This essay, "Empire of the Absurd," by Estonian historian Lauri Vahtre, presents a personal and historical analysis of life in the Soviet Union, arguing that its core characteristic was a pervasive absurdity. Vahtre posits that "Soviet Absurdity" was a unique fusion of two sources: a deep-seated "Russian National Absurdity" rooted in history, bureaucracy, and a cultural inferiority complex, and the "Essential Absurdity of Communist Ideology" stemming from the flawed, reality-denying principles of Marxism-Leninism.
The author systematically explores how this blended absurdity manifested in all aspects of life. He details the chronic poverty and the culture of "deficit" (shortages), which led to phenomena like endless queues, the necessity of "contacts" (connections), and a black market for everyday goods. He examines the absurdity born of totalitarianism, characterized by constant paranoia, the search for "enemies of the people," maniacal secrecy, and the ideological mandate that the Party is always right, even when rewriting history. The essay further deconstructs the failures of the command economy in industry and agriculture (the Kolkhoz system), the hostile nature of commerce and service, and the suffocation of intellectual and creative life through censorship and Party-dictated science (like Lysenkoism). Finally, Vahtre explores how the population coped with this environment through a rich culture of absurd humour, concluding that the history of the Soviet Union serves as a poignant warning against the dangers of ideology detached from reality.
An Anatomy of Soviet Absurdity
The Core Thesis: The author argues that "Soviet Absurdity" was a unique blend of two distinct types of absurdity:
Russian National Absurdity: Stemming from historical factors, a deep-seated inferiority complex towards the West, and a notoriously inefficient and illogical bureaucracy (e.g., the antics of Peter the Great).
Communist Ideological Absurdity: Rooted in the flawed tenets of Marxism, such as the primitive oversimplification of history as mere class struggle, the concept of "objective guilt" (being guilty by class association), and the denial of universal morality.
The Absurdity of Chronic Poverty:
"Deficit": This was the central experience of Soviet economic life, meaning a constant and unpredictable shortage of nearly all consumer goods, from food (bananas, sausage) to essentials (toilet paper, razor blades). This led to the common sight of empty store shelves, which propaganda absurdly claimed was a sign of wealth because people could afford to buy everything.
Queues and "Contacts": The deficit culture created a society built around standing in line for hours for basic goods and the critical importance of having "contacts" (blat) in various sectors (e.g., a friend who was a butcher or a store manager) to obtain items "through the back door."
Deficit of Opportunities: Beyond goods, there was a profound lack of opportunity. This included years-long waiting lists for essentials like an apartment, a telephone, or a permit to buy a car. Foreign travel was nearly impossible for ordinary citizens, treated as a privilege granted only to the most loyal and heavily monitored individuals.
The Absurdity of Totalitarianism:
Enemies Everywhere: The regime was defined by a deep paranoia that saw potential enemies and spies everywhere. Innocent activities like playing the violin at home, owning a tuxedo, or knowing a foreign language could make one a target of the KGB.
Maniacal Secrecy: An obsession with secrecy meant that accurate maps were classified, photography was highly suspicious, and even basic industrial or agricultural statistics were treated as state secrets. Typewriters had to be registered with the KGB.
The Party is Always Right: The Communist Party was presented as infallible. When it was demonstrably wrong (e.g., Stalin's crimes, the failure to achieve promised abundance), history was rewritten, facts were denied, and blame was shifted. A famous example is the physical removal of Lavrenti Beria's entry from the "Great Soviet Encyclopedia" after his execution.
The Absurdity of the Command Economy:
The "Plan" and Pokazukha: Industry was driven by a centrally planned economy obsessed with meeting arbitrary quotas. This led to pokazukha (showmanship), where fulfilling the plan on paper was more important than the actual result, leading to immense waste, poor quality, and nonsensical outcomes (e.g., painting grass green for a general's visit).
Kolkhoz (Collective Farms): The forced collectivization of agriculture was a disaster, turning a grain-exporting nation into one dependent on imports. The system was plagued by inefficiency, low motivation, and absurd campaigns like attempting to grow corn in polar regions.
Commerce and Service: The service sector was notoriously hostile. Salespeople were rude, as customers were seen as a nuisance. Buying an item often involved a three-step process of finding the item, lining up to pay at a separate kiosk, then lining up again to collect the item with a receipt.
The Absurdity of Brainwashing:
Indoctrination of Youth: From a young age, children were processed through state organizations like the Little Octobrists, the Pioneers, and the Komsomol (Young Communist League), where they were taught to revere Lenin, inform on perceived enemies (even family, like the martyr-figure Pavlik Morozov), and profess loyalty to the Party.
The Cult of Lenin: Lenin was deified as a flawless, all-knowing genius. His image and quotes were ubiquitous, and any criticism was unthinkable.
Lysenkoism: A prime example of ideological absurdity in science, where genetics was banned as "bourgeois pseudoscience" in favor of the fraudulent theories of Trofim Lysenko, crippling Soviet biology for decades.
Absurd Humour as Resistance: The essay concludes that the population's primary coping mechanism was a rich tradition of absurd humour and jokes (anecdotes). Jokes about "crocheting elephants" or the inanity of Brezhnev's senility were a way to mock a meaningless reality in a way that censorship could not easily punish, providing a small but vital form of psychological resistance.
Summary of Hacker News Discussion
The Hacker News discussion reflects a wide range of reactions to the essay, with several key themes emerging:
Lysenkoism as a Key Example: Multiple commenters pointed to Lysenkoism as the quintessential example of Soviet absurdity, with one user sharing a personal anecdote about how it set Russian molecular biology back for decades.
The Appeal of Security: One of the most upvoted comments acknowledges the author's description of a "secure" but stagnant life (guaranteed job, housing) and suggests that many people in precarious Western economies might find such stability appealing, even if it's not a utopia.
Debating the "Real Communism" Argument: A commenter's suggestion that the atrocities were the fault of a specific implementation of Communism, not the socioeconomic system itself, was immediately met with the classic counter-argument, "we've not tried real communism yet," highlighting the persistent and often circular nature of this debate.
Skepticism and Broader Critiques: Some users were critical of the author's framing, labeling it a "propaganda piece" or pointing out the essay's self-admitted subjectivity. Others challenged the capitalism vs. communism binary, arguing that both are inadequate systems for modernity and that the obsession with defining one as evil is unhelpful.
Questioning the Statistics: Commenters debated the "170 million" death toll figure, discussing whether it legitimately includes "unborn children" (i.e., from legalized abortions and lower fertility rates) and WWII losses to reach such a high number.
The Nature of Russian Power: One commenter elaborated on the idea of Russian state power (Tsarist, Soviet, or modern) being perceived by its people as an external, alien force to be submitted to, rather than as an organic nation-state.