The paper looks at several aspects of Vinča groups in order to suggest that at different levels of intensity both inter- and intra-group violence might have played an important role in structuring social relations in the Middle/Late Neolithic of southeastern Europe (c. 5400–4500 cal BC). The mounting evidence of ditched enclosures as a settlement norm for these developed village societies is reviewed along with burial programs, human remains, and certain representational imagery from figurines. The paper also examines the nature of inter-village dynamics among Vinča groups and diachronic changes in the frequency, layout, and size of individual settlements. Finally, the evidence and interpretation of house burning events is re-considered in the light of the proposed hypothesis. The argument runs counter to the previously held views about the nature of social interaction and reproduction among Neolithic groups more generally, and specifically those sharing the same material culture traits within an extended network marked by a long-term stability. Adopting certain elements of Pierre Clastres’s theorizing on the “society against the state,” a new perspective is forged on possible reasons that in the Vinča culture zone prevented the rise of archaic states and the type of social complexity characterizing early urban centers elsewhere.