Publisher's Synopsis
The political joke is as old as politics - a classic form of popular social commentary that skewers even as it amuses. This book brings together some of the most mordantly funny examples of the genre: the jokes that proliferated (privately, of course) in Eastern Europe under the Warsaw Pact. Recalled by a Romanian Jewish emigre, these jokes not only form a sampling of political humour, they also offer a insight into the conditions that gave rise to the wave of reform and revolution which took place in that part of the world.;Categorized under such headings as "The Reign of Terror" "The Ministry of Truth" and "Our Beloved Leaders" the jokes cover diverse aspects of Soviet bloc life. There are jokes about shortages of essential goods, about disparities between propaganda and reality, and about the problems besetting the Jewish community.;For many of the jokes, the authors point out alternative versions and document their popularity and diffusion, tracing some of them to earlier fascist and tsarist incarnations (and, in a few cases, even discovering some American equivalents).
