Communism

Question 1

Autocracy

Answer 1

A system of government by one person with absolute power.

Question 2

Autocrat

Answer 2

A ruler who has absolute power (rules with an iron fist).

Question 3

Bolshevik

Answer 3

A member of the majority faction of the Russian Social Democratic Party, which was renamed the Communist Party after seizing power in the October Revolution of 1917.

Question 4

Bourgeoisie

Answer 4

The capitalist class who own most of society’s wealth and means of production.

Question 5

Censorship

Answer 5

The suppression or prohibition of any parts of books, films, news, etc. that are considered obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security.

Question 6

Centrally Planned Economy/Command Economy

Answer 6

A type of economic system where a state controls virtually all means of production and over investment, and consumption decisions throughout the economy.

Question 7

Cheka

Answer 7

The secret police set up by the Bolshevik government (Lenin) in 1917. They could execute any and all suspected of being counter-revolutionaries.

Question 8

Civil War

Answer 8

A war between citizens of the same country.

Question 9

Class Struggle

Answer 9

When the bourgeoisie pay the proletariat to make things for them to sell. The workers have no say in their pay or what things they make, since they cannot live without a job or money.

TLDR: the class system must be disrupted, in Marx’s eyes, for a classless society to come about.

Question 10

Collectivization

Answer 10

The organization of all of a country’s production and industry into government ownership and management.

Eg. Collectivizing agriculture, reducing the economic power of the kulaks.

Question 11

Common Good

Answer 11

The benefit or interests of all.

Question 12

Communism

Answer 12

A political theory derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs.

Question 13

Communist Manifesto

Answer 13

A political document (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, documenting their ideas on class struggle and conflicts of capitalism. At the end, they called for communist revolutions around the world.

Question 14

Cooperation

Answer 14

The process of working together to the same end.

Question 15

Coup D’etat

Answer 15

The removal of an existing government from power, usually through violent means.

Question 16

Dialectical Materialism

Answer 16

The clash of historical forces leads to inevitable changes in society.

Question 17

Dictatorship of the Proletariat

Answer 17

A state of affairs in which the proletariat holds political power.

Question 18

Duma

Answer 18

The elected legislative body in Russia.

Question 19

Emancipation

Answer 19

To free from restraint, control, or the power of another.

Question 20

Five-Year Plans

Answer 20

Stalin’s (very successful) First Five-Year Plan, adopted by the party in 1928, called for rapid industrialization of the economy, with an emphasis on heavy industry.

Question 21

Gosplan

Answer 21

The State Planning Committee, known for central economic planning in the Soviet Union.

Question 22

Great Purge

Answer 22

1936-1938, Stalin executing anyone who he considered a threat, or sending them to Gulags (forced labor camps).

Question 23

Gulag

Answer 23

A political forced labor camp in Russia.

Question 24

Holodomor

Answer 24

1931-1934, a man-made famine that caused mass-starvation in the agricultural areas of Soviet Russia.

Question 25

Indoctrination

Answer 25

The process of teaching a person or group to accept a set of beliefs uncritically.

Question 26

KGB

Answer 26

A military service for the Soviet Union, that acted as an intelligence agency and secret police. Active 1954-1991.

Question 27

Kulak

Answer 27

Wealthy peasant, one who owned a large farm and lots of land.

Question 28

Marxism

Answer 28

A method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, to understand class relations and social conflict.

Question 29

Menshevik

Answer 29

A member of the moderate non-Leninist wing of the Russian Social Democratic Workers’ Party.

Question 30

Nationalization

Answer 30

The process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state.

Question 31

NEP

Answer 31

New Economic Policy, it allowed the return of most agriculture and trade to private industries, while the state retained control of heavy industry, transport, and foreign trade.

Question 32

NKVD

Answer 32

People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs, the law enforcement agency/secret police.

Question 33

Politburo

Answer 33

The executive policymaking committee of a communist party.

Question 34

Popular Discontent

Answer 34

The majority is not happy with the situation.

Question 35

Proletariat

Answer 35

Workers or working-class people.

Question 36

Propaganda

Answer 36

Information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.

Question 37

Provisional Government

Answer 37

An emergency governmental authority set up to manage a political transition generally in the cases of new nations or following the collapse of the previous governing administration.