Lenin is dying, and talking things over with Stalin, his successor. “The one worry I have,” says Lenin, “is this: will the people follow you? What do you think, comrade Stalin?” “They will,” says Stalin, “they surely will.” “I hope so,” says Lenin, “but what if they don’t follow you?” “No problem,” says Stalin, “then they’ll follow you.”

Stalin starred in jokes because of his cruelty © Andy Ventura Flickr

Stalin starred in jokes because of his cruelty and murderousness. As a child, back in Romania, I keep overhearing this kind of jokes whispered by adults who didn’t dare say them aloud. In the countries of the ex-soviet block people had few means of fighting the dictatorship and the horrors of the communist regime.

Telling political jokes was one of them. But one had to take good care to whom or where one told them. The reason why is summarised in a… joke: “A joke contest is organized in the Socialist Republic of Romania. The first winner got a prize of 20 years in prison. Second prize was 10 years of forced labour.”

These jokes were largely circulated in the countries of the ex-soviet block. Everyone knew of the horrors of stalinism and communism, but very people had the courage to tell them aloud. Some of the brave ones created in Russia, in the ’80s, Memorial, an organisation to remember the victims of Stalin repressions. They also fight for nowadays freedoms and rights, as long after Stalin’s death murders continue in Russia.

Today, Memorial won the European Parliament’s Sakharov for the Freedom of Thought.