References from "Ozhegov" are translated from S.I. Ozhegov, Slovar' Russkogo Yazyka ("Dictionary of the Russian Language"), Russkij Yazyk, Moscow, 1988. These insults were used by Soviet journalists and politicians, especially during the Stalin years. Additional historic entries (especially colorful ones) are welcome at the Cyber-USSR E-mail box.

Entries are in English alphabetical order.

Russian

(noun)

(adjective)

English

Remark

administrirovanie administration by fiat Ozhegov-- "running something in a bureaucratic manner, formally, without considering reality"; another charge against Khrushchov (1964).

(contributed by Lars-Erik Nelson)

avantyurist

avantyurizm

avantyura adventurist, adventurer

adventurism

adventure

agent agent (spy)

agentura

agentura innostrannyx specsluzhb agents (plural), spy agency

agents of foreign intelligence services

primirenchestvo appeasement From Ozhegov: "Unprincipled policy of opportunism in the workers' movement, directed at smoothing out class contradictions in the interests of the bourgeoisie.".

Benderovec Banderist? Stepan Andreyevich Bandera (1909-1959), West Ukrainian nationalist, imprisoned by Poland 1934-1939, by Nazis 1941-1944. From exile in Munich directed anti-Soviet guerrillas from 1945 to early 1950s.

basmach Basmatch anti-Soviet rebel in Central Asia, 1920s.

Supposedly from Uzbek (Turkic) word, "basmachi", but I cannot confirm this.

Chërnye Sotni

chernosotenec

chernosotennyj Black Hundreds

Black-hundred In Tsarist times, name adopted by thugs commissioned by monarchist "Union of the Russian People" to engage in pogroms.

Extreme reactionary

shantazh blackmail (from French "chantage")

zver' beast; brute

bonapartist? Bonapartist general suspected of plotting a coup

burzhuj

burzhuaznyj

burzhuaziya bourgeois

bourgeoisie

(a French word)

From Ozhegov (1988)--

"ruling class of capitalist society, owning the means of production and living off of surplus value, gained by the exploitation of hired labor"

nacionalist

nacionalizm bourgeois-nationalist

bourgeois-nationalism

From Ozhegov (1988) --

"Reactionary bourgeois and petit-bourgeois ideology and policy, directed toward the incitement of national enmity under the slogan of national superiority and defending national interests, and in practice serving the interests of the exploiting classes; appearance of a false feeling of national superiority, national exclusiveness."

Contrast with virtuous "patriotism"

Curiously, a similar distinction was made by the counterrevolutionary propagandist G. Orwell.

buxarinec

buxarinskij Bukharinite Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin (1888-1938) -- a moderate rival of Stalin's; had opposed Collectivization. Shot after show trial in 1938.

bundist? Bundist Bund -- A Jewish social-democratic party, despised by Jewish Communists for both separatist and democratic tendencies.

kannibalizm cannibalism

kapitalist

kapitalisticheskij capitalist

kar'era

kar'erist career

careerist

klass

klassovyj

klassovaya bor'ba

iz"yatie ostatkov vrazhdebnyx klassov class (social)

class struggle

removal of the remnants of hostile classes

nekaya [familiya]

nekij Ivanov a certain [surname]

a certain Ivanov [implies that Mr. Ivanov is a vaguely repellant specimen]. (used in 1960s)

(contributed by Lars-Erik Nelson)

agent CRU CIA agent CRU -- Central'noe Razvedyvatel'noe Upravlenie

rastlennyj corrupt, unscrupulous (utterly)

zagovorshchik

zagovor conspirator

conspiracy

kosmopolit

kosmopolitizm cosmopolitan, Jew (See also "rootless cosmopolitan")

cosmopolitanism

According to Ozhegov (1988) -- "reactionary bourgeois ideological tendency, which under cover of slogans like 'world government' and 'world citizenship' denies the right of nations to independent existence and state sovereignty, national traditions and national culture, patriotism."

