Vozhd

Vozhdi of the world's proletariat: Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin (1 May 1953, Berlin, GDR).

Ogoniok 1934 cover featuring portraits of Stalin and Gorky with a text that ends: "Thus did Comrade Stalin, beloved Vozhd of the world's proletariat, define the role of the Soviet writer"

A vozhd romanized from Belarussian, Russian and Ukrainian: вождь, also Bulgarian, Macedonian and Serbian: вожд romanized vožd, Croatian: vođa, Czech: vůdce, Polish: wódz, Slovak: vodca, or Slovene: vodj, literally meaning "the guidesperson" or "the leader", is a historical title with etymology deriving from the Proto-Slavic *voďь and thus common across Slavic languages. It originally denoted a chieftain of a tribe, whereas upon rise of statehood it was used thereafter also in the context of a supreme leader and/or supreme commander, in particular when both roles were combined in one person.

In most Slavic languages the official and colloquial usage of the designation has nowadays been discontinued in favor of (at least) two more precise derivates, one meaning "a leader" and another one "a commander" (e.g. in Polish: przywódca and dowódca, respectively); therefore, the original term may typically be encountered exclusively in historical or ironic contextes; otherwise occasionally only when refering to extant foreign tribal communities.

History

In Serbia, that title was given to Karađorđe Petrović by all the voivodes who elected him to be their leader at their first Praviteljstvujusceg sovejeta (Government Council) during the First Serbian Uprising in the 19th century. As such Karađorđe was titled Grand Vožd of Serbia.

Later, in Russian, it was often used in reference to Soviet leaders such as Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin as Vozhd of the proletariat (Russian: Вождь пролетариата), Vozhd of the Russian Communist Party (Russian: Вождь Российской Коммунистической Партии), Vozhd of the World Revolution (Russian: Вождь мировой революции), Vozhd of the Peoples (Russian: Вождь народов).

In modern Russian, vozhd became exclusive for Communist leaders or leaders of aboriginal tribes. The word is becoming somewhat obsolete and is being replaced by its English version, "leader". It is a counterpart to the word Führer in German.

After the East German cinema studio DEFA began mass-producing Red Western movies depicting the "Wild West" in the 18th and 19th centuries, the term vozhd became closely associated with tribal chiefs of Native Americans (such as Vozhd Beloye Pero, i. e. Chief White Feather.)

Vozhd also has connotations to "master" in the Russian language, from the days of serfdom.

See also

• Tsar

External links

• Vozhdi CCCP at Savok.org