ABSTRACT
Some East European regimes have demonstrated a greater tolerance for individualistic criticism and non-conformism than others, although this is liable to alter depending on a number of factors. The drawbacks of individual criticism and non-conformism are fairly obvious: they may involve prolonged social isolation, a lack of public coordination, and a limited resonance in either the population or the administration. One important aim of the self-defense program is to stir the "silent majority" out of "inactive passivity," and guide it through "active passivity" toward "social activism." In Poland and Hungary in particular, it is possible to publicly berate specific economic and social policies and unsatisfactory government performance, and even to criticize lower ranking officials in the mass media. The miscellany of non-conformism is not confined to the critical intelligentsia or to cultural life, but tends to be more widely dispersed.
