Akademik

   From the Latin nomenclatura (list of names), the term denotes a small elite subset of the general population of the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries. Members of nomenklatura held key administrative positions in all spheres of society, that is, they were apparatchiks and were its de facto ruling class. They were members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, with the Politburo being the core of this social stratum. Nomenklatura enjoyed social, monetary, and other privileges unattainable to the majority of the population (for example, special shops, foreign travel, and cars). In ideological terms, some Soviet dissidents opposed the nomenklatura, criticizing them for the perversion of Soviet socialist principles.