ABSTRACT
There is an incisive Soviet joke of recent years that goes like this: It is winter, and across one of the wide Russian rivers is a gleaming new bridge. On the approach to the bridge is a large sign whose words indicate that the bridge, provided for the people of the USSR by the Soviet government and the CPSU, is a tribute to Soviet science and production. A peasant in a horse-drawn cart approaches the bridge, reads the sign, and then carefully leads the horse and cart down the bank of the river and cautiously crosses on the ice! On the other side he builds a small fire and warms his hands. A battered truck driven by a kolkhoznik (collective farmer) next approaches the bridge. He repeats the puzzling procedure and is soon warming his hands with the peasant. The next approaching vehicle is a shiny, black Chaika limousine. It speeds onto the bridge and when it is halfway across, the bridge collapses and the official car plunges through the ice. The peasant shakes his head sadly and says, “He didn’t read the sign!”
