Bolsheviks: The word derives from the Russian bolshinstvo, meaning majority. The Bolsheviks under the leadership of Lenin were the majority group at the Second Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (1903). Became separate party in 1912. Led October revolution in 1917. Party changed its name in 1918 to the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and in 1924 took on the name it carries to this day--Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU).
Bourgeoisie: The capitalist class. From the Communist Manifesto: "By bourgeoisie is meant the class of modern capitalists, owners of the means of social production and the employers of wage labor."
Brest-Litovsk: Treaty concluded in 1918 between revolutionary Russia and Imperial Germany. German terms were accepted under duress and Russia had to concede a huge indemnity and relinquish a large amount of territory. At the time Lenin said that without a revolutionary uprising inside Germany, Russia was in no position to wage a revolutionary war and needed a breathing space to consolidate the Revolution and build a people's army. Trotsky led the Soviet negotiating team.
Brezhnev, Leonid I. (1906-1982): Became General Secretary of Central Committee in October 1964. In May 1977, became President of the USSR. Led Soviet Union until his death on Nov. 10, 1982.
Bukharin, Nikolai Ivanovich (1887-1938): Joined Bolsheviks in 1906. Leading member of Bolshevik Central Committee during October Revolution. Editor of Pravda (1919-29). President of Comintern (1926-29). Leader of Right Opposition to Stalin in 1928. Executed after March 1938 Moscow trial.
Bureaucracy: The apparatus of administration in the armed forces, judiciary and other government organs and institutions. Early in the USSR, the conditions of underdevelopment and isolation contributed to the development of a privileged and parasitic bureaucracy which stifled the revolutionary initiative of the masses. Lenin said of the bureaucracy: "I hate it heartily. Not the individual bureaucrat, he may be a capable rascal. But I hate the system. It paralyzes and corrupts from above and below."
Chernenko, Konstantin U. (1912-1985): Succeeded Yuri Andropov as General Secretary of the CPSU, February 1984. Died March 10, 1985.
Cold War: Policy of U.S., West European and Japanese imperialism toward the Soviet Union following World War II. Period of active hostility to socialist countries, including subversion, sabotage and acts of terrorism with counterrevolutionary wars fought against emerging independence movements in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Called a cold war since the imperialist powers, particularly the U.S., did not openly invade the Soviet Union or bomb it with nuclear weapons, but instead engaged in so-called lower intensity actions around the world.
Collectivization: A change in property relations from private ownership to group ownership, a step below ownership by the state. Policy of compulsory collectivization of agriculture was announced on December 27, 1929, by Stalin; it began on February 1, 1930. At the time the kulaks had seized the Soviet state by the throat, organizing a veritable strike against food supplies for the cities.
Comintern: See Communist International.
Communist International: Founded in 1919 in Moscow to unite world Communist parties and coordinate revolutionary struggles. Also known by the shortened name Comintern. Dissolved by Stalin in 1943.
Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU): See Bolsheviks.
Denikin, A.I. (1872-1947): Czarist general and prominent counterrevolutionary in the Civil War.
Entrepreneur: French word which translates roughly as "enterpriser." In capitalism, a speculator who invests capital in stocks, land and machinery, as well as the exploitation of wage labor, in the pursuit of profits.
Five-Year Plan: The first Five-Year Plan for industrialization and collectivization went into effect in the Soviet Union in 1929. It was completed in four years. This was despite the stock market crash on Wall Street and the world capitalist collapse at the time, which had considerably reduced the market for Soviet goods and the foreign currency desired to complete the plan. In economic history, it was the first comprehensive plan to cover the rate and scale of a country's economic and social development. Five-Year Plans set targets as the basic framework for planning a socialist economy.
Glasnost: Policy introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev in the USSR in 1985. While perestroika is a change in the economic policies, glasnost is a shift in political practices. Glasnost is described by Gorbachev as a program for openness and democratization.
Gorbachev, Mikhail (1931- ): Elected General Secretary of the CPSU March 1985; became President of the USSR in September 1988.
Gorky, Maxim (1868-1936): Prominent Russian writer. Joined Bolsheviks in 1905. Helped organize first legal Bolshevik paper. Headed state publishing after revolution until 1921. Works include the play The Lower Depths (1902) and the novel Mother (1906).
Gotha Program: See Ferdinand Lassalle.
Gosplan: The State Planning Commission of the Soviet Union. The word is formed from the first syllables of the words of the title.
Imperialism: The highest, and last, stage of capitalism. As defined by Lenin, imperialism is the merging of bank capital with industrial capital to create finance capital; industry is increasingly dominated by monopolies; the export of capital becomes more important than the export of commodities; super-profits are obtained by imperialist super-exploitation of the less developed countries.
Intelligentsia: Intellectuals, usually referring to professionals such as writers, lawyers, doctors, engineers, professors, scientists. The intelligentsia is a middle stratum between the bourgeoisie and proletariat. Generally has greater ideological links with the bourgeoisie, but vacillates between the workers and capitalists. In a workers' state, the intelligentsia usually has elements with ties to the old bourgeois order.
