Post Revolution HistoryGlossary

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abdicate - give up or renounce formally (a position of authority or an office)

abolition - to abolish; to put an end toabsolute monarchy - a monarchy in which the ruler has untitled power.

agrarian society - an agricultural society

anti-Semitism - hostility towards the Jews

assimilate - to take something and make it part of one's own way of doing things.

atheism - the belief that there is no God

autocracy - people of noble rank, title, or birth; a ruling body of nobles; nobility; any class that is considered superior because of birth, intelligence, culture, or wealth; a government in which a privileged upper class rules.

Bolshevik - a member of the radical wing of the Russian Social Democratic Party, which seized power in November, 1917. The Bolsheviks formed the Communist party in 1918.

bourgeois - middle class

bureaucracy - government by groups of officials; the officials administering the government.

capitalism- an economic system in which the means of production, such as land or factories, are for the most part privately owned by individuals or corporations which compete with one another to produce goods and services that are offered on a free market for whatever profit may be made.

cash crops - crops grown to be sold Incentive - that which encourages or urges o person to do something centrally planned economy land, labour and capital are controlled by the government which decides what will be produced, the means of production and who will receive the finished goods

CIS or the commonwealth of Independent States - A community of independent nations established by a treaty signed at Minsk on Dec. 8, 1991, by the heads d state of Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. The headquarters of the CIS is in Minsk. Between Dec. 8 and Dec. 21, the three original signatories were pined by Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The CIS was conceived as the successor to the USSR. In its role of coordinating the foreign and economic policies of its member nations. CIS at first convened only a council of the heads of state of the 11 member nations, but in 1992 convened a council of heads of government and a council of foreign ministers. The primary duties of the CIS were understood to be the prevention of inter-republican an warfare, the mediation of disputes over the disposition of the former Soviet Union's military forces and the promotion of trade.

civil service administrators - bosses or managers of government departments

Cold War - the term applied to the cool relations, roughly 1947-90, between the Western powers (including Canada and Britain, and the US) and communist countries dominated by the USSR. It was precipitated by the reluctance of those in the U.S.and Britain to accept the extension of Soviet control and communist one party systems over eastern Europe at the end of WWIl.

collective farm - A farm operated and worked by a group cooperatively. The farm, its buildings, and its machinery may be owned communally by the group, by an institution, or, as in communist countries, by the state.

colleges - government departments

communism - the political, social, and economic system of certain countries in which the state, governed by a single party without formal opposition, owns all property. control the production and distribution of goods and services, and, to a great extent, control the social and cultural life of the people.

conscription - compulsory enrollment, usually into the army or navy. Peter the Great also conscripted people to build St. Petersburg.

conservative - one who is opposed to change

constitutional monarchy - a government in which the monarch or tsar would rule based upon strict rules laid out in a constitution.

coup d'etat or coup - a sudden and decisive use of force by a small group of people, especially in the violent overthrow of a government.

cunning - clever, sly.

czar or tsar - emperor. It was the title of the former emperors of Russia.

dowager - a woman who holds a title from her deceased husband.

deceit - lying, cheating; doing something dishonest.

detente - the easing of tensions, especially between nations or political groups: a detente in the cold war.

dissident - disagreeing; dissenting; a person who disagrees or dissents.

duma - in Imperial Russia, the national lawmaking body, established in 1905 and discontinued in 1917.

Genghis Khan-a Mongol conqueror of much of Asia .

Glasnost - openness, a policy of removing state control of information started by M. Gorbachev

GOSPLAN - the central planning agency of the Soviet Union

gulag - in the former Soviet Union, a forced labour camp notorious for bad conditions

hierarchy - the order of higher and lower ranks in an organization or system.

Imperialism-the policy or practice of extending the rule of an empire or nation over foreign countries or areas

incentive - that which encourages or urges a person to do something

Industrial Revolution - the change from an agricultural to an industrial civilization, especially that which took place in England from about the middle of the 18th century to the middle of the 19th century.

inhumane - lacking kindness

intelligentsia - educated class of professionals, writers, etc.

interrogate - to examine by asking questions. Torture is sometimes involved with interrogation.

intolerance - unwillingness to let others think as they choose.

Iron Curtain - description of the political division between the east and west possibly first mentioned by Winston Churchill's reference to Stalin's control over eastern Europe at the end of WW II.

Julian Calendar-the Julian Calendar was different from the Russian calendar. The Julian Calendar counted the years from the birth of Christ. Each new year was to start on January 1, not on September 1.

KGB - formerly, the secret police of the Soviet Union. abbreviation of Russian Komitet Gosudarstvennoi Bezopasnosti State Security Committee.

kulak - a well to do peasant or trader who opposed collectivization; owned land for his own profit.

liberator - one who sets another free

means of production - includes manufacturing facilities, banking and commerce for the country, the communication and transportation facilities, markets, power, the labour force, and the raw materials.

merchant marine - ships of a nation engaged in trade and commerce with other countries

munition plants - factories that make weapons and ammunition for war

paranoid - a person having a mental disorder characterized by delusions of persecution (of being treated badly) or grandeur.

Perestroika - a policy initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev that involved restructuring of the social and economic status quo in communist Russia towards a market based economy and society.

pogrom-an organized attack or massacre against a group of people (especially the Jews)

Politburo - formerly an executive committee of the Communist Party that controlled policy and matters of state in the Soviet Union, Bulgaria and some other Communist countries.

professional - e.g., doctors, lawyers

propaganda - systematic efforts to spread opinions or beliefs. especially by distortion and deception; any plan or method for spreading opinions or beliefs.

purge - the elimination of undesired persons from a nation or party; an act Stalin frequently employed.

quota - one's share of the total; what one is expected to produce in a given period.

Reformation - the great religious movement of the 16th century which led to the establishment of Protestant churches individualism - the idea of the importance of the individual

Renaissance - a time of great learning in Europe during the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, marking the transition from the medieval to the modern world

revolution - a complete often violent. overthrow of an established government or political system; The 1917 revolution ended the monarchy in Russia

rouble - USSR money (also spelled ruble)

ruthless - showing no mercy; cruel.

satellite country - a country that is nominally independent but actually controlled by a more powerful country.

secessionist - the desire to separate

Senate - an advisory body in the government

serf - a peasant, especially in medieval Europe; a person who worked on a feudal estate and passed with the land from one owner to another

serfdom - the custom of having serfs Serfdom existed all over Europe in the Middle Ages and lasted in Russia until the middle of the 19th century

shrewd - having a clever or sharp mind.

socialist - a person who favours and supports socialism.

soviet - either of two elected assemblies (village or town soviets); any of the higher elected assemblies The highest assembly of all is the Supreme Soviet.

theological seminary - a school that trains students for the ministry or priesthood.

totalitarianism - a totalitarian system of government; the political principle that the individual citizen should be under the complete control of a government or ruler.

tsar or czar - emperor, the title of the former emperors of Russia.

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) - Soyuz Sovetskikh Socsialisticheskikh Respublik, former republic; it was established in 1922 and dissolved in 1991. The USSR was the first state to be based on Marxist socialism. Until 1989 the Communist party Indirectly controlled all levels of government; the party's politburo effectively ruled the country, and its general secretary was the country's most powerful leader. Soviet industry was owned and managed by the state, and agricultural land was divided into state farms, collective farms, and small, privately held plots.

Western World - refers to the countries of Western Europe. These countries were more modernized and industrialized than Russia.