NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR SOVIET AND EAST EUROPEAN RESEARC H
TITLE :
CHANGING PATTERNS OF RUSSIAN POLITICAL
DISCOURSE : A Dictionary of Russia
n
Politics, 1985 - Presen t
AUTHOR :
Elliott Mossman
CONTRACTOR : University of Pennsylvani a
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR :
COUNCIL CONTRACT NUMBER :
DATE : December,
The work
Elliott Мossman
80 5-04-
199 1
leading to
this
report was supported by funds provided b y
the National Council for Soviet and East European Research . Th e
analysis
and
the author .
interpretations
contained
in the report
are
those
of
"Changing Patterns of Russian Political Discourse :
А Dictionary of Russian Politics, 1985 - Present "
An Executive Summar y
The changing patterns of Russian political speech since 198 5
reflect the breakdown of "command" political structures an d
increasing recourse to a "war of words" over the tokens o f
legitimacy : nation, the West, the restoration of history ,
ecology, human rights .
Background . Totalitarian states use political discourse t o
create an illusion of legitimacy : words in these "logocracies "
are stripped of their normative meanings and given new meaning b y
those who control usage . As the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu put s
it, the Soviet regime historically has been an oligarch y
characterized by a monopoly on language . 1
The monopolisti c
practices began with Lenin's efforts to replace the Frenc h
revolutionary vocabulary with a special terminology of Leninis t
coinage and usage, but it was Stalin who perfected the monopol y
on language . Linguistic choice diminished as he strove fo r
axiological contrast with no linguistic neutral ground ; the
regular use of superlatives eliminated grounds fo r
differentiation ; the language was extensively bureaucratized an d
militarized, in an effort to reduce the dichotomy civil-military ;
finally, East and West took on Manichean properties in th e
language, with loan words stigmatized and Slavic roots revered .
Quantitatively, the end result of this rigid control ove r
1Libеr, No .2 (August 22, 1990), p .3 . The point is not lost o n
such spectator-participants as Vaclav Havel : see his "Words o n
Words," New York Review of Books, January 11, 1990, p .6 .
language was that, until the 1960's, the standard vocabulary o f
Soviet newspapers had been reduced to 1,500 words, wit h
practically no new political speech evident .
Language dissidence, in reaction to the Leninist an d
Stalinist legacy, became the hallmark of political speech in th e
1970's and 1980's . Many of the terms that were canonized earl y
in the Gorbachev era derive from the dissident struggle to ope n
up a political discourse stifled by the State-Party monopoly .
The loan word "consensus" arrives in Russian in the writings o f
Andrei Sakharov, and then migrates to Gorbachev's vocabulary, a s
do several of Gorbachev's early policy labels : for example ,
Sakharov's "Memorandum to the General Secretary TSK КР SS Comrad e
L .I . Brezhnev," 1972, long circulating in samizdat and onl y
officially published in the registered press in 1990, is th e
earliest identified source of the pattern of proximate occurrenc e
"glasnost' -demokratizatsiia in opposition to zastoi . "
Glasnost' .
The logocratic practice that dominated Sovie t
Russian political speech for seventy years remains visible in th e
new words coined since the emergence of glasnost' in 1987 ;
indeed, glasnost' is prima facie evidence of logocentric policy .
"Perestroika" is a prominent example of the state's remainin g
capacity to strip a word of meaning : it is so discredite d
linguistically that it is now the object of parodies, such a s
"perestruktirovanie" and the pejorative "perestroishchiki"' Th e
tendency in Soviet politics toward "an all-embracing idle chatte r
spilling over into linguistic meretriciousness" was criticized a s
2
one of seven centrifugal tendencies in Soviet society in
prominent 1989 analysis of Soviet politics . 2
а
It is more likely ,
however, that diversification of political discourse is
а welcom e
development in а society starved for pluralism .
Countervailing linguistic strategies have also developed i n
the period of glasnost', many of them marked linguistically b y
the political struggle with the logocracy :
-- words coined in the dissident and later the democrati c
press are "coopted" into official discourse ;
-- foreign loan words are borrowed heavily from English ,
mostly from the domain of the social sciences ;
-- words with negative, often anti-nationalist connotation s
are attributed to the democratic opposition ;
-- words from a military vocabulary are used to legitimiz e
bureaucratic functions ;
-- structural features of the language are employed t o
create categories of political opposition to the status qu о ante ;
-- words are coined to fill "empty sets" in the Leninis t
political vocabulary .
It is clear that political discourse is increasingly an arena fo r
the struggle to disestablish the centrist logocratic tradition .
Language, Nation and the West .
Political speech has bee n
most reactive to the idea of nation unleashed by glasnost' . The
18th century term "rossiiane" has been retrieved to refer to th e
2Academician G .V . Osipov et al, Sotsial'naiaisotsial'nopoliticheskaia situatsiia v SSSR : sostoianieiprognoz, Moscow :
Moscow State University Press, p .4 .
3
ethnically Russian population, as distinct from the Russian speaking (russoiazynchnyi) population that has preempted the ter m
russkii .
Archaic syntax and other stylistic devices are employed
in order to evoke Russian as distinct from modernized Europea n
roots .
The most heated battles occur over the legitimate term for a
political phenomenon . Conservatives introduce veз ternizm as a
term to stigmatize the liberal tradition of zapadnichestvo ;
entrepreneurial activity is lampooned by the ludicrous coinag e
individual'shchik ; overtones of National Socialism ("Lebensraum" )
are invoked in zhiznennoe prostranstvo ; Solzhenitsyn bids t o
replace perestroika with a set of terms deriving from obustroit' .
