Season 1

The people who fought Soviet Totalitarianism have a warning for us today: Totalitarianism is back. And we don’t recognize it because this time it is soft. But what is soft totalitarianism? Is it really a threat? And what can we do to resist it? In this episode we travel to the Czech Republic and Slovakia to learn the stories of dissidents who are giving us this warning. We also talk to modern day dissidents like Isabel Vaughan Spruce, who was prosecuted in the United Kingdom for the thoughts she held in her head.

Totalitarians always promise earthly paradise right around the corner. But since paradise on earth is impossible, they also rely on the rewriting of history in order to maintain their control. The key to resistance is to preserve the truth. In this episode we dive deeper into the Czechoslovakian resistance movement and talk about how history is being rewritten today.

Totalitarians are never content to change the past. They eventually want the definition of what it means to be a human; they want to turn us into machines on the factory line of progress. In this episode we explore the brutal communist dictatorship in Romania, the “child gulags” that grew there and the way that lies enables the killing of millions of humans today.

When enough people stand up for the truth, the lies begin to crumble. But what gives those heroes strength, to endure not only awkward confrontations, but years in prison? In this episode we explore the stories of the “prison mothers and fathers” who fought totalitarianism, not with guns, but with patience, prayer and self-sacrifice.