Apricot Jam: And Other Stories (64 page)

Kovtyukh
,
Yepifan
(1890-1938): Civil War hero and victim of Stalin
’
s purges.

Krylov
, Ivan
(1769-1844): journalist, dramatist, and writer of satirical fables.

Kulak
:
strictly speaking, a peasant with enough means to own a farm and hire labor. The Bolsheviks used the term to describe peasants who were only marginally better off than their fellow villagers or those who resisted Stalin
’
s forced collectivization of agriculture. In 1930 Stalin called for
“
the elimination of kulaks as a class,
”
and millions were arrested, exiled, or killed.

Lef
:
The Left Front of the Arts, a literary group formed in 1922, whose members came largely from the pre-war
Futurist
movement. The movement aimed to solidify an alliance between the former Futurist avant-garde and the new Soviet regime.

Litfront
:
a short-lived literary group that emerged from
RAPP
in 1930.

Lyubov
Yarovaya
:
1925 drama by Konstantin
Trenyov
(1876-1945).

Malenkov, Georgi
(1902-1988): one of Stalin
’
s closest associates. In September 1953, he and Nikita Khrushchev took power as a dual leadership, but Malenkov was forced to resign in 1955.

Mamontov
, Konstantin
(1869-1920): Cossack general who commanded the 4th Don Cavalry Corps with the White Army; noted for his daring raids behind Soviet lines in August and September 1919.

Mekhlis, Lev
(1889-1953): political officer, colonel
general,
and close confidant of Stalin. He represented the Soviet GHQ in the Crimea from late December 1942 to May 1943 but was unable to hold the Kerch Peninsula and was relieved of his command, though he remained in Stalin
’
s favor.

Meretskov
, Kirill
(1897-1968): marshal; he held important commands on the Leningrad front and from August 1940 to January 1941 served as chief of the general staff. In June 1941, he was arrested and confessed, after interrogation, to involvement in a military conspiracy. He was released a few months later, but his evidence was used against other officers.

Molotov,
Vyacheslav
(1890-1986): politician and diplomat, leading figure in the Soviet government from the 1920s. He formed a short-lived alliance with
Beria
and
Malenkov
after Stalin
’
s death.

MVD
:
see
Cheka
.

Nekrasov
, Nikolai
(1821-1878): poet and publisher, known for his sympathetic portrayals of the tribulations of peasant life. In 1877 the painter Ivan
Kramskoy
(1837-87) depicted the fatally ill
Nekrasov
lying in bed.

NEP-men:
From 1921 to 1928 the Soviet regime instituted the New Economic Policy (NEP), a period of limited private enterprise to help restore the economic life of the country after seven years of war, revolution, and civil war. Many small businessmen, who were known as
“
NEP-men,
”
prospered during this period.

NKVD
:
see
Cheka
.

Novikov, Aleksandr
(1900-1976): chief marshal of aviation in World War II. He was arrested in 1946, tortured, and forced to make a false confession implicating Georgi Zhukov in a conspiracy.

October
(
Oktyabr
’
): literary group and journal formed in 1922 by young Communist writers who wished to create a new proletarian culture. They fiercely opposed all non
-
proletarian literary groups, and particularly targeted
Voronsky
’
s
Pereval
.

OnGuardists
:
writers and critics grouped around the journal
On Guard (Na
postu
).
The journal was uncompromisingly opposed to non-communist and non-proletarian writers.

Ostrovsky
, Aleksandr
(1823-1886): prominent nineteenth-century dramatist, best known for his plays set in the milieu of conservative business people.

Pereval
(The Mountain Pass): literary grouping that developed around the journal
Red Virgin Soil
and the ideas of
Aleksandr
Voronsky
.
Though nominally Marxist, the group rejected the emphasis on ideology and party guidance advocated by
RAPP
.

Pereverzev
,
Valeryan
(1882-1968): literary scholar and theoretician of the sociological method. He attempted to apply Marxist ideas to literature and called for the rigid application of economic determinism to the study of literature, an approach for which he was charged with
“
vulgar
sociologism
”
and arrested in 1938.

Pieck
, Wilhelm
(1876-1960): first president of the German Democratic Republic, 1949-1960.

Pilnyak
, Boris
(pseudonym of Boris
Vogau
, 1894-1938): major Soviet novelist and short story writer of the 1920s. His early works in particular were written in a mannered,
“
ornamental
”
prose and were severely attacked by
“
proletarian
”
critics.

