Historical Dictionary of the Russian Civil Wars, 1916-1926

narodnik: A term (pl. narodniki) originally coined by G. V. Plekhanov to describe a supporter of any of the Populist parties who would not, he claimed, accept that Russia would pass through a capitalist stage before socialism could be established. The word is derived from narodnichestvo, which originally meant the tendency of radical groups of the 1870s to base plans for the revolution on the immediate needs of the peasantry.

New Russia: A contemporary term for the steppe region of southern Ukraine, to the north of the Black Sea, annexed by Russia from the Ottoman Empire in the late 18th century.

oblast′: A peripheral region of the Russian Empire not designated as a province (guberniia), being under “special administration”: the Far East, Siberia, Central Asia, Transcaucasia, etc.

oblastnik: A proponent of regionalism (oblastnichestvo), especially Siberian regionalism.

obshchina: See village commune.

October Manifesto: Nicholas II’s pronouncement of 17 October 1905, promising a legislative assembly and the extension of civil rights.

Octobrists: A right-liberal party—formally, the Union of 17 October—founded in 1905, which advocated working within the terms of the October Manifesto.

Okhrana: The secret police in tsarist Russia. Although invariably spelled this way in English, the Russians actually called it the Okhranka.

Old Believers: Those Orthodox Christians who did not accept the church reforms of the 17th century. They were heavily persecuted in the 19th century.

otaman: During the civil wars, this was the title accorded to a division, corps, or army group commander in the Ukrainian Army. (Originally it was the title of the elected leader of the Zaporozhian Cossack Host.)

otrub: A peasant household that had separated from the village commune but remained, physically, in the village (cf. khutor).

Pale of Settlement: The 15 provinces along the western marches of the Russian Empire where most Russian Jews were obliged, by law, to live.

People’s Commissar: A member of Sovnarkom; a Soviet cabinet minister (narkom).

pervopokhodniki: Veterans of the Volunteer Army’s First Kuban (Ice) March.

plastun: A Cossack infantryman (originally a scout).

pogrom: A violent attack on the Jews.

Populism: Narodnichestvo: the Russian revolutionary movement of the mid- to late 19th century that focused on the peasantry as the class most likely to overthrow the monarchy.

prodnalog: prodovol′stvennyi nalog: the Bolsheviks’ system of taxing agricultural production in kind during the NEP.

prodotriad: prodovol′stvennyi oriad: a Soviet grain confiscation brigade.

prodrazverstka: prodovol′stvennaia razverstka: the Bolsheviks’ system of requisitioning foodstuffs during the period of War Communism.

rada: A Ukrainian term meaning “council,” as in the Ukrainian Central Rada. The term was also adopted by the assembly of the generally pro-Ukrainian Kuban Cossack Host. (Other Hosts used the term krug.)

revkom: Revoliutsionnyi komitet: a Bolshevik revolutionary committee, often prefaced by an abbreviated form of its location (e.g., Sibrevkom, the Siberian Revolutionary Committee); an extraordinary military–civilian administrative organ established to oversee a region’s transition to Soviet power.

revvoensovet: Revoliutsionnyi voennyi komitet: a revolutionary military council; an army council, answerable to the central Revvoensovet of the Republic.

right-bank Ukraine: Pravoberezhnaia Ukraina: that part of Ukraine, on the right (western) bank of the River Dnepr, that had been annexed by Russia during the late 18th century (in the second and third partitions of Poland). The region was sometimes referred to as “the south-western provinces. ”

rubl′: Russian unit of currency (often “rouble” in English); one rubl′ = 100 kopeki.

Sejm: A parliament (notably in Poland and Transcaucasia).

sel′skoe obshchestvo: See village commune.

serf: A peasant in bondage.

skhod: The assembly of members of the village commune.

sotnia: A Cossack term (literally “a hundred”) for a company or squadron.

stanitsa: A Cossack village.

starosta: The elected or appointed head of any group, but especially that of the village commune.