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socialist realism

(Encyclopedia)socialist realism, Soviet artistic and literary doctrine. The role of literature and art in Soviet society was redefined in 1932 when the newly created Union of Soviet Writers proclaimed socialist rea...

soviet

(Encyclopedia)soviet, primary unit in the political organization of the former USSR. The term is the Russian word for council. The first soviets were revolutionary committees organized by Russian socialists in the ...

Mikoyan, Anastas Ivanovich

(Encyclopedia)Mikoyan, Anastas Ivanovich ənəstäsˈ ēväˈnəvĭch myĭkəyänˈ [key], 1895–1978, Soviet Communist leader. He joined the Communist party in 1915, became a member of the party's central committ...

Lithuania

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Lithuania lĭtho͞oāˈnēə [key], Lithuanian Lietuva, officially Republic of Lithuania, republic (2015 est. pop. 2,932,000), 25,174 sq mi (65,201 sq km), N central Europe. Lithuania borders o...

Babel, Isaac Emmanuelovich

(Encyclopedia)Babel, Isaac Emmanuelovich ēˈsäk əmäno͞oāˈləvĭch bäˈbəl [key], 1894–1940, Russian writer, b. Odessa. Babel was quick to embrace the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, but in the end it was t...

Trotsky, Leon

(Encyclopedia)Trotsky, Leon trŏtˈskē, Rus. lāˈən trôtˈskē [key], 1879–1940, Russian Communist revolutionary, one of the principal leaders in the establishment of the USSR; his original name was Lev David...

Fadeyev, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich

(Encyclopedia)Fadeyev, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich əlyĭksänˈdər əlyĭksänˈdrəvĭch fŭdyāˈəf [key], 1901–56, Russian author. An active Communist, he fought in the Revolution of 1917. His first novel, Raz...

Gramsci, Antonio

(Encyclopedia)Gramsci, Antonio antônˈyô grämˈshē [key], 1891–1937, Italian political leader and theoretician. Originally a member of the Socialist party and a cofounder (1919) of the left-wing paper L'Ordin...

Gorbachev, Mikhail Sergeyevich

(Encyclopedia)Gorbachev, Mikhail Sergeyevich mēkhəyēlˈ sĭrgāˈyəvich gərbəchofˈ ...

Kádár, János

(Encyclopedia)Kádár, János yäˈnôsh käˈdär [key], 1912–89, Hungarian Communist leader. In 1932 he joined the then illegal Communist party and held high government and party posts from 1942, becoming home ...