“Literatura mirovoj revoljucii”, 7-8, 1932 - [S023]

In the 1920s, in the post-revolutionary period, many neologisms appeared in the Russian language, as well as new lexical meanings for existing words. G.O. Vinokur writes about it in his essay O revoljucionnoj frazeologii (odin iz voprosov jazykovoj politiki): “Socio-political language was suddenly enriched with a myriad of new words that incisively and vigorously captured new socio-political concepts and formulas. In this – and only in this – lies the fundamental phraseological significance of the October Revolution.” (Vinokur 1923: 110). S.I. Karcevskij also notes in Jazyk, vojna i revoljucija (1923) that the innovations mainly affect the lexicon, given the conservative nature of the grammar system. A.M. Selishchev, in the preface to the work Jazyk revoljucionnoj epohi: Iz nabljudenij nad russkim jazykom (1917-1926) underlines the presence of several deviations from the norms of literary language and the consequences of such deviations (2003: 3). In response to ideological needs, numerous lexemes also develop new meanings with two main functions: novelty (these are, as a rule, new, unfaded metaphors), and the creation of new concepts in the service of ideology. For example, in the Tolkovyj slovar’ russkogo jazyka [Dictionary of the Russian Language] by D. N. Ushakov (1935-1940), the following new meaning is given for the lexeme ‘element‘ (which appeared at the beginning of the 20th century): “4. Chelovek, lichnost’ (nov. razg.). Sochuvstvujushchie elementy. Chuzhdye elementy. Vrednyj element” [4. Person, individual (new, colloq.). Integral elements. Foreign elements. Harmful element]. The term ‘element‘, used without an associated adjective, was widely employed in official rhetoric during the repressive Stalinist regime to designate people whose political, social or moral position did not correspond to the official ideology. In the proposed context, it is used as a generic name for a group of people, and has a derogatory and depersonalising character. The ‘elements of the working class‘ in this case are not people, but cogs in a machine, completely devoid of subjectivity. It should also be noted that this meaning of the word ‘element‘ has been consolidated and preserved to the present day, and can be found in Slovar’ russkogo yazyka v 4-kh tomakh [Dictionary of the Russian Language in 4 vv.], in Bol’shoj tolkovyj slovar’ [Great Explanatory Dictionary] and in Sovremennyj tolkovyj slovar’ russkogo jazyka [Dictionary of the Modern Russian Language] by T.N. Efremova.