain a core of self-deception , and that , in fact , it is part of
quite a different strategy , that of the death instinct . Progress would
then be an historical advance toward the extinction ofmankind . This is
certainly a pessimistic consttuction , and one that cannot be deduced
from the fate of the individual , but only from those historical develop–
ments that have grown up over the generations , and which in retro–
spect we call " epochs ."
In the face of these large-scale manifestations of the death in–
stinct , namely the periodic outbreaks of desttuctive behavior , Eros
must regain its field of action , as Freud saw. The question then arises:
what chance is there for a revolt against overpowering emotions which
apparently do not spring directly from the intimate conduct of one's
own life , but from that of the group? And what about the revolt
against realistic coercion , such as the consequences of population
explosion , technocratic regimentation , and last but not least , the
fetishism of progress?
Another element of cruelty which may be rooted in the death
instinct is to be observed in the establishment of a regime of terror . The
corruption , under the influence of real power , of a just revolution into
a reign of terror has occurred repeatedly. Even with this danger, we
must recognize that , for a conceivable futute , certain unjust distribu–
tions of political power and property will only yield to change through
greater power .
Political enlightenment should not be misinterpreted as a leap
into an untenable pacifism . On the contrary , the necessary destruction
of taboos has to be based on very exacting observations . Fearless
questioning and accuracy of observation are of the essence here .
The strategy of rebellion against the huge power reservoirs of the
bureaucracies has to be adapted to this kind of impersonal enemy, and