Contrast with virtuous internationalism

kontrrevolyucioner

kontrrevolyucionnyj

kontrrevolyuciya counterrevolutionary

counterrevolution

rasstrel shooting

death penalty

smertnyj prigovor death sentence

oborona

oboronchestvo defense

defense-ism, defensism

(obsolete: 1910s, 1920s) -

From Ozhegov: "A policy of defending a bourgeois state and the interests of the national bourgeoisie, advocated by bourgeois parties and opportunist parties of the Second International [Non-Communist socialists] at the time of the First World War under the slogan 'defense of the fatherland.'"

This term disappeared with the start of the Great Patriotic War.

vyrodok degenerate

demagogiya demagoguery

prezrennyj despicable, contemptible

uklonist

uklon deviationist (left- or right-)

deviation

dogmatik

dogmaticheskij dogmatist Someone who would call Lenin an "opportunist"

medicinskij(?) zagovor;

zagovor medikov Doctors' plot 1953: Leading Soviet doctors were arrested on charges of planning to murder Comrade Stalin. See "killers in white coats." The actual phrase "Doctors' plot," however, may be an invention of anti-Soviet propaganda.

dvurushnik double-dealer

vrag naroda enemy of the people

vosxishchenie enjoyment (eg. of something counterrevolutionary)

e^kspluatator exploiter

l'stec flatterer

frakciya

frakcionnost' faction

factionalism "faction" does not always carry negative connotations, eg, later, the "Red Army Faction" of German progressives

"factionalism" -- disagreements in a subordinate Party organization, where neither side is favored by the senior Party organization.

fashist

fashistskij fascist

letun flitter

someone constantly quitting one job for another, in search of easy pay increases.

Term employed during drive for "labor discipline" (1938-1940)

formalizm formalism

Sometimes contrasted to virtuous "Socialist Realism"

Ozhegov: "A trend in esthetics, art, literature, criticism, and other fields, opposing itself to actual tasks of social life, giving primary meaning only to form in complete separation from content."

fronda;

frondërstvo frondër (1) la Fronde

(2) (squabbling) Frondeur

(squabbler) (1) noble and bourgeois opponents of royal absolutism in France, 1648-53

(2)by derivation, Ozhegov:

[a bookish insult]

"Opposition to something for personal or group reasons; dissatisfaction with the present, limited to efforts to contradict and annoy"



banda gang

gromila goon, pogromist also, a non-political term for "burglar."

rvach grabber of more than one's share of goods at workplace;

Term employed during drive for "labor discipline" (1938-1940)

nizkopoklonstvo groveling [before the West] Belief that some aspect of Western technology or society is superior to that of the Motherland

(a term often heard during the post-WW II drive against "cosmopolitanism").

prozhektërstvo hare-brained scheming a charge made against Khrushchov, to justify his overthrow (1964).

(contributed by Lars-Erik Nelson)

naëmnik hireling

xuligan

xuliganstvo hooligan

hooliganism

giena hyena

bezdel'nik idler, good-for-nothing Term employed during drive for "labor discipline" (1938-1940)

imperialist

imperialisticheskij imperialist

razvedka intelligence agency

specsluzhba intelligence agency from "special'naya sluzhba" ("special service")

politikan intriguer

proiski intrigues

vrach-ubijca killer-doctor In the "Doctors' Plot" hysteria (1952-53), Kremlin doctors were accused of trying to kill Stalin.

ubijcy v belyx xalatax killers in white coats In the "Doctors' Plot" hysteria (1952-53), Kremlin doctors were accused of trying to kill Stalin.

kulak kulak Wealthy peasant or other opponent of Collectivization (originally from word for "fist," perhaps because they supposedly grasped money in a tight fist)

likvidator

likvidatorstvo liquidator

liquidationism

(obsolete: 1910s, 1920s) -

From Ozhegov: "Opportunistic Menshevik movement in the RSDRP (1907-1912), advocating the dissolution ("liquidation") of the revolutionary, illegal party of the proletariat and rejecting the necessity of revolutionary struggle.'"