Structurally, the language is employed to undermine a n
opponent's political doctrine, and often etymology (Slavic versu s
Western European) is one of the weapons as well . Thus, th e
democratic reformers attack the Center for its psevdoperestroika ,
while the hardliners counter with lzheperestroika ; Centrists try
to retain the socialist mantle with a campaign agains t
lzhesotsializm . The language is employed semantically an d
structurally in order to fill in the blanks in politica l
development that has been retarded by the exclusive Leninis t
politics .
А Leninist language in which there was only the ter m
sotsialisticheskii vybor is augmented by the coinag e
demokraticheskii vybor .
The democratic opposition's policy o f
"destructivism" is visible in the category of coinages tha t
utilize the prefix "de-" : "deofficialization," "desovietization, "
4
"demonopolization," "departization," "deideologization, "
"destatization," "depoliticization . "
It is likely that the August coup d'etat and its aftermat h
(dubbed the "August Revolution") will perpetuate the tendencie s
the previous six years of linguistic change have established .
"Debolshevization" has been added to the list, while th e
banishment of the Party has provided Soviet politics with th e
opportunity for a new term -- partization -- that is in harmony
with its root . Although Communist authority remains in what ar e
now termed "Communist refuges," most former Party members becam e
what are derisively termed "Communist mutants ." The struggl e
over a Western reference point in new vocabulary continues i n
post-coup speech
(parteigenosse), as the massive borrowing o f
Western terms to describe unprecedented phenomena continues ,
e .g ., "collaborationist," "Regent of the Russian Monarchy, "
"junta" and "putsch . "
"A Short Dictionary of Russian Political Terms 1985-Present "
(available upon request from the offices of the National Counci l
for Soviet and East European Research), documents the use of a
representative 300 new political terms . It is the core of th e
2,500 entry "Keywords in Russian Politics since 1985 : A Lexica l
and Critical Commentary," to be completed by September, 1992, an d
published by Oxford University Press in 1993 .
September, 1991
Elliott Mossma n
5
Changing Patterns of Soviet Political Discourse ,
1985 -- Presen t
Elliott Mossman
University of Pennsylvani a
1
Soviet political discourse is undergoing а process of change in the er a
of perestroika. In order to better understand the nature and extent o f
these changes we have to compare the patterns of th е present day an d
traditional Soviet political speech .
The Soviet state as а totalitarian system is often c a lled a logocracy, o r
government by words, functioning to create an illusion of legitimacy, on e
that conceals reality while it retains an encoded connection to it . А specific
feature of Soviet political discourse has been that its primary element, th e
word, is stripped of immanent meaning and given new meaning by thos e
who con trol its use.
Vaclav Havel pointed out in his speech on th е occasion of receiving
thе West German publishers' and book dealers' Peace Prize that th е
essence of thе dissidents' fight for civil rights against th е communis t
totalitarian regime often consisted in unmasking а communist terminology
with its fictional semantics and restoring th е real meanings of words .
He said :
At last I reach th е beautiful word "peace ." I have read it for forty
years in our country on every roof and in every report. An allergy to
this beautiful word has been created in me and my compatriots ,
because I know what it has designated for forty years : armies ,
powerful and gaining in strength, which allegedly ar е defending peace .
Sevеral Don Quixotes of "Charter-77" and their younger c o ll eagues of
thе Independent Association for Peace succeeded in rehabilitating thi s
word and restoring its original meaning despite th е lengthy process of
systematica lly stripping the word "peace" of its proper sense and ,
moreover, filling it with a meaning opposite to its dictionary meaning .
2
We had to paу dearly for this semantic "perestroika," i .e., for turning
thе word "peace" upside down . Almost all the young leaders of th e
Independent Association for Peace have served prison terms of several
months . But it was important: one word was saved from total
devaluation. And this, as I am striving t о explain here, is far fro m
saving only one word . It is saving something more important .
All th е important events of th е real world -- beautiful and ugly - arе always preceded by a prelude in th е sphere of words. 1
Characteristic features of totalitarian language were described man y
times in some detail . The first to do it was Victor Klemperer wh oin1946
gave a brilliant first-hand description of th е political language of Naz i
Germany, calling it "th е Language of th е Third Empire" (Lingua Tertii
Imperil) or Nazi-Dеutsс h.2
Thе role of a "new language" as a tool of totalitarian oppression in th е
Soviet Union was better understood only after an analogous language ha s
been formed in Nazi Germany, although its main features had bee n
properly anal уz еd by A.M . Sеlishсhеv as early as 1928 .3 After th е
introduction of th е term "Newspeak" by George Orwe ll in 1948, has been
borrowed into man y languages, bringing a better recognition of th е terrible
consequences of language manipulation in totalitarian societies . Since
Poland began its struggle for reforms earlier than other Fast Europea
n
communist countries, much has been accomplished there to d еsс rib е
communist "Newspeak." А special study of thе language of communis t
propaganda was published Warsaw in 1979 .4
In th е most recent Sovie t
discussions, th е analogy of thе German Nazi language and Soviet Russia
n
Newspeak has been advanced by some democrats as an axiom . 5
3
The main features of thе Soviet political language, which formed in
Lenin's time, but achieved full development under Stalin's rule and persis t
to this day ar е the following :
1) a tendency to axiological contrast and a lack of neutra l
expressions ;
2) ritualism linked with pragmatism;
3) а magical character, that is, а tendency to create a pseudoreality;
4) arbitrariness as regards th е choice of themes ;
5) thе redefinition of concepts ;
6) propagandistic expression together with th е widespread use of
superlatives ;
7) thе bureaucratization of language;
8) thе widespread introduction of military terminology ;
9) thе widespread use of abbreviated forms .6
Thе epoch of glasnost initiated an open discussion of many sombre
aspects of thе Soviet political system, including th е manipulation o f
political language . For example, Anаtоlii Strеlianуi, a popular liberal
essayist, called thе current practice of tabooing certain concepts by not
giving them direct and clear designations "communist bashfulness ." He
wrote: "Wе would rather have our tongues ripped out than openly ca ll a
private craftsman a private craftsman, a workers' enterprise a workers '
enterprise, а gathering of citizens meeting freely and independently of th е
authorities a free and independent gathering ." 7
Commenting on thе fact that even th е latest edition (1 9 7 9 ) of thе
Soviet Encyclopedic Dictionary omits th е entry ложъ
(lie) which is a ke y
notion for thе understanding of thе nature of Soviet political language an d
a ll thе law terminology, th е Soviet philosopher G . Guseinov writes :
4
The key word, rejected from the beginning by ideology .. . is squeezed
into а zone of total specific silence : it the house of а hanged ma n
nobody mentions the rope .
