2014年10月24日 星期五

Fifth Column of Social Consciousness

The effective range of this special power (living within the truth) cannot be measured in terms of disciples, voters, or soldiers, because it lies spread out in the fifth column of social consciousness, in the hidden aims of life, in human beings’ repressed longing for dignity and fundamental rights, for the realization of their real social and political interests. Its power, therefore, does not reside in the strength of definable political or social groups, but chiefly in the strength of a potential, which is hidden throughout the whole of society, including the official power structures of that society. Therefore this power does not rely on soldiers of its own, but on the soldiers of the enemy as it were – that is to say, on everyone who is living with the lie and who may be struck at any moment (in theory, at least) by the force of truth. It is a bacteriological weapon, so to speak, utilized when conditions are ripe by a single civilian to disarm an entire division.


Havel, Vaclav (1986) The Power of the Powerless. In “Living with Truth.” London and Boston: Faber and faber. p.58-59.

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