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Russian History 🇷🇺👑 > Glossary. > Flashcards

Glossary. Flashcards

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1
Q

Absolute monarch …

A

A monarch who wields unrestricted political power over the State and its people.

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2
Q

Agrarian socialism …

A

Taking estates from landowners and dividing the land between the peasants to be farmed communally.

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3
Q

Anti-Semitic …

A

Being prejudiced against and persecuting Jews.

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4
Q

Apparat …

A

The Party ‘apparatus’ or administrative system.

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5
Q

Autocratic …

A

Having no limits on a ruler’s power.

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6
Q

Black Hundreds …

A

Nationalist gangs, devoted to ‘Tsar, Church and Motherland’.

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7
Q

Bureaucracy …

A

A system of government in which most of the important decisions are taken by officials rather than by elected representatives.

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8
Q

Burzhui …

A

Anyone considered a hinderance to worker or peasant prosperity.

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9
Q

Capital accumulation …

A

Building up money reserves in order to invest.

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10
Q

Capitalism …

A

Private enterprise, which includes making money out of a ‘capital’ investment.

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11
Q

Central committee …

A

Elected by the Party congress and, in turn, elected the Politburo between each Party congress.

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12
Q

Cheka …

A

The name given to the Bolshevik secret police.

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13
Q

Civil servant …

A

Someone working for the government.

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14
Q

Civil society/institutions and rule of law …

A

All members of society a society where all members can enjoy the protection of law, which are applied equally and fairly, while organisations exist in which the people of the country can express their views and influence decisions.

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15
Q

Closed court session …

A

A trial held in secret to which no observers were permitted and where no reporting was allowed.

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16
Q

Command economy …

A

Making the government responsible for economic coordination.

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17
Q

Conscription …

A

Compulsory enlistment of a person into military service.

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18
Q

Constitution …

A

Set of rules by which a country is governed.

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19
Q

Constitutional monarch …

A

A monarch who rules in conjunction with an elected assembly and whose powers are limited by that assembly.

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20
Q

Cottage industry …

A

Work done in the worker’s own home or small workshop.

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21
Q

Dacha …

A

A second home in the country, often used by Russians in the summer.

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22
Q

Democratic centralism …

A

Communist idea of democracy whereby members of the local soviets were elected who, in turn, chose who would sit on higher-level soviets and the All-Russian Congress of Soviets.

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23
Q

Dual power …

A

Whereby Russia was governed by an alliance of the Professional Government and the Soviet.

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24
Q

Duma …

A

An elected governing assembly; a state or national Duma is usually capitalised, while town Dumas are lower-case.

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25
Q

Edict …

A

An official order issued by a person of authority. (Russian = ukaz).

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26
Q

Electoral colleges …

A

In a system of electoral colleges, individuals vote for others who then vote on their behalf.

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27
Q

Emancipation …

A

Freeing from bondage.

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28
Q

Former people …

A

Dispossessed old elites who had no place in the new Russia.

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29
Q

General strikes …

A

A strike that involves all workers so that the country is brought to a standstill.

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30
Q

Gosplan …

A

The State Council Planning Commission (1921-91); helped coordinate the economic development and from 1925, drafted economic plans.

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31
Q

Great Turn …

A

The move from NEP to the 5-year plans and collectivisation of agriculture entitled a move to central planning and a ‘command economy’.

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32
Q

Gulags …

A

Economic colonies where millions of prisoners were used to dig mines and canals, build railways and clear forests.

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33
Q

Holy Synod …

A

A group of bishops, which forms the ruling body of the Orthodox Church.

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34
Q

Indirect voting …

A

A citizen elects a delegate to vote in the general election on their behalf.

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35
Q

Intelligentsia …

A

The more educated members of Russian society, including writers and philosophers with both humanitarian and nationalist concerns.

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36
Q

Internal market demand …

A

The desire and ability to buy the products of manufacturing within the country.

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37
Q

Kolkhoz …

A

A collective operated by a number of peasant families on state-owned land.

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38
Q

Komunalki …

A

Communal family dwellings formed of formerly private apartments that were resettled shortly after the revolution.

39
Q

Komsomol …

A

The All-Leninist Union Young Communist League, the youth division of the Communist Party which was represented in its own right in the Supreme Soviet.

40
Q

Kulak …

A

A prosperous landed peasant.

41
Q

Landowning elite …

A

Those who owned land and who were a privileged minority in Russian society.

42
Q

Lend-Lease …

A

A programme under which the USA supplied the USSR (and other nations) with food and wartime material between 1941 and August 1945.

43
Q

Mandate …

A

The authority to carry out a policy; this is usually given by the electorate to a party or candidate that wins an election.

44
Q

Martial law …

A

An extreme measure involving the use of military force; military leaders are used to enforce the law and normal civil liberties are suspended.

