“Communism provided a clear opposition. The dance partners knew the appropriate steps.”

In the early seventies. Konrád and Haraszti co-ordinated their attacks on the state. Haraszti published The Velvet Prison, which predicted the fall of communism, while Konrád’s texts provided antibodies against the regime.

Today, the maps are unclear, the way uncertain. Europe’s “new democracies” appear confused. The new muse, an uncouth media partner, makes poor advances. The laws remain unwritten.