Vaclav Havel

Czech playwright who became the leading dissident intellectual of Central Europe, wrote the most influential essay on living in a Communist society — The Power of the Powerless — and became President of Czechoslovakia after the Velvet Revolution.

The Power of the Powerless: life in a Communist society requires participating in the 'lie' — the greengrocer who puts a slogan in his window. Living in truth: refusing to participate in the lie, even in small ways, is a form of political resistance. The Velvet Revolution (1989): led the civic movement that peacefully overthrew Communist rule.