45
Q

Military colony …

A

Where the conscripts lived (with their families) and trained, all under strict military discipline.

46
Q

Mir …

A

A peasant commune.

47
Q

Mortgage …

A

Involves borrowing money by providing a guarantee.

48
Q

National ideology …

A

A belief in the strength of one’s own country, language and traditions.

49
Q

Nationalisation …

A

Taking businesses out of private hands and placing them under state control.

50
Q

Nepmen …

A

Speculative traders who brought up produce from the peasants to sell in the towns, and consumer items in the towns to sell in the peasant markets - making a profit on both transactions.

51
Q

Nomenklatura …

A

A category of people who held key administrative positions in areas such as government, industry, agriculture and education, appointed by the Communist Party in the region.

52
Q

Orthodox Church …

A

Following a split in the Christian Church in the eleventh century, the Eastern Orthodox Church developed its own beliefs and rituals.

53
Q

Over-Procurator …

A

Appointed by the Tsar from the laity, this was the highest Church official.

54
Q

Pan-Slavism …

A

A belief that Slav races should be united.

55
Q

Partisan …

A

A member of a military force behind the front line opposing the control of the area by the enemy.

56
Q

Party of St Petersburg Progress …

A

A loose title given given to to the more liberal nobles and officials who frequented the salons of the Tsar’s aunt, or tethered around his brother.

57
Q

Patriarchal …

A

Fatherly; in Russia, the male had almost unlimited authority over his family.

58
Q

Payment in kind …

A

Payment in goods or services, such as accommodation, rather than money wages.

59
Q

Petrograd Soviet …

A

‘Councils’; the one in Petrograd, often known simply as ‘The Soviet’, was the most important.

60
Q

Petty-bourgeois …

A

Derogatory term for peasants who were middle class or ‘bourgeois’ in their outlook, thinking only of themselves and how they could make personal profits.

61
Q

Pogrom …

A

An old Russian which means ‘round-up’ or lynching connotation of an attack on Jews.

62
Q

Polarised …

A

Opposite ‘extremes’ such as the North Pole and South Pole.

63
Q

Police state …

A

A state in which the activities of the people are closely monitored and controlled for political reasons.

64
Q

Politburo …

A

The highest policy-making government authority under communist rule.

65
Q

Politburo …

A

The highest policy-making government authority under communist rule.

66
Q

Pragmatic …

A

Dealing with matters realistically in a way that is based on practical rather than theoretical considerations.

67
Q

Presidium …

A

Stalin re-named the politburo as the presidium in 1952; the name was retained until 1966.

68
Q

Procuracy …

A

A government office responsible for ensuring all government ministries and institutions, as well as individual officials and citizens, obeyed the law. (Russian, Prokuratura).

69
Q

Proletariat …

A

Urban working class.

70
Q

Proletarianisation …

A

To turn the mass of the population into urban workers.

71
Q

Provincial …

A

Living away from the capital.

72
Q

Pud …

A

A Russian measure of weight.

73
Q

Purge …

A

Literally a ‘cleaning out of impurities’.

74
Q

Reaction …

A

Implies actions and policies that are backward looking in an attempt to restore the past.

75
Q

Red Guards …

A

Loyal, volunteer soldiers who had been recruited from the factory workers in the city.

76
Q

Redemption payments …

A

Serfs were required to pay money in exchange for their freedom.

77
Q

Russification …

A

Forcing everyone within the Russian Empire to think of themselves as ‘Russian’, by enforcing the Russian language and culture.

78
Q

Samizdat …

A

Dissident activity whereby individuals reproduced works that would not pass the censor, and distributed them.

79
Q

Scorched earth policy …

A

Destroying anything useful to the enemy before retreating.

80
Q

Seminary …

A

A training college for priests.

81
Q

Serf …

A

A person who was the property of the lord whom he or she worked.

82
Q

Show trial …

A

A trial that took place in front of the general public, usually for ‘propaganda’ purposes.

83
Q

Socialism …

A

The political and economic theory that means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned by the community as a whole and that people would work cooperatively together.

84
Q

Socialist economy …

A

One in which there is no private ownership and in which all members of society have a share in the State’s resources.

85
Q

Socialist …

A

Person who believes that society should be egalitarian.

86
Q

Soviet …

A

A Council of workers.

87
Q

Sovnarkom …

A

The cabinet, made up of the important ministers who, between them, would run the country.

88
Q

Tamizdat …

A

Printing banned writings abroad.

89
Q

Tsar …

A

The title by which the Russian ‘emperors’ were known.

90
Q

Veshenka …

A

The Council of the National Economy.

91
Q

Volost …

A

A peasant community consisting of several villages or hamlets.

92
Q

War credits …

A

The raising of taxes and loans to finance war.

93
Q

Whites …

A

The forces ranged against the Bolsheviks ‘Reds’.

Russian History 🇷🇺👑 (26 decks)

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