pomeshchik landlord (agrarian), feudal estate owner

lentyaj lazybones Term employed during drive for "labor discipline" (1938-1940)

lodyr' loafer, idler Term employed during drive for "labor discipline" (1938-1940)

xoluj lickspittle (lackey)

lyumpen-proletariat lumpen-proletariat (from Marx, in German. German "Lump" = "beggar, ragamuffin, cad")

from Ozhegov (1988):

"In capitalist society: a declassed stratum of people, having broken connection to productive activity (criminals, bums, tramps, beggars, and the like)"

vzbeshivshayas' sobaka;

beshenaya sobaka mad dog

Men'shevik

Men'shevistskij Menshevik Moderate socialist rivals of Lenin's Bolsheviks, 1905-1923

proizvol personal (mis)rule

izverg monster

Musavatist Musavatist member of the Musavat, a "bourgeois-nationalist" party in Azerbaidzhan, before the Soviet takeover in 1921.

ne^pman NEP-man petty capitalist, grudgingly tolerated during 1920s N.E.P. era, but always despised by the Party faithful.

gnezdo nest, eg of spies, counterrevolutionaries, etc.

ob'ektivizm objectivism

(obsolete: 1910s, 1920s) From Ozhegov: "False objectivity, viewing social phenomena as historically inevitable, not demanding evaluation from class and party positions, and not susceptible to transformation, active modification. Example: 'bourgeois objectivism'"

Notes: (1) As something reprehensible, this often refers to the belief that capitalist development is beneficial, especially in poorer societies without a large proletariat. It does not refer to scientific Communism.

(2) The young Ayn Rand almost certainly heard this term during her university studies in Russia. We do not know if she had the Russian version in mind when choosing the name "objectivism" for her own materialist, atheist, and pro-market philosophy.

opportunist

opportunistskij opportunist Someone who would call Lenin a "dogmatist."

Someone favoring accommodation with the bourgeoisie over proletarian revolution.

tuneyadec

tuneyadstvo parasite (persons only, not animals)

parasitism

melkaya burzhuaziya

melkoburzhuaznyj petit bourgeoisie

petit-bourgeois from Ozhegov (1988)--

"class of small proprietors, living by their own labor, sometimes also with hired workers"

a vague (not defined by Ozhegov), all-purpose put-down, often applied to groups competing with Party for revolutionary or leftist supporters, ranging all the way from Nazis to Bakuninite Anarchists and foreign Trotskyites, and everywhere in between.

May originally imply those who, misled by their own precarious status as small proprietors, get sidetracked from supporting capitalism's overthrow by the Vanguard of the Proletariat, the best guarantee of the future for all but a handful of super-rich exploiters

petlyurist? Petliurist Follower of Simon Vasil'evich Petlyura (1879-1926), Ukrainian nationalist, allied with Poland 1919-1920.

pogrom

pogromshchik pogrom, race riot;

communal disturbance (India) inciter or participant in pogrom From Ozhegov: "Reactionary-chauvinist outbreak against some ethnic or other group of the population, accompanied by destruction, looting of property, and mass killings."

Note from the Ideology Dept.: In the West, the term "pogrom" became associated with anti-Jewish riots in Tsarist Russia. While condemnation of Tsarist reaction is proper, obsessive concern with rootless cosmopolitans is potentially reactionary. otravitel'? poisoner pol'skij pan Polish pan "pan" ("mister" in Polish) is also a title of nobility narodnik

narodnicheskij

narodnichestvo populist

populism

Ozhegov--

"Social and political movement in the the second half of the 19th Century, advocating and attempting to achieve the idea of peasant democracy and the [direct] transition of Russia to socialism from peasant society, avoiding Capitalism."

