jks ---------- Here's a good Soviet joke I heard a while back:
As you may know, when Gorky published Mother, Lenin said something to the effect that "This is a most useful book, and has come at exactly the right time." Anyway, one day Lenin was giving a long speech to the Bolsheviks, going on for hours and drinking cup after cup of coffee. Coffee being what it is, by the time he finished Vladimir Ilych had the enormous desire to go to the toilet. He takes off running through the Kremlin to find a bathroom -- but they're all locked. In desperation, Lenin wonders what to do. Suddenly, Gorky appears with the manuscript of Mother in his hands. He wants Lenin to read it and give him his impression. "Thank you, Conmrade!" says Lenin, taking the manuscript and ducking into a nearby broom closet. A few minutes later, Lenin reemetges and the manuscript is a number of pages shorter. "Thank you, Comrade Gorky! This is a most useful book, and has come at exactly the right time."
There are a lot of jokes about Lenin.
Chris Doss The Russia Journal