| A | B |
|---|
| Collectives | Huge, state-owned and operated farms established by Stalin. They were created by joining many small farms and forcing farmers to work for the state and achieve quotas of production |
| Czar Ivan the Terrible | Tsar of Russia from 1533-1584. Frequently clashed with nobility in Russia. Established secret police and waged war on the nobles by confiscating their estates, exiling them or killing them. He was incredibly cruel. Supposedly he had the architects of St. Basil's Cathedral blinded so the would never be able to produce anything so beautiful again. |
| Czar Nicholas II | Tsar of Russia from 1894-1917. His reign was marked by "Bloody Sunday" in January 1905 when protesting workers were killed by his troops. Eventually he lost power to the Bolsheviks in 1917 in a coup e'tat. His family was later murdered and he was the last Czar of Russia |
| Dasvedanya | Farewell; until we meet again |
| Dryan | selfish Bastard |
| French Revolution | Occured during LousXVI rule as the lower classes rebeled becuase of taxation and poor economic growth. The storming of the Bastille and the Declaration of the Rights of Man stating "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity" were adopted by the French. |
| GPU | State Political Administration, later known as the KGB after 1954. They guarded and administered forced labour, developing concentration camps. |
| ikons or icons | religious pictures painted on wooden panels, used as symbols in the Orthadox Church |
| Ingush | Caucausian Speaking people from the Southeastern Caucasus who protested collectivization, perferring to live in the mountains and fiercely maintain their independence. |
| izvotschiks | carriage drivers |
| kabur | thieving by digging tunnels from one building to another |
| Komsomol | a Communist youth organization established to inculcate (train or brainwash) Communist ideas at a very early age. |
| kopeks | coin currency of the Soviet Union |
| Kremlin | It is a walled section of Moscow with sections dating back to the 15th Century. It was the residence of the tsars of Russia until the capital was moved to St. Petersburg in 1712. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, it became the seat of government and a symbol of the power in the Soviet Union. It contains cathedrals and palaces with twenty towers. |
| kulak | a peasant who owns land |
| Lenin | (born Vladimir Ilyich- 1870) Russian Communist Leader who led the Bolsheviks to power in 1917. Spent much of his time before that in Siberian exile or abroad. He studied Marxism and entered revolutionary acdtivity in the 1890's. He was head of the Soviet State from 1917-1924 when he died. |
| leshii | "a spirit with great bulbous eyes, long hair, and blue tinged skin, the protector of rascals and thieves in Russian folklore |
| Marx | 1818-1883 Was a German Socialist who formulated principles of economic determinism along with Friedrich Engels. Together they wrote the Communist Manifesto which went against western ideologies of Capitalism. He wanted to establish a classless society. |
| Matusa Rus | Mother Russia |
| muzik | a peasant |
| narzan | water of the Caucasus |
| Nevsky Prospekt | the main street of St. Petersburg |
| niegadzai | good for nothing |
| perqzronok | one ring of a railroad bell, signaling five minutes to departure |
| proletariat | traditionally the working class; with no means of production of their own, they "sell" their labor as a source of income |
| Red Square | It is Moscow's central square which houses the Kremlin, St. Basil's Cathedral, department stores, etc. A huge open area it was used by the Communist Government for masive displays of Soviet armaments in parades commemorating May Day and the Revolution |
| Revolution (Russian) | Oct/Nov 1917 began with the abdication of Nicholas II in the spring of 1917 and ended with the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks in Nov. 1917. Power was divided between a provisional government and the Soviet (council). Kerensky's coalition government took over in July and Lenin's coup Etat was successful in November. |
| Rubles | Paper currency in the USSR |
| rusaiki | beautiful creatures who sing "so beautifully in the moonlight that some of the fishermen would drown themselves seeking them" |
| St. Basil's Cathedral | Located just outside the Kremlin's walls, this structure dominates the Moscow skyline because of its unique multi-coloured onion domes. Under the Communists, the cathedral was turned into a museum. |
| St. Petersburg/Petrograd/Leningrad | A port city it was Russia's "window on the West" . Ivan the Great moved Russia's capital there from Moscow in the early 18th Century. Renamed when the Communists assumed power, the capital was moved back to Moscow in 1918. ON the death of Lenin in 1924, the city was renamed in his honor. Since the collapse of Communism in the early 1990's, the city is now back to its original name. |
| samovar | a metal urn with a spigot at its base used especially in Russia to boil water for tea; often a tea pot is set on top to keep its contents warm |
| socialism | a belief that the community's need is more important than the individual's and that the community should own and operate the means of production (ie. farms and factories) |
| sooksin | son of a bitch |
| soviet | a council of workers' deputies first formed during the 190 Russian Revolution to represent the workers of each district |
| stranik | itinerant holy men |
| straw tax | The government required a certain portion of a farmer's harvested straw to be turned over to the state causing hardship and ruin for many small farms. |
| svolotch | swine |
| tretyzvonok | three rings of a railroad bell to indicate the train is about to leave |
| Trotsky | 1879-1940 Born Lev Davidovich Bronstein. He escaped to London and worked with Lenin, returning with him to Russia to participate in the 1905 Revolution. Arrested and exiled he lived in Europe and America, later returning to Russia to work for foreign affairs. He disagreed with Stalin and was banished from the USSR and later murdered in Mexico City in 1940 |
| Vedemy | "old witches who lived in a hovel that moved on chicken's feet" in Russian folklore |
| vodyanoi | In Russian folklore, these were ugly, bearded spirit who haunts the waters, causing storms at sea, smashing ships and causing floods. Sometimes, when he is feeling pleasant, he draws fish into fisherman's nets. |
