A Polish Polish Joke

When I was a kid, most of the Polish jokes I heard were just plain nasty. It wasn’t until I was much older that I learned that the Poles have a wonderful tradition of comedy, usually directed at Germans, Russians and members of the Polish Communist Party. As anyone familiar with the Polish Solidarity movement is aware, no group of is more virulently anti-communist than Polish Workers.

Shortly after the takeover, Party members sought to instruct workers with communist doctrine, with extremely poor results. The story goes that a Party representative addresses a gathering of disaffected Polish factory worker, the representative askes, “We begin at the beginning! Who is Marx?”

One in the audience shouts, “Groucho, Harpo and Zeppo!”

“No, no!” Says the representative. “Marx was the father of modern communism.”

A few in the crowd say, “Can we go home yet?”

“No! Who was Lenin?”

A voice in the crowd: “We don’t know. We don’t care!”

“Well, comrades, if you came to meetings, you would know that he was the father of the Russian Revolution.”

Someone in the back shouts, “A question for you, Party representative: who is Novak?”

Flustered, the comrade Party representative said, “No, who is Novak?”

“Well, comrade,” said the man in back. “If you spent more time at home instead of coming to these stupid meetings, you would know he’s the man who’s making love to your wife!”