This novel gives a harsh and cynical picture of a population under a collectivist rule: struggle with bureaucracy, incompetence, use of front men, jesuitry and ultimately demoralization and alcoholism.
It is a state where people are only happy when they can steal something from the (their) state.
The main characters would like to revolt (symbol: the axe raised by the farmer against the civil servants), but they are paralyzed, overwhelmed by a too big power.
What is special for this novel is the unrelenting, dark and menacing atmosphere (one feels the disgust of the author in his own stomach).
It seems a miracle to me that this work could have been published in his Czech home country under the communist regime.
A book to recommend, although happily most of the collectivist states don't exist anymore.

Ludvik Vaculik is perhaps one of the funniest Czech writers to come out of Prague Spring. Writing under the censor, Vaculik manages to merge a thoroughly disturbing tale of animal cruelty with a physical rendition of the chaotic Czech currency system of the time. But one doesn't have to know anything of the history of Czechoslovakia or communist censorship to enjoy this story. It's very funny and unsettling all the same. Highly recommended.