The Denver Jewish news., 1923-05-16
BY }. KIi.,ow.
tJewish Telesraphic Agency


tiating in Btest-Litovsk for peace with
the Germans on behalf of the new rul-
ers of Russia, that the Jews who, from
| the beginning have regarded the Boil
slieviks with sort of half contemptu-
Gus dersion. began to make their jokes
at the expense of BOlshevism. The
l Jewish habit of poking fun at every
4 thing, even when II is hurting them,
found plenty OF stun to exercise it in
the everyday life of Soviet Russia.
4 Curious rulers. II curious system of
state a strange type of diplomat.
\ And long before there was any decision
in the peace negotiations ut Brest-Lit-
ovsk. and the BOlsheviks We're still busy
spreading reports that their peace
would be model peace without an
nexations. and without indemnities +,
the Jews were already making sport of
the whole affair. One of the tales they
told concerning Lenin, whom they rep
. resented lis waiting impatiently for
the final notification from Ioffe that
peace had been concluded. and finally
receiving telegram containing only one
word-"Yoffe-s Gin. Yindis $ Ii
..Yes") "Fe' Uhe Yiddish equivalent
for something like "I,ah.''- horrid
peace.)
Jewish jokes about the Revolution
were in the field. of course. long before
October 25th when Lcnin stepped into
Kerensky's place The life of the pre-
cetling eight months during which the
Provisional Government was in power
had its humorous aspects too for the
sharp-witted Jew to turn into sa-
tiric commentary upon the conditions
of the day.
When the first Conference of the
PEOPLES" was summoned tn Kiev in the
first months of the Revolution. and was
procla lined AS the concourse of all the
nationalities inhabiting the Russian
territory. beginning with the Ukrain-
ians and including even the Znrians and
the Buriats, it was impossible for the
Jew to pass over without a joke the fact
that far too many of these representa-
tive> of the various nationnlities were
the owners of noses which looked s,is-
piciously Jewish. And the Jews in kiev
asked each other: why were there
no Bushmen mt the Conference:" And
the answer came: Because no Jew
could he found who would consent tn
have his nOstrils drilled through in
-. ptVs
inserted - ."
The Jewish joke has reached its
highest pitch in the years of the Boi-
shcvik rule. With the intensitication of
the privaticn in the country the ten
dency of the jew to poke fun at his
own sufferings asserted itself more and
more strongly. aud no event was nl-
lowed to go by without bringing new
Joke into circulation. No fresh edict
was isseud without being followed by
II humorous commentary. Starving and
in rags. the Jews went about ana prnc-
tically their only joy lay in the invcn-
tion of new joke at the expense of the
regime which doomed them to suffer
ing. 1t is difficult in MI cases To he
sure of the origin of the jokes. Most
ly. they appear to have distinctly
ni1ti-Semitic flavor. they exaggerate the
part of the Jew in Rolshevism to an
unbelievable extent. but love of cNag-
geration is a Jewish trait. n
of course one of the first legends to
tI. 81. 1a.lN -
ing conquered the power in Russia. that
"nll Bolsheviks We're Jews. The mass
of the Jews in Russia We're miles away
from Bolshevism. but the legend per-
grams were coined ns. fer instance:
'.Wisozky's ten. Brodsky's sugar. and
Trotsky's Russia
The Government, the Council of Peo-
pies Commissarics- by the usual abbre-
Walton popularity the ''Sovnarkom', was
of course. represented as Jewish. and
at one of its meetings. it was told. ke-
meneff suddenly showed himself anx-
ious to get away. II was the anniver-
s,ry of his fathers death and he WAS in
IL hurry to get to the synagogue to say
Knddish. The rest Of the ComnisShr-
les tried to persuade him TO stay. but
he was afraid that il would he too late
for Mimcha So Lcnin got up and said:
I've got an iden. friends. will 90 out
for a while and ycu will have Min
yam"
There is hardly need for the commcn-
tary that there are by no means any
thing like Minyan of Commissarics in
Russia.
The law courts. the revolutionary tri-
bunnls, also came in for II good deal of
clafr of the same fashion. For exam
pie: A Jew was put ON trial because.