Václav Havel’s remarkable and rousing essay on the tyranny of apathy, with a new 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?
Václav Havel’s remarkable and rousing essay on the tyranny of apathy, with a new 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.
Václav Havel was born in Prague on 5 October 1936. The son of a movie producer, Havel first distinguished himself as a poet and playwright in Prague’s burgeoning theatre world. The Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia saw Havel aiding the resistance for which he was later banned from theatre work. Living under Soviet occupation, and having to work as a brewer, Havel became increas...
Václav Havel was born in Prague on 5 October 1936. The son of a movie producer, Havel first distinguished himself as a poet and playwright in Prague’s burgeoning theatre world. The Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia saw Havel aiding the resistance for which he was later banned from theatre work. Living under Soviet occupation, and having to work as a brewer, Havel became increasingly politically active and was eventually imprisoned for three years following the publication of his 1979 essay, The Power of the Powerless. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, Havel became President of Czechoslovakia and he was later elected the first President of the Czech Republic. Havel returned to the theatre after retiring from political life, writing two new plays before his death on 18 December 2011. (Author photograph copyright J. Jiroutek 2011)
'because the regime is captive to its own lies. It must falsify everything" "every free expression of life indirectly threatens the post-totalotarian system politically" "no sense of responsibility for anything higher than his or her own personal survival...
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"Havel saw that if there was a 'psychological' mechanism at work in Communist ideology, it was not to do with belief, but rather with shared guilt: in the 'normalisation' that followed the Soviet intervention of 1968, the Czech regime made sure that, in one...
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seemingly pre-political actions (often mundane) exposes the confrontation between living within truth and living within lies in post-totalitarian society, hence acquiring political resonance，这些会在公众的意识层面积蓄能量，未来凝聚成real political power，...
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![[捷克] 瓦茨拉夫·哈维尔](https://img9.doubanio.com/img/author/medium/public/1506522752.25.jpg)
瓦茨拉夫·哈维尔 作者
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0 有用 NoFamFrei 2025-07-31 18:58:01 日本
一本应该永远无法以简体中文出现但每一个简中读者都应该读一读的书。在对于后极权主义的麻木生活的洞见中有一种很纯粹的理想主义。看完这本大概能明白为何在这样的地方生活会痛苦，会无力，而在所谓dissident名称的背后只是对于真实生活最本质和本能的向往。
2 有用 苦味 2020-11-10 16:43:41
就很感动。
5 有用 一支卦象 2022-04-09 11:36:50
哈维尔低估了体制的侵蚀性，高估了人性的纯真，将政治还原为伦理是行不通的，推到极限不就是socialism吗？议会制民主是欺骗性的，官僚主义是异化的，而真实生活是从未诞生的死婴，正如post-totalitarianism只是消费社会的一个极端版本，人性也不过是救世主的另一个化名罢了。但是除了去相信个体的真诚，去相信生命的欲望，去相信发自内心的爱与愤怒，我们还有别的路可走吗？
2 有用 CCCCCCCC鱼 2022-04-05 20:59:02
国家机器无孔不入的后极权主义社会要如何实现自我纠偏？哈维尔给出了他充满理想主义的答案：平行社会、社区般组织形式和基于人格而超越制度的选举。看书过程激发了的想象力，同样的逻辑似乎都可以解释男权社会下女性处境、甚至是pua文化盛行大公司里强自我意识员工们的集体救赎？金融狗读完深深感到，做学术真不容易，还是做业务轻松一点….
0 有用 Sunnnnnnnnnn 2022-03-22 12:47:33
实在已经看不懂英文了…