The social force, which seized the language, first said that it wil l
eliminate only the superfluous in the language, but then promised t o
eliminate everything that is not " tr uth." Thе speaker of language, wh o
lоуa ll у adapted himself to the conditions of the experiment to remain
its user, needs exact instructions, and he finds them at every step . As
every latest instruction, introducing new rules, eliminates all th e
preceding ones, the language speaker is developing strong speec h
habits : suspicion of the truthfulness of the text and respect for the truth
of the subtext, contempt for dimwittedness, a preference to definen
a
object instead
of its cognition via th eword
...8
Speaking of the same techniques of Soviet political languag e
manipulation, a Soviet lawyer, N.S . Barabasheva, observed that Georg e
Orwеll 's thesis, "no concept, hence, there are no realia", was widel y
practiced in Soviet legal literature . For examр l е, the entry проституци я
(prostitution) is absent in the latest edition (1987) of the Sovie t
Encyclopedic Law Dictionary, which leads to the inference that in 198 7
prostitution did not exist in the Soviet Union . She writes that the formula
" под руководством коммунистической партии"
("under th e
leadership of the Communist party"), common in Soviet legal acts, wa s
endowed with a magic quality -- success in an activity, without Party
responsibility for its ехесutiоп .9
The description of the brainwashing techniques of Sovie t
propaganda is a popular subject in the contemporary Soviet liberal press .
These are :
5
1) tagging (positive tags for everything communist, negative fo r
everything non-coмmunist) ;
2) preaching of hatred for everything non-communist;
3) maniрulаtiоn of information (te ll ing of semi-truth and lies) ;
4) concealing th е true views of thеir opponents ;
5) bo rrowing of slogans (for example, thе "Moral Code of th е Builder of
Communism" was modeled on th е Christ's Sermon of thе Mount) .10
Much of what is called thе process of glasnost and perestroika has
been played out not in reality, but in th е sphere of words. Leading Sovie t
sociologists see one of thе main reasons for thе failure of this process o f
glasnost and perestroika in "all-embracing idle talk which is turning int o
mere verbiage ." 11 In their verbal exchanges both Soviet reformers an d
counter-reformers arе using th е same traditional devices of Soviet politica l
discourse . Perestroika did not bring with it th е destruction of th е
traditional Soviet political language with its tagging habits and use o f
hackneyed phrases . Its main structure and pa tte rn s survive, and new
branches ar е simply grafted onto th е old treе. Vaclav Havel warned th е
international community of this phenomenon :
The splendid word 'perestroika' which is giving hope sounds today
throughout thе entire world . A ll of us believe that hope for Europe an d
thе whole world looms behind this word .
But I confess that in spite of this, I am speaking of fear that thi s
word must not become a new incantation, must not tu rn into a cudgel ,
with which someone is thrashing us . I am not worried about my own
homeland: on thе lips of its rulers this word sounds approximately th е
same way as "Our Gracious Sovereign th е Emperor" on th е lips of
Shveik .
б
I am worried about something else : that the same statesman wh o
rules now in th е Kremlin is tossing accusations (maybe out of despair )
at thе striking workers, or mutinous nations and minorities, o r
unwanted ideological minorities that endanger perestroika . I
understand that it is immensely difficult to fulfi ll this gigantic task
which he took upon himself, that everything is hanging by a thread ,
and almost anything may tear this thr еаd, and then all of us together
wi ll fall into an abyss. But, nevertheless, I ask : this "new thinking, "
does it contain serious traces of thе old thinking? Do not we hearn
a
echo of old stereotypes of thinking and power-language rituals? Doe s
not th е word "perestroika" begin here, there, and everywhere to
remind us of th е word "socialism," especia lly when it is used to bea t
about th е head th е same man who was for so long and so unjustl y
beaten with thе word "socialism"? 12
Evaluating th е signs of successful survival and persistence o f
traditional Soviet totalitarian discourse after 1985 we may indicate som e
of thе salient features of the modern Soviet political speech that confir m
this trend :
1) prеsегvatiоn of traditional keywords of Soviet political discourse:
контрпропaгaнда (counter-propaganda) ,
эконоmический саботаж (economic sabotage), врaг перестройки, нации (enemy of perestroika,
nation),
саботажники (saboteurs), террористы
заговорщики
(spiritual saboteurs), агенты (agents) ,
(plotters), духовные диверсанты
Отечество
(terrorists) ,
(Fatherland), etc .;
2) preservation of thе long-practiced and proven techniques of denigratin g
an opponent:
7
а) ca ll ing anу opponent of the communist regime а fascist (e .g. ,
демократы
фашисты
arе often referred to by Soviet conservatives as
[fascists], hence th еу ar е also called either)демократы - фашисты
[democrats-fascists] and демофашисты [demo-fascists]) ;
b) tagging an opponent by a word in inverted commas or precede d
by лже - (false-) and псевдо - (pseudo-) (e .g ., democrats arе called by thе
conservatives "демократы " ["democrats"], лжедемократы
demoсrats], and псевдодемократы
с)
[false-
[pseudo-democrats]) ;
borrowing th е terminology of th е opponents (e.g ., Sovie t
democrats, who were on th е Soviet left, were calling Soviet conservative s
правые
[thе rightists], the Soviet Communist party in its counterattack o n
thе democrats in early 1991 started to call them правые
[rightists] in
order to denigrate them and to tu rn thе tables on them) ;
3) preservation of thе traditional Soviet political terminology, an d
enhancing its status by th е use of th е attributes
новый
(new) ,
новый Союз (new Union) ,
обновленный
Союз (rejuvenated Union), новая Федерация
(new
Federation), обновленная Федерация (rejuvenated Federation), or b y
adding thе word обновление (renovation), e .g., обновление
социализма (renovation of socialism), обновление форм и методов
(renovation of thе forms and methods of th е
работы парторганиза ций
work of party organizations), обновление Компартии
(renovation o f
обновл енный
(rejuvenated), e .g.,
thе Communist party), etc .
