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

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In its declaration of national glories, the Soviet government claimed at various times, such as through Pravda publications, to have invented the airplane, steam engine, radio, and lightbulb, and promoted the pseudoscientific agricultural claims of Lysenko as part of Stalinist pseudohistory. [19] [20] This was joked about in the phrase " Homeland of Elephants [ ru]" from the early 1940s, sardonically claiming that the Soviet Union was also the birthplace of elephants. [20] [21] An anecdote from Andrei Sakharov includes "(1) classics of Marxism-Leninism-Stalinism on elephants; (2) Russia, the elephants' homeland, (3) the Soviet elephant, the world's best elephant (4) the Belorussian elephant, the Russian elephant's little brother." [21] Lenin coined a slogan about how communism would be achieved thanks to the political power of the Soviets and the modernization of the Russian industry and agriculture: "Communism is Soviet power plus electrification of the whole country!" The slogan was subjected to mathematical scrutiny by the people: "Consequently, Soviet power is communism minus electrification, and electrification is communism minus Soviet power."

I am from Süddeutsche Zeitung. Please clarify what is currently happening on the Strait of Kerch, if Tuzla is an isthmus or an island, and why Russians are building an embankment there. Christie Davies, Jokes and Their Relation to Society (1998) ISBN 3-11-016104-4, Chapter 5: "Stupidity and rationality: Jokes from the iron cage" (about jokes from beyond the Iron Curtain)

One old bolshevik says to another: "No, my friend, we will not live long enough to see communism, but our children...our poor children!" (An allusion to the slogan "Our children will live in Communism!") A frightened man came to the KGB. "My talking parrot has disappeared." "That's not the kind of case we handle. Go to the criminal police." 'Excuse me, of course I know that I must go to them. I am here just to tell you officially that I disagree with the parrot." [12] We pretend to work, and they pretend to pay." (The joke hints at low productivity and subsistence-level wages within the Soviet economy.) Punchline variant #1: Rabinovich notes: "I would prefer it the other way round." Variant #2: "What a coincidence: Brezhnev has died, but his body lives on". (An allusion to Brezhnev's mental feebleness coupled with the medically assisted staving off of his death. Additional comedic effect in the second variant is produced by the fact that the words 'cause' ( delo) and 'body' ( telo) rhyme in Russian.)

Second rabbit: “Haven’t you heard? There’s a rumour going round that all camels are to be castrated.”Quite a few jokes capitalized on the cliché used in Soviet speeches of the time: "Dear Leonid Ilyich." Adams, Bruce (2005). Tiny Revolutions in Russia: Twentieth Century Soviet and Russian History in Anecdotes. New York and London: RoutledgeCurzon. p.69. ISBN 0-415-35173-1.

The best way is to organize them into a collective farm,” he tells the Party boss. “Half of them will flee and the rest will starve to death.”The Russian finally speaks, “they have no clothes, no shelter, only an apple to eat, and are being told this is paradise. They are Russian.” When the quarter-century term had become the standard sentence for contravening Article 58, the standard joke comment to the freshly sentenced was: "OK, now 25 years of life are guaranteed for you!" A: A capitalist fairy tale begins, "Once upon a time, there was...." A Marxist fairy tale begins, "Some day, there will be...."

During the famine of the civil war, a delegation of starving peasants comes to the Smolny, wanting to file a petition. "We have even started eating grass like horses," says one peasant. "Soon we will start neighing like horses!" "Come now! Don't worry!" says Lenin reassuringly. "We are drinking tea with honey here, and we're not buzzing like bees, are we?" a b Brooks, Jeffrey (2021-04-13). Thank You, Comrade Stalin!: Soviet Public Culture from Revolution to Cold War. Princeton University Press. pp.214–215. ISBN 978-1-4008-4392-3. Q: How do you deal with mice in the Kremlin? A: Put up a sign saying "collective farm". Then half the mice will starve, and the rest will run away. [7]What happens if Soviet socialism comes to Saudi Arabia? First five years, nothing; then a shortage of oil." (Variation: "...then a shortage of sand.") From President's decree: "All jokes about Vovochka are henceforth considered to be political." [29] Leonid Brezhnev was depicted as dim-witted, senile, always reading his speeches from paper, and prone to delusions of grandeur.