science

Soviet phraseology

Soviet phraseology is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Soviet phraseology rather than just read about it. In short: Soviet phraseology, or Sovietisms, i.e. the neologisms and cliches in the Russian language of the epoch of the Soviet Union, has a number of distinct traits that reflect the Soviet way of life and Soviet culture and politics. Most of these distinctions are ultimately traced (directly or indirectly, as a cause-effect chain) to the utopic goal of creating a new society, the ways of the implementation of this goal and…

Key takeaways

Soviet phraseology belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Soviet phraseology to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Soviet phraseology from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Soviet phraseology, or Sovietisms, i.e. the neologisms and cliches in the Russian language of the epoch of the Soviet Union, has a number of distinct traits that reflect the Soviet way of life and Soviet culture and politics. Most of these distinctions are ultimately traced (directly or indirectly, as a cause-effect chain) to the utopic goal of creating a new society, the ways of the implementation of this goal and what was actually implemented. The topic of this article is not limited to the Russian language, since this phraseology also permeated regional languages in the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, Russian was the official language of inter-nationality communication in the Soviet Union, and was declared official language of the state in 1990, therefore it was the major source of Soviet phraseology.

Taxonomy The following main types of Sovietism coinage may be recognized:

Semantic shift: for example, "to throw out" acquired the colloquial meaning of "to put goods for sale". In the circumstances of total consumer goods shortage, putting some goods on shelves had a character of certain suddenness, captured in the expression. "Ivan, grab your avoska, oranges have been thrown out down on the corner!" — it was not that someone jettisoned oranges; rather a makeshift stall was set up in the street to sell oranges. Intentional word coinage for new elements arisen in the Soviet/Eastern Bloc world, often as abbreviations and acronyms: Gosplan, KGB, gulag, kombed, agitprop, etc. Colloquial word coinage: khrushchovka, psikhushka. Stylistic cliches: "forever alive" (about Vladimir Lenin), "laboring intelligentsia", to distinguish "good" intelligentsia from "bad" intelligentsia of the past, etc. Political and ideological slogans Soviet people saw everyday everywhere. Often they were exploited in Russian political jokes. For example, the formula "The Party is Intelligence, Honor, and Conscience of our Epoch" was mathematically transformed into "Intelligence is party minus honor minus conscience of our epoch." Quite a few pejorative terms were standardized for numerous enemies of the people and other anti-Soviet subjects: "sharks of imperialism", "rootless cosmopolitans". "The whore of capitalism" was an epithet for genetics.

Beginnings An initial surge of intentional word coinage appeared immediately after the October Revolution. The declared goal of the Bolsheviks was "to abolish the capitalist state with all its means of oppression". At the same time, the instruments of the state were objectively, necessary, and they did exist, only under new names. The most notable example is People's Commissar/People's Commissariat which corresponded to minister/ministry (and in fact the latter terms were restored in 1946).

Colloquial political humor

Ben Lewis wrote in his essay, book, and film (all titled Hammer & Tickle) that "Communism was a humour-producing machine. Its economic theories and system of repression created inherently funny situations. There were jokes under fascism and the Nazis too, but those systems did not create an absurd, laugh-a-minute reality like communism." Soviet people coined irreverent definitions for their leaders. "Mineralny sekretar" was a nickname for General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev (due to his anti-alcohol campaign). "Kukuruznik" (from kukuruza, maize) referred to Nikita Khrushchev (because of his botched introduction of maize from the United States).

See also Newspeak New Soviet names Homo Sovieticus Thought reform in the People's Republic of China LTI – Lingua Tertii Imperii, a book that studies the way that Nazi propaganda altered the German language

References

Further reading "Soviet Language", BBC Russian Service, October 11, 2005 (in Russian)

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Soviet phraseology

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Soviet phraseology claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Soviet phraseology before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Soviet phraseology ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Soviet phraseology

In research: Soviet phraseology appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Soviet phraseology in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Soviet phraseology is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Culture of the Soviet Union, Historical linguistics, Propaganda in the Soviet Union, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Soviet phraseology outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Soviet phraseology in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Soviet phraseology means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Soviet phraseology out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Soviet phraseology in simple terms?

Why does Soviet phraseology matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Soviet phraseology?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Soviet phraseology.