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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...

Rokossovsky, Konstantin

(Encyclopedia)Rokossovsky, Konstantin kənstəntyēnˈ rŏkŏs-sôfˈskē [key], 1896–1968, Soviet general, b. Warsaw. He entered the czarist army and in 1917 joined the Bolshevik forces in the Russian Revolution...

Zoshchenko, Mikhail Mikhailovich

(Encyclopedia)Zoshchenko, Mikhail Mikhailovich mēkhəyēl mēkhīˈləvĭch zôˈshchənkô [key], 1895–1958, Soviet humorist. Zoshchenko was born in Poltava, but spent most of his life in St. Petersburg where h...

Zhivkov, Todor

(Encyclopedia)Zhivkov, Todor tôˈdôr zhĭvkôfˈ [key], 1911–98, Bulgarian political leader. A printer, and a Communist party member from 1932, he rose to prominence as a partisan leader during World War II and...

Rákosi, Mátyás

(Encyclopedia)Rákosi, Mátyás mäˈtyäs räˈkōshē [key], 1892–1971, Hungarian Communist politician. An associate of Bela Kun and later a disciple of Joseph Stalin, Rákosi was one of the chief engineers of ...

cold war

(Encyclopedia)cold war, term used to describe the shifting struggle for power and prestige between the Western powers and the Communist bloc from the end of World War II until 1989. Of worldwide proportions, the co...

Malinovsky, Rodion Yakovlevich

(Encyclopedia)Malinovsky, Rodion Yakovlevich rōdyōnˈ yäˈkəvlyĭvĭch mälyĭnŏfˈskē [key], 1898–1967, Soviet marshal, b. Ukraine. He joined the Communist party in 1926. In World War II Malinovsky command...

politburo

(Encyclopedia)politburo, the former central policy-making and governing body of the Communist party of the Soviet Union and, with minor variations, of other Communist parties. It was first created on the eve of the...

Carr, Edward Hallett

(Encyclopedia)Carr, Edward Hallett, 1892–1982, English political scientist and historian. Educated at Cambridge, he was in the diplomatic service until 1936, professor of international relations (1936–47) at Un...

Niyazov, Saparmurat

(Encyclopedia)Niyazov, Saparmurat säpärˈmo͞orätˌ nēyäˈzôf [key], 1940–2006, Soviet and Turkmen political leader, president of Turkmenistan (1991–2006). An engineer and member of the Communist party, h...