Politics - Communism

Any study of Communism immediately mires the student in a cloud of jargon.

Bolshevik

This label has degenerated to simply be a derogatory term for a communist (or a labor union leader), much like calling the person a "Commie". The Nazis called all communist revolutionaries bolsheviks.

The word literally means "majority". At one point in the development of Russian Communism there were Bolsheviks and Mensheviks. Lenins faction were the Bolsheviks and a fellow Martov led the Menshevik faction.

Bourgeoisie

This is the ruling social class in a capitalist society. The french word literally means "citizen class", but carries implications of materialism and hedonism. The bourgeoise class owns the means of production and employs (and exploits) a large mass of wage workers (the working class), also known as the proletariat. This leads to class struggle, with the bourgoise striving to exploit, and the workers trying to resist exploitation.
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