Syllabus
Syllabus:
Topics Covered During Class:
Lecture 1.
Introduction. Methodology.
What is political history (goals, approach to studied topics, examples of main questions to focus on)? What is social and cultural history (what does social and cultural history study, it’s goals, approach to studied topics, examples of main questions to focus on)?
What is soviet „anecdote“? Why could one describe it rather as anti-communist or anti-Soviet? What is the reason that made it (or them) so special? What role do they play in the totalitarian regime? What place do they have in our understanding of the history of totalitarian regimes and the everyday life of an ordinary citizens of the Soviet bloc?
Which topics or objects of derision could one not find in official humor magazines of the USSR and the Soviet bloc? Why? What is the main difference between official communist and people’s anti-communist humor?
Recommended Readings: Ben Lewis, Hammer & Tickle. A History of Communism Told Through Communist Jokes, London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2008, Chapter 5, The Golden Age of Communist Jokes, pp. 147-203.
Lecture 2.
Jokes, Red Terror and Repressions. Person and Totalitarian Authorities.
Terror, censorship and self-censorship were an essential part of communist regime. Is it still possible to make a jokes about them? Do politically incorrect and inappropriate jokes have right to exist? During the lecture we will focus on communist purges, red terror, repressions and their ideological substantiation, i.e. the idea of classes and the Bolshevik system of class-divided society as an instrument of communist (Bolshevik) repression.
Recommended Reading: Catriona Kelly, Comrade Pavlik: The Rise and Fall of a Soviet Boy Hero, Granta Books, 2005, Introduction, Death in the Taiga.
Lecture 3.
Soviet Propaganda or How Important is to have “an Enemy”.
Is it important to have “an enemy” in a totalitarian (soviet, communist, post-communist and post-soviet) regime? Why? How can one create the image of “an enemy” and describe it? How not to be fooled by propaganda in mass media? The lecture will deal with soviet mass media and the mechanism of the soviet propaganda: its tasks, goals, channels of distribution, target groups, historical context and concrete examples.
Lecture 4.
Shortages and the Phenomenon of “Blat”: Social (In)Equality?
Planned economy was probably the most significant feature of socialism and the communist model of economy. The main feature of the administrative command economy of socialist bloc was the significance of centralized hierarchical decision-making in the absence of popular control over the economy. Shortages were essential part of soviet economic system. What is “blat” and what did “blat” mean in soviet economy and everyday life of soviet citizens or citizens of socialist bloc?
We will study the main mechanism and the main principle of distribution of socialistic society of shortage, the phenomenon of so called «blat» as a network of mutual favorable interactions between individuals.
Recommended Reading: Alena Ledeneva, Russia's Economy of Favours: Blat, Networking and Informal Exchange, New York, 1998, Chapter 4, 104-138 pp.
Lectures 5-6.
Fashion and Lifestyle in the Socialist Bloc
Despite of all commonly maintained convictions and at the same time despite all the communistic ideas of modesty and equality the phenomenon of luxury and luxurious goods did exist during the socialistic period. How was it possible? We will discuss socialist fashion and luxurious lifestyle, at the same time we will discuss the system of distribution of luxurious goods. We will acquaint ourselves with the for the general public inaccessible V.I.P. socialistic Czechoslovakian department store with luxurious goods called “Tuzex”.
Recommended Reading: Larissa Zakharova, “Dior in Moscow: A Taste for Luxury in Soviet Fashion Under Khrushchev”, in: David Crowley, Susan Reid, Pleasures in Socialism: Leisure and Luxury in the East Bloc, Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 2010, pp. 95-119.
Lectures 7-8.
Subcultures in Soviet Bloc
We will be dealing with everyday activities of the members of contemporary subcultures. Examples such as hippies, the so-called “stiliagi” and others will shed light on the more or less openly pronounced culture of protest. We will also study the image of such subcultures in the only officially published Soviet humoristic magazine “Krokodil”. Our leading question will be: from what direction did the authorities try to satirize these subcultures?
Recommended Reading: Paul Wilson, “What’s it Like Making Rock’n’Roll in a Police State?”, in: Martin Machovec (ed.), Views from the inside: Czech underground literature and culture (1948-1989): manifestoes - testimonies – documents, Praha: Ústav české literatury a literární vědy, Filozofická fakulta Univerzity Karlovy, 2006, pp. 33-48.
Lecture 9.
Protest Movement in Soviet Bloc
During the classes, we will study the protest movement that existed during the socialistic period in Eastern and Central Europe. We will acquaint ourselves with the crucial role of the Charter 77, with activities of Czech and Russian dissidents, protest groups and organizations. Which role in the protest culture did music bands play (on the example of The Plastic People of Universe and others)?
Recommended Reading: Václav Havel, “The power of the powerless”, in: Václav Havel, John Keane (eds.), The power of the powerless: citizens against the state in central - eastern Europe, London: Hutchinson, 1985, pp. 23-97. or: http://www.vaclavhavel.cz/index.php?sec=6&id=2&kat&from=6&setln=2
Lecture 10.
Sports and Propaganda: Together Forever?
We will be dealing with soviet sport (mass sport and professional sport) in the Soviet bloc and propaganda, which is often connected to the soviet sport. During the classes, we will focus our attention on some ideological aspects of the Spartakiades (Spartakiáda) in Czechoslovakia and mass gymnastics under the communism and socialism. Yet we will study the Czechoslovak Hockey Riots at the beginning of 1969 and Olympic games in Moscow in 1980.
Recommended Reading:
Petr Roubal, “Politics of Gymnastics. Mass gymnastic displays under communism in Central and Eastern Europe“, in: Body and Society 9, no. 2 (2003), s. 1-25.
Petr Roubal, «Mass Gymnastic Performances under Communism: The Case of Czechoslovak Spartakiads », in Balazs Apor, Peter Apor (eds.), The Sovietization of Eastern Europe. New Perspectives on the Postwar Period, Washington, New Academia Publishing, 2008, pp. 171-180.
Lecture 11.
Church and Religious in a Socialistic Bloc
Our point of departure will be anti-church propaganda in the contemporary magazines, most notably in the satirical multi-million issue “Krokodil”. What was the relationship between the church (or churches – Orthodox, Catholic and others) and the communist regime? We will be devoting a large section of the class to the study of communist persecution of priests and religious organizations (socialistic propaganda and priest Toufar’s case).
Recommended Reading: Paul Froese, The plot to kill God: findings from the Soviet experiment in secularization, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008, Chapter The Atheist Crusade.
Lecture 12.
Final Discussion. Presentations.
Annotation
The course deals with the phenomenon of Soviet jokes (anecdotes) which were very popular during the existence of the Soviet Bloc. Jokes covered every aspect of daily life under socialism – the shortages, leisure, sport, propaganda of the media, ideology and many other aspects. They were told in each Soviet Bloc state as a Poland, Czechoslovakia, and others because they shared the same culture and live conditions of that period.
The term “Communist jokes” could be more precisely described as anti-Communist or anti-Soviet jokes because this term better captures the sense of shared culture.
There are many reason why Communist political jokes were very special. They had a unique homogeneity: the absolute monopoly of state power meant that any joke about any aspect of politics, the economy or media was a joke about Communism. Communism regime was inherently “funny” because of a unique combination of factors. The ineffectiveness of its theories, the mendacity of its propaganda and the ubiquity of censorship were all important. The cruelty of its methods interacted with the sense of humor of the people on whom it was imposed.
The aim of the course is to introduce students to the reality of everyday life under the Soviet rule in the countries of the Soviet Bloc through Communist Jokes.