The Power of the Powerless [Volume: 2(1983), pp. 3-22]

THE POWER OF THE POWERLESS
Vaclav Havel
To the memory of Jan Patocka
I
A specter is haunting Eastern Europe: the specter of what in the West
is called "dissent." This specter has not appeared from nowhere. It is a natural
and inevitable consequence of the present historical phase of the system it
is haunting. It was born at a time when this system, for a thousand reasons,
can no longer base itself on the unadulterated, brutal, and arbitrary application
of power, eliminating all expressions of nonconformity. What is more, the
system has become so ossified politically that there is practically no way for
such nonconformity to be implemented within its official structures. Who
are these so-called "dissidents"? Where does their point of view come from
and what importance does it have? What is the significance of those "independent initiatives" in which "dissidents" collaborate, and what real chances
do such initiatives have of success? Is it appropriate to refer to "dissidents"
as an opposition? If so, what exactly is such an opposition within the framework of this system? What does it do? What role does it play in society?
What are its hopes and on what are they based? Is it within the power of the
"dissidents"- as a category of subcitizen outside the power establishment-to
have any influence at all on society and the social system? Can they actually
change anything?
I think that an examination of these questions-as an examination of
the potential of the "powerless"-can only begin with an examination of
the nature of power in the circumstances in which these powerless people
operate.
II
Our system is most frequently characterized as a dictatorship, or more
precisely, as the dictatorship of a political bureaucracy over a society which
has undergone economic and social leveling. I am afraid that the term
"dictatorship," regardless of how intelligible it may otherwise be, tends to
obscure rather than clarify the real nature of power in this system. We usually
associate the term with the notion of a small group of people who take over
the government of a given country by force; their power is wielded openly,
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