Khrushchev's words and his shoe banging

Tue May 6 14:52:01 UTC 2003

William Taubman in _Khrushchev: The Man and His Era_ has a complete discussion of the shoe-banging incident with avrious eye-witness accounts (which differ). He also discusses the origin of the "We will bury you quote," albeit without direct reference to the original Russian. I have heard Russians quote this as both both Мы вас закопаем and Мы вас похорогим (zakopaem and poxoronim). When I was around 10 (1960), I distinctly remember RFE/RL ads on TV that featured an angry Khrushchev at a podium with a voice-over that said something like "Nikita Khrushchev is saying: 'We will bury you. Your children [I think -RR] and grandchildren [for sure - RR] will live under communism." Clearly, he wasn't saying "We will bury you," (at least not in that clip), since it's been well established that that remark was not made in a big public forum, but in a semi-rivate meeting. I've always been interested in the "Your grandchildren will live under communism," since the ultimate irony is that son Sergei took out U.S. citizenship a few years ago. Was that also part of the "We will bury you comment"?

All in all, it's very disappointing to realize that none of this seems to have been captured on tape for posterity. I always thought that if one searched long enough one could find an old film of the shoe-banging as well as "We will bury you" and "Your grandchildren..." What a let-down to know that these defining Khrushchevian moments (which actually got me interested in Russian) appear to be lost forever.

-Rich Robin
_________________________________
Richard Robin, Associate Professor, Chair
German and Slavic Dept.
The George Washington University
Washington, DC 20008
rrobin at gwu.edu
http://home.gwu.edu/~rrobin
Читаю по-русски во всех кодировках.
Chitayu po-russki vo vsex kodirovkax.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Dunn" <J.Dunn at SLAVONIC.ARTS.GLA.AC.UK>
To: <SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, May 03, 2003 9:08 AM
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Khrushchev's words and his shoe banging

> May I muddy the waters further by referring you to two articles which
> appeared in Izvestiia last year.  These are an interview with (22
> August 2002) and a subsequent article by Sergei Khrushchev (8
> September 2002).  Both are available on-line at:
> 
> http://main.izvestia.ru/person/article22772
> 
> and
> 
> http://main.izvestia.ru/world/article23548
> 
> These give slightly contradictory accounts of what the item of
> footwear was, how it came to be in Khrushchev's hand and what he
> actually did with it.
> 
> Neither article quotes Khrushchev Senior's exact words (though see
> below), but the context described by the son does not necessarily
> support the phrase involving Kuz'kina mat', and I wonder if there is
> any unimpeachable source for this story.  I assume the story about
> the literal translation is apocryphal; Harold Macmillan, the British
> Prime Minister at the time, is supposed to have said 'Would someone
> please provide a translation', but this may also be apocryphal.
> 
> In the final paragraph of the second article S. Khrushchev links the
> footwear incident with the burying phrase.  He gives the latter as:
> 'Vzjat' zastup i poglubzhe poxoronit' imperializm' and complains that
> this was distorted by 'propagandists' to 'my vas poxoronim'.  I must
> admit that I always thought that the burying phrase came from a
> different visit to the United States.
> 
> John Dunn.
> 
> 
> >Dear colleagues:
> >
> >I am trying to find precise information on Khrushchev's show banging in the UN
> >Assembly. On Wednesday 12 October 1960, all national papers commented on
> >Nikita Sergeyevich and his famous shoe banging. Apparently, Khrushchev
> >protested the speech of the head of the Philippine delegation, Senator Lorenzo
> >Sumulong. In anger, he called the senator "a jerk, a stooge and a lackey of
> >imperialism." In the Russian version, though, the shoe banging, it seems, was
> >accompanied by a wonderful idiomatic phrase "ia vam pokazhu kuzkinu mat." I
> >would very much like to find out the English translation of this phrase. I
> >mean, the version they used when they had to translate it in the UN. Since
> >such a phrase is extremely difficult to translate, I wouldn't be surprised if
> >they used literal translation - sth like "Kuzkin's mother." In this case, it
> >would be also nice to learn how the phrase can be translated into idiomatic
> >English. "I'll spit into your eye" is a possible translation but it does not
> >really capture the comic aspect of the Russian phrase.
> >
> >Have you ever come across any useful information on this?
> >
> >Many thanks in advance.
> >
> >
> >elenka at uvic.ca
> >
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> 
> --
> John Dunn
> Department of Slavonic Studies
> University of Glasgow
> Hetherington Building
> Bute Gardens
> Glasgow
> G12 8RS
> Tel.: +44 (0)141-330-5591
> Fax: +44 (0)141-330-2297
> e-mail: J.Dunn at slavonic.arts.gla.ac.uk
> 
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