We will bury you

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Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev famously used an expression generally translated into English as "We will bury you!" ("Мы вас похороним!", transliterated as My vas pokhoronim!) while addressing Western ambassadors at reception in Moscow in November, 1956.^[1] The translation has been controversial because it was presented as being belligerent out of context. The phrase may well have been intended to mean the Soviet Union would outlast the West, as a more complete version of the quote reads: "Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will bury you" - a meaning more akin to "we will attend your funeral" than "we shall cause your funeral".

Several online sources incorrectly claim that he made this statement at the United Nations General Assembly on October 11, 1960, when he is said to have pounded the table with his shoe, or with an extra shoe he had brought with him explicitly for that purpose. ^[2] (Occasionally these incorrect reports give the date October 12, the date this incident was reported in most newspapers.)

Speaking some years later in Yugoslavia, Khrushchev himself remarked, "I once said, 'We will bury you,' and I got into trouble with it. Of course we will not bury you with a shovel. Your own working class will bury you" ^[3], a nod to the popular Marxist saying, "The proletariat is the undertaker of capitalism." Khrushchev later went on to explain that socialism would supplant capitalism in the same manner that capitalism itself supplanted feudalism.

[edit] Quotes in pop culture

In an episode of the television show NewsRadio, Jimmy James removed his shoe and screamed "I will bury you" to open a negotiation with Beth about profit sharing.

In the computer game Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, Soviet vehicle units frequently use this quote when commanded to attack a target, presumably in its more aggressive sense.

Sting refers to this quote in his song entitled "Russians", in which he apparently uses the meaning of "we will destroy you" as a parallel with a (possible) quote from Ronald Reagan that says "we will protect you". Sting indicates that he doesn't agree with either position.

In the Spongebob episode Rock-a-Bye Bivalve, a worm is seen shouting "we will bury you!" before being eaten by the baby clam.

There is a song titled "We Will Bury You" by punk rock band The Bags.