RUSSIA 1.0
Russia’s purported interference in the 2016 United States presidential election has fueled a lot of heated discussion in the press. But reporters use a lot of terms that might be unfamiliar to average folks, so here is Uncle John’s cheat sheet on Russian history and terminology. Now you too can join in the argument.
TSAR (OR CZAR)
What is it? The emperor of Russia before 1917. The term “tsar” is derived from the Latin caesar.
The story: The reign of the tsars began in 1547 when Ivan, the 17-year-old grand prince of Moscow, was crowned tsar of all Russia. “Ivan the Terrible,” as he became known, was infamous for his fits of rage and brutality, even killing his first-born son and heir. Ivan created the first official secret police of Russia—the Oprichniki, who dressed in black and rode black horses, and terrorized all who opposed the tsar. Tsars ruled Imperial Russia for the next 370 years until 1917, when Nicholas II was executed in the Bolshevik Revolution and Russia’s royal dynasties came to a bloody end.
BOLSHEVIK
What is it? The majority wing of the Russian Social Democratic Workers’ Party. Bolshevik is Russian for “one of the majority.”
The story: In 1914, when World War I broke out, Tsar Nicholas II forced millions of Russian farmers and workers to join the army and fight under horrible conditions. The soldiers had no training or food. Many were barefoot and without weapons, and millions were killed. Three years later, in October 1917, the people revolted en masse and the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, seized control of the Russian government.
LENIN
What is it? Vladimir I. Lenin (1870–1924), leader of the Bolshevik Revolution, founder of the Russian Communist Party, and first leader of the Soviet Union.
The story: A lifelong revolutionary, Lenin was guided by his belief in the writings of German philosopher and political theorist Karl Marx, whose Communist Manifesto called for an end to the class system. Lenin led the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, declaring the need for a government led by the people, with Lenin becoming supreme leader of the newly formed Communist Party. But not everyone was on his side. During his first years, Lenin led the “Red Russians” (the Bolshevik revolutionaries) in a fierce civil war against the “White Russians” (the anti-communists). He ordered his secret police, the Cheka, to kill anyone who spoke out against the government. Lenin instituted a policy called “war communism,” seizing all the food grown by the peasants and doling it out to his Red Army. This policy created a horrific food shortage. By 1922 more than five million Russians had starved to death and 30 million were undernourished. But this cruel policy ultimately helped Lenin win the civil war, and he established the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), the first communist country in the world.
Each year, an average of 600 patients catch fire during surgery in the U.S.
Side note: Lenin’s birth name was Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. He took Lenin from the river Lena in Siberia, where he had been exiled, serving three years in a prison camp for publishing a communist newspaper called The Workers’ Cause.
COMMUNISM
What is it? A political and economic system in which productive resources like mines, factories, and farms are collectively owned by the public or the state. Money is divided equally among citizens according to an individual’s need.
The story: In 1848 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published The Communist Manifesto, the most influential book (it was actually a pamphlet) in the history of the socialist movement. The manifesto described a vision of a society without class divisions or government, in which the production and distribution of goods would be based upon the principle “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.”
STALIN
What is it? Joseph Stalin (1878–1953), the brutal dictator of the USSR from 1924 to 1953. He is responsible for an estimated 20 million deaths during his rule.
The story: After Lenin’s death, Joseph Stalin became sole leader of the Soviet Union, and began moving the USSR from being an agricultural nation to an industrialized one. He expanded the powers of the secret service and encouraged citizens to spy on each other. To show his zero tolerance for resistance, Stalin created a man-made famine in which millions starved to death. Millions more were executed or sent to slave labor camps. After World War II, Stalin began taking over Eastern European countries that he had “saved” from the Nazis, which started the Cold War between the East and the West. In 1949 Stalin detonated an atomic bomb, taking the Soviet Union into the Nuclear Age and sending fear into the hearts of Americans who worried which superpower—Russia or the United States—would push the “red button” first.
Side note: Stalin’s real name was Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili. He chose the surname Stalin because it means “Man of Steel.”
Do you get mosquito bites? That means you’re allergic to mosquito spit. (Nearly everyone is.)
What is it? Sputnik was the world’s first man-made satellite. It was a battery-powered metal sphere the size of a beach ball that weighed 184 pounds and emitted radio waves. Sputnik is Russian for “fellow traveler.”
The story: On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I into orbit. Ninety-eight minutes later, Sputnik completed its first orbit of Earth. It continued to orbit for three months, finally burning up in the atmosphere on January 4, 1958. With Sputnik, Russia claimed the first significant victory in the “space race” between the United States and the USSR.
PRAVDA
What is it? The official newspaper of the Communist Party. Pravda means “the truth,” but the newspaper was really just a propaganda machine for the party.
The story: From 1912 to 1991, Pravda’s daily mission was to skew the news to fit the party’s view and encourage readers to toe the party line.
KGB
What is it? The secret police of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the largest spy and state security machine in the world. KGB stands for Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti, which means “Committee for State Security.”
The story: The KGB’s mission was to serve as the “sword and shield” of the Communist Party—in other words, to protect the regime. The KGB suppressed dissidents and quashed revolts through the use of “active measures”—disinformation, propaganda, surveillance, physical harassment, sexpionage, imprisonment, psychological harassment, psychiatric commitment, exile, and assassination. At its peak, the KGB had infiltrated every major Western intelligence operation and placed agents of influence in almost every major capital.
Side note: During the U.S. civil rights movement in the 1960s, the KGB is believed to have spread pamphlets that claimed black Americans were attacking Jews and looting Jewish-owned shops in New York. The fake pamphlets implored their readers to fight against “black mongrels.”
We’re not done nyet. To learn more about Russian words and phrases, go to page 358.
Fear-o-vision: Your eyesight improves slightly when you’re frightened.