A dissident is a person that speaks out against the established order. The term is most often used for those who question dictatorships, especially communistdictatorship. In totalitarian societies dissidents are often punished. In the Soviet Union they were often sent to SiberianGulags. In democratic societies dissidents are supposed to be free from such government pressure, but there have been noted instances of persecution, such as the witch hunts for communists in the 1950s in the United States.
