Stalinist prohibition of the prohibition
example · Slovenian/Yugoslav ·
retold in 15 talks
Under Stalinism it was prohibited to criticize Stalin, but it was even more prohibited to publicly state 'in our country you are not allowed to criticize Stalin', the rule that enforces the prohibition cannot itself be named.
≤2000talks it is told in, per year2026
As told 15
“it was prohibited to criticize Stalin but it was even more prohibited to say publicly in our country you are not allowed to criticize Stalin”
“It was prohibited to criticize Stalin, but this prohibition itself had to remain secret. You will disappear even faster, I claim.”
“It wasn't simply prohibited to criticize Stalin it was even more prohibited to publicly announce this prohibition.”
What it carries
one story, many jobs: the ideas this anecdote is deployed to argue, one tally mark per use (an idea page shows the same relation from the other end, as its shelf of stories)
contents · one story, 7 jobsuses
prohibition of the prohibition
×4
my stalinism / benevolent stalinism
×3
totalitarianism
×2
unwritten rules
×2
the big Other
×2
obscene underside
×2
habits
×1
Its cast and sources
populated by
Byung-Chul Han3Mangosuthu Buthelezi3Julius Rosenberg2Paul Robeson2Josip Broz Tito3Ágota Kristóf2B. R. Ambedkar3Robert Pfaller5
alongside works
Every retelling 15
Under Stalinism it was prohibited to criticize Stalin, but it was even more prohibited to publicly state 'in our country you are not allowed to criticize Stalin', the rule that enforces the prohibition cannot itself be named., illustrating ideology,rules prohibited from being stated publicly,Stalinism
In the Soviet Union it was forbidden to criticize Stalin, but it was equally forbidden to publicly state that this prohibition existed. Announcing the rule was more dangerous than breaking it., illustrating prohibited prohibition,cynical ideology,totalitarianism
In Stalin's USSR it was prohibited to criticize Stalin, but it was even more prohibited to publicly announce that prohibition, you had to pretend that criticism was freely possible. This illustrates how prohibitions are themselves prohibited in ideological systems., illustrating ideology,prohibition meta-prohibition,Stalinism
In Stalinist Moscow, criticizing Stalin was fatal, but so was publicly announcing that criticism was forbidden, the second person disappeared even faster, illustrating the meta-rule that the prohibition itself must not be named., illustrating prohibition of the prohibition,meta-rules
In a thought experiment set in the Stalinist Central Committee: criticizing Stalin gets you arrested; but standing up to publicly announce that criticizing Stalin is prohibited gets you arrested even faster. The meta-prohibition is more fundamental than the first-order prohibition., illustrating prohibition of the prohibition,ideology,postmodern permissive master
In Stalin's USSR it was forbidden to criticize Stalin, but it was even more forbidden to publicly announce that this prohibition existed, demonstrating the meta-level of unwritten rules., illustrating unwritten rules,Stalinist ideology,meta-prohibition