First posted 990216
Latest minor update 2008/0909

Explanation of Russian transcription used here.

References from "Ozhegov" are translated from S.I. Ozhegov, Slovar' Russkogo Yazyka ("Dictionary of the Russian Language"), Russkij Yazyk, Moscow, 1988.

These insults were used by Soviet journalists and politicians, especially during the Stalin years. Additional historic entries (especially colorful ones) are welcome at the Cyber-USSR E-mail box.

Entries are in English alphabetical order.

Russian (noun) (adjective)	English	Remark
administrirovanie	administration by fiat	Ozhegov-- "running something in a bureaucratic manner, formally, without considering reality"; another charge against Khrushchov (1964). (contributed by Lars-Erik Nelson)
avantyurist avantyurizm avantyura	adventurist, adventurer adventurism adventure
agent	agent (spy)
agentura agentura innostrannyx specsluzhb	agents (plural), spy agency agents of foreign intelligence services
primirenchestvo	appeasement	From Ozhegov: "Unprincipled policy of opportunism in the workers' movement, directed at smoothing out class contradictions in the interests of the bourgeoisie.".
Benderovec	Banderist?	Stepan Andreyevich Bandera (1909-1959), West Ukrainian nationalist, imprisoned by Poland 1934-1939, by Nazis 1941-1944. From exile in Munich directed anti-Soviet guerrillas from 1945 to early 1950s.
basmach	Basmatch	anti-Soviet rebel in Central Asia, 1920s. Supposedly from Uzbek (Turkic) word, "basmachi", but I cannot confirm this.
Chërnye Sotni chernosotenec chernosotennyj	Black Hundreds Black-hundred	In Tsarist times, name adopted by thugs commissioned by monarchist "Union of the Russian People" to engage in pogroms. Extreme reactionary
shantazh	blackmail	(from French "chantage")
zver'	beast; brute
bonapartist?	Bonapartist	general suspected of plotting a coup
burzhuj burzhuaznyj burzhuaziya	bourgeois bourgeoisie	(a French word) From Ozhegov (1988)-- "ruling class of capitalist society, owning the means of production and living off of surplus value, gained by the exploitation of hired labor"
nacionalist nacionalizm	bourgeois-nationalist bourgeois-nationalism	From Ozhegov (1988) -- "Reactionary bourgeois and petit-bourgeois ideology and policy, directed toward the incitement of national enmity under the slogan of national superiority and defending national interests, and in practice serving the interests of the exploiting classes; appearance of a false feeling of national superiority, national exclusiveness." Contrast with virtuous "patriotism" Curiously, a similar distinction was made by the counterrevolutionary propagandist G. Orwell.
buxarinec buxarinskij	Bukharinite	Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin (1888-1938) -- a moderate rival of Stalin's; had opposed Collectivization. Shot after show trial in 1938.
bundist?	Bundist	Bund -- A Jewish social-democratic party, despised by Jewish Communists for both separatist and democratic tendencies.
kannibalizm	cannibalism
kapitalist kapitalisticheskij	capitalist
kar'era kar'erist	career careerist
klass klassovyj klassovaya bor'ba iz"yatie ostatkov vrazhdebnyx klassov	class (social) class struggle removal of the remnants of hostile classes
nekaya [familiya] nekij Ivanov	a certain [surname] a certain Ivanov	[implies that Mr. Ivanov is a vaguely repellant specimen]. (used in 1960s) (contributed by Lars-Erik Nelson)
agent CRU	CIA agent	CRU -- Central'noe Razvedyvatel'noe Upravlenie
rastlennyj	corrupt, unscrupulous (utterly)
zagovorshchik zagovor	conspirator conspiracy
kosmopolit kosmopolitizm	cosmopolitan, Jew (See also "rootless cosmopolitan") cosmopolitanism	According to Ozhegov (1988) -- "reactionary bourgeois ideological tendency, which under cover of slogans like 'world government' and 'world citizenship' denies the right of nations to independent existence and state sovereignty, national traditions and national culture, patriotism." Contrast with virtuous internationalism
kontrrevolyucioner kontrrevolyucionnyj kontrrevolyuciya	counterrevolutionary counterrevolution
rasstrel	shooting death penalty
smertnyj prigovor	death sentence