Kautsky, Karl (1854-1938): Assistant to Engels. Leader of German Social Democratic Party and Socialist (Second) International before first world imperialist war. Became a reformist and pacifist centrist, refusing to condemn the right-wing of the German party which supported the German government in the imperialist First World War. Vocal opponent of Russian Revolution.
Kerensky, Alexander F. (1881-1970): Prime Minister of the Provisional Government that was overthrown by the October Revolution in Russia.
Kolchak, A.V. (1873-1920): Russian czarist admiral, monarchist and, with the help of British, French and U.S. imperialism, one of the main leaders of the counterrevolutionary White Guards in the 1918-19 Civil War.
Kolkhoz: Collective farm.
Khrushchev, Nikita (1894-1971): First Secretary of the Central Committee from March 1953 until October 1964. Premier of USSR from June 1958 until October 1964.
Kronstadt: Naval base where sailors staged a counterrevolutionary uprising in March 1921 against severe measures of War Communism. Lenin's New Economic Policy was adopted shortly after the uprising was suppressed.
Kulak: A Russian term meaning fist, popularly used to refer to rich peasants who owned land and hired poor peasants to work it. Lenin described the kulaks as "exploiters and profiteers who used their surplus grain to enrich themselves at the expense of the starving non-agricultural parts of Russia."
Lassalle, Ferdinand (1825-1864): Participant in 1848 German revolution. Founder and president of General Association of German Workers, first labor party in that country. Killed in a duel. His followers joined with Marxists in 1875 to form German Social Democratic Party, which adopted the Gotha Program. The program was severely criticized by Marx.
Left Opposition: Faction led by Leon Trotsky in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union as well as the Communist International. Formed in 1923.
Lenin, V.I. (1870-1924): Central theoretical and political leader of Bolsheviks from 1903. Participated in 1905-7 Russian revolution. Organized Zimmerwald Left in 1915-17 which brought together working class representatives from various European countries who issued a manifesto condemning the First World War and calling for a revolutionary struggle against the war. Led Bolshevik Central Committee during October Revolution. Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (premier). Central leader and founder of Communist International.
Levelers: Historically, during the English Civil War, a movement of independent farmers with a radical program calling for a democratic republic and political and religious equality. The Levelers, led by John Lilburne, and their left-wing program were defeated by the increasingly conservative Oliver Cromwell. Today the term is used derisively by the Gorbachev grouping in the Soviet Union to characterize those who support raising the lot of the lower paid to achieve economic equality.
Mensheviks: From Russian word for minority. Formed in 1903 at Second Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party as a minority opposition to the position of Lenin and the Bolsheviks (majority). Became the right-wing of the party and split with Bolsheviks in 1912. Opposed the 1917 October Revolution.
Molotov, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich (1890-1986): Joined Bolsheviks in 1906. Candidate member of Politburo in 1921, full member in 1926. Premier of USSR 1930-41. Foreign Minister 1939-49 and 1953-56. In 1939, signed nonaggression pact with Nazi Germany.
Monopoly capitalism: The era of the domination of monopolies that control, sometimes completely, production of commodities. Period of large-scale production with the concentration and centralization of capital. The substitution of free competition by monopoly is a fundamental feature of imperialism. Giant banks are fused with the monopoly industries to form finance capital. Lenin says, "The growth of monopoly and the growth of finance-capital put the entire fate of the capitalist world in the hands of small groups of the biggest capitalists. The merging of bank capital with industrial capital brings about a situation where the biggest bankers begin to manage industry, and the biggest industrialists are admitted into bank directorates. The fate of the entire economic life of every capitalist country lies in the hands of a numerically insignificant group of bankers and industrial monopolists."
Moscow Trials: Three major purge trials held in Moscow between 1936 and 1938. All the surviving members of the Politburo of the Communist Party during the Revolution, except for Stalin, were tried and convicted of frameup charges. All except Trotsky, who was in exile, were executed or were alleged to have committed suicide.
New Economic Policy (NEP): The policy introduced in Soviet Russia in 1921 which allowed a certain revival of capitalism. It replaced War Communism, the economic policy pursued in the period of the Civil War. The NEP was introduced as a temporary measure to help overcome the economic destruction resulting from the first world imperialist war and the subsequent Civil War and invasion by the imperialist powers, including the U.S. armed forces.
Nepmen: During the period of the New Economic Policy, traders and businessmen emerged. These profit-mongers became known popularly as nepmen. Lenin described them as the new bourgeoisie.
October Revolution: Russian Revolution of October 25, 1917. The date was based on the old czarist calendar. Today it is celebrated by the current calendar on November 7.
Oppressed nations: See self-determination.
Paris Commune of 1871: First workers' government. Existed from March 18 to May 28, 1871. Replaced standing army with universal arming of the people. Made all offices in the courts and civil service elective, decreeing that salaries should not exceed workers' wages. On May 21, the troops of Thiers' counterrevolutionary government broke into Paris and massacred the workers; 30,000 were killed, 50,000 arrested.
