Posted on 01/06/2002 1:57:16 PM PST by PJ-Comix
Sorry, my FRiend, I thought I was being transparently facetious as I am obviously quite impressed with yer endeavors overseas.
"Had they known that Ol' PJ was a "vicious rightwinger" they would never have allowed my writings in Krokodil (although Florentiev and the staffers would have appreciated it) so I kept my writings strictly non-political."
LOL...I know the process, mi amigo, as I have set up Dummy Accounts at both the Smirking Chimpster and DemonRAT Underground to write similarly subversive propaganda!!! BWAHAHAHA...ain't it fun givin' the Leftist TROLLS a bit of their own medicine?!!
"Sometimes being on a strictly first name basis isn't the best policy."
Perhaps...MUD
Even the commies needed some type of feed back and the humor mags provided it.
Ridiculing the pompous commies -- their weapon then; ours now.
PJ-Comix this is so interesting. Thank you !!!!!!
I just forwarded the article to Pravda and asked if they might know the whereabouts of Florentiev.
Krokodil was quite a schizo publication in its time. On the one hand, it was (supposedly) satirizing the Soviet status quo. On the other, it happily served as a a full fledged state propaganda organ viciously attacking the West and any ideas trickling from there into USSR. How exactly that worked out internally at the editorial offices is anybody's in this side guess. It was in its time simultaneously loved and despised in Russia.
Further, unlike the Americans, Europeans and Russians know how to appreciate satire without the laugh tracks. The proof is that even the stupid peasant and prole leaders of the Party feared magazines like Krokodil and understood if not its humor then certainly its role. Contrast that with the responses here to your or Christopher Buckley's satirical posts.
Also, you can never be sure how your articles were translated or received there. All too often there were cheap political points to be scored and political favours to be gained from assuming correct postures. You can't imagine what hoops the editor you met had to jump through to prove his worth and "earn" the trip to the West. It all sounds cynical, but Communism was a totally corrupt, vile system.
My guess is that they had to stick close to the party line just a few years earlier but in the latter years of the Soviet Union, all sorts of people were going "off reservation" so to speak. I'm sure the KGB guy with the group was there primarily to pick up Western goodies for resale in Russia than to actually make sure the group stuck to the tenents of Marxism-Communism.
Further, unlike the Americans, Europeans and Russians know how to appreciate satire without the laugh tracks. The proof is that even the stupid peasant and prole leaders of the Party feared magazines like Krokodil and understood if not its humor then certainly its role. Contrast that with the responses here to your or Christopher Buckley's satirical posts.
True. Whenever I post something about worshipping that great satirical genius, Jack Chick, I have people replying in outrage. (Tossing out a bit of clueless bait here.)
A man walked to the Kremlin in 1954 and yelled "Death to Stalin" and they threw him in the gulag for 10 years. When he got out after 10 years, he decided to offer restitution and walked to the Kremlin and yelled "Long Live Stalin".
They gave him 20 years.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.