Shortly after the Second World War, the Soviet Union had created a red iron curtain around Eastern Europe, communist regimes were visible everywhere in countries like Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Romania. These regimes were severely oppressive and violated basic human rights, hence growing opposition began to form. From the mid-1970s, Vaclav Havel, a former playwright, would become the most prominent Czechoslovak "dissident" and activist against the abuses of the communist regime by actively defending the rock group Plastic People of the Universe, being one of the three -public voices of the Charter. 77 and writing various essays criticizing the communist regime. No essay was more influential and played a more decisive role in the “dissident” movements in Eastern Europe than the essay “The Power of the Powerless.” In this and other essays written by Havel during the 1970s and 1980s, Havel describes the communist system, critiques it, and explains his strategy for defeating the regime. One of the first things Havel attempts to accomplish in his essay "The Power of the Powerless" is distinguish the communist regime from a classical dictatorship. Unlike classical dictatorships, which are local and lack historical roots, the communist system spans an entire bloc under the rule of the Soviet Union and has many historical roots, particularly the proletarian and socialist movements of the 19th century. Another major difference is that the communist system commands a flexible ideology, with the regime essentially behaving like a "secularized religion." "Of course, one pays dearly for this low-rent house: the price is the abdication of one's own reason, one's conscience and one's responsibility, because an essential aspect of this ideology is middle of paper.... .. between workers and intellectuals, but between Czechs and Slovaks opposed to Husak.” Citizens united against the regime for a better life and were all victorious without bloodshed. In the 1970s and 1980s, Vaclav Havel was one of the most influential thinkers in Eastern Europe and the. one of the most prominent activists against the communist regime His main criticism of the regime was that it was oppressive, denying basic human freedoms such as speech. He also criticized people within the system, those who "lived a lie." " and conformed to the system put in place by the regime. Its strategy was to "live in truth", to recognize that your freedoms have been confiscated and that basic human life is not allowed to exist within this regime. As we have seen, the people eventually got tired of being tired and united to defeat the regime. 1989.