Hammer And Tickle: A History Of Communism Told Through Communist Jokes

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Stalin attends the premiere of a Soviet comedy movie. He laughs and grins throughout the film, but after it ends he says, "Well, I liked the comedy. But that clown had a moustache just like mine. Shoot him." Everyone is speechless, until someone sheepishly suggests, "Comrade Stalin, maybe the actor shaves off his moustache?" Stalin replies, "Good idea! First shave, then shoot!" / "Or he can shave." This is another joke about how disastrous the consequences of collectivisation were on Russia's food supply, how Trotsky wanted to treat peasants harshly to uplift workers, Bukharin vice versa, and how capitalist countries were still faring well in spite of this. [8] Gulag [ edit ] Leonid Brezhnev was depicted as dim-witted, senile, always reading his speeches from paper, and prone to delusions of grandeur. Quite a few jokes capitalized on the cliché used in Soviet speeches of the time: "Dear Leonid Ilyich." a b c Gullotta, Andrea (2014). Gulag Humour: Some Observations on Its History, Evolution, and Contemporary Resonance (PDF). pp.89–110.

A: Yes. In the USA, you can stand in front of the White House in Washington, DC, and yell, "Down with Ronald Reagan," and you will not be punished. Equally, you can also stand in Red Square in Moscow and yell, "Down with Ronald Reagan," and you will not be punished. From the 1960s until the early 1980s, the Soviet Union had only three newspapers: the Pravda ("Truth"), the Izvestia ("News"), and the Krasnaya Zvezda ("Red Star"). [13] All three were controlled and censored by the government, [13] leading Soviet citizens to joke: 'There's no news in "Truth", and there's no truth in "News".' [14] ( Russian: В «Правде» нет известий , а в «Известиях» нет правды [14], romanized: V «Pravde» net izvestij , a v «Izvestijah» net pravdy). Variant translations include: 'In the Truth there is no news, and in the News there is no truth'. [13] Political figures [ edit ] In Imperial Russia, most political jokes were of the polite variety that circulated in educated society. Few of the political jokes of the time are recorded, but some were printed in a 1904 German anthology. [2] Dad, can I have the car keys?" / "OK, but don't lose them. We will get the car in only seven years!"

Jokes About Communism

Q: What did capitalism accomplish in one year that communism could not do in seventy years? A: Make communism look good. [25] An artist is commissioned to create a painting celebrating Soviet–Polish friendship, to be called "Lenin in Poland." When the painting is unveiled at the Kremlin, there is a gasp from the invited guests; the painting depicts Nadezhda Krupskaya (Lenin's wife) naked in bed with Leon Trotsky. One guest asks, "But this is a travesty! Where is Lenin?" To which the painter replies, "Lenin is in Poland" (the joke capitalizes on the title of the real film, Lenin in Poland). After a speech, Brezhnev confronts his speechwriter. "I asked for a 15-minute speech, but the one you gave me lasted 45 minutes!" The speechwriter replies: "I gave you three copies...." a b Figes, Orlando (2002-10-21). Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia. Henry Holt and Company. p.508. ISBN 978-0-8050-5783-6. Stalin reads his report to the Party Congress. Suddenly someone sneezes. "Who sneezed?" Silence. "First row! On your feet! Shoot them!" They are shot, and he asks again, "Who sneezed, Comrades?" No answer. "Second row! On your feet! Shoot them!" They are shot too. "Well, who sneezed?" At last a sobbing cry resounds in the Congress Hall, "It was me! Me!" Stalin says, "Bless you, Comrade!" and resumes his speech. [15]

Dora Shturman, Sergei Tiktin (1985) "Sovetskii Soiuz v zerkale politicheskogo anekdota" ("Soviet Union in the Mirror of the Political Joke"), Overseas Publications Interchange Ltd., ISBN 0-903868-62-8 (in Russian)

Ben Lewis claims that the political conditions in the Soviet Union were responsible for the unique humour produced there; [5] [4] according to him, " Communism was a humour-producing machine. Its economic theories and system of repression created inherently amusing situations. There were jokes under fascism and the Nazis too, but those systems did not create an absurd, laugh-a-minute reality like communism."

The joke has persisted in the form of "Russia is the homeland of elephants" (Russian: Россия – родина слонов.) [19] KGB [ edit ] Symbol of the KGB

Under communism, every man has what he needs. That’s why the butcher puts a sign up that says “nobody needs meat today.” Leonid Ilyich!..." / "Come on, no formalities among comrades. Just call me 'Ilyich'." (Note: In Soviet parlance, by itself "Ilyich" refers by default to Vladimir Lenin, and "Just call me 'Ilyich '" was a line from a well-known poem about Lenin, written by Mayakovsky.)

a b Berdy, Michele A. (2016-02-05). "Russia's Long Romance with Patriotism". The Moscow Times . Retrieved 2021-11-20.From at least 2015, it is common in Russia to joke about the "battle between the television and the refrigerator (битва холодильника с телевизором)." [26] [27] This refers to the balance between state media and actual living conditions in Russia: whether state propaganda on TV is able to overcome the presence of empty fridges. [28] Vladimir Putin [ edit ] a b Novak, Nancy (1998). Ultimate Russian: Basic-intermediate. Living Language. p.388. ISBN 9780517882849 . Retrieved 4 June 2023. Concerning the omnipresent Lenin propaganda): A kindergarten group is on a walk in a park, and they see a baby hare. These are city kids who have never seen a hare. "Do you know who this is?" asks the teacher. No one knows. "Come on, kids", says the teacher, "He's a character in many of the stories, songs and poems we are always reading." Finally one kid works out the answer, pats the hare and says reverently, "So that's what you're like, Grandpa Lenin!"