Soviet rulers over thе years seem to have used up most of th е
positive attributes for embellishing th е word
победивший
социализм социализм
социализм
(socialism) -
(triumphant socialism), развитой
(developed socialism), зрелый социализм (mature socialism) ; n оw, when
8
thе crisis of socialism in the USSR is an o рen secret, they сап call only for
oбновленый социализм (renovated socialism) ; but thеу could not fin d
"лвечискцмо any counterslogan to the liberal сo ц и ал изм
с
("socialism with a human face"), borrowed into Russian from th е
Czechoslovak communist reformers of 1968 and now widely used b y
Soviet democrats while th е Communist ideologists prefer to use its varian t
гуманный социализм (human socialism) ; thеу had to adopt th е sloga
n
of Western social democrats "демократический сoциализм - (democrati c
socialism) ;
4) thе basic structure of core communist slogans has hardly changed i n
recent years (thе aim is communism, th е principal moving force -- th е
Communist party, th е main subject -- thе Soviet people, thе main function
of a man -- work) . But as th е Soviet Union is transforming into a
multiparty society there arе certain changes in th е use ofcomunist
slogans . They become more universal in character and more varied .
Comparison of th е October revolution anniversary slogans for 198 8
through 1990 reveals that, as th е party was in retreat under thе pressur e
of thе democratic forces in these years, thе essence of thе core slogans was
preserved, though th е frequency of thе main Communist symbols wa s
decreasing (e .g ., in 1988 Lenin was mentioned twi се as великий
(great Lenin), once in большевики-ленинцы
Ленин
(Bolsheviks-Leninists), onc e
inленинская
марксизм-ленинизм (Marxism-Leninism), once i n
национальная
пол итика
(Lenin's national policy) ; КПСС
(CPSU - thе
Communist
партия
Party of thе Soviet Union) three times, of them once as
(th е Рarty) 13 . In 1989 Lenin was mentioned only once and CPSU twi се , one
of them as партия
(thе Party), but all other words and expressions abov e
(Bolsheviks-Leninists, Marxism-Leninism, Lenin's national policy) wer e
9
dropped . 14 In 1990, Lenin was mentioned once, and CPSU also о nсе , named
simply as партия (thе Party), while the other words of the 1988 slogan s
mentioned
.15
above were not used a tal
Gorbachev's aim in introducing perestroika in 1985 was not t o
destroy th е communist doctrine, but to adapt it to modern conditions . It
would be appropriate to mention here that his very choice of thе terms
перестройка (restructuring), гласность (glasnost - openness, but not
свобода слова [freedom of speech]), демократизация
but not демократия
(democratization ,
[democracy]) shows th е limits of his reformis t
approach . It would be instructive to l еarn what th е Communist Part
y
ideologists understand by glasnost . In thе latest Soviet dictionary of
political terms we find :
Glasnost - thе maximal openness and truthfulness in th е activity o f
state and public organizations. Glasnost presupposes th е absence o f
zones closed for criticism. .. But at thе same tim е glasnost is no t
synonymous with universal permissiveness, undermining of Socialist
values ; it is invoked to strengthen socialism, th е socialist code o f
morals. 16
Reading this definition it is difficult to understand what glasnost i
е maximum truthful description of events or is it th е necessity to sith
strengthen "thе socialist code of morals ." For in thе past years thе first wa s
often sacrificed for thе sake of th е second in thе USSR .17
The limits of Soviet political innovations, as re fl ected in political
vocabulary, can be shown by th е following example . The Moscow mayo r
Gavriil Popov published in 1990 his program of political and economi c
reforms in which he liberally used new political terms coined by th е Soviet
democrats, all of which started with th е prefix де
10
- (de-) :
,
денационализация (denationalization), etc . Sensing the dangerou s
character of all of these terms which imply th е destruction of existin g
Soviet structures, th е conservative Soviet mass media viciously attacke d
Popov :
It happens that under th е simple and understanda ble "Down with. . .!" a
pseudo-theoretical basis is built, and then after a naked and primitiv e
,
negation an elegant "de-" is born : defederalization, desovietization
depolitization, etc . In order to let you understand th е truth I sugges t
that, instead of a ll of these "de-", use only one: "de-Popovization" . Try it,
and you will understand a lot . 1 8
On thе other hand, communist hard-liners ar е calling their opponent s
, деструктивные силы
(destructive forces) who aim at the "демонтаж
социализма" (dismantling of socialism) .
The era of perestroika, which lasted for at least five years (1985 1990 ; now we often hear of постперестройка [postperestroika]) may b e
divided into twо periods: 1985-1987 -- a ппаратная
перестройка
(perestroika done by thе apparatus) and after 1988 -- демократи
ческа я
перестройка (democratic perestroika) . If during thе first period it was
thе party and state apparatus who set thе pace of perestroika from above ,
during thе second period th еir firm control over th е process got out o f
hand.
