Ian MacDonald described the song as "a rather tactless jest", given that the Soviet Army had recently invaded what was then called Czechoslovakia and thwarted that country's attempt to introduce democratic reforms. Some members of the New Left also criticised the Beatles for this gesture.&lt;ref name="O'Callaghan/RB"&gt;&lt;/ref&gt; During the 1960s, the Beatles were officially derided in the Soviet Union as the "belch of Western culture". David Noebel, a longstanding critic of the Beatles' influence on Western youth, said that: "The lyrics have left even the Reds speechless."