Here is a little joke-like thing I found in my school history textbook a couple years ago about the former Soviet Union.
A train is traveling across the USSR. Among the many passengers, in a special compartment, are Lenin, Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, and Gorbachev. Suddenly, the engine breaks down and the train comes to a halt. Lenin says he will take care of it, and he goes to the engine and lectures the engineer on the principles of Marxism and the importance of duty to the Soviet Union. The train still does not go, so Stalin goes to the engine and shoots the engineer. Still the train does not move, so Khrushchev says, "We must not hold the engineer's past mistakes against him." He proceeds to the engine and props up the engineer's body at the controls. When this doesn't help, Brezhnev suggests they close the blinds and pretend the train is moving. This they proceed to do, remarking about how quiet the ride is. Finally, Gorbachev gets out, climbs on top of the train, and announces, "Look, everybody, the train is not moving!" The passengers are delighted to have so honest a leader.
The train, however, still doesn't go anywhere.