How governments stay in power without the consent of the governed is fundamental to the study of politics. This book explores the relationship between the citizens and regimes of communist East Europe. Looking in detail at Soviet collectivization in 1928-34, the Hungarian Uprising of 1956, and the Polish Solidarity Movement of 1980-84, it shows how the system excluded channels to enable popular grievances to be translated into collective opposition and how this lessened the amount of popular protest, affected the nature of such protest as did occur, and entrenched the dominance of state over society.