It is during th е first period that most of th е terminological
innovations came from above and, precisely, from Gorbachev himself . It
was as if th е populace, frightened by decades of repression and used to a
carefully supervised political vocabulary, first tasted some new, very
limited freedom of expression . During th е second period, however, thi s
11
situation changed drastically and new terms started to b е coined by th e
larger society .
The real innovator in political vocabulary was not Gorbachev himsel f
but his closest advisers and speech writers (such as A . Iakovlev, G .
Shakhnazarov, and others) who, extremely well versed in th е history o f
Marxism-Leninism and Russian history and well acquainted with th е
writings of Soviet dissidents and with modern Western political culture ,
suggested to Gorbachev new terms and expressions .
Whу does Gorbachev consider перестройка (perestroika) to be th е
most important of his thr ее slogans гласность
(glasnost), ускор
ени
(acceleration) and перестройка (perestroika)? А possible explanation for
it was suggested by M . Kaganskаiа. 19 Gorbachev's perestroika is th е second
Soviet perestroika. The first one was intrоduсеd by Stalin in th е 1930s .
Stalin used twо synonymous terms реконструкция
(reconstruction) an d
перестройка (restructuring) . The first one meant technica l
reconstruction, thе building of industry, and th е second -- th е
restructuring of consciousness, th е creation of a new Soviet man, who will
be an atheist and a devoted communist . Stalin also used th е word
перестройка to designate restructuring of Communist party organizations .
It is symptomatic that L . Kaganovich, who was Stalin's right hand man ,
suggested recently in an interview that Gorbachev's perestroika is a
continuation of a process started in Stalin's times .
He said :
We have to act decisively, to explain to th е people what ha s
happened, because thе people suffer without an explanation . А wide
discussion should be started, but thеу say that it is against perestroika .
Why? Not at all . I am for perestroika, for reforms . My report of th е XII I
12
Party Congress on the organizational proms ems of the Party starte d
dirесtlу with the word "perestroika" .20
Gorbachev defines perestroika as " революция
сверху " (revolutio n
from above) which has to create обнов ленное общество (renovate d
society) . Developing this idea of renovation, Gorbachev writes :
. ..It will be a renovated society . We began such a serious matter, a
very difficult one . But it is possible to interpret and evaluate facts i n
various ways . There is a parable: a wayfarer approaches people wh o
are building an edifice and asks the builders : what are you doing? On e
of them answers with irritation: look, we are hauling the devil's stones
from morning to evening . . . Another one got up from his knees ,
straightened himself up and said : you see, we are building a Temple! 2 1
Gorbachev sees Soviet society renovated by perestroik a
as a Temple (he writes the word Храм [Temple] with a capital X) . At th e
same time he sees perestroika as a direct continuation of the Bolshevi k
October Revolution . By using the word perestroika as a key word of hi s
reforms Gorbachev is pursuing a polemical objective : his secon d
perestroika will be an exact opposite to Stalin 's first perestroika, associate d
with terror. His perestroika will be done by the whole Soviet society, an d
not by the proletariat only, and it wi ll bring renovation to the whole
society .
By the same reasoning the key word glasnost could not serve as th e
centerpiece key word because it is directly associated with Tsar Alexande r
II's liberal policies, removed in time and not immediate in Soviet history .
The teрм "ново
е политическое мышление
" (new political
филося thinking) is a new one (as its synonym Gorbachev use s
(philosophy) . Both refer to international relations and are connected wit h
13
an appeal to деидеологизация межгосуда рственных отношений" (deideologization
риоритет
of intergovernmental relations) andn
общечеловейеских ценностей " (prio гity of universal human values) .
But some of his other teðms ar е closely connected with thе Russia
n
cultural tradition and Orthodox Christianity . Such ar е thе terms
соборность " (conciliarism) and мир " (mir, thе Russian villag e
community) . The first one was introduced by thе founder of th е Russia
n
slavophile movement Alexei Khomiakov (1804-1860), and th е second wa s
one of thе main concepts of thе slavophile movement. Other of his terms ,
such as "духовность " (spirituality), ду ховнoе возрождение
revival), "нравственность " (morals), " нрав ственное очи
purification), милосердие
" (spiritual
щение (moral
" (charity), refer to purely religious values .
It can be easily shown that most of Gorbachev's key words and
slogans were borrowed from thе vocabulary of Soviet dissidents of th е 60's
and 70's, and particularly from th е Samizdat writings of A. Sakharov an d
A. Solzhenitsyn, who called for ликвидация
застоя (liquidation o f
stagnation."23), for гласность (glasnost), конвергенция систем
(convergence of systems), консенсус (consensus), правoвое
государств о
(law-governed
демократизатция state), духовность (spirituality) ,
(democratization) . For example, Solzhenitsyn wrote in 1969 : "Glasnost ,
honest and full glasnost - this is th е first condition of a healthy state in any
society ." 22 Sakharov demanded in his memorandum to L . Brezhnev "thе
liquidation of stagnation ." 23 The word "glasnost" is mentioned in thi s
memorandum nine times .
Having heavily borrowed political terms from dissidents, Gorbache v
seems to interpret them in his own way . He was more than once accused o f
it by Soviet democrats . А leading Soviet democrat lu . Afanas'ev wrote :
14
The followers of th е Advanced Teaching in the person of th e
President of thе USSR (who was "elected" in thе worst traditions of th е
Stalinist "constitutional democratism") and his team willingly operat e
within th е whole set of democratic terms borrowed from "the forme r
dissident" A . Sakharov, among them with th е term "consensus" .
