A.
Amnesty — periodically issued, marking anniversaries of October 1917 Revolution, 1922 formation of the USSR, etc. (They excluded anyone convicted of “especially serious State crimes”, Articles 64-73, cf. CCE 29.11).
ASCULP – the All-Union Christian Union for the Liberation of the People (see CCE 1.6)
ASSR – Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Buryatia, Crimea, Komi, etc)
B.
BUR – punishment barrack in a penal labour colony (lit. “intensified regime” barrack)
C.
Camp terminology, see Prison and Camp terminology
CCE – A Chronicle of Current Events (Moscow)
Central Committee — refers to the heart of the Soviet bureaucracy, the Moscow-based Central Committee of the CPSU
CHR – A Chronicle of Human Rights in the USSR (New York; see CCE 29.1)
CPSU — Communist Party of the Soviet Union (see Central Committee)
M.
MVD – Ministry of Internal Affairs (see also UVD and OVD)
N.
NTS – the People’s Labour Union
NBSJ – News Bulletin on Soviet Jewry (Tel Aviv)
O.
OUN – the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists
OVD – Division of Internal Affairs at district level (within city or Region)
OVIR – Visa and Registrations Department
P.
Party — the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (see CPSU), represented at the highest level by the Central Committee and by Party committees at all enterprises, educational and other institutions.
“Passport” — obligatory ID document for domestic use only
“People’s vigilante” — voluntary people’s militia [DND], druzhinnik
Politicial Prisoners — term defined by Chalidze and applied by Lyubarsky in compiling annual lists of prisoners, see A List of Political Prisoners, August 1977 (CCE 46.23)
Prison and Camp terminology [link to separate page]
Prisoners of Conscience — 1961 Amnesty International definition (also used by the Moscow Helsinki Group), see Prisoners of Conscience in the USSR (2nd edition, 1980)
R.
rehabilitation — official admission that no crime had been committed; process in late 1950s (and again in late 1980s) when tens of thousands were declared “innocent”, especially if convicted by extra-judicial bodies, e.g. troika. Cf. pardon.
RSFSR — Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic
S.
samizdat – unofficial publication that has not been passed by the censor (Glavlit)
SPH – Special Psychiatric Hospital
SSR – Soviet Socialist Republic (Ukraine, Belorussia, Moldavia, etc)
T.
tamizdat – publication outside USSR of book, etc., without official approval; then often reimported into the USSR.
U.
UPA – Ukrainian Insurrectionary Army (1942-1950)
USSR – Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
UVD – Department or Directorate of Internal Affairs (at city or Regional level)
V.
Vestnik RSKhD – Herald of the Russian Student Christian Movement (Paris)
A Chronicle of Current Events 