n. (from Russian) A word used as an insult and accusation by the Bolsheviks in the Soviet Union, meaning a wealthy, land-owning
peasant, with the connotation of being greedy and acting above one's station. It was used extensively by the Soviets to refer to the anarchist revolutionaries of the Makhnovshchina (Nestor Makhno's
army) in
Ukraine during the First World War.
"Release the anarchists I'm holding in
prison?" replied Lenin with a laugh to Berkman and Goldman. "I have no anarchists in
prison, just some
worthless counterrevolutionary kulaks."