To borrow from the words of both Marx and Havel, a spectre is haunting modern American politics, culture, and life. It is the specter of a technocratic, consumer-driven, bourgeois, polarized society. Our times, in many ways, can be defined by declining political institutions, vapid pop culture, and growing alienation. It is a time of ideology, which conflates the truth with a distorted anthropology and imposes a monolithic worldview based on these claims. Is there any freedom to oppose this ideology? What agency do we have?

Vaclav Havel charts a possible course for would-be “dissidents” in his text, The Power of the Powerless, published in 1979. He wrote the text as a manifesto for a group of fellow intellectuals who had banded together to oppose the treatment of a rock band by the Communist regime. Perhaps it can become a manifesto for our own times as well.

The ideological context of Havel’s own time was different, but many of the challenges remain the same. Havel understood his milieu as a post-totalitarian system. The power and control that the Communist regime, like many of those in the Soviet satellite states in Eastern Europe at the time, was not overtly brutal like the dictatorships of Hitler and Stalin. He differentiated the two types of power structures by explaining that, “the post-totalitarian system demands conformity, uniformity, and discipline” by enforcing an ideological consensus that upheld the regime. There was no possibility to challenge or question those in power from within the system. Instead, there was only party orthodoxy and obedience.

Havel demonstrates the dominance of the system through the iconic example of the green grocer, who has become a widely recognized symbol of this kind of ideological hegemony. The green grocer displays a sign in his front window reading, “Workers of the World Unite”. The sign provides evidence of the green grocer’s bona fides as a loyal and committed party member. But does the grocer truly believe this? Is he actually committed to the solidarity of laborers everywhere? Havel contends that the shop owner, most likely, is not displaying this sign out of any real conviction. Instead, he displays it out of fear of consequences, and in doing so, allows the ideological regime to flourish under its false claims of providing “identity, dignity, and morality” to its followers. In this way, “ideology becomes reality itself” as all citizens toe the line and play the game.

Returning to our own time, one can think of a myriad of yard signs, campaign slogans, and lapel pins that one might display to serve the same function as the green grocer’s message. They repeat the phrases and communicate the ideas that the prevailing ideology has deemed to be correct, all the while providing the illusion of authenticity and personal judgment.

Havel for Us Today

It would be easy to begin reading Havel and rush to identify the sheep-like green grocers of today rather than reflecting on what Havel’s work might ask of ourselves. But as Havel indicates, freedom comes not (only) from opposing the system outright, but by affirming the real value of life. One becomes free despite the power of ideological oppression when one “lives in the truth”.

Living in the truth means to affirm the, “essential aims of life (that) are present naturally in every person. In everyone there is some longing for humanity's rightful dignity, for moral integrity, for free expression of being and a sense of transcendence over the world of existence.” Havel shows us that living in the truth must relate to a way of being and a way of living that is open to everyone. We can grow from what he helps us to see, even if we too feel powerless to challenge the system given the few political tools at our disposal and the disregard for Christianity and religion more generally. Rather than despair, we must ask ourselves, what impact can we make by living in the truth?

The Political Dimension of Living in the Truth

We live in the truth when we attempt to overcome the “yawning abyss” between what the system delivers and the sincere, human needs of the heart. This need not be philosophical in nature. One of the most moving examples that Havel provides of living in the truth is that of a brewer in a state-run brewery. The brewer is committed to his work, cares for the quality of the beer, is creative, and attempts to generate new and better brewing practices. Within his work, there is a visible aim towards the good. He is quickly shut down by the government as a disruptor and agitator.

When we speak of a broader use of our reason, an undying thirst for totality, and indeed witness to our need for Christ, we are living in the truth. An interesting characteristic in the text is the fact that Havel refers to himself and other Chartists as “dissidents”, always in quotations, using the term only because it is immediately understood by the Western reader. The shortcoming of the term lies in the fact that the power of living in the truth does not come primarily from opposing the system, or through some action of dissent, but in affirming something greater. By affirming the truth of life (and the goodness of beer) as well as a grander horizon than what the prevailing ideology can provide, we hold greater political power.

This is significant, as it broadens what we might consider to be a “political act”. Living in the truth has “an unambiguous political dimension” precisely because it opens the eyes of others to the limits of any worldly political order and reorients everyone to what ought to be the true aims of life and society. Where ideology strips humanity from the political order by prioritizing the maintaining of power, living in the truth reorients communal life around the prospect of human flourishing.

A Warning to the West

Finally, it is interesting to read The Power of the Powerless, looking for the specific warnings that Havel gives to Western readers – especially as the intervening 45 years have only made Havel’s concerns more pressing and pointed. There are barriers to living in the truth that impact us almost unconsciously. Living in a consumer driven society where every whim can be fulfilled with the click of a button and delivered to our doorstep overnight makes us prone to indifference. Our physical comfort and relative ease of life can stymie our compassion and empathy for others. This can make us reluctant to challenge a consumerist worldview out of fear of losing our comforts.

In a particularly prescient chapter, Havel also warns against reliance on technocratic solutions to human problems. Technology can alienate people from their work, from others, and even from themselves. It is interesting to muse about what Havel would say regarding social media and the rise of artificial intelligence today.

A Manifesto for Today

Taken all together, The Power of the Powerless is a stark reminder that neither material comfort, the rule of law, nor technology can help to overcome the gap between the prevailing ideology and the true aims of life. What we need is a bridge, a path to walk that allows us to live in the truth and to experience the fullness of our humanity to fulfill the aims of life.

In this sense, The Power of the Powerless might serve as Part I in a manifesto for our modern age, with Part II being Recognizing Christ, by Fr. Giussani, which reminds us that Christ, through the Incarnation, allows us to not merely live in the truth, but with the Truth.