Evening star., 1924-07-04

oti a " SHo" Which way tHe Wlnu
blows, and jokes, little anecdotes,
witticisms. puns, etc, show how ma
tion thinks. according to a Moscow
correspondent of the New York Her
Judge and Life and
Mutt and JEFF" "Simplicissimus" and
will be the raw mate
rial of the future historian just as
much as written records, public ad-
dresses and official statements.
In fact. Eduard Fuchs has traced
all the cartoons and caricatures of
Jews from the earliest days of print
ing down to the present, and with
this data alone has constructed a the
Jewish contributions to civiliza ton
The cartoonst and clown are CO.
workers Of the serious student, for
they can often crystalline in a single
sketch or in a simple pleasantly the
essence of whole country's reaction
to certain event or condition.
Take Russia. Before the war there
was a story current which began,
How many times does the czar
change his shirt" Then commences
the calculation. A Russian peasant
changes his shirt once in the winter
anu once IN summer. A COS
sack changes his shirt once every
spring. summer, autumn and winter.
A Worklngman changes his shirt once
a month. Russian bank clerk
changes his shirt once a fortnight
A Russian government official changes
his shirt once week. To make the
story short. Russian general changes
MS shirt every day. A Russian cab
met member changes his shirt before
every meal And the czar? The czar
always had two soldiers standing by
his side. One puts shirt on him
and the other Immediately pulls 1t off
Vodka Was scourge.
What words summarized the aver
age individuals knowledge of Russia
before the war? They were "czar,"
vodka" and "pogrom" The last is
not subject for jest, but here the
tale of the cars shirt tells better
than long article how the ordinary
backward Russian peasant looked
upon his monarch as the little father"
who had reached the acme of perfec-
ton.
vodka-that terrible ss per cent al
coholic fire water which flowed freely
in Russia before the days of prohf-
tion-had the effect. we estimate. of
half the country's popu-
lation over the fifty-two week ends
OF the. year. The memory of those
dialogue: woman riding in a cab
asked the driver, or "isvoschik," who
did not seem to sit too firmly on his
seat, whether there was an isvoschik
in MOSCOW who was not drunk. Yes"
replied the iSvoschik after a moment
there he is and he pointed to the
bronze figure of Phaeton driving his
horses which stands on the portico of
the Big Theater.
Today. too. soviet Russia has its
nd = i,l. -
cases are handed around from mouth
to mouth and in other cases are
printed in the pro-Communist weekly
comic journals. The oral jokes are
usually the invention of some fertile
nep (bourgeois) mind and serve as a
sort of valve for all the irrita ton the
bourgeoisie here feels against the
bolsheviks. For instance: Why was
Rykov chosen to succeed Lenin?'
Because Lenin's brains can best be
preserved in alcohol" (Rykov is
said to drink a good dealO
Robbers Jest Mt Lenin.
Here is another. When Lenin died
all the cities were placarded with
signs which read, "Lenin is dead, but
the story is told that on a certain
night robbers entered a house and
after taking what they pleased to
take, left the following note: "Lenin
is dead, but we are continuing his
work"
The same slogan was productive of
another piece of humor: A Jewish
kosher restaurant put up the placard
on its window. But part of the print
ing on the window was left uncovered
by the placard SO that the whole
thing read, "Lenin is dead. but we
are continuing his work under the
auspices of Rabbi Jacobson"
The best one in years is at Trot,,
be remembered. is called the Russian
Socialist Federated Soviet Republic"
or X. 5. +. S. r. Now why were the
letters arranged just as they are?
Well, so that Lenin might read them
from left to right and Trotsky. being
a Jew, might read them from right to
left and yet both would arrive at the
same thing.
Take Crnck at Leaders.
Trotsky was perpetuated by the well
known vaudeville couple, Bim and
Bonn. Bim comes out on the stage
carrying q picture Of Lenin and a
picture of Trotsky: What are you
going to do with those?" asked Bonn.
Says Bim, "Ill hang one and stand
the other against the WALL (in other
words, shoot the other).
We Americans have the impression
that the Russian people are morbid
laugh. Yet Moscow. alone has half a
dozen funny weeklies, of which
Crocodile, Red Pepper and Laugh
ter are very clever and very popu-
lar. All of these carry colored illus
trations. Most of the official wit in
these papers is concentrated for at
tacks on the Russian bourgeoisie, on
capitalism and capitalists generally,
and on foreign governments and dip
lomats.
This weeks Crocodile, for in
stance, levels a broadside at MacDon-
aid, the British premier. Below a
headline which reads THE Prince and
the Pauper" is an illustration of a
prince and a pauper according to
Mark Twain. Right under the illus
tration is a picture of Macdonald and
the Prince of Wales taken at a ban
Quet in London in honor Of Ambas-
sador Kellogg. The subscription is,
prince Of Wales and Pauper MacDon-
aid, according to life"
Macdonald Ii Ridiculed.
The upper halt Of another page OF
illustrations shows Macdonald dressed
in workers clothes addressing a
group of workingmen. You do not
have to bow your heads" Macdonald
proudly tells them, Ito the British
king and to the English capitalists,
because - (now the eye goes to
the bottom Of the pa1e) do