Comrade

Comrade is a term meaning friend, colleague, or ally. The term originally carried a strong military connotation, a "roommate". After the Russian Revolution, the Russian version of this term (товарищ, tovarishch) was championed by communists as an egalitarian alternative to terms like "Mister", "Miss", or "Missis".

Russian revolutionaries were following the French ones in this. The Revolution abolished the titles of nobility, and monsieur/madame (literally, "milord"/"milady") were substituted by citoyen (ne) ("citizen"). King Louis XVI was addressed Citoyen Louis Capet to emphasize his loss of privilege.

During the Russian Civil War, the opponents of Bolsheviks applied the word comrades (tovarishchi) in derogatory sense to Bolsheviks, their Red Army, and soviets. Western politicians and comedians sometimes humorously mock left-wing opponents by calling them 'comrade'.

Because of its use by the Soviets, the term is now strongly associated with socialism, particularly the communist variety. The term can be affixed to titles to add a socialist flavour; For instance, one might be referred to as Comrade Lenin or Comrade General, or simply as Comrade. Overuse of the word is a common characteristic of communist stereotypes on television and in films. In reality, it was used less commonly, reserved mainly for formal or official settings, in particular, in the military.

In Spanish Socialism, the term was compañero/compañera ("companion").

See also

• power word