How far is The Joke a political novel?

At least one famous critic dismisses Milan Kundera's
The Joke as a political novel relevant mainly to the Soviet era,
but this is a mistake.  The novel is about life/existence within a
communist/dictatorial regime, and attitudes and behaviors do emerge naturally out of
that setting (evidence of Kundera's skills).  But the ideas and themes of the novel
certainly extend to life outside of the political
system.   

The novel is famous for its seven-part
structure, for its treatment of music, for its use of Czech folk tales, for its love
stories.

It features fundamentalistic, over-zealous "true
believers," and example after example of human cruelty.   It features the blindly loyal
and the naive.  It features a longing for a simpler past, and a woman who snores.  None
of these is exclusively political.   

The novel should not
be dismissed or categorized as simply a political novel. 
 

One concrete example of the novel's relevance is the idea
that people suffer from "bleak erotic horizons."  Is this not true, or at least possibly
true, in most places at most times?