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.)