Chastushka

A Chastúshka (Russian: часту́шка, pronounced [ʧɐsˈtuʂkə]) is a traditional Russian or Ukrainian folk poem which makes use of a simple rhyming scheme to convey humorous or ironic content. The signing and recitation of such rhymes were an important part of peasant popular culture both before and after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917.

Form

A chastushka (plural: chastushki) is a simple rhyming poem which would be characterized derisively in English as doggerel. The name originates from the Russian word части́ть ("chastit"), meaning "to speak rapidly."

The basic form is a simple four-line verse making use of an ABAB, ABCB, or AABB rhyme scheme. An analogous example of such poetry in English might be the familiar children's rope-skipping rhyme:

Lizzie Borden took an axe
And gave her mother forty whacks.
When she saw what she had done
She gave her father forty-one.

Usually humorous, satirical, or ironic in nature, chastushki are often put to music as well, usually with balalaika or accordion accompaniment. The rigid, short structure (and, to a lesser degree, the type of humor used) parallels the poetic genre of limericks in British culture.

Sometimes several chastushki are delivered in sequence to form a song. After each chastuska, there is a full musical refrain without lyrics to give the listeners a chance to laugh without missing the next one. Originally chastushki were a form of folk entertainment, not intended to be performed on stage. Often they are sung in turns by a group of people. Sometimes they are used as a medium for a back-and-forth mocking contest. Improvisation is highly valued during chastuska singing.

Content

Chastushki cover a very wide spectrum of topics, from lewd jokes to political satire, including such diverse themes as love songs and Communist propaganda.

Following the 1917 Russian Revolution, chastushki varied considerably in content from region to region. In some areas hit particularly hard by the grain requisitioning of the Soviet regime during the Civil War, such as Riazan, peasant chastushki tended to be bitterly hostile.^[1] In other places, particularly those in close proximity to Moscow, "Soviet chastushki" favorable to the Bolshevik government were sung and recited.^[1]

In the early 1920s chastushki were used by Young Communists in organized village gatherings as a form of anti-religious propaganda, subjecting the church and the rural clergy to ridicule using the traditional rural poetic form.^[2] Scholar Lynne Viola provides one such example of an anti-religious Soviet rhyme, rendered here in literal English translation:

All the pious are on a spree,
They see god is not at home.
He got drunk on homebrewed liquor,
And left to go abroad.^[2]

Given the difficult economic circumstances of the Soviet peasantry in the late 1920s and 1930s, chastushki overwhelmingly took an anti-government form, with the singing of anti-Soviet couplets a common practice at peasant festivals of the period.^[3] Following the assassination of Communist Party leader Sergei Kirov late in 1934, chastushki sprung up relating the killing to a recent decision to terminate bread rationing, including this literal translation of one example provided by scholar Sheila Fitzpatrick:

When Kirov was killed,
They allowed free trade in bread.
When Stalin is killed,
They will disband all the collective farms.^[4]

Examples

Many folk chastushki are lewd or laden with vulgarities. The following are some relatively printable examples, with slightly loose English translations that attempt to give an approximate feeling of the chastushka's rhyme and meter, and the general meaning:

• Kolkhoz life:

Птицеферма у нас есть,

И другая строится.

А колхозник яйца видит,

Когда в бане моется.

Here we have a chicken farm,

The hens keep busy hour by hour,

But the only "eggs" the farmhand sees

Are between his legs in the shower!

(NB: In Russian, the word yaitsa, "eggs", is rude slang for testicles, similar to "nuts" or "balls" in English.)

• Bolshevik political and anti-religious propaganda:

Знаем Ленина заветы.

Кулаки, попы - наш враг

Призовет их всех к ответу

Большевицкий красный флаг.

Lenin's words still ring today:

The Kulaks and priests tell evil lies!

But we shall make our enemies pay

Wherever the Bolshevik's red flag flies.

• Parody of Soviet peace propaganda:

С неба звездочка упала

Прямо милому в штаны,

Пусть бы всё там разорвала,

Лишь бы не было войны.

Out of the sky a star fell down,

Right into my boyfriend's pants,

But let his junk be all torn up,

Just don't let a war break out.

• This one appeared when daylight saving time was introduced in the Soviet Union:

Время сдвинули на час

На Советском глобусе

Раньше хрен вставал в постели

А теперь в автобусе

Time got shifted an hour ahead

Everywhere in the "Soviet sphere"

The morning wood used to hit me in bed,

But now on my bus ride, IT is still here!

Footnotes

1. ^ ^{a b} Sheila Fitzpatrick, Stalin's Peasants: Resistance and Survival in the Russian Village After Collectivization. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994; pg. 28.
2. ^ ^{a b} Lynne Viola, Peasant Rebels Under Stalin: Collectivization and the Culture of Peasant Resistance. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996; pg. 50.
3. ^ Fitzpatrick, Stalin's Peasants, pg. 271, citing an archival file.
4. ^ Fitzpatrick, Stalin's Peasants, pp. 291-292.

Further reading

• Emil Draitser, Making War, Not Love: Gender and Sexuality in Russian Humor. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000.