Meanings
- pluralplural of troika
The troiki received extraordinary powers: to impose sentences even to death, without supervision, and to oversee the implementation of their decisions.
1997, Oleg V. Khlevniuk, “Penal Policy and “Legal Reforms””, in Peter H. Solomon, Jr., editor, Reforming Justice in Russia, 1864-1996: Power, Culture, and the Limits of, Armonk, N.Y.; London: M. E. Sharpe, →ISBN, page 2023 more examples
In searching out ‘anti-Soviet elements’, troiki were enjoined to capture escaped kulaks, ex-Mensheviks, ex-Socialist-Revolutionaries, priests, pre-revolutionary policemen and former members of non-Russian parties.
1997, Robert Service, A History of Twentieth-Century Russia, Allen Lane, The Penguin Press, →ISBN, page 222In 1933 he [Robert Eikhe] waged a fierce struggle against the regime’s opponents, petitioning the Politburo in July 1933 to retain the power of the troiki in West Siberia to impose the death penalty.
2002, E. A. Rees, “Republican and Regional Leaders at the XVII Party Congress in 1934”, in Centre-Local Relations in the Stalinist State, 1928-1941, Palgrave Macmillan, →DOI, →ISBN, page 73They were given a five-day period within which to form special troiki to administer the cases and to carry out a survey of the numbers to be shot and exiled.
2002, Stephen G. Wheatcroft, “Towards Explaining the Changing Levels of Stalinist Repression in the 1930s: Mass Killings”, in Challenging Traditional Views of Russian History, Palgrave Macmillan, →DOI, →ISBN, section 4 (The Ezhovshchina and the resumption of mass killings, 1937–38, page 136
Origin
- Russianтро́йки
- Englishtroiki
From Russian тро́йки (trójki), plural of тро́йка (trójka).
More words from Russian
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
troiki. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/troiki
“troiki.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/troiki. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “troiki,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/troiki.
Source: troiki on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.