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Lunacharsky, Anatoli Vasilyevich

(Encyclopedia)Lunacharsky, Anatoli Vasilyevich ənətôˈlyē vəsēˈlyəvĭch lo͞onəchärˈskē [key], 1875–1933, Russian revolutionary, dramatist, and critic. He began his revolutionary career in 1892 and jo...

Gulag

(Encyclopedia)Gulag, system of forced-labor prison camps in the USSR, from the Russian acronym [GULag] for the Main Directorate of Corrective Labor Camps, a department of the Soviet secret police (originally the Ch...

Krupskaya, Nadezhda Konstantinovna

(Encyclopedia)Krupskaya, Nadezhda Konstantinovna nŭdyĕˈzhdə kənstŭntyēˈnəvnə kro͞opˈskəyə [key], 1869–1939, Russian revolutionary and educator, wife of Lenin. Krupskaya was a Marxist agitator for 25...

Ulyanovsk

(Encyclopedia)Ulyanovsk o͞olyäˈnəfsk [key], city (1989 pop. 625,000), capital of Ulyanovsk region, W central European Russia, a port on the Volga and Svigaya rivers. It is a major rail and water transport cente...

Podolsk

(Encyclopedia)Podolsk pədôlˈyəsk [key], city (1989 pop. 209,000), central European Russia, on the Pakhra River, a tributary of the Moskva. The center of a fertile agricultural region, Podolsk is a rail terminus...

Plekhanov, Georgi Valentinovich

(Encyclopedia)Plekhanov, Georgi Valentinovich gāôrˈgē vəlyĭntyēˈnəvĭch plyĭkhäˈnəf [key], 1857–1918, Russian revolutionary and social philosopher. He was a leader in introducing Marxist theory to Ru...

Bolshevism and Menshevism

(Encyclopedia)Bolshevism and Menshevism bōlˈshəvĭzəm, bŏlˈ–, mĕnˈshəvĭzəm [key], the two main branches of Russian socialism from 1903 until the consolidation of the Bolshevik dictatorship under Lenin ...

Luxemburg, Rosa

(Encyclopedia)Luxemburg, Rosa rōˈzä lo͝okˈsəmbo͝ork [key], 1871–1919, German revolutionary, b. Russian Poland. Her revolutionary activities forced her to flee to Switzerland in 1889, where she became a Mar...

New Economic Policy

(Encyclopedia)New Economic Policy (NEP), official economic reconstruction program of the USSR from 1921 to 1928. It replaced the economic policies of “war Communism” (1918–21), an emergency program establishe...

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...