I was raised in Eastern Bloc in 70 and 80s. Svejk was the classic we all read as teenagers. We have seen that as parody of communism and always wondered how is that book not censored or forbidden?
Now I realize it describes any sufficient evolved (i.e. broken) system, which might have been good enough excuse for the soviets not to make it verbotten.
I think it wasn't censored because it was so critical of imperialism, so soviet censors viewed it as 'progressive' and aiding their cause.
I think it never occurred to censors that the satire of the book would transcend the Austro-Hungarian Empire and would work as a satire of a soviet bureaucracy just as well. This, it was widely available both in USSR and in other Eastern Block countries, and even had luxury editions, I still have one such edition.
Like the joke about Stalin's underling muttering under his breath about "that bastard with the moustache", I wouldn't be surprised if either (a) the original censors had said "anti Austria-Hungary good" without giving a moment's thought as to how well the satire fit their own system, or (b) a particularly bright censor (or set of censors) realised they could always fall back on (a) for plausible deniability. Compare https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39697389 (or https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ru/b/ba/Sharik_Figvam... ?)
Now I realize it describes any sufficient evolved (i.e. broken) system, which might have been good enough excuse for the soviets not to make it verbotten.