Hammer & Tickle: A History of Communism Told Through Communist Jokes
By Ben Lewis

刚刚翻译了一篇书评，又收集了一些新的苏联政治笑话：

“How do you deal with mice in the Kremlin?” “Put up a sign saying ‘collective farm’. Then half the mice will starve and the others will run away.”
“如何赶跑克里姆林宫里的老鼠？”“在里面放个标牌，写上‘集体农场’四字，不多久大半老鼠会饿死，剩下的都逃之夭夭了。”

“Who built the White Sea canal [Stalin’s single most murderous slave-labour project]?” “The left bank was built by those who told the jokes, and the right bank by those who listened.”
“是谁建了白海运河（草菅人命的斯大林下令劳改犯修建的一项工事）？”“说笑话的人建了左岸，听笑话的人建了右岸。”

A flock of sheep approaches the Finnish border in a panic, pleading to be allowed entry. “Beria [Stalin’s secret police chief] has ordered the arrest of all elephants,” they explain. “But you’re not elephants,” reply the Finnish border guards in puzzlement. “Yes, but try explaining that to Beria.”
一群惊慌的羊来到芬兰边界，请求进入对方国境，说：“贝利亚（斯大林的秘密警察头子）下令逮捕所有的大象。”芬兰边防士兵惊道：“可你们不是大象呀！”“没错，不过你得跟贝利亚解释。”

政客对政治笑话的态度：

“Jokes against the Party constitute agitation against the Party,” raged Matvei Shkiriatov, a zealous Stalinist, at a Central Committee Meeting in January 1933. That was echoed by Hitler’s propaganda chief, Josef Goebbels, in 1939, when he wrote: “We will eradicate the political joke.”
狂热的斯大林主义者Matvei Shkiriatov在1993年一月召开的一次中央委员会会议上盛怒咆哮：“取笑党就是反党！”1939年，这咆哮在希特勒宣传部长约瑟夫•戈培尔那儿激起回声，他写道：“要奋力消灭政治笑话。”

（完）