Abstract

The very title of our conference, "Violence in Post-Totalitarian Society," implies the existence of certain expectations. We have always assumed that the communist regime would never fall without violence; an outburst of violence seemed a natural reaction to the demise or weakening of the system. It is extremely difficult to assess today the extent to which these fears have been borne out. Statistics are unreliable at present, and in the past they did not exist for many parameters. Hence it is not always possible to compare current and previous levels of violence on the basis of statistical data. As for the widespread opinion that crime is unlimited, it is determined, like any other social attitude, by a mass of factors among which the real state of affairs does not necessarily head the list. As for the violence originating with the state, although the present regime clearly does not shrink from violence, so far the general level of coercion and cruelty is infinitely distant from that perpetrated for decades under the previous system