Comrade

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Comrade is a term meaning "friend," "colleague," or "ally." The term originally carried a strong military connotation, and referred to a roommate.

1 Political use
2 Russian use
3 Chinese usage
4 In other languages
5 References

[edit] Political use

The term "comrade" (and its equivalent in other languages) is widely used to mean "a fellow socialist" or "a fellow Communist".

This usage was inspired by the French Revolution. Upon abolishing the titles of nobility, and the terms monsieur and madame (literally, "milord" and "milady"), the revolutionaries employed the term citoyen(ne) (meaning "citizen") to refer to each other. The deposed King Louis XVI, for instance, was referred to as Citoyen Louis Capet to emphasize his loss of privilege.

When the socialist movement gained momentum in the mid-19th century, socialists began to look for an egalitarian alternative to terms like "Mister", "Miss", or "Missus". They chose "comrade" as their preferred term of address. In English, the first known use of the word with this meaning was in 1884 in the socialist magazine Justice. In French, the first use of the equivalent term, "camarade," among political leftists was in 1790.^[1]

[edit] Russian use

After the Russian Revolution, the Russian version of this term (товарищ, tovarishch) was championed by the Bolsheviks. The use of "comrade" soon became widespread among Communists worldwide (much more so than among socialists who were not supporters of the Communist International).

During the Russian Civil War, the Tsarist White Russians used the word comrades (tovarishchi) as a derogatory term for their Bolshevik enemies, particularly those involved in the Red Army and the soviets. Western politicians and comedians sometimes humorously mock left-wing opponents by calling them "comrade."

Because of its use by communists, the term is now strongly associated with communism, particularly the Marxist-Leninist, Stalinist and Trotskyist varieties, and the Soviet Union. The term can be affixed to titles to add a Soviet flavor (e.g. "Comrade Colonel"). The usage is fairly flexible. For instance, one might be referred to as Comrade Lenin or Comrade Chairman, or simply as Comrade. Overuse of the word is a common characteristic of communist stereotypes on television and in films. In reality, it was employed rarely, reserved mainly for formal or official settings, in largely the same way that terms like "Mister" and "Sir" are employed. The term is still widely used today by the armed forces—superior officers are normally addressed as "Comrade Colonel," "Comrade General," or the like.

[edit] Chinese usage

In Chinese, the translation of comrade is "同志" (pinyin: tóng zhì), lit. meaning "(people with) the same spirit, goal, ambition, etc." It was best known for its widespread use in mainland China after the People's Republic of China was founded. However, after the 1980s and the onset of China's market-oriented reforms, this term has been moving out of daily usage. It remains in use as a respectful term of public address among middle-aged Chinese and members of the Communist Party of China. Within the Communist Party, failure to address a fellow member as tóng zhì is seen as a subtle but unmistakable sign of disrespect and enmity.

Because of its leftist roots, the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) also has a long tradition of using the term comrade (同志) to refer to its members, usually as a noun rather than a title; for example, a KMT member would say "Mr. Zhang is a loyal and reliable comrade (同志)."

However, nowadays with diminished popularity of the original usage, comerad is used to describe someone who is homosexual.

[edit] In other languages

In Albanian, the word shok (from Latin socius) was used within communist circles.

The Arabic word رفيق (Rafiq) (meaning friend) is used with the same political connotation as "comrade." The term is used both amongst Arab communists as well as within the Ba’ath movement. The term predates modern political usage, and is an Islamic male proper name. Iranian communists also use the exact term.

The Czech word for Comrade is soudruh, although the cognate kamarád is also seen. The latter translates as "friend".

The Dutch word is kameraad. And although it can be used to refer to communists or an acquaintance, it is used in dialects to appoint someone's friend.

The Finnish word is Toveri which literally translates as "buddy".

The German word for Comrade is Genosse amongst Communists and Social Democrats. Kamerad is used within the Bundeswehr, among firemen and in schools for classmates (Klassenkamerad).

The Hungarian word for Comrade is elvtárs. Literally, elvtárs means "policy fellow". The term is used only for Communists - Socialists don't use it.

The Italian word for Comrade is compagno, meaning "fellow". It is seldom used in its political meaning, as it is seen as derogatory or stereotypical. The word camerata, meaning "roommate", is the fascist equivalent.

In Korean, a good equivalent of the word would be "동무(dongmu)", literally meaning "friend". Although the word was originally used by the Korean people all over the Korean Peninsula, people living south of the 38th Parallel begin avoiding using the word after a communist regime was set up in the north. In North Korea, the word replaced all prior social titles and earned a new meaning as "a fellow man fighting for the revolution". Today, usage of the word "동무" in South Korea could attract suspicious eyes from the public, as it has been stereotyped that only communists would use the word.

In Poland, the word is towarzysz, which is the same as the Russian word.

In Portugal, the word is camarada, now being commonly employed to sarcastically refer to communists or supporters of the communist system (result of the overusage of the term in the post-revolutionary society). It is also prevalent in the army, and has been gaining popularity among nationalist movements.

In Romanian the exact translation is camarad which does not bear a political connotation, referring mainly to wartime allies and friends. The term used during the communist era was tovarăş, which is the same as the Russian word.

The Slovak word for Comrade is sudruh. Slovak language also knows a term "kamarát" too, but it is normally translated as a friend.

In Slovenia comrade is similar to the Russian translation - Tovariš, which incidentally can also mean "teacher".

In Spain, the word is compañero / compañera ("companion"); the term camarada ("companion", "friend") has also been used, but it's more associated with the communist tradition.

The standard form in Cuba is compañero / compañera, as it was in socialist Nicaragua and Chile. In some parts of Latin America, camarada is the more frequent word, except in Peru, where the term is commonly associated with Shining Path, members of social-democrat party APRA employ compañero to refer to fellow members of the party.

In Swahili, the equivalent word is ndugu for brother-in-arms, or dada for a female comrade.

The Swedish word is kamrat. Although it can be associated with communist lingo it may just as well be used to refer to a friend, a co-worker (arbetskamrat) or a classmate in school (klasskamrat or skolkamrat).

The Turkish word Yoldaş (literally co-traveller) has become used within the communist movement. In the climate of harsh anticommunist repression the word largely disappeared from common usage.

In the United Kingdom, the term "comrade" is still used as a form of address among some Labour Party members, although it is much less common than formerly.

In the United States, the word "comrade" carries a very strong connotation of being associated with Communism, Marxism-Leninism, and the Soviet Union in general. Especially during the Cold War, to address someone as "comrade" marked either the speaker, person addressed, or both as suspected communist sympathizers. It is still used in its generic context by some American socialists, even strong anti-communists. It latterly is frequently used with humorous intent.