Politburo
Communist ruling committee
The Politburo was the supreme policymaking body of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, wielding enormous power over government and society from 1917 until the USSR's dissolution in 1991.
The term also applied to similar bodies in other communist states: The Chinese Politburo still meets regularly. (Lowercase politburo is the generic term.)
Moscow's fortified government seat
- MoscowRussia's capital city
- USSRFormer communist superpower
- Soviet UnionFormer communist superstate
- apparatchikBlindly devoted official
Brezhnev · Khrushchev · Gorbachev · Molotov · party congress · Red Square · dachas · central committee
China's seat of government
- MaoChinese family name
- Gang of FourInfamous Chinese political clique
- Cultural RevolutionMaoist mass political campaign
- princelingMinor or insignificant royal
Deng Xiaoping · Xi Jinping · Zhou Enlai · cadre · central committee · party congress
State-led revolutionary socialism
- party lineOfficial political position
- central committeeExecutive governing body
- cadreCore of trained personnel
- comradeFellow member, shared cause
ideology · one-party state · party discipline · purge · faction · self-criticism · rectification · collectivization
Cold War's political divide
- Eastern BlocUSSR-aligned European nations
- Warsaw PactSoviet-led military alliance
- détenteEasing of strained relations
- arms raceEscalating weapons accumulation between nations
Stalinism · glasnost · perestroika · KGB · Stasi · satellite state · propaganda · Pravda
Kremlin
Moscow's fortified government seat
- MoscowRussia's capital city
- USSRFormer communist superpower
- Soviet UnionFormer communist superstate
apparatchik · Brezhnev · Khrushchev · Gorbachev · Molotov · party congress · Red Square · dachas · central committee
Beijing
China's seat of government
- MaoChinese family name
- Gang of FourInfamous Chinese political clique
- Cultural RevolutionMaoist mass political campaign
Deng Xiaoping · Xi Jinping · Zhou Enlai · princeling · cadre · central committee · party congress
Marxism-Leninism
State-led revolutionary socialism
- party lineOfficial political position
- central committeeExecutive governing body
- cadreCore of trained personnel
comrade · ideology · one-party state · party discipline · purge · faction · self-criticism · rectification · collectivization · five-year plan
Iron Curtain
Cold War's political divide
- Eastern BlocUSSR-aligned European nations
- Warsaw PactSoviet-led military alliance
- détenteEasing of strained relations
arms race · Stalinism · glasnost · perestroika · KGB · Stasi · satellite state · propaganda · Pravda · dissident
- Cold WarBerlin Wall, Iron Curtain, arms race, Warsaw Pact, Cuban Missile Crisis
- communismMarx, Marxism, Leninism, Lenin, proletariat
- socialismMarxism, communism, proletariat, bourgeoisie, communal ownership
- Soviet communismLenin, Stalin, Leninism, Bolsheviks, Stalinism
- Soviet EraUSSR, Soviet Union, Soviet rule, CCCP, Eastern Bloc
- Soviet HistorySoviet Union, USSR, CCCP, Stalin, Kremlin
PolitburoCongress
U.S. lawmaking body
House of Commons · representative democracy · town hall meeting · direct democracy · electoral college
Politburodecentralized government
Authority distributed across regions
direct democracy · federalism · grassroots movement · municipal council · states' rights
Politburoliberal democracy
Rights-based elected governance
parliamentary democracy · constitutional republic · Wall Street · open society · Oval Office