| A | B |
|---|
| Atheism | an absence of belief in the existence of deities (gods) |
| Black Market | underground economy or shadow economy |
| Bolshevik | 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 |
| chernozem | a fertile black soil rich in humus, with a lighter lime-rich layer beneath. Such soils typically occur in temperate grasslands such as the Russian steppes and North American prairies. |
| Cold War | a state of political hostility between countries characterized by threats, propaganda, and other measures short of open warfare. |
| Command Economy | an economy in which production, investment, prices, and incomes are determined centrally by a government. |
| Communism | 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. |
| Consumer goods | goods bought and used by consumers, rather than by manufacturers for producing other goods. |
| czar | an emperor of Russia before 1917. |
| glasnost | the policy or practice of more open consultative government and wider dissemination of information, initiated by leader Mikhail Gorbachev from 1985 |
| icon | a painting of Jesus Christ or another holy figure, typically in a traditional style on wood, venerated and used as an aid to devotion in the Byzantine and other Eastern Churches |
| Market economy | an economic system in which production and prices are determined by unrestricted competition between privately owned businesses. |
| perestroika | the policy or practice of restructuring or reforming the economic and political system |
| permafrost | a thick subsurface layer of soil that remains frozen throughout the year, occurring chiefly in polar regions. |
| privatization | the transfer of a business, industry, or service from public to private ownership and control. |
| Radioactive material | consist of materials, usually industrial wastes or by-products enriched with radioactive elements found in the environment, such as uranium, thorium and potassium and any of their decay |
| russification | a form of cultural assimilation process during which non-Russian communities (whether involuntarily or voluntarily) give up their culture and language in favor of Russian culture |
| Satellite nation | nations that were aligned with, but also under the influence and pressure of, the Soviet Union |
| socialism | a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole. |
| steppe | a large area of flat unforested grassland in southeastern Europe or Siberia. |
| taiga | the sometimes swampy coniferous forest of high northern latitudes, especially that between the tundra and steppes of Siberia and North America. |
| tundra | a vast, flat, treeless Arctic region of Europe, Asia, and North America in which the subsoil is permanently frozen. |