Soviet historians respected 19th Century "Narodniks" as early revolutionaries, but had no use for modern ones; reliance on petit-bourgeois peasants was superseded by "scientific socialism," meaning Marxism-Leninism. provokator

provokaciya provocateur

provocation The classic example is a police spy who incites violence in an opposition group, so that the government will have an excuse to suppress them chistka purge vzbeshënnaya volch'ya svora rabid wolf-pack revizionist revisionist Marxist (eg Edouard Bernstein) who believes economic improvements and democratization in some capitalist countries make reform preferable to revolution and civil war; Social Democrat. otshchepenec renegade revanshist revanchist From French "revanche" (revenge).

Anyone (eg Germans, Poles, or Finns) claiming lost territories from the Soviet Union or its allies. Originally, Frenchmen seeking to recover Alsace-Lorraine from Germany 1871-1914.

I have since been told that the French word sometimes has a less bloody connotation than the English "revenge"; it may mean something sporting like a rematch in Chess. bezrodnyj kosmopolit rootless cosmopolitan a Jew during Stalin's last years, 1948-1953

(See also "cosmopolitan")

diversant

diversiya saboteur, diversionist

sabotage

sabotazhnik

sabotazh saboteur

sabotage

samuraj class enemy in Japan ("Samurai") In Stalinist prose, the word is intended to be insulting, like "Polish pan" (q.v.)

merzavec

ot"yavlennyj merzavec scoundrel, villain

inveterate scoundrel

korystnyj selfish, self-interested

progul'shchik shirker, truant Term employed during drive for "labor discipline" (1938-1940)

klevetnik?

kleveta slanderer

slander

social-fashist

social-fashistskij social-fascist a Social Democrat, except when the Party is promoting a "popular front" with all left-wing parties.

spekulyant

spekulyaciya speculator (financial)

speculation

raskol'nik

raskol splittist

split (in political movement)

shpion spy (from French "espion,"

through German "Spion")

zhulik petty swindler, thief (contributed by Lars-Erik Nelson)

zastoj stagnation Late 1980s term by supporters of Perestroika for the Brezhnev years.

Of course, the Party faithful would have even more pungent terms to describe the outcome of Perestroika.

prisposoblenec sycophant

terrorist terrorist

titoist? Titoist Josip Broz Tito, Communist guerrilla leader of Yugoslavia, declared independence from Stalin in 1948.

predatel' traitor

izmennik

izmennik rodiny traitor

traitor to the Motherland

trockist

trockistskij Trotskyite Lev Davydovich Trotsky (1879-1940) was Stalin's earliest and most hated rival for leadership of the Party. Exiled abroad in 1929, assassinated in 1940 by NKVD.

trocko-fashist

trocko-fashistskij Trotsky-fascist

trocko-fashistskaya giena Trotsky-fascist hyena

nevynosimyj smrad unbearable stink

gnusnyj vile

vlasovec Vlasovite Used as synonym for "traitor."

Lt. Gen. Andrej Andreevich Vlasov (1900-1946), captured by the Germans in 1942, attempted to form an anti-Soviet "Russian Liberation Army" in alliance with Germany, but Hitler had no interest in sponsoring a friendly anti-Communist Russia

Vejsmannist- Mendelist- Morganist? Weismannist- Mendelist- Morganist epithet used by Trofim Lysenko to denounce genetic scientists.

August Weissmann (1834-1914)

Gregor Mendel (1822-1884)

Thomas Hunt Morgan (1866-1945)

volyuntarizm voluntarism Term used by N.S. Khrushchev's opponents to justify his overthrow in 1964.

From Ozhegov (1988) --

"1. Reactionary tendency in idealistic philosophy, ascribing to divine or human will the basic role in the development of nature and society, denying objective reality and necessity. 2. In politics and social life: subjective and arbitrary decisions, ignoring objectively existing conditions and reality."

belogvardeec

belogvardejskij White-Guard "Whites" opposed the "Reds" during the Russian Civil War (1918-1921).

vreditel' wrecker originally referred to crop pests

yarmo kapitalisticheskoj e^kspluatacii yoke of capitalist exploitation

zinov'evec

zinov'evskij? Zinovievite Grigorii Evseyevich Zinoviev (1883-1936) was a rival of Stalin's for the party leadership. Executed in 1936 after show trial.