The Power of the Powerless

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY TIMOTHY SNYDER Cowed by life under Communist Party rule a greengrocer hangs a placard in their shop window: Workers of the world unite! Is it a sign of the grocer’s unerring ideology? Or a symbol of the lies we perform to protect ourselves? Written in 1978 Václav Havel’s meditation on political dissent – the rituals of its suppression and the sparks that re-ignite it – would prove the guiding manifesto for uniting Solidarity movements across the Soviet Union. A portrait of activism in the face of falsehood and intimidation The Power of the Powerless remains a rousing call against the allure of apathy.