Seems pretty clearly a joke grown into an urban legend.

See, e.g., this memoir by Pail Craig Roberts http://www.independent.org/pdf/tir/tir_07_2_roberts.pdf: "A famous Soviet cartoon depicted the manager of a nail factory being given the Order of Lenin for exceeding his tonnage. Two giant cranes were pictured holding up one giant nail."

The cartoon in question may be the one pictured here: https://i.sstatic.net/zdygP.jpg, posted at http://lesswrong.com/lw/1ws/the_importance_of_goodharts_law/.

Of course, the problem of which this is an exaggerated example was, indeed, real.

Seems pretty clearly a joke grown into an urban legend.

See, e.g., this memoir by Pail Craig Roberts:

A famous Soviet cartoon depicted the manager of a nail factory being given the Order of Lenin for exceeding his tonnage. Two giant cranes were pictured holding up one giant nail.

The cartoon in question may be the one pictured here:

Click to enlarge. Image Source

Of course, the problem of which this is an exaggerated example was, indeed, real.