Definitions

Bourgeoisie

The owners of capital, the boss class, who exploited the workers but who would be overthrown by them in the revolution to come.

Proletariat

The exploited industrial workers who would triumph in the last great class struggle

Okhrana

The Tsarist secret police

Soviet

Originally the Russian word for a representative council. It was appropriated by the Bolsheviks to describe themselves and the cause they espoused.

Cheka

The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Fighting Counter-Revolution. Sabotage and Speculation: the secret police.

Gosplan

The government body responsible for national economic planning.

Sovnarkom

Russian for government or cabinet.

Cossacks

The remnants of elite cavalry regiment of the Tsars.

Bolsheviks

A majority group faction of the Russian Social Democratic Party, which seized power in the October Revolution of 1917.

Mensheviks

A group of socialist democrats (SDP) - minorities, they formed in August 1917 and did not take part in the October Revolution, they were suppressed in 1922.

Politburo

The political bureau, responsible for major policy decisions.

Orgburo

The organisation bureau, which turned policies into practice.

Secretariat

The civil service that carried out the administration of policies.

Comintern

Communist International, a body set up in Moscow in March 1919 to organise worldwide revolution

Kulaks

Bolshevik term for rich, exploiting peasants.