Remarkable thing about satire is that it truly is the province of the underdog. The contempt people had for their communist rulers was funny ("kicking up"), but

Remarkable thing about satire is that it truly is the province of the underdog. The contempt people had for their communist rulers was funny ("kicking up"), but the humour would not work if they used the same caricatures downward at the same kind of coarse people ("kicking down"). The irony of the communists was that by being the revolutionary people, "kicking up" became an attack on their "down," identity.