Ideas the True Cause of Progress 91 



it becomes manifest that progress is caused by 

 better social institutions, and that the institutions 

 do not arise from the homicide but from psychic 

 movements, from mental representations. 



Suppose we have two groups of human beings 

 arranged in opposing armies, who commence to 

 massacre each other. If we take the imaginary 

 case in which the mutual massacre is complete so 

 that not a single survivor remains, it is evident 

 that there would be no social progress, because 

 there would be no society. If survivors remain, 

 progress depends uniquely on the institutions 

 which govern them. If these institutions are 

 more perfect after than before the battle, there 

 will be progress, but if they are less perfect, there 

 will be retrogression. 



After the first Balkan War the condition of the 

 people of Macedonia had improved because they 

 had been freed from the yoke of Turkey. After 

 the second Balkan War their condition was made 

 worse, with the whole country full of refugees and 

 blackened with hatred. In the one case there 

 was progress and in the other retrogression. It is , 

 a complete self-deception to consider the progress 

 realized sometimes after war and to neglect en- 

 tirely the retrogression which follows so often. 

 The claim that collective homicide is the cause 

 of progress is absolutely unsustainable. We must 

 take account of the fact that collective homicide 

 is followed sometimes by progress, sometimes by 

 retrogression. However, if this is so, it is a pure 



