GLENN
C.
LOURY
619
cal questi ons . Who, we must ask, w ill speak for compromise and moder–
ati on in nego tiati o ns, when to speak in thi s way is seen to signal a weak
commitment to " the struggle"? Wh o will declare " th e empero r" to be
naked , wh en a leader's personal failings hurt the movement? Wh o will
report th e lynchers, known to everyone in town despite th eir hooded
costumes? Who will expose the terrorists, or denounce the haters, o nce
lynching, terror and hatred have become "legitimate" means o f politi cal
expressio n? Who will insist that we speak plainly and tell the truth about
deli ca te and diffi cult matters whi ch we wo uld all prefer to cover up or
ignore? H ow ca n a communi ty sustain an eleva ted and liberal po liti cal
discourse, w hen the social fo rces whi ch promote tacit censo rship threaten
to usher in a dark age?
O ne o f th e fin es t statements eve r written on these qu es ti o ns, I be–
li eve, is Vac lav H avel's essay, "The Pow er o f th e Powe rl ess."
Confro nting th e overarching repression of the "post-totalitari an system ,"
Have l desc rib es th e ex iste nti al and id eo logica l fea tures of late
Communism that gave the dissidents th eir powe r. "Between th e aims of
the post-totalitari an system and th e aims of li fe there is a yawning abyss,"
he writes. Whil e life moves toward " fulfillment o f its own freedom ," th e
system demands "conformity, uniformi ty and di scipline ." Th e system is
permeated w ith li es: wo rkers are enslaved in the name of the wo rking
class; th e expansio n of empire is depicted as support for th e oppressed ;
de nial o f free expression is supposed to be th e highest form o f freedom ;
rigged electi o ns are th e hi ghest fo rm o f democ racy. For the system to
continu e, indi vidual citizens must make th eir peace with th ese li es; th ey
must choose to " li ve w ithin a li e." Th e diss ident , who qui xotically re–
fuses to go alo ng w ith th e p rogram , is pro fo undl y subve rsive: "By
breaking the rul es of the game, he has disrupted the game as such. H e has
exposed it as a mere game... . H e has said that the emperor is naked .
And because the emperor is in fac t naked , something extremely dange r–
ous has happened ." Thus the stru ggle between the "aims of the system"
and the "aims of life" takes place no t between social classes, o r politi cal
parti es, or aggrega tes o f people ali gned o n eith er side, fo r or against the
system , but rath er
I/Iifliill
each human being:
T he essential aims of li fe are present naturally in every pe rson. In ev–
eryo ne there is some lo nging for human ity's ri ghtful digni ty, fo r
moral integri ty, fo r fi·ee ex pression of be ing and a sense of tra nscen–
dence over th e worl d of ex istences. Yet, at th e same time, each person
is capable,
to
a greater o r lesser degree, of comi ng
to
terms wi th liv–
in g w ithin th e li e . Each person somehow succumbs
to
a profane
tri viali za ti on of his o r her inherent humani ty, and
to
utilitarianism. In
eve ryone th ere is some w illingness to merge with th e ano nymo us
