What word do Russians use to describe the fall of communism?

November 30, 2010 5:20 AM

How do Russians refer to the fall of communism, and the changes that followed? Before this they had lots of cool works like perestroika and glasnost. Do they have a word for that too?
posted by deeper red to society & culture (5 answers total)

* cool word.
posted by deeper red at 5:28 AM on November 30, 2010

I'm not sure about Russian, but the German term for these events is "die Wende". Perhaps the Russian version of the wikipedia article mentions a Russian equivalent?
posted by chillmost at 6:19 AM on November 30, 2010

That's the Bulgarian version of the Wikipedia page, not the Russian version.
posted by jedicus at 6:30 AM on November 30, 2010

That's the Bulgarian version of Wikipedia, chillmost.

Anyway, the term I've heard at home is "Распад" (Raspad), which means something along the lines of "crumbling." Here's the Russian Wikipedia entry on it.
posted by griphus at 6:32 AM on November 30, 2010 [2 favorites]

My Russian teacher (an old lady teaching at the University well past the retirement age) used to call it "распад" too.
posted by vidur at 11:47 AM on November 30, 2010