I can still vividly recall the sessions of the First Congress of People’s Deputies of the USSR in May–June 1989. Whenever Andrei Sakharov stepped up to the podium, the aggressively compliant majority of the Communist nomenklatura would begin stomping their feet, whistling, shouting—doing everything possible to prevent the former (or perhaps not entirely former) dissident from speaking. I remember feeling ashamed of the arrogance displayed by that majority. Yet Sakharov continued speaking, despite being neither a gifted orator nor, even less so, a charismatic tribune of the people.
Can we say that the 68-year-old human rights advocate was not afraid of the majority’s aggression? He probably was. But he placed his principles and his mission above his personal comfort.
The American psychologist Solomon Asch, who studied the mechanisms of conformity in the twentieth century, conducted experiments that drew attention to the opposite side of the phenomenon. In some of his test groups, people who saw that the majority insisted that “yogurt is black” began to doubt their own judgment and wonder whether it might actually be black. Another group, while fully convinced that the yogurt was white, remained silent out of fear of finding themselves in an uncomfortable position. And finally, there was usually at least one participant who, regardless of the pressure, continued to insist on what they could plainly see with their own eyes.
That stubborn individual was prepared to pay a social price for standing alone. The cost could vary—from being treated as an outcast to becoming the target of bullying. Yet Asch observed that as the experiments continued, several others would eventually join that person—the “dissident” in the broadest sense of the word. In other words, it takes just one person to prove that dissent is possible..
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There is honor in belonging to such a minority: “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad…” (Matthew 5:11–12).
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
