Totalitarian Anecdotes

Wise encyclopaedias say that an anecdote is a Greek term for texts passed on orally or, for some reason, unpublished. It is usually a short, humorous story that ridicules a person, an era, or a situation. We have no doubt that, in this respect, the so-called totalitarian anecdotes were absolutely perfect. They thrived under communism like peas in a Michurin hotbed – even though the ruling regime was ready at any moment to lock up a loose tongue along with its owner. However, this couldn't harm the political joke. Perhaps because laughter was a guaranteed recipe for survival in the timelessness of communism. The morning of the day before the October Revolution, a Bolshevik runs up to Lenin and says, “Comrade Lenin, we're screwed, we'll have to postpone the revolution by one day.” “How so, why, what's happening?” asks a sleepy Vladimir Ilyich. “Well, you see, Comrade Dzerzhinsky decided to go fishing this morning.” Lenin waves his hand dismissively: “Oh, come on, we can manage the revolution even without Dzerzhinsky.” “Comrade Lenin, perhaps without Comrade Dzerzhinsky, yes, but not without the Aurora!”