In English, "dissident" has been commonly used for decades to describe opponents of a regime (usually the USSR or other Eastern Bloc regimes) whose activity has

In English, "dissident" has been commonly used for decades to describe opponents of a regime (usually the USSR or other Eastern Bloc regimes) whose activity has been limited to distributing underground literature, or organizing cultural events in the private sphere instead of in the state-controlled venues. Only a small minority of dissidents publicly challenged the regime.