Pilsudski, Josef (1867-1935): Landowner and general in Poland. Between 1918 and 1922, headed Polish regime that brutally persecuted the revolutionary movement in that country. Led invasion of Soviet republic in 1920. Right-wing dictator of Poland 1926-35.
Politburo: Short for political bureau. The executive committee of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. The Central Committee is elected by the Party Congress, the highest body in the party.
Proletariat: Wage workers. From the Communist Manifesto: "By proletariat [is meant] the class of modern wage laborers, who, having no means of production of their own, are reduced to selling their labor-power in order to live."
Rapallo treaty: German-Soviet treaty signed April 16, 1922, that nullified the 1918 Brest-Litovsk treaty.
Rykov, Aleksei Ivanovich (1881-1938): Joined Russian Social Democratic Party in 1899. Succeeded Lenin as Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars 1924-30. With Bukharin, part of Right Opposition. Sentenced to death in third Moscow trial in 1938.
Ryzhkov, Nikolai I. (1929- ): Prime Minister of the Soviet Union beginning September 1985 and Chairman of the Council of Ministers.
Scientific-technological revolution: Restructuring of industry and economic infrastructure based on the introduction of new high-tech systems of production, often relying on computerization and robotics. Like the introduction of the assembly line in the 1920s, the scientific-technological revolution in the 1980s has brought a dramatic upheaval in the workforce in the capitalist countries. In the U.S., the changed character of the working class can be seen in the emergence of women and Third World workers as the new majority in the workplace.
Self-determination: A nation can be roughly defined as a people with a common language and history who inhabit a definite area, though there are exceptions to this. Oppressed nations are those forcibly subjugated by another nation, a key feature of the emergence of capitalism and imperialism. Self-determination is the right of oppressed peoples to govern themselves, including the right of nations to independent existence as sovereign states. Marxists support national liberation movements seeking to end national oppression while at the same time promoting working class unity. The right of self-determination was a key part of the Bolshevik program for dealing with the many nationalities in czarist Russia. For the first time in history, the Bolsheviks in 1923 established a bicameral government with two equal bodies--the Soviet of the Union and the Soviet of Nationalities--to guarantee representation for the more than 100 nationalities in the USSR. The constitution adopted at that time stated in Article 6 that the right of secession could not be repealed, nor could the boundaries of the republics be changed without their mutual consent.
Soviet: Russian word meaning council.
Sovkhoz: State farm.
Stakhanovite movement: On August 30, 1935, coal miner Alexei Stakhanov was reported to have mined a record 102 tons in a single shift, 14 times the normal quota. Publicity of this event was used to encourage socialist emulation in production, known as the Stakhanovite movement. It helped to spark rapid industrialization in the Soviet Union at a time when the capitalist world was suffering its worst depression. However, it also was seen by many workers as a form of speedup that undermined socialist solidarity.
Stalin, Joseph (1879-1953): Bolshevik from 1903. Member of Central Committee 1912. People's Commissar of Nationalities after October Revolution. General Secretary of Central Committee from 1922 until his death in 1953. Lenin called for his removal in January 1923, but this letter was suppressed. Stalin led centrist faction in Party after Lenin's death, eventually eliminating all opposition. Purged Party of Old Bolsheviks, staging frameup trials in Moscow in 1930s. Led Soviet Union in historic victory over invading Nazi army in the second world imperialist war.
State: In its essence, the instruments by which the class in power suppresses another or other classes, i.e., the army, police, judiciary, etc.
Thermidor: The eleventh month in the calendar adopted by the French Revolution in the 1790s. On the ninth of Thermidor (July 27), 1794, Robespierre was overthrown, starting shifts to the right in the government that opened the way for Bonaparte and the destruction of the First Republic. Thermidor has become the name of a period of reaction when it follows a revolutionary upsurge.
Tomsky, Mikhail Pavlovich (1880-1936): Joined Russian Social Democratic Party in 1904. Chairman Soviet trade unions 1922-29. Member of Politburo from 1922. Allied with Bukharin in Right Opposition. Died during first Moscow trial.
Trotsky, Leon (1879-1940): Proponent of world revolution. Leader of Russian Revolution in 1905, president of St. Petersburg Soviet (later to be called Petrograd). Supporter of Zimmerwald Left in 1914. Joined Bolsheviks in 1917, elected to Central Committee. As president of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' Deputies, led the October Revolution together with Lenin. Commissar of Foreign Affairs 1917-18. Led Red Army 1918-25, organizing defeat of invasion by U.S., England and other imperialist countries as well as victory in Civil War. Leading figure in Communist International, writing many of its principal statements during the first five years. Led Left Opposition in 1920s. Expelled from Party 1927, exiled abroad 1929. Main defendant, in absentia, at 1936-38 Moscow trials. Assassinated in Mexico June 1940 by agent of Stalin.
War Communism: The name given to the economic measures that prevailed while the Russian Revolution was fighting for its survival during the Civil War. It involved nationalizing and centralizing the economy more extensively and sooner than the Bolsheviks had originally planned. The produce of peasants was requisitioned or confiscated to feed the workers in the cities and the Red Army. Private trading was prohibited and distribution of goods was on the basis of rationing. Replaced by the New Economic Policy.