Boring Soviet Humor: The Artificiality of International Women’s Day and an Imitation of Criticismimitacija
Boring Soviet Humor: The Artificiality of International Women’s Day and an Imitation of Criticism

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this paper is to reveal the role of official humor during the Soviet period through an analysis of how International Women’s Day, usually refered to as March 8 in the Soviet Union, was depicted in Lithuanian satirical press. This is done by analyzing Lithuanian and Russian satirical periodicals of the late Soviet period, namely, Šluota (Broom) and Krokodil (Crocodile), respectively. In addition, in order to analyze the holiday which was meant to glorify the Soviet woman, several propaganda documentaries of the late Soviet period, filmed for the occasion, are discussed. The focus is the imposed artificial holiday of March 8 and the boring humor used in the Soviet texts to criticize it. Thus the boredom of the Soviet period is examined in a separate section. An analysis of March 8 is also inextricable from a discussion of women’s roles and gender relationships during the late Soviet period, which are reflected in both the satirical and the regular press of the period. The humor of the Soviet period is often considered a form of protest and of real criticism, a way of talking about forbidden issues, but this paper looks at why the humor in the March 8 issues of the periodicals is boring, monotonous, and repetitive.

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