To what extent can we speak of "societies" having existed under communism? Did the totalitarian aspirations of the party rule out any possibility of social participation on behalf of the citizens? Could their social behavior make a difference in everyday life? Based on research on the East German party-state this article presents a bottom-up perspective in order to understand the structuration of social relations under a monopolistic claim to power. The vast realm of 'societal activism' (gesellschaftliche Tätigkeit), i.e. ,voluntary' or ,honorary' public functions fulfilled by a large segment of the adult population in their free time, shows widespread involvement of citizens in public and social matters on the one hand, though only within a scope of action systematically limited to the local level of neighbourhoods and work places. A case study on the voluntary assistants of the regular police (freiwillige Helfer der Volkspolizei) shows that such 'societal activism' at the same time served the self-conscious (eigen-sinnig) assertion of sociability and local identity. A discussion of the comparability of the East-German case within the context of late state socialist regimes in the 'Eastern bloc' concludes the article.