Political correctness and political humour in Soviet Estonia and beyond

Abstract

The article gives an overview of the history of censorship in Soviet Estonia, concentrating on the regulations that dictated the content of humorous texts and images from pre-1990s. The Estonian media communication developed in the interaction of two contradicting fields of influence: on the one hand, it was affected by the official institutional sphere, and on the other, by unofficial, reflexive and collective citizenship. During active Sovietisation in 1940s-1950s, people were deprived of any laughter and ambiguity. Public sphere was under the close scrutiny of political censorship. In the next two decades until the late 1980s, the reflexive and critical streams became more visible in the society. This was accompanied by publishing more and versatile humorous texts, the presence of humorous texts in printed press, and convergence of talented authors into a school of renowned humour journalists. Humour was institutionalised in both cultural and political sphere, and after 1987 it gained even new functions, becoming a forerunner for glasnost and an instrument of de-Sovietisation. On the basis of the present study, we can claim that the presence of humour in journalism is an indicator of emotions in the public sphere.

Stand-up in Estonia: From Soviet estrada to Comedy Estonia

“…As Lõhmus (2012) shows, stupidity and social vices such as greediness and arrogance were often mocked, and this was welcomed very warmly by the audience: "The status of broadcast humour was very high [...] the shows were recorded in different locations all over Estonia (collective farms, clubs, work collectives, etc.) which brought the jokes closer to the auditorium and at the same time this environment was the inexhaustible source of the humour itself."…”