However, in this case, as in his other pseudo- гthеtогiсal exercises, M.
Gorbachev puts into "consensus" a meaning which is different from th е
one accepted throughout thе world : while th е universal democrati c
practice understands by "consensus" a general agreement on the basi s
of mutual compromises, for th е General Secretary of thе Central
Committee of thе CPSU this term means a universal unconditiona l
agreement, in essence, with a directive given from above by th е Central
Commi ttee on thе basis of an "unanimous decision" taken there by th е
anonymous "decision makers" 2 4
Other important key words of Gorbachev's program, such a s
приватизация (privatization),
плюрализм
(pluralism), рынок (market) ,
рыночная экoномика (market economy) were almost never mentioned i n
Samizdat and were borrowed by him from th е West, probably mediate d
through Poland and Hungary, where these ideas were widely discusse d
and tried out.
It would be interesting to compare th е patterns of discourse in th е
official Soviet propaganda under Stalin, in th е Samizdat literature of th е
60's and 70's and in thе Soviet mass media today. The most fascinating fac t
is thе continuity of key words, ideas and slogans of struggle and
confrontation in all these three types of texts . We find in all of them suc h
key words as Браг (enemy), предатель
(traitor), борьба
(struggle) ,
война (war), бой (battle), фронт (front), соратник (comrade-in-arms), etc.
15
This kind of confrontation mentality developed by th е Soviet syste m
during decades of its indoctrination activity remained and remains a
telling characteristic sign of most of th е political texts produced in th е
USSR.
It is especially strong today when terms like враги
пepecтройкии
(thе enemies of perestroika) and враги нации (th е enemies of nation) arе
freely traded on th е Soviet political scene by all sides involved in politica l
debates.
The sources of modern Soviet political terminology ar е multiple:
Western ideas, traditional Russian political thought, Russian Orthodo x
religion, Soviet opposition to Stalin in th е 20's and 30's, etc .
Western terminology, especially Western economic terms ,form
perhaps th е most significant stratum of neologisms in modern Sovie t
political and economic discourse . Such arе thе terms рыночная
экономика (market economy), свободный
рынок (free market), бизнес
(business), бизнесмен (businessman), имид ж
(image), рейтинг (rating) ,
менеджep (manager), презентация (presentation), м аркетинr
(marketing),
конверсия (conversion), плюрализм
фермер
(pluralism) ,
(farmer), спонсор (sponsor), etc.
It is slightly absurd that th е Soviets arе introducing ne w
designations of institutions and posts according to a Western pattern ,
though th е essence of th е regime has hardly changed : президен т
(president), вице-президент
муниципалитет
(vice president), парламент (parliament) ,
(municipality), etc.
In in troducing Western terminology, modern Soviet rulers caused a
wide reappraisal of thе semantics of terms of Western origin which wer e
borrowed into Russian before, when thеy usually referred to Western
realia . For example, thе word бизнесм ен (businessman) previousl y
16
referred only to Western businessman and had thе negative connotation о f
a wheeler-dealer . Nowadays, it refers also to Soviet businessmen and it s
connotation is, as a rule, a positive one . Thе words коррупция
мафия
(mafia), рэкет (racket), рэкетир
(corruption ,
(racketeer) referred once only t o
Western realia, while now the definition of these words in dictionaries ha s
to be revised as thеy denote also realia of modern Soviet life .
Another source of new terms arе authors lik е Trotsky, who was i n
opposition to Stalin, and leading figures of th е Russian emigration . Trotsky
was thе first to introduce into Russian thе expression Сталин
и
его
команда (Stalin and his team) which has gained wide currency now ; we
hear today of Горбачев
Ельцин
и
и его команда (Gorbachev and his team) ,
его команда (Yeltsin and his team), etc .
А term coined by Trotsky in 1932 is сталинщина (Stalinism) which
is widеly used today . Thе Russian emigre religious philosopher N .A.
Berdiaev (1874-1948) introduced th е term русская èäåÿ (Russian idea) ,
which espoused Russia's moral and spiritual superiority over the world ,
particularly over the West, and Russia's mission to save th е world from
decadence .25 This notion was also discussed in th е Samizdat in th е 70's and
80's.
Today the term русская ид ея has become common and eve n
acquired an antonym . Speaking of their own national aspirations ,
individual Soviet republics speak of their националная идея (national
idea) which is th е opposite of thе Russian idea .
National movements in the present-day USSR provide a ric h
vocabulary of new political terms . In this way many new borrowings fro m
thе languages of th е repuЫics arе entering modern Russian political
discourse . These arе thе new names of repu Ы ics : Татарстан (Tatarstan) ,
17
Кыргызстан (Kyrgyzstan), Молдова (Moldova), республик a
Якутия
-Саха (Republic
of Iakutia-Sakha) ,
Приднестровская
ресиублика
(Dniester Republic), Гагазская республика (Gagauzian Republic) ; thе
names
Армянская
of armies and military units in th е republics :
на национaльнaя армия (Агmenian National Army), Мхедрио
Щевардени
, Тетри
ни
Георги (Mkhedrioni, Shevardeni, Tetri Georgi --
names of Georgian military organizations), айсзарги (aiszargs -- th е name
of а Latvian voluntary para-military organization), etc ; thе names of
Republican national institutions and posts (usually a revival o f
примар
designations
used in thе pre-Soviet period), e .g. : in Moldova - (mayor), примария
(municipality), жудец
(region), триколор
(traditional
Rumanian
интерфрoнт fl ag), etc; names of various national movements :
(Interfront -- organizations of th е Russian speaking population, supportin g
thе Central Moscow government, in Baltic republics and Moldova) ,
Народный
фронт (рорular front -- organizations in a number of repu Ыic s
supporting refoгms and thе national sovereignty of a republic), Рук (Rukh
- thе biggest national movement in th е Ukraine), Саюдис (Sajudis - th е
Lithuanian national movement), etc.
