I lived the first half of my life on the other side of the iron curtain. Very, very few people would dare speak out their mind in public there and then, even though many or most would do so in private. Almost everyone absolutely HATED 'the dissidents' for what they were (desperately courageous people) and for what they were doing (putting everyone else to shame). The quick and harsh punishment of the dissident was needed to confirm and validate everyone else's cowardly decision to submit to the authority. They would tell each other that their accepting oppression and their submission were the rational, safe and possibly even the noble and right thing to do, given the circumstances.

So they would openly cheer the powerful during the day and maybe drink themselves into a stupor or beat up their wives and children at night, so that they could relieve themselves of some of the accumulated tension and humiliation.