|
Fartsovka
Fartsovka (Russian: фарцовка) is a slang term for the illegal purchase/resale of hard-to-find or inaccessible to the average Soviet inhabitant of scarce imported goods banned in the USSR. Clothing and accessories were the overwhelming majority of supply and demand for fartsovki . Also popular were sound carriers (vinyl records, audio cassettes, reels), cosmetics, household items , books, etc. Fartsovka items, or the phenomenon itself was generally called "fartsa." The traders were mainly young people (students), as well as persons who, by the nature of their activities, have the opportunity to closely communicate with foreigners: guides, translators, taxi drivers, prostitutes , etc. The vast majority of buyers in the market for the sale of goods mined by black marketers (in the 1950s and 1960s ) were the so-called " Stilyagi." Later, in the 1970s and 1980s, everyone who had money and wanted to dress in an original way, purchase imported consumer goods or equipment, book ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spiv
In the United Kingdom, the word spiv is slang for a type of petty criminal who deals in illicit, typically black market, goods. The word was particularly used during the Second World War and in the post-war period when many goods were rationed due to shortages. According to Peter Wollen, "The crucial difference between the spiv and the classic Hollywood gangster was the degree of sympathy the spiv gained as an intermediary in the transfer of black market goods to ... a grateful mass of consumers."Peter Wollen (2002) ''Paris Hollywood - Writings on Film'' pp185–6 Origins The origin of the word is obscure. According to Eric Partridge the word was originally racecourse slang, but had become widely accepted by 1950. It appeared in a paperback crime novel in 1934.Axel Bracey (1934) ''School for Scoundrels'' (Rich and Cowan) The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that it may come from: *''spiffy'', meaning smartly dressed; *''spiff'', a bonus for salespeople (especially drap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gombeen Man
A gombeen man is a pejorative Hiberno-English term used in Ireland for a shady, small-time "wheeler-dealer" businessman or politician who is always looking to make a quick profit, often at someone else's expense or through the acceptance of bribes. Its origin is the Irish word "''gaimbín''", meaning monetary interest. The term referred originally to a money-lender and became associated with those shopkeepers and merchants who exploited the starving during the Irish Famine by selling much-needed food and goods on credit at ruinous interest rates. Cultural significance The despised image of the gombeen as an usurious predator on the poor was immortalized in the poem "The Gombeen Man" by Irish poet Joseph Campbell: While the phrase "gombeen man" is almost always intended without any religious or ethnic context, it can be applied in relation to other groups such as, in this instance, a Jewish man: Crime writer Kyril Bonfiglioli wrote a dark short story called "The Gombeen Man" a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russian Language
Russian (russian: русский язык, russkij jazyk, link=no, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language mainly spoken in Russia. It is the First language, native language of the Russians, and belongs to the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. It is one of four living East Slavic languages, and is also a part of the larger Balto-Slavic languages. Besides Russia itself, Russian is an official language in Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, and is used widely as a lingua franca throughout Ukraine, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and to some extent in the Baltic states. It was the De facto#National languages, ''de facto'' language of the former Soviet Union,1977 Soviet Constitution, Constitution and Fundamental Law of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, 1977: Section II, Chapter 6, Article 36 and continues to be used in public life with varying proficiency in all of the post-Soviet states. Russian has over 258 million total speakers worldwide. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national republics; in practice, both its government and its economy were highly centralized until its final years. It was a one-party state governed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, with the city of Moscow serving as its capital as well as that of its largest and most populous republic: the Russian SFSR. Other major cities included Leningrad (Russian SFSR), Kiev (Ukrainian SSR), Minsk ( Byelorussian SSR), Tashkent (Uzbek SSR), Alma-Ata (Kazakh SSR), and Novosibirsk (Russian SFSR). It was the largest country in the world, covering over and spanning eleven time zones. The country's roots lay in the October Revolution of 1917, when the Bolsheviks, under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the Russian Provisional Government ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stilyagi
Stilyagi ( rus, стиляги, p=sʲtʲɪˈlʲæɡʲɪ, "stylish, style hunters") were members of a youth counterculture from the late 1940s until the early 1960s in the Soviet Union. A stilyaga ( rus, стиляга, p=sʲtʲɪˈlʲaɡə) was primarily distinguished by snappy clothing—preferably foreign-label, acquired from ''fartsovshchiks'' (those who engage in ''fartsovka'') —that contrasted with the communist realities of the time, and a fascination with ''zagranitsa'', modern Western music and fashions corresponding to those of the Beat Generation. English writings on Soviet culture variously translated the derogatory term as "dandies", "fashionistas", "beatniks", " hipsters", or " zoot suiters". Today, the stilyagi phenomenon is regarded as one of the Russian historical social trends which further developed during the late Soviet era (notably the Stagnation Period) and allowed "informal" views on life, such as hippies, punks and rappers. Characteristics Their apo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Odessa
Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrative centre of the Odesa Raion and Odesa Oblast, as well as a multiethnic cultural centre. As of January 2021 Odesa's population was approximately In classical antiquity a large Greek settlement existed at its location. The first chronicle mention of the Slavic settlement-port of Kotsiubijiv, which was part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, dates back to 1415, when a ship was sent from here to Constantinople by sea. After a period of Lithuanian Grand Duchy control, the port and its surroundings became part of the domain of the Ottomans in 1529, under the name Hacibey, and remained there until the empire's defeat in the Russo-Turkish War of 1792. In 1794, the modern city of Odesa was founded by a decree of the Russian empress Catherine t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
500 Days
The 500 Days Program (russian: программа "500 дней") was an ambitious program to overcome the economic crisis in the Soviet Union by means of a transition to a market economy. History The program was proposed by Grigory Yavlinsky and further developed by a work group under the direction of Stanislav Shatalin (an economic advisor to Mikhail Gorbachev). Before beginning work on the project, Shatalin had been assured by Gorbachev that he was serious about radically reforming the Soviet economy. Therefore, in August 1990, the group issued a 400-page report titled "Transition to the Market". It was based on the earlier "400 Days Project" prepared by Yavlinsky and became known colloquially as the "500 Days Program" as it intended to create the groundwork for a modern market economy in 500 days. The report called for creation of a competitive market economy, mass privatization, prices determined by the market, integration with the world economic system, a large transf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Perestroika
''Perestroika'' (; russian: links=no, перестройка, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg) was a political movement for reform within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s widely associated with CPSU general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev and his glasnost (meaning "openness") policy reform. The literal meaning of perestroika is "reconstruction", referring to the restructuring of the Soviet political and economic system, in an attempt to end the Era of Stagnation. Perestroika allowed more independent actions from various ministries and introduced many market-like reforms. The alleged goal of perestroika, however, was not to end the command economy but rather to make socialism work more efficiently to better meet the needs of Soviet citizens by adopting elements of liberal economics. The process of implementing perestroika added to existing shortages, and created political, social, and economic tensions within the Soviet Union. Fu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glasnost
''Glasnost'' (; russian: link=no, гласность, ) has several general and specific meanings – a policy of maximum openness in the activities of state institutions and freedom of information, the inadmissibility of hushing up problems, and so on. It has been used in Russian to mean "openness and transparency" since at least the end of the 18th century. In the Russian Empire of the late-19th century, the term was particularly associated with reforms of the judicial system. Among these were reforms permitting attendance of the press and the public at trials whose verdicts were now to be read aloud. Vladimir Lenin repeatedly emphasized the importance of glasnost as the most important feature of democracy. In the mid-1980s, it was popularised by Mikhail Gorbachev as a political slogan for increased government transparency (behavior), transparency in the Soviet Union. Historical usage Human rights activist Lyudmila Alexeyeva argues that the word ''glasnost'' has been in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Khozraschyot
''Khozraschyot'' ( rus, хозрасчёт, p=ˌxozrɐˈɕːɵt; short for 'economic accounting') was an attempt to simulate the capitalist concepts of profit and profit center into the planned economy of the Soviet Union. Meaning The term has often been translated as cost accounting, a term more typically used for a management approach in a free market economy. It has also been conflated with other notions of self-financing (; ), cost-effectiveness (; ), and self-management (; ) introduced in the state-owned enterprises in the 1980s. As defined in the '' Soviet Encyclopedic Dictionary'': History introduced the necessity in accountability and profitability as well as the motivation in thrifty expenditures. The notion was introduced during Lenin's New Economic Policy (NEP) period. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Demokratizatsiya (Soviet Union)
''Demokratizatsiya'' ( rus, демократизация, p=dʲɪməkrətʲɪˈzatsɨjə, ''democratization'') was a slogan introduced by Soviet Communist Party General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev in January 1987 calling for the infusion of " democratic" elements into the Soviet Union's single-party government. Gorbachev's meant the introduction of multi-candidate—though not multiparty—elections for local Communist Party (CPSU) officials and Soviets. In this way, he hoped to rejuvenate the party with progressive personnel who would carry out his institutional and policy reforms. The CPSU would retain sole custody of the ballot box. Russia section ''Demokratizatsiya''. Data as of July 1996 (retrieved December 25, 2014) The slogan of was part of Gorbachev's set of reform programs, including (increasing public discussion of issues and accessibility of information to the public), officially announced in mid-1986, and , a "speed-up" of economic development. (political and e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dissolution Of The Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Soviet Union (USSR) which resulted in the end of the country's and its federal government's existence as a sovereign state, thereby resulting in its constituent republics gaining full sovereignty on 26 December 1991. It brought an end to General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev's (later also President) effort to reform the Soviet political and economic system in an attempt to stop a period of political stalemate and economic backslide. The Soviet Union had experienced internal stagnation and ethnic separatism. Although highly centralized until its final years, the country was made up of fifteen top-level republics that served as homelands for different ethnicities. By late 1991, amid a catastrophic political crisis, with several republics alre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Dissolution Of The Soviet Union")