sovietdom

Why this word is great

SOVIETDOM — [Noun] The Soviet realm or sphere of influence. From Soviet (from Russian sovét, "council") + -dom (a suffix denoting domain or condition). Unlike "Sovietism" (which narrows to doctrine) or "Communism" (which transcends geography), sovietdom is the concrete world of checkpoints, rusting factories, and peeling propaganda posters. It is the weight of a Trabant’s steel door slamming shut, the acrid tang of coal smoke over East Berlin, the flicker of a state television broadcast cutting to static—a dominion where the future was always promised, but the present was forever deferred.