Travel Blog

I've interrupted my reading of Before the Dawn to read Hammer & Tickle: The Story of Communism, a Political System Almost Laughed Out of Existence.

It is an exhaustive study of humor during the time of the Soviet Union. Some of the jokes are familiar from my years living in Poland, but even these still make me chuckle. Like when Brezhnev dies and goes to Hell. The Devil shows him around and gives him a choice of tortures. Hitler is wallowing in a tub of boiling oil. Stalin is stretched out on a rack. Khrushchev is making out with Brigitte Bardot.

"I want Khrushchev's punishment," Brezhnev says.

"That's not his punishment," the Devil tells him. "That's hers."