zubatovshchina means the creation of police-run trade unions in an attempt to compromise the labour movement. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 83 out of 100.
Why “zubatovshchina” is a great word
ZUBATOVSHCHINA — [Noun] A policy or practice of creating police-controlled trade unions to infiltrate and undermine the labor movement. Borrowed from Russian зуба́товщина (zubátovščina), named after Sergei Vasilyevich Zubatov (1864–1917), the head of the Moscow Okhrana who implemented the policy. Unlike "unionbusting," an open confrontation, or "syndicalism," a revolutionary assertion of worker control, zubatovshchina is a patient, bureaucratic suffocation. It is the factory grievance meeting chaired by a police colonel, the pro-government pamphlet printed on the same presses used for seditious leaflets, and the carefully managed strike that vents pressure without threatening power—the state’s cold acknowledgment that a movement is more dangerous when ignored than when impersonated.
Etymology
Borrowed from Russian зуба́товщина (zubátovščina), named after Sergei Vasilyevich Zubatov.
noun
- The creation of police-run trade unions in an attempt to compromise the labour movement.