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Vishinsky, Andrei Yanuarievich

(Encyclopedia)Vishinsky or Vyshinsky, Andrei Yanuarievich both: əndrāˈ yəno͞oärˈyĭvĭch vĭshēnˈskē [key], 1883–1954, Soviet diplomat and jurist. He studied law at the Univ. of Kiev, early entered the ...

Shelepin, Aleksandr

(Encyclopedia)Shelepin, Aleksandr əlyĭksänˈdər shĕlĕˈpĭn [key], 1918–94, political leader in the Soviet Union. Active in the Young Communist League from the early 1940s, he later became its head (1952–...

Kravchuk, Leonid Makarovich

(Encyclopedia)Kravchuk, Leonid Makarovich lĭŭnyētˈ məkärˈəvyĭch kräfˈcho͝ok [key], 1934–, Ukrainian leader, president of Ukraine (1991–94), b. Velyky Zhityn, Ukraine. A political economist and long-...

Cominform

(Encyclopedia)Cominform kŏmˈĭnfôrm [key] [acronym for Communist Information Bureau], information agency organized in 1947 and dissolved in 1956. Its members were the Communist parties of Bulgaria, Czechoslovaki...

Bloor, Ella Reeve

(Encyclopedia)Bloor, Ella Reeve, 1862–1951, American radical, popularly known as Mother Bloor, b. Staten Island, N.Y. After an early career in the woman-suffrage and temperance movements she joined the Socialist ...

perestroika

(Encyclopedia)perestroika pərˈĕstroyˈkə [key], Soviet economic and social policy of the late 1980s. Perestroika [restructuring] was the term attached to the attempts (1985–91) by Mikhail Gorbachev to transfo...

Brezhnev, Leonid Ilyich

(Encyclopedia)Brezhnev, Leonid Ilyich lāyōnēdˈ ĭlyēchˈ brĕzhˈnĕf [key], 1906–82, Soviet leader. He joined (1931) the Communist party and rose steadily in its hierarchy. In 1952 he became a secretary of ...

Molotov, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich

(Encyclopedia)Molotov, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich vyĕˌchĭsläfˈ mēkhīˈləvĭch môˈlətəf [key], 1890–1986, Soviet political leader. A Communist from 1906, he changed his name from Skriabin to Molotov [the ...

Andropov, Yuri Vladimirovich

(Encyclopedia)Andropov, Yuri Vladimirovich yo͞oˈrē vlədyēˈmĭravĭch əndrôˈpôf [key], 1914–84, Soviet Communist leader (1982–84). As ambassador to Hungary from 1954 to 1957, he played a major role in ...

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