In thе conditions of confrontation of th е local population and the
Russian language population in th е national repuЫics thе following terms
have been coined : русскоязычные (Russian-speaking population -denoting people of any nationality living as a Russian-speaking minority i n
a national republic), оккканты (occupiers), мигранты (migrants) ,
кол о исты (colonists) -- names given by th е national majority to thе
Russian-speaking minority in a republic ( рarticularlу in Baltic repuЫics
and Moldova) .
18
The Nazi racist terminology has been borrowed by the members o f
the Russian nationalist organization Pamiat' : иудомасо ны,
d
жидомасоны (Judeomasons), юде (Jew, cf. German Jude), etc. This movement create
terms сионизация (zionization -- the in fl uence of Jews in Russian society )
and десионизация (dezionization -- the freeing of the Russian people o f
Jewish in fl uence), and красные сионисты (Red Zionists -- Jews in hig h
government positions) .
A . Shafarevich introduced the terms русофобия
hatred of Russians by the Jews), Б о ьшой
Russians) and Малый
(Russophobia - -
народ (Big people -- th e
народ (Small people -- the Jews) in his book On
Russophobia, a genuine Soviet version of Mein Kampf, published in 1989 ,
y
but wгitten and distгibuted in Samizdat for over a quarter of a centur
before .26
Traditional Russian political terminology, swept aside by the Octobe r
revolution and used since to denote only historical realia, has been revive d
together with the reinstatement of corresponding realia: гласность
(glasnost), mир
(mir, Russian village соmmunity), дворянстю (gentry) ,
атаман (ataman, Cossack chieftain), казачий
земство
крyг (Cossack council) ,
(zemstvo, the elective district council in Russia, 1864-1917), уезд
(uiezd, the lowest administrative division), биржа (exchange), биржевик
(stockbroker), etc .
As some of the new political parties in the USSR (by some count s
there are over 1500 such parties) accepted names of parties which existe d
in tsarist Russia, corresponding terms have been revived : кадет (cadet ,
constitutional democrat ; the constitutional-democrat parry was a majo r
liberal-monarchic party in Russia[1905-1917]), монархист (monarchi
,
member of monarchic organizations in Russia in 1905-1907, which forme d
19
in 1911 the Русский монархичес кий союз [Тhe Russian Monarchic Union]) ,
меньшевик
(Menshevik, а member of а social-democratic movemen t
formed after а split with the Bolsheviks in 1903 ; it existed in Russia unti l
1918), эсер ( а member of the socialist-revolutionary party which existe d
in tsarist Russia in 1901-1918), etc .
The authorship of many new political terms can be precisel y
established . For example, th е term заединщики (zaiedinshchiks - the
name of an influential group of Russian nationalist writers, who strive fo r
неде"integral
лимую
an
and indivisible Russia" [ за
ед иную и
Россию]) was coined by th е literary critic Tatiana Ivanova in 1988 ; thе
term обстроить
and обустройство (to organize and organization) wa s
introduced by A . Solzhenitsyn in 1990 as an alte rnative to перестроить
and
перестройка
манкурт
(to reconstruct and reconstruction) 27 ; thе term
(a person who forgot his historical roots) was first in troduced by
Ch.Aitmatov in 1981, негл асный помощ
euphemistic designation of a KGB informer)
ник (covert assistant,n
a
was introduced by thе head of
thе KGB, V . Kriuchkov, in 1990 .
One of thе intriguing aspects of th е present liberals' and thе hardliners' speech is th е use by both sides of basically thе same Soviet political
terminology (th е old Stalinist one plus its many new elements, especia ll y
in thе sphere of economics) to tu rn thе tables on an opponent. Thus we
have пропаганда and контрпропаrанда (propaganda an d
counterpropaganda), реформа
оrm), нежная pеволюция
and контррефорmа (reform
an
(gentle revolution, i .e. а nonviolen
dcounterf
t
revolution, a term borrowed in 1989 from Czech) -- нежная
контрреволюция
(gentle counterrevolution, i .e ., a nonviolen t
counterrevolution) . While it was th е liberals who started to call the hard -
20
liners необольшевики
(Neobolsheviks), this term is now applied to the m
by
перестройки
the hard-liners . Both sides call each other враги
(enemies of perestroika) .
The prognosis for the future development of the Soviet politica l
terminology looks as follows . The basic body of terms and expressions o f
the totalitarian period will remain in use, being permanently revised an d
enriched by new elements . The main problem seems to be not th e
conservativism of the terminology itself, but the self perpetuating
bureaucratic style of speech used by ^11 the opposing forces . O. Latsis
writes : "We have to admit with sorrow that the democratic press of our
day is no less prone to express itself in stock phrases than th e
bureaucratized press of old times . Onl у the set of cliches has changed. The
place of the Great Lenin is occupied by the Evil Lenin, the place of th e
Glorious Way -- by 73 Years of Continuous Mistakes, and instead o f
movement into a Bright Future th еy demand now the Return to
Civil izatiоп." 28
The essence of the old Stalinist totalitarian regime has bee n
thoroughly described and criticized in the USSR (cf . its description by
административныя
terms
like тоталитаризм
(totalitarianism), командно
-
система
(the command-administrative system) ,
командно-репрессивная
система (command-repressive system), советская империя
(the Sovie t
empire), etc . But the struggle for reforms and for their successful
implementation will take a long time and its outcome is far from certain .
The patterns of Soviet bureaucratic speech have pe r
m
eated Russia
n
everyday speech too deeply, and even under the best scenario of quic k
and effective democratic refo r ms it may take at least a generation to b e
21
gradually squeezed out of usage and replaced by а new, cardinally
different kind of Russian political language .
