Secret Leviathan

Abbreviations and Russian Terms

Cyrillic characters are romanized using the Library of Congress table at https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/russian.pdf, except that accents and diacritical marks are omitted; proper names beginning with the letters “ie” and “iu” are rendered as in Yegor and Yurii; and everyday usage takes priority where it differs, as in Ekaterinburg.

agentura—the KGB informer network Bolshevik—relating to the majority faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, which became the ruling party of Soviet Russia in 1917

Cheka—the allRussian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counterrevolution and Sabotage, the Soviet secret police from 1917 to 1922

Chekist—an officer of the Cheka; a generic Russian term for a secret police officer up to the present day

CIA—the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States, responsible for foreign intelligence

Comecon—the Council for Mutual Economic Cooperation, the Soviet led equivalent of the OECD

CPSU—Communist Party of the Soviet Union

dopusk—security clearance

FBI—the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States, responsible for domestic counterintelligence

FSB—the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, responsible for domestic counterintelligence

GDP—gross domestic product, the value of final outlays on goods and services. “Gross” signifies the inclusion of replacement investment, and “domestic” signifies activity on a given territory.

Glavlit—Chief Administration for Literature and the Press, the office of the Soviet censorship

GNP—gross national product, equal to GDP plus the net inflow of profits and wages remitted from abroad (normally zero for the Soviet economy, making Soviet GNP interchangeable with GDP)

Gosbank—the USSR State Bank

Gosplan—the USSR State Planning Commission

Gulag—Chief Administration of CorrectiveLabor Camps of the NKVD (later, the MVD)

KGB—Committee of State Security, the Soviet secret police from 1954 to 1991, responsible for both foreign intelligence and domestic counterintelligence.

kompromat—“compromising evidence” providing a basis to suspect a person of disloyal behavior, attitudes, or intentions

konspiratsiia—“conspirativeness,” a code of secretive behavior adopted by the leadership of the Bolshevik Party (and later the CPSU)

kulak—a member of the wealthiest stratum of peasant family farmers, employing hired labor

MVD—Ministry of Internal Affairs

NATO—North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Americanled Western military alliance

NKVD—People’s Commissariat (i.e., ministry) of Internal Affairs

NMP—net material product, the value of outlays on goods utilized for consumption and accumulation, including intermediate but not final services

nomenklatura—the list of government posts reserved for members of the Bolshevik Party (later the CPSU)

OECD—Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, an association of the wealthiest market economies

Orgburo—the Organization Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPSU, responsible for membership records and the nomenklatura

osoboi vazhnosti—“of special importance,” the highest grade of Soviet secrecy, a subcategory of “top secret”

Politburo—the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the caucus of top party leaders

RDTE—research, development, testing, and experimentation (usually military)

silovik—“strongman,” a leader of the “power ministries” of postSoviet Russia, responsible for the armed forces, secret police, and civilian police

USSR—Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the Soviet Union

VPK—the State Military Industrial Commission of the USSR Council of Ministers