oborona oboronchestvo	defense defense-ism, defensism (obsolete: 1910s, 1920s)	- From Ozhegov: "A policy of defending a bourgeois state and the interests of the national bourgeoisie, advocated by bourgeois parties and opportunist parties of the Second International [Non-Communist socialists] at the time of the First World War under the slogan 'defense of the fatherland.'" This term disappeared with the start of the Great Patriotic War.
vyrodok	degenerate
demagogiya	demagoguery
prezrennyj	despicable, contemptible
uklonist uklon	deviationist (left- or right-) deviation
dogmatik dogmaticheskij	dogmatist	Someone who would call Lenin an "opportunist"
medicinskij(?) zagovor; zagovor medikov	Doctors' plot	1953: Leading Soviet doctors were arrested on charges of planning to murder Comrade Stalin. See "killers in white coats." The actual phrase "Doctors' plot," however, may be an invention of anti-Soviet propaganda.
dvurushnik	double-dealer
vrag naroda	enemy of the people
vosxishchenie	enjoyment (eg. of something counterrevolutionary)
e^kspluatator	exploiter
l'stec	flatterer
frakciya frakcionnost'	faction factionalism	"faction" does not always carry negative connotations, eg, later, the "Red Army Faction" of German progressives "factionalism" -- disagreements in a subordinate Party organization, where neither side is favored by the senior Party organization.
fashist fashistskij	fascist
letun	flitter	someone constantly quitting one job for another, in search of easy pay increases. Term employed during drive for "labor discipline" (1938-1940)
formalizm	formalism	Sometimes contrasted to virtuous "Socialist Realism" Ozhegov: "A trend in esthetics, art, literature, criticism, and other fields, opposing itself to actual tasks of social life, giving primary meaning only to form in complete separation from content."
fronda; frondërstvo frondër	(1) la Fronde (2) (squabbling) Frondeur (squabbler)	(1) noble and bourgeois opponents of royal absolutism in France, 1648-53 (2)by derivation, Ozhegov: [a bookish insult] "Opposition to something for personal or group reasons; dissatisfaction with the present, limited to efforts to contradict and annoy"
banda	gang
gromila	goon, pogromist	also, a non-political term for "burglar."
rvach	grabber	of more than one's share of goods at workplace; Term employed during drive for "labor discipline" (1938-1940)
nizkopoklonstvo	groveling [before the West]	Belief that some aspect of Western technology or society is superior to that of the Motherland (a term often heard during the post-WW II drive against "cosmopolitanism").
prozhektërstvo	hare-brained scheming	a charge made against Khrushchov, to justify his overthrow (1964). (contributed by Lars-Erik Nelson)
naëmnik	hireling
xuligan xuliganstvo	hooligan hooliganism
giena	hyena
bezdel'nik	idler, good-for-nothing	Term employed during drive for "labor discipline" (1938-1940)
imperialist imperialisticheskij	imperialist
razvedka	intelligence agency
specsluzhba	intelligence agency	from "special'naya sluzhba" ("special service")
politikan	intriguer
proiski	intrigues
vrach-ubijca	killer-doctor	In the "Doctors' Plot" hysteria (1952-53), Kremlin doctors were accused of trying to kill Stalin.
ubijcy v belyx xalatax	killers in white coats	In the "Doctors' Plot" hysteria (1952-53), Kremlin doctors were accused of trying to kill Stalin.
kulak	kulak	Wealthy peasant or other opponent of Collectivization (originally from word for "fist," perhaps because they supposedly grasped money in a tight fist)
likvidator likvidatorstvo	liquidator liquidationism (obsolete: 1910s, 1920s)	- From Ozhegov: "Opportunistic Menshevik movement in the RSDRP (1907-1912), advocating the dissolution ("liquidation") of the revolutionary, illegal party of the proletariat and rejecting the necessity of revolutionary struggle.'"
pomeshchik	landlord (agrarian), feudal estate owner
lentyaj	lazybones	Term employed during drive for "labor discipline" (1938-1940)
lodyr'	loafer, idler	Term employed during drive for "labor discipline" (1938-1940)
xoluj	lickspittle (lackey)
lyumpen-proletariat	lumpen-proletariat	(from Marx, in German. German "Lump" = "beggar, ragamuffin, cad") from Ozhegov (1988): "In capitalist society: a declassed stratum of people, having broken connection to productive activity (criminals, bums, tramps, beggars, and the like)"
vzbeshivshayas' sobaka; beshenaya sobaka	mad dog
Men'shevik Men'shevistskij	Menshevik	Moderate socialist rivals of Lenin's Bolsheviks, 1905-1923
proizvol	personal (mis)rule
izverg	monster