1 V .Havel, Slovo о slovakh [A Word about Words], "Russkaia Mysl"', " Paris, Nо .3799 ,
October 27, 1989,1).5.
2 Victor Klemperer, Die unbewaltigte Sprache . Aus dem Notizbuch eines Philologer "LTI" ,
Leipzig, 1948 .
3 A .M . Selishchev, Iazyk revoliutsionnoi epokhi . Iz nabliudeni .i nad russkim iazyko m
poslednikh let . 1917-19 2 6 . [The Language of the Revolutionary Epoch . Some Remarks o n
the Russian Language of the R е cent Years 1917-1926], Moscow, 1928 .
4 J"zyk propagandy . Opracowali S . Amsterd аmski, A . Jaw=owska, T. Kowalik, Warszawa ,
Niezale/na Oficyna Wydawnicza, marzec 1979 .
5 luri Mann, Govorim kak dum ает . Zametki о iazyke, istorii о nas samikh [We Speak th е
y
Way We Think . Notes on Language, History and on Ourselves], "Izvestia", No .16, Januar
18, 1991, р .7 .
6 Cf. M . Bro<ski, Totalitarny j"zу k kommunizmu [Th е Totalitarian Language of
Communism], in : "Kultura," Paris, 1979, No .12, pp .91-99 .
7 A. StreLianyi, Nep о dkupnyi svidetel' [Incorruptible Witness], "Moskovskie Novosti" ,
1988, No .21, May 22, p .3 .
8 G .Ch . Gusejnov, Lozh' kak sostoianie s оznanh а [Li е as а State of Consciousness], "Voprosy
Filosofii", 1989, No .11, p р .67-68 .
9 N .S . Barabasheva, Slova, slova, sl о va . . . (Leksika nashikh pravovykh aktov) [Words ,
words, words . . . (Th е Vocabulary of our Legal Acts)], "Sovetskoe gosudarstvo i pravo" ,
1990, No .8, p р.82-90 .
10 V. Lyzlov, Azу kommunisticheskoi propagandy [The ABC of Communist Propaganda] ,
"Stolitsa", 1991, No .10, pp .15-1 б .
11 Sotsi аl'n а ia i sotsial' по-politicheskaia situatsiia v SSSR : sostoianie i prognoz [The Social
and Sociopolitical Situation in the USSR : the State-of-a п and a Prognosis], M о s соw ,
Moscow University Press, 1990, p .4 .
12 V . Havel, ibidem, p .5 .
13 Prizyvy TsK KPSS k 71-i godovshchine Velikoi Oktiabr'skoi Sotsialisticheskoi revoliutsi i
[Slogans of the Central Committee of CPSU for the 71 Anniversary of the Great Octobe r
Socialist Revolution], "Pravda", 1988, No .298, October 24, р .1 .
22
14 Prizyvy TsK KPSS k 72-i godovshchine Velikoi Oktiabr'skoi Sotsialisticheskoi revoliutsi i
[Slogans of the Central Committee of CPSU for the 72 Anniversary of the Great Octobe r
Socialist Revolution ] , "Рrаvdа ", 1989, No .305, November 1, p .1 .
15 Prizyvy TsK KPSS k 73-i godovshchine Velikoi Oktjabr'skoi S о tsi аlisti с h е skoi revoliutsi i
[Slogans of the Centrаl Committee of CPSU for 01( 273 Anniversary of the Great Octobe r
Socialist Revolution], "Pravda", 1990, No .297, October 24, p .1 .
16 Kratkii politicheskii slovar' [A Short Political Dictionary], Moscow, Politizdat, 1989 ,
рр .112-113 .
17 A .Iu . Vladimirov, [Letter to the Editor], "Ogonek", 1990, No .32, р .4 .
18 Iu . Golik, Nigiliatina [Nihilism], "Pravda", No.65, March 16, 1991, р .4 .
19 M . Kaganskaia, Marksizm i voprosy iazykoznaniia [Marxizm and the Problems o f
Linguistics], "22", Tel Aviv, 1988, No .59, рр .117-1 5 5 .
20 Chto oni govoriat [What They Say Now], "Literatu rn aia gazeta", 1991, No .7, February
20, р .4 .
21 M . Gorbachev, Perestroika i novoe myshlenie [Perestroika and New Thinking] ,
Moscow, Politizdat, 1988, р .2 .
22 A . Solzhenitsyn, Pis'mo S еkr е tari а tu SP RSFSR [A Letter to the Secretariat of th e
Writers Union of RSFSR], 1969, "Arkhiv Samizdata", No .333 .
23 A . Sakharov, Pamiatnaia zapiska LI .Brezhnevu i posleslovie k nei [A Memorandum t o
LI. Brezhnev and a Postface to It], "Arkhiv Samizdata", No .1136 .
24 A. Afanas'ev, "Mesto i zadachi politicheskoi oppozitsii v SSSR" . Dukhovnyi zave t
Sakharova ["Th е Place and Tasks of the Political Opposition in the USSR ." The Spiritua l
Behest of Sakharov], "Dov е ri е ", 1990, No .8, р .6 .
25 N. Berdiaev, The Russian Idea, New York, Macmillan, 1948 .
26 A . Shafarevich, O rusofobii [On Russophobia], "Nash Sovremennik", 1989, No .6, р .l 1 .
27 A . Solzhenitsyn, Kak nam obustroit' Rossiiu {How We Should Arrange M аtters i n
Russia], "Literaturnaia gazeta", 1990, No .38, September 18, pp .3- б .
28 O . Latsis, Maski . Kakoi politike sluzhat oni segodnia [Masks . What Politics They Serv e
Today], "Izvestia", 1991, No.60, March 11, p .3 .
23