Jump to content

Lenin was a mushroom

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Paul Pogonyshev (talk | contribs) at 21:18, 25 March 2011 (link to a wrong Sholokhov). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Lenin was a mushroom (Template:Lang-ru) was a televised hoax by musician Sergey Kuryokhin and reporter Sergey Sholokhov. It was first broadcasted on 17 May 1991 on Leningrad Television. The hoax had the form of an interview.

In the interview Kuryokhin was telling about his findings that Lenin used to consume a lot of psychedelic mushrooms and eventually turned into a mushroom himself. This absurd idea wasn't presented all at once; instead there was a resemblance of logical chain of reasonings, facts and quotations from various sources. An aura of plausibility was created using manipulation of facts, pseudo-scientific style and loose storytelling.

The timing of the hoax played a large role in its success. It was shown on TV in the Glasnost period when many censorship barriers fell and there were many revelations and publication of previously concealed facts from USSR history, often with sensational flavor. Additionally, Soviet TV had been very official and prim before. As a result, some of the audience took the hoax seriously, even despite the totally absurd claims. In response to inquiries about the truth of the claims, the Ideology Committee of the Communist Party stated that they were false, as "a mammal can not be a plant".[1]

References

  1. ^ Sholokhov, Sergey. "Quiet flows the Sholokhov. Interview with "Krestyanka" magazine". Retrieved 25 March 2011.
Stub icon

This television program-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lenin_was_a_mushroom&oldid=420717081"