apparatchikn.

1941 A. Koestler Scum of Earth 122 The dark silhouette of the Tchekist, the ‘Aparat-chik’, or G.P.U. agent had replaced the once bright and lively symbols of the struggle for a happier world.

1950 A. Koestler in R. Crossman God that Failed i. i. 46 A full-fledged ‘apparatchik’ (the homely euphemism used in the Party for agents and spies).

1957 Observer 29 Dec. 6/7 As the year ended, the domination of Khrushchev and the ideologists and apparachiki of his machine seemed complete.

1960 Encounter Mar. 41/1 The apparatchiks of Stalinism.

1963 Cambr. Rev. 16 Feb. 277/1 The party bureaucrat, or apparatchik, is distinguished from the ordinary party member by his professional attachment to the party, for as a rule he devotes himself exclusively to party activity.

1969 Listener 10 July 34/3 Thus machine will make machine. These apparatchik units will be able to examine what design characteristics are necessary through the medium of the central mother device.

1973 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 5 July 5/1 The United States was indeed being pushed in the direction of a police state. The pushers were not mere apparatchiks such as John Dean, but President Nixon and his closest associates.

1976 New Society 10 June 562 But the labour intensive character of the Post Office could be reduced with a more zealous drive to mechanize. This would involve big staff cuts and the corporation apparatchiks are in no position to insist on that.

1983 Observer 20 Feb. 7 The general secretary of the Labour Party..is a dry man, but not a grey apparatchik with a zeal for office work.

1985 Sunday Times 27 Jan. 38/5 The radio programmes were put together in the privacy of his own computer-equipped studio at home, away from the controlling influence of BBC apparatchiks.