REMEMBRANCE IN TIME - Index of

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Remembrance in Time
their perspective on the current situation. Thirdly, the option to send a letter to a foreign
radio station to make public a wish or a personal opinion contrary to the official political
line represents also an act of resistance because it highlighted the individual’s refusal of
resignation to the omnipotence of the communist regime.
Humor was another form of people's resistance against the Romanian communist
regime. Luisa Passerini's explanations on the causes of success of humor during the
fascist regime apply also to the Romanian case. To avoid conflict with state authorities,
the individual had to have a certain degree of self-control in his daily behavior. In this
context, jokes and laughter have become the most conveniently means for ordinary
people to relieve the psychological pressure caused by the required compliant external
display of official conduct. 19
The most popular form of humor in the communist era was the political joke. Political
jokes were mostly about Nicolae Ceausescu, designated as "uncle Nicu", about his wife
"LenuŃa" or about both of them. They invoked, as appropriate, ubiquitous figures in the
daily life of ordinary people (such as policeman, the Securitate, the one in charge with
propaganda, the party activist), they ridiculed party events (congresses, conferences,
elections, working visits of Ceausescu) or represented a way of making fun of trouble as
in the case of the unfortunate effects of the measures initiated by the Romanian
communist regime (food crisis, energy crisis, the systematization of rural areas policy,
etc.). The subversive potential of political jokes was confirmed also by the fact that the
county bodies of the Securitate were concerned with identifying those people who
popularized the "libelous and defamatory content jokes about some high personality of
the state leadership" within the narrow bounds of family and friends. 20
Two important elements recommended the inclusion of political jokes among the
population's creative resistance to the communist regime. Firstly, under the guise of
extreme irony and sometimes black humor, political jokes stressed even more the
discrepancy between the reality presented by official propaganda and the real situation of
ordinary people, doing this in a form accessible to a diverse and large numbers of
audiences. Secondly, in the lack of alternative means of information, jokes offered a
critical analysis of key internal developments. Thus, these forms of humor not only
indirectly challenged the official policies and their alleged positive results, but they also
contributed to the development of alternative views of daily reality different from those
promoted through the official channels.
To illustrate the above, we will analyze two such jokes. This is about the sale of stamps
with the figure of Ceausescu, that were supposed to have been sold our very quickly.
Therefore, the representatives of the counties would have come to Bucharest to ask for
more. Only one county representative came back with the stamps complaining that they
do not stick on the envelopes. Eager to prove the contrary, a post office worker explains
that if you spit its back, the stamp sticks perfectly. The county representative slaps his
forehead, having the following revelation: "Damn it! Here's why the stamp did not stick
properly! They were spitting on the face". 21 Selling stamps with the figure of Ceausescu
19 Luisa Passerini, Fascism in popular memory : the cultural experience of the Turin working
class, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2009, p. 86.
20 Arhiva CNSAS, D 336 , vol. 2, f. 150 f, D. 337, f. 26.
21 Călin-Bogdan Ştefănescu, Din bancurile politice ale românilor. 10 ani de umor negru
românesc, Editura Paideia, Bucureşti, 2009, p. 16.