Musavatist	Musavatist	member of the Musavat, a "bourgeois-nationalist" party in Azerbaidzhan, before the Soviet takeover in 1921.
ne^pman	NEP-man	petty capitalist, grudgingly tolerated during 1920s N.E.P. era, but always despised by the Party faithful.
gnezdo	nest, eg of spies, counterrevolutionaries, etc.
ob'ektivizm	objectivism (obsolete: 1910s, 1920s)	From Ozhegov: "False objectivity, viewing social phenomena as historically inevitable, not demanding evaluation from class and party positions, and not susceptible to transformation, active modification. Example: 'bourgeois objectivism'" Notes: (1) As something reprehensible, this often refers to the belief that capitalist development is beneficial, especially in poorer societies without a large proletariat. It does not refer to scientific Communism. (2) The young Ayn Rand almost certainly heard this term during her university studies in Russia. We do not know if she had the Russian version in mind when choosing the name "objectivism" for her own materialist, atheist, and pro-market philosophy.
opportunist opportunistskij	opportunist	Someone who would call Lenin a "dogmatist." Someone favoring accommodation with the bourgeoisie over proletarian revolution.
tuneyadec tuneyadstvo	parasite (persons only, not animals) parasitism
melkaya burzhuaziya melkoburzhuaznyj	petit bourgeoisie petit-bourgeois	from Ozhegov (1988)-- "class of small proprietors, living by their own labor, sometimes also with hired workers" a vague (not defined by Ozhegov), all-purpose put-down, often applied to groups competing with Party for revolutionary or leftist supporters, ranging all the way from Nazis to Bakuninite Anarchists and foreign Trotskyites, and everywhere in between. May originally imply those who, misled by their own precarious status as small proprietors, get sidetracked from supporting capitalism's overthrow by the Vanguard of the Proletariat, the best guarantee of the future for all but a handful of super-rich exploiters
petlyurist?	Petliurist	Follower of Simon Vasil'evich Petlyura (1879-1926), Ukrainian nationalist, allied with Poland 1919-1920.
pogrom pogromshchik	pogrom, race riot; communal disturbance (India) inciter or participant in pogrom	From Ozhegov: "Reactionary-chauvinist outbreak against some ethnic or other group of the population, accompanied by destruction, looting of property, and mass killings." Note from the Ideology Dept.: In the West, the term "pogrom" became associated with anti-Jewish riots in Tsarist Russia. While condemnation of Tsarist reaction is proper, obsessive concern with rootless cosmopolitans is potentially reactionary.
otravitel'?	poisoner
pol'skij pan	Polish pan	"pan" ("mister" in Polish) is also a title of nobility
narodnik narodnicheskij narodnichestvo	populist populism	Ozhegov-- "Social and political movement in the the second half of the 19th Century, advocating and attempting to achieve the idea of peasant democracy and the [direct] transition of Russia to socialism from peasant society, avoiding Capitalism." Soviet historians respected 19th Century "Narodniks" as early revolutionaries, but had no use for modern ones; reliance on petit-bourgeois peasants was superseded by "scientific socialism," meaning Marxism-Leninism.
provokator provokaciya	provocateur provocation	The classic example is a police spy who incites violence in an opposition group, so that the government will have an excuse to suppress them
chistka	purge
vzbeshënnaya volch'ya svora	rabid wolf-pack
revizionist	revisionist	Marxist (eg Edouard Bernstein) who believes economic improvements and democratization in some capitalist countries make reform preferable to revolution and civil war; Social Democrat.
otshchepenec	renegade
revanshist	revanchist	From French "revanche" (revenge). Anyone (eg Germans, Poles, or Finns) claiming lost territories from the Soviet Union or its allies. Originally, Frenchmen seeking to recover Alsace-Lorraine from Germany 1871-1914. I have since been told that the French word sometimes has a less bloody connotation than the English "revenge"; it may mean something sporting like a rematch in Chess.
bezrodnyj kosmopolit	rootless cosmopolitan	a Jew during Stalin's last years, 1948-1953 (See also "cosmopolitan")
diversant diversiya	saboteur, diversionist sabotage
