Chapter 9 Flashcards
Base
The economic system of a society, made up of technology (the means of production) and class relations between people (the relations of production)
Bourgeoisie
The property-owning class
Central Committee
The legislature-like body of a communist party
Central planning
A communist economic system in which the state explicitly allocates resources by planning what should be produced and in what amounts, the final prices of goods, and where they should be sold
Communism
A political-economic system in which all wealth and property are shared so as to eliminate exploitation, oppression, and ultimately, the need for political institution such as the state
Dialectical Materialism
Process of revolutionary historical change, the existing base and superstructure would come into conflict with new technological innovations generating growing opposition to the existing order, this would lead to revolution, overthrowing the old base and superstructure
Glasnost
Openness, the policy of political liberalization implemented in the USSR in the late 1980s
nomenklatura
Politically sensititve or influential jobs in the state, society, or economy that were staffed by people chosen or approved by the Communist Party
party-state
A political system in which power flows directly from the ruling political party to the state, bypassing government structures
perestroika
Restructuring, the policy of political and economic liberalization implemented in the USSR in the later 1980s
Politburo
The top policy-making and executive body of a communist party
Proletariat
The working class
Shock Therapy
A process of rapid marketization
Superstructure
All noneconomic institutions in a society, these ideas and values derive from the base and serve to legitimize the current system of exploitation
Vanguard of the proletariat
An elite communist party would have to carry out revolution as the people may not gain consciousness and revolt
