Political Protest under the Totalitarian System

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The paper concerns the principles presupposed in political protest against the totalitarian regime. In contrast to the utilitarian view of participating in political protest (K.D.Opp, M. Taylor) the author tries to suggest the moral model of political protest. According to this model, the main reason and motif for challenging the regime is the transgression of the limits of concession, which jeopardizes the spiritual identity and essential qualities of the individuals and all groups (i.e., Church, family, nation). The participants of the protest do not calculate in terms of egoistic or private interests and utilities but in terms of moral values. They consider what action is morally "good" and "bad" or morally "better" or "worse" in this situation, disregarding their personal profits and happiness. The overthrow of the communist system is an incalculating and contingent result of combating the extreme manifestations and worst excesses of the system. 1. Protest in Defense of Identity There are three essential forms of opposing the totalitarian system: covert passive resistance, overt non-violent protest, and armed struggle. The first form of activity results, in a way, from a combination of utilitarian calculating and axiological considerations. The oppositionists may cooperate with the régime and publicly countenance it, while at the same time they venture to take action in order to liberalize the system and take the edge off the dictatorship, whenever this is possible, i.e., not noticed by the authorities, legitimate, or profitable in view of the mildness of the punishment faced by the offenders. Both individuals and institutions may follow this pattern. Under the Communist rule in Eastern Europe, even persons holding publ... ... middle of paper ... ...pp, "Repression and Revolutionary Action: East Germany in 1989," Rationality and Society, Vol. 6, No. 1, 1994, pp. 101–138; M. Taylor, Anarchy and Cooperation, London, 1976; M. Taylor [ed.], Rationality and Revolution, Cambridge, 1988. (7) M. Weber, Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Wissenschaftslehre, Tübingen, 1973, especially Chapters II & X. (8) Cf. A. Michnik, Z dziejów honoru w Polsce [From the History of Honor in Poland], Warszawa, 1993. (9) Cf. V. Havel, Sila bezsilnych [The Power of the Powerless], Berlin, 1995. (10) Arystoteles [Aristotle], Etyka Nikomachejska [Nichomachean Ethics], Warszawa, 1956, Books III & V. (11) T. Buksinski, „Kategoria etycznosci a rzeczywistosc krajów postkomunistycznych" ["The Category of the Ethical vs. the Reality of the Post-Communist Countries"], Edukacja Filozoficzna, 1995, No. 19, pp. 123–132. (12) J. Kuron, op. cit.

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