soviet
/ˈsəʊvɪət
/ /ˈsɒvɪət/noun
1An elected local, district, or national council in the former Soviet Union.Legislative power, for its part, was vested in the USSR Supreme Soviet and in the constituent soviets of the republics....
- It was only during the Gorbachev era that a pyramid of councils, or soviets, from the central authority to those at local village and neighborhood level, were given anything more than a symbolic or ritualistic role.
- By mistake, an order from the Petrograd Soviet establishing its authority over the Petrograd garrison was sent to the whole army, with the result that officers had to consult local soldiers' soviets before giving orders.
1.1A revolutionary council of workers or peasants in Russia before 1917.Lenin's State and Revolution champions the soviets, or workers' councils, created spontaneously during the 1905 revolution in Russia, as the basis for a future workers' state....
- In 1905 the mass strike led to the creation of soviets - workers' councils that began to discuss and organise every aspect of life. They offered a new form of power to set against the present way things are run.
- Highly democratic workers' councils, known as soviets, sprung up in workplaces and the army.
2 (Soviet) A citizen of the former Soviet Union.Nor can we be said to have pure capitalism anymore than the Soviets had pure communism....
- After the war the Soviets moved in and signs of its Communist past still exist in its many tower blocks.
- Canada was a prime target for the Soviets because of its energy links to the U.S.
adjective
(Soviet) Of or concerning the former Soviet Union: the Soviet leader...
- Instead, Ivan's hero status affords him special privileges in Soviet society.
- Gorbachev had hoped to achieve a restructuring of Soviet society and especially of the communist party.
- The issue is further complicated by the lack of regulation on property rights in Soviet times.
Derivatives
Sovietism
- Her flirtations with Sovietism are indicative of an approach that attacked the church but rarely, if ever, the state.
- Anyway, the Pope was one of many people who played a role in the collapse of Sovietism, from Gorbachev to Reagan.
Sovietization
- To the extent that the new system had enjoyed some popular legitimacy, this was soon dissipated by the brutality of the dictatorship, a decline in the standard of living, and suppression of nationalism in favor of Sovietization.
- Yet Sovietization of Eastern Europe took place not during the 1930s Great Depression and fascist militarism, but during the post-war capitalist boom and deployment of comprehensive welfare states.
- Modernization, Sovietization, and the introduction of western culture have altered some traditional ways, and others have lost prominence because of the proliferation of urban centers.
Sovietize
- The party-state approached this task by positing that the new retail system would serve as a mechanism for Sovietizing people, that is, for incorporating them into the social order and introducing them to socialist values.
Origin
Early 20th century: from Russian sovet 'council'.