This paper is an attempt to interpret current political processes of extreme polarization between citizens of different countries with varying political beliefs, and between competing political parties. These processes might lead to rise in social tension, extreme political conflict and war. They can be observed globally in such major events in current politics, as Donald Trump's departure from his position and the attack on United States' Capitol or Brexit. In Poland an instance of such a politically driven action is the murder which took place in 2019. The victim was Paweł Adamowicz - former mayor of the city of Gdańsk. The result of these processes is an atmosphere of imminent war: the polarization of political stances creates tensions which become almost unbearable and difficult to think about.

Understanding these processes is a necessary condition for change, and there is a need to seek ways in which political and social tensions could be alleviated. Psychoanalytic knowledge might be helpful in this difficult task - as, apart from being a clinically useful theory, it can also be used for better understanding of social reality and common daily experiences. This paper, drawing from psychoanalytic literature on the defence mechanism of splitting, concludes with a list of concrete and constructive ideas on how to encounter the political crisis of irresolvable social divisions. Firstly, the notion of splitting is presented - as understood by Melanie Klein (1946) and Wilfred Bion (2014). Secondly, it is demonstrated how splitting mechanisms operate in political life. Then, a hypothesis is drawn that the process of splitting involves a primitive ethical judgment, which makes the conflict prone to be mistakenly understood (primarily) as a conflict of values. In fact, values might only be attached to the process of splitting as phenomena justifying the very process of splitting taking place. Some thoughts are also drawn from the work of Chantal Mouffe and her analysis o