During the Soviet period, widely acknowledged truths that could not be expressed in public formed the staples of underground political humor. Common themes included the hypocrisy or infirmity of Communist Party leaders, the brutality of the system, and the absurdity of upbeat official slogans and proclamations.

During the 1990s, hundreds of popular jokes mocking the stupidity or buy without a prescription vulgarity of wealthy “New Russians” overshadowed political humor in Russia. As a rule, jokes did not feature prominently in political rhetoric (although Liberal Democratic Party of Russia leader Vladimir Zhirinovskii sometimes played for laughs with outrageous statements and antics).

That said, political humor did not disappear. Perhaps surprisingly, the myriad jokes depicting Leonid Brezhnev as feeble and decrepit were not recycled during Boris Yeltsin’s extended bouts with serious illness. But Yeltsin’s style of rule did occasionally inspire jokes, especially during election campaigns, when the president often appeared more committed to staying in power than to observing democratic procedures.

For instance, during the run-up to the April 1993 referendum, Yeltsin used his control over Russian television to promote his stands and to shut out his parliamentary opponents. The media drumbeat urging Russians to vote “yes, yes, no, yes” on the four referendum questions was so strong that one joke told of a man offering the traditional Easter greeting, “Christ has risen,” only to hear his friend reply, “Yes, yes, no, yes.”

A joke making the rounds during the 1996 presidential campaign ridiculed Yeltsin’s promises to reverse course on a host of issues, from the war in Chechnya to economic policies.

“Yeltsin proclaims at a campaign rally, ‘Elect me and you’ll get a brand-new president.’

“‘What if we don’t elect you, Boris Nikolaevich?’ asks a voice from the crowd.

“‘Then you’ll get the same old president,’ Yeltsin replies.”

Such humor echoed Soviet-era mockery of empty Communist slogans. But many jokes geared toward supporters of Russia’s largest opposition movement, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF), inverted a common theme of dissident humor. Incompetent management, manifested in low-quality manufactured goods and chronic shortages, had spawned countless jokes during the Brezhnev-era “stagnation”:

Q: What would happen if Communists took over the Sahara Desert?

A: In a few years sand would be in short supply.

Q: What doesn’t buzz and doesn’t go up your ass?

A: A Soviet machine engineered for buzzing and going up your ass.

Q: Is it possible to build communism in a single small country, such as the Netherlands?

A: Yes, it is possible, but what do you have against the Dutch?

The sharp decline in living standards during the 1990s, coupled with the collapse of Russia’s infrastructure, gave rise to humor lampooning the incompetence of Russia’s new rulers. The following joke appeared in “Pravda Rossii” (a free newspaper published by the KPRF) during the 1999 parliamentary campaign: “It’s winter, and a ‘democratic’ intellectual wakes up one morning covered in sweat. He can’t understand what’s going on. He takes one blanket off the bed, then another, but it’s still too hot. He takes off a third blanket, but it’s still warm. He takes off his hat and his sweater — it still isn’t cold. He gets up and goes into the bathroom. When he hits the light switch, the light comes on. He turns on the tap — there is both hot and cold water. Then he goes into the kitchen and turns on the stove — lo and behold, the gas is on as well. He shouts to his wife, “Anya, get up right now and pack your things! The Communists got back into power!”

Of course, not all Russians would agree with the premise of that joke or find it amusing. But as a wise grandmother used to say, “Many a truth has been told in jest.” The emergence of humor portraying Communists as effective managers of public services is vivid testimony of how difficult power outages and disruptions in gas and water services have made life for so many Russian citizens. Such jokes are also consistent with numerous opinion polls that indicate a plurality of Russians, perhaps even a majority, remember the “stagnation” era as the best time for the country. As in the Soviet period, the jokes of the political opposition are a window onto widespread beliefs not commonly expressed in the media or acknowledged by ruling elites.