S C VARMA Politics of Psychoanalysis THE QUESTION is: why, not how, arc mental or personality disorders and a number of other things, as we shall presently see, traced to early childhood emotional experiences of the individual, particularly the parent-child relationship? The answer lies in the politics of psychoanalysis, which is the central concern of this article. That there are no "pure", that is, value-free or politically neutral ideas and theories, is now a wcll-rccog-nized fact. The so called 'traditional social theory (to call it ^traditibnal^ is really to camouflage its aristocratic-feudal ruling class character and make it look venerable) had for ages diverted attention from the concrete social order. This it did by indoctrinating or brainwashing the oppressed classes the world over into ascribing their misery (both material and 'mental') on the one hand and the comforts of the ruling classes on the other to God, fate or previous life. In fact, the given social order was itself declared to be 'natural9 or divinely ordained, be it the caste system in India (Manu) or slavery in Europe (Aristotle). This, and the ruling classes9 dubious and deceitful promise of unlimited honey and happiness to the oppressed classes in- heaven w next life on condition that they lived faithfully according to the dharma (predetermined) of their 'station^ (predetermined) in this one, in ia^t-made the social-political order inviolable, at least in theory.