Khrushchev's words and his shoe banging

[Lauren Leighton]

-----Original Message-----
From: Slavic & East European Languages and Literature list
[mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU]On Behalf Of Richard Robin
Sent: Tuesday, May 06, 2003 9:52 AM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Khrushchev's words and his shoe banging


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.

Lost for sure? I have a distinct memory of the incident on film. Perhaps "Time Marches on," "Pathe News," or one of the other newreels? I can't imagine that the old USIA has not stored its propaganda films with the incident foregrounded. I know they were shown in Finland, probably in the American Center.
 





-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.

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