RAPP
:
acronym for the Russian Association of Proletarian Writers. It was the most influential proletarian literary organization from 1928 to 1932 and called for literary realism informed by Marxist-Leninist values. Although it claimed to represent the official line in literature, it was liquidated in 1932 along with all separate literary groups.

Rokossovsky, Konstantin
(1896-1968): cavalry commander. He was arrested, imprisoned, and tortured in 1937 but released in 1940. He served under General Zhukov during the battle to defend Moscow. After the war Stalin appointed him Poland
’
s minister of defense.

The Rout
(
Razgrom
):
short novel (1927) by Aleksandr
Fadeev
(1901-1956), considered a classic of socialist realism.

Rybalko
, Pavel
(1894-1948): marshal, noted specialist in armored warfare.

Scorpio
(
Skorpio
n
): publishing house that existed from 1900 to 1916 to promote the symbolist movement.

Shakhty Affair:
In 1928, fifty-three engineers and technicians were accused of sabotage in the coal mining industry. Their widely publicized trial took place from May to July of that year.

SMERSH
:
Russian acronym for
“
Death to Spies
”
(
Smert
’
shpionam
),
the wartime counterintelligence directorate of the Soviet Army.

Smithy
(
Kuznitsa
): group of proletarian writers, most of them poets, formed in 1920.

Shaposhnikov, Boris
(1882-1945): marshal, talented military administrator. He served as chief of the general staff in 1940-1941.

Shcherbakov
, Aleksandr
(1901-1945): colonel general; close associate of Stalin; held many important posts in the party and government, including that of head of the Red Army
’
s political administration.

SR (Socialist Revolutionary):
a member of the Socialist Revolutionaries, an important political party in early twentieth-century Russia. Its roots were in the earlier populist movement, and it enjoyed broad support among the peasantry. The party was essentially destroyed by the Bolsheviks during and after the Civil War. A
“
Combat Organization
”
within the party subscribed to terror as a political weapon and was responsible for assassinations of a number of high-ranking officials. This organization supported itself by
“
expropriations
”
in the form of bank robberies and blackmail.

Suslov, Mikhail
(1902-1982): major Soviet political figure during the Cold War. He led the conservative resistance to Khrushchev
’
s reforms.

Telegin, Konstantin
(1899-1981): lieutenant general, political officer; Zhukov
’
s deputy during his term as commander of Soviet occupation forces in Germany. In 1948 he was arrested for alleged corruption and sentenced to twenty-five years in prison but was rehabilitated after Stalin
’
s death.

Timoshenko, Semyon
(1895-1970): marshal, close associate of Stalin. Although a competent commander, he suffered a serious defeat at the Second Battle of Kharkov and was removed from front-line command by Stalin.

Tukhachevsky, Mikhail
(1893-1937): marshal and head of the Red Army from 1925 to 1928. He played a key role in the modernization of the Red Army in the 1930s but was arrested in May 1937 on charges of treason and espionage and executed in June of the same year.

Uborevich,
Yeronim
(1896-1937): former tsarist officer; held important commands during and after the Civil War. He fell victim to Stalin
’
s purges and was executed along with
Tukhachevsky
in June 1937.

Ulagai
, Sergei
(1875-1945): commander of a Kuban Cossack division that fought the Bolsheviks during the Civil War. In August 1920 he landed a large body of
troops from the Crimea in the Kuban area in hopes of rallying the Kuban Cossacks against the Reds.

Ulbricht, Walter
(1893-1973): first secretary of the East German Socialist Unity Party from 1950 to 1971.

Vagranka
(The Cupola Furnace): short-lived group of proletarian writers.

Vasilevsky, Aleksandr
(1895-1977): former tsarist officer; one of the most effective Soviet commanders during World War II. He was chief of the general staff from 1942 to 1945.

Vatutin, Nikolai
(1901-1944): military commander; served in many staff positions and led troops in the defense of Leningrad, the defense of Moscow, and the Battle of Stalingrad.
He was fatally wounded in a clash with Ukrainian nationalist partisans.

Vlasov, Andrei
(1900-1946): commander of the Soviet 2nd Shock Army. He was captured by the Germans in July 1942 and with their encouragement formed the Russian Liberation Army of several hundred thousand Soviet war prisoners to fight against Stalin. After the war ended he was kidnapped from Europe by Soviet troops and executed in Moscow in 1946.

Voronov, Nikolai
(1899-1968): artillery specialist and marshal of artillery (1944).

Voronsky
, Aleksandr
(1884-1937): Marxist literary critic and theorist. Skeptical about the possibilities for a separate proletarian literature, he supported the
Fellow Travelers
,
for which he was severely attacked by Marxist literary groups.