soviet

plural soviets

1. historicalA workers' council, an institution first formed during the 1905 Russian Revolution and then instituted as the main form of communist government at all levels in the Soviet Union; by extension, a similar organization in early Chinese communism and elsewhere.

   Kratochvil, Jedlicka, Safar, Kubes and Vasata, who always took an interest in politics, set up a soviet in the last wagon and uncoupled it from the rest of the train in the night.

   2005, James Meek, The People's Act of Love, Canongate, published 2006, page 230

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   They then established the West Hunan-Hupeh (Hsiang-O-Hsi) Special Committee and a little later transformed it into a soviet government. Party membership figures as of 1932 for a dozen counties in the area were estimated at 18,034, with the largest number, 4,468, working in Chienli County, then headquarters of the soviet.

   1972, James Pinckney Harrison, “Growth of the Rural Soviets”, in The Long March to Power: A History of the Chinese Communist Party, 1921-72 (Praeger University Series), Praeger Publishers, →LCCN, →OCLC, pages 194–195

   Workers' committees were forming embryo soviets, soldiers' and sailors' collectives had whole ships and regiments under their temporary command, landless workers in the countryside were taking over abandoned farms and properties.

   2010, Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22, Atlantic, published 2011, page 184

comparative more soviet · superlative most soviet

1. Pertaining to or resembling a soviet (council).

   Synonyms: sovietic

2. Alternative letter-case form of Soviet (pertaining to the Soviet Union)

   An engineer who is not very soviet in his convictions is the hero.

   1935, Louis Fischer, Soviet Journey, page 129

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   Why are separate divisions for teachers and administrators in a state organization any more "soviet" than the same divisions in a city educational […]

   1947, Washington Education Association, Washington Education Journal

   The Soviet government is not very soviet anymore or, for that matter, much of a government.

   1991 August 27, “Whatchamacallit”, in Boston Globe

   "It felt very soviet, very intimidating", said Steven Sharp, one of Rose’s closest lieutenants.

   2004 November 14, “M&S coach Rose makes his pitch”, in Times Online

   […] that has been enlarged most quickly and widely is the very soviet region newly created in northern Sichuan.

   2005, Mao Zedong, Stuart Reynolds Schram, Nancy Jane Hodes, Mao's Road to Power: Revolutionary Writings 1912-1949, page 575

   One tactic was to become more "soviet" than vanguard workers by enthusiastically participating in the regime's productivity campaigns such as shock work,

   2006, Kate Transchel, Under the Influence: Working-Class Drinking, Temperance, and Cultural ..., page 136

plural Soviets

1. A citizen of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

   1 more example

   The major obstacle to a border settlement is the status of Heixiazi, a 330-square kilometer island at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri rivers. The island is claimed by the Chinese but controlled by the USSR. Because Heixiazi overlooks Khabarovsk as well as the point where the Trans-Siberian Railway crosses the Amur River, the Soviets are reluctant to give it up.

   1991, Donald S. Zagoria, “The Changing Role of the Soviet Union in the Pacific”, in Frederic J. Fleron, Jr., Erik P. Hoffmann, Robbin F. Laird, editors, Contemporary Issues in Soviet Foreign Policy: From Brezhnev to Gorbachev, New York: Aldine de Gruyter, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 678

2. Alternative letter-case form of soviet (“workers' council”).

   Толчками и скачками дело все же идет к тому, что давно провозглашенный нашей партией переход власти к Советам будет осуществлен.

   1974 [1917], “All Power to the Soviets!”, in Lenin's Collected Works, volume 25, translation of Вся власть советам! (in Russian)

comparative more Soviet · superlative most Soviet · alternative soviet

1. historicalnot comparablePertaining to the Soviet Union or its constituent republics.

   Later, in the 1980s, western scholars found that, notwithstanding the substantial Soviet military buildup near the Chinese borders in the late 1960s, it was Beijing that initiated the clash on Zhenbao (Damanski) Island.

   2005, Vitaly Kozyrev, “Soviet Policy Toward the United States and China, 1969-1979”, in William C. Kirby, Robert S. Ross, Gong Li, editors, Normalization of U.S.-China Relations: An International History, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 258

   1 more example

   A monument to Soviet dictator Josef Stalin erected in Moscow's metro is stirring debate, with some Russians welcoming it as a historical tribute, but others saying it's a mistake to commemorate someone who presided over so much suffering.

   2025 May 22, “Monument to Soviet dictator Josef Stalin in Moscow metro stirs debate”, in Reuters

2. Supporting or representing the Soviet Union or Sovietism; Sovietist.

   Only in the GDR were the returning POWs presumed guilty; there East Germans, attempting to be "more Soviet than the Soviets," […]

   2001, Robert G. Moeller, War Stories: The Search for a Usable Past in the Federal Republic of Germany, page 113

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   He remained more Soviet than his parents and often accused Gorbachev of having destroyed the Soviet Union on behalf of US intelligence.

   1998, David D. Laitin, Identity in Formation: The Russian-Speaking Populations in the Near Abroad, page 9

   It would also be incorrect to creat a "scale of Sovietism", arguing, say, that Gildin was more Soviet than Litvakov, or that Litvakov was more Soviet than Dobrushin. Essentially, they were equally Soviet, even if they saw their Sovietism rather differently: […]

   2005, Gennadij Èstrajh, In Harness: Yiddish Writers' Romance with Communism, page 61

   Synonyms: Sovietic