In 1978 Václac Havel wrote his now legendary underground essay on the ”power of the powerless” in the post-totalitarian Soviet bloc. Dedicated to the memory of Czech philosopher Jan Patočka (1907-1977)––like Hável, a member of the Charter 77 human rights movement––the text examines a constellation of concepts that remain crucial for understanding Soviet Eastern Europe specifically and political oppression generally: power, ideology, freedom, responsibility, technological civilization, and the central yet problematic figure of ”the dissident”.
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