sabotazhnik sabotazh	saboteur sabotage
samuraj	class enemy in Japan ("Samurai")	In Stalinist prose, the word is intended to be insulting, like "Polish pan" (q.v.)
merzavec ot"yavlennyj merzavec	scoundrel, villain inveterate scoundrel
korystnyj	selfish, self-interested
progul'shchik	shirker, truant	Term employed during drive for "labor discipline" (1938-1940)
klevetnik? kleveta	slanderer slander
social-fashist social-fashistskij	social-fascist	a Social Democrat, except when the Party is promoting a "popular front" with all left-wing parties.
spekulyant spekulyaciya	speculator (financial) speculation
raskol'nik raskol	splittist split (in political movement)
shpion	spy	(from French "espion," through German "Spion")
zhulik	petty swindler, thief	(contributed by Lars-Erik Nelson)
zastoj	stagnation	Late 1980s term by supporters of Perestroika for the Brezhnev years. Of course, the Party faithful would have even more pungent terms to describe the outcome of Perestroika.
prisposoblenec	sycophant
terrorist	terrorist
titoist?	Titoist	Josip Broz Tito, Communist guerrilla leader of Yugoslavia, declared independence from Stalin in 1948.
predatel'	traitor
izmennik izmennik rodiny	traitor traitor to the Motherland
trockist trockistskij	Trotskyite	Lev Davydovich Trotsky (1879-1940) was Stalin's earliest and most hated rival for leadership of the Party. Exiled abroad in 1929, assassinated in 1940 by NKVD.
trocko-fashist trocko-fashistskij	Trotsky-fascist
trocko-fashistskaya giena	Trotsky-fascist hyena
nevynosimyj smrad	unbearable stink
gnusnyj	vile
vlasovec	Vlasovite	Used as synonym for "traitor." Lt. Gen. Andrej Andreevich Vlasov (1900-1946), captured by the Germans in 1942, attempted to form an anti-Soviet "Russian Liberation Army" in alliance with Germany, but Hitler had no interest in sponsoring a friendly anti-Communist Russia
Vejsmannist- Mendelist- Morganist?	Weismannist- Mendelist- Morganist	epithet used by Trofim Lysenko to denounce genetic scientists. August Weissmann (1834-1914) Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) Thomas Hunt Morgan (1866-1945)
volyuntarizm	voluntarism	Term used by N.S. Khrushchev's opponents to justify his overthrow in 1964. From Ozhegov (1988) -- "1. Reactionary tendency in idealistic philosophy, ascribing to divine or human will the basic role in the development of nature and society, denying objective reality and necessity. 2. In politics and social life: subjective and arbitrary decisions, ignoring objectively existing conditions and reality."
belogvardeec belogvardejskij	White-Guard	"Whites" opposed the "Reds" during the Russian Civil War (1918-1921).
vreditel'	wrecker	originally referred to crop pests
yarmo kapitalisticheskoj e^kspluatacii	yoke of capitalist exploitation
zinov'evec zinov'evskij?	Zinovievite	Grigorii Evseyevich Zinoviev (1883-1936) was a rival of Stalin's for the party leadership. Executed in 1936 after show trial.
sionist sionistskij	Zionist	Can be synonym for Jew, especially since 1948

See additional distinctive insults by Moscow show-trial prosecutor Andrej Ya. Vyshinsky

See some other (non-insulting) distinctive Soviet phrases and quotes.

A new "Dictionary of Russian Insults":

For those who can read Russian, we highly recommend
L. Arbatskij, «Tolkovyj Slovar' Russkoj Brani» ("A Dictionary of Usage of Russian Insults" non-obscene), Izdatel'stvo «Yauza», Moskva, 2001; cloth, 428 pp. (small page size).

It analyzes 215 insults in depth, grading them in seriousness ("mortal insult" -- likely to cause a fight; "everyday insult"; "mild or affectionate insult"; and "childish prattle") and highlighting nuances of meaning, for example the difference between "xoluj" (a lackey who genuinely worships his boss) and "podxalim" (a flatterer who secretly despises his boss).

We regret a lack of ideological seriousness in the book, for example a playful introduction invoking the authority of a superstitious nonentity J. Christ, rather than the great Lenin. But such, unfortunately, is to be expected in this recent age of "reform" and mafia control. In any case, L. Arbatskij's dictionary fills a useful gap between conventional dictionaries and dictionaries of obscenities, already widely available.

Cuba's Fidel Castro
(only limited development so far)

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