Reflection of the collective farm and collective farmers in Soviet anecdotes

The paper analyzes the reflection of collective farms and collective farmers through the prism of a Soviet anecdote. This approach makes it possible to reflect the public moods inherent in the Soviet people, who are limited in open expression of their own opinion, using one of the informal channels of communication, which is actually not controlled by the Soviet authorities. This theme was reflected in the jokes that went around in the 1930s-1950s. Later, due to the change in the social structure in the USSR, this topic was removed from folk humor. Humor was one of the channels that remained largely outside the control of the state authorities. In anecdotes, city dwellers reflected through a crooked mirror the shortcomings that were observed in society. It should be noted that the anecdote was more typical for the urban environment, while the chastushka was more important for the rural one. The problem of collectivization and collective farms was also reflected in folk humor. The Bolsheviks, and later the Soviet government, criticizing the position of the peasants in pre-revolutionary Russia, painted the image of destitute, poor people, alienated from the fruits of their labor, not receiving decent pay for it. In the course of collectivization, the situation of the peasants, who later became collective farmers, worsened, which was reflected in a variety of oral folklore, including a joke. For Soviet society, an anecdote acted as a kind of protest that carried a risk for the narrator. In anecdotes, the image of collective farmers differs little from how the Bolsheviks themselves portrayed the situation of the peasants in pre-revolutionary Russia. The collective farmer is perceived as a poor, destitute person living in terrible conditions in which life seems like an eternity.