Comrade

Postcard without date (about 1915), which literally says of the German, "God greets you, Comrade!"

Comrade means co-religionist or companion, especially in political parties, unions, military forces, co-workers, and poets.

Camaraderie was the close friendship between soldiers and officers who lived in the same chamber, in the Spanish Army of the 16th century. The function of the comrade was, among others, to take charge of the will in case of death in combat of one of the members, as well as other personal responsibilities that the organization of the Army did not take charge of. The chambers used to be made up of a captain and five or six officers, and in the case of the troops, an equal number of soldiers.

Initially it carried and carries a strong military connotation in European armies, but it is after the Russian Revolution that the Bolsheviks used it extensively as an egalitarian alternative to sir and other similar words; the term used to accompany titles to give them a socialist tone. The use of egalitarian titles has its origin in the French Revolution, in which the titles of nobility were abolished as well as the terms monsieur (lord) and madame (lady), and instead citoyen (citizen) was used. For example, King Louis XVI was called Citizen Louis Capet.

In Russia and the USSR

At the end of the 19th century, Russian Marxists and other left-wing revolutionaries adopted the German word "Kamerad" as their translation. » the Russian word «tovarisch» (Russian: Товарищ, from Old Turkish távar ishchi; abbreviated tov.), whose original meaning was “companion of business" or "travel companion (or other adventure)", derived from the noun товар (tovar, i.e. "merchandise") as a form of address in international (especially German) social democracy and in associated parts of the movement worker. For example, one might be referred to as Tovarisch Plekhanov or Tovarisch President, or just Tovarisch.

Soviet propaganda of 1919 which says: “Universal military training is the key to victory! Comrade, you have to stick the rifle like the guadaña!”

After the Russian Revolution, communists around the world adopted translations of the term in different languages. However, due to its common use in stereotypical portrayals of the Soviet Union in Cold War films and books, the term became more strongly associated in the public consciousness with communism as it is known in the Soviet Union, despite the fact that many other socialists would continue to use "comrade" among themselves (for example, German and Austrian Social Democrats and, to this day, members of the British Labor Party).

In the early years of Soviet power, the Bolsheviks used "tovarisch" when referring to or referring to people sympathetic to the revolution and the Soviet state, such as members of the communist party (and originally of other pro-leftist formations). -revolution as the Left Social Revolutionaries) and people from the "working masses". The more neutral Republican form of address would translate as "citizen." Consequently, supporters of the White Movement in the Russian Civil War would derisively use "tovarisch" as a derogatory term for their enemies, although at the same time, various anti-Bolshevik socialist forces such as the Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks also used "tovarisch". among them.

By the mid-1920s, the vocative "tovarisch" became so common in the Soviet Union that it was used indiscriminately in the same way as terms like "sir." That use persisted until the fall of the Soviet Union. Even so, the original meaning partly reappeared in some contexts: criminals and suspects were only addressed as "citizens" and not as "tovarischi", and the express refusal to address someone as "tovarisch" would generally be perceived as an overt act. or, in Stalinist times, even as an accusation of being anti-Soviet.

The term "comrade" is not used in Russian society, and the term "tovarisch" is not used often in contemporary society, but it remains the standard form of address in the military and police, where officers and soldiers are usually addressed as "Tovarisch Colonel", "Tovarisch General", "Tovarisch Sergeant" or similar. The term is also used as part of idioms, e.g. tovarishch po neschast'yu ("suffering fellow", from German Leidensgenosse) or boyevoy tovarishch ("war friend"), or as part of words like tovarishchestvo ("association") that are not associated with communism.

In China

In Chinese, the translation for comrade is “同志” (pinyin, tóng zhì), which literally means “(people with) the same spirit, goal, ambition, etc.” It was first introduced in a political sense by Sun Yat-sen to refer to his followers.

The Kuomintang (Nationalist Party), which was co-founded by Sun Yat-Sen, has a long tradition of using the term Tongzhi (comrade) to refer to its members, usually as a noun rather than of a title; for example, a KMT member would say "Mr. Chang is a loyal and trustworthy companion".

However, the term was more actively promoted by the Communist Party of China during its struggle for power. It was used as both a noun and a title for basically anyone in mainland China after the founding of the People's Republic of China. For example, women were nü tongzhi (companion), children were xiao tongzhi (little companion), and elders were lao tongzhi (old buddy). However, after the 1980s and the start of China's market-oriented reforms, this term has been moving away from that everyday usage. It remains in use as a respectful term of public discourse among middle-aged Chinese and members of the Communist Party of China. Within the Communist Party, failure to address a member as tóng zhì is seen as a subtle but unmistakable sign of disrespect and enmity.

In October 2016, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued a directive urging the party's 90 million members to continue calling each other "comrades" instead of less egalitarian terms. It is also found in Chinese Armed Forces regulations as one of the three proper ways to formally address another member of the military ("comrade" plus rank or position, as in "Comrade Colonel", or simply "comrade/s" when missing information about the person's rank, or talking to multiple service people).

In other countries

In the environment of the socialist parties and other leftist movements, mainly in Latin America and due to the influence of the Cuban Revolution, the use of the compañero greeting is common. This is notable, for example, in the Brazilian Workers' Party.

In Argentina, the name comrades is also widely spread, both among various minority organizations of communist ideology, as well as within the sphere of Peronism and the Argentine Workers' Movement. On the other hand, in some sectors of the Argentine Communist Party and the Communist Party (Extraordinary Congress) the name comrades is preferred, used since ancient times within that organization. On the other hand, within the Radical Civic Union, a traditional Argentine party representative of the urban middle classes, the name of co-religionists has been used since ancient times.

In Chile, the term comrade is still used in the Christian Democratic Party of Chile, while the term comrade is used in the Communist Party of Chile, in addition of other left-wing parties, and that of co-religionist in the Radical Social Democratic Party and in the right-wing parties. Historically, comrade was also used by members of the National Socialist Movement of Chile. In the left for the funeral of the poet Pablo Neruda, this term was also used, returning to the companion at the end of the 70s and beginning of the 80s (fundamentally in the Days of National Protest and in the period of the Campaign of the 1988 Plebiscite), in the latter it was used in the last fortnight of September, when the NO Campaign was used by the YES Command, with the phrase "Comrades, Joy is Coming", where some attacks perpetrated during the Pinochet dictatorship. You can also find the use of comrade in less formal contexts, adopting another meaning. As can be seen in popular music, where it means "the next elephant to climb the web". Traditionally, comrade has also been used by the military.

In Peru, comrade was used by members of Sendero Luminoso to refer to their comrades. Currently it is used to refer to members who are scattered.

In Spain, compañero is associated with the socialist and anarchist traditions, while comrade has been used more within the ambit of communist parties. Some later-created communist organizations, however, have preferred the term companion due to Latin American influence. On the other hand, in Spain the use of comrade has not been restricted only to unions and left-wing parties, since the Falangists use it to greet each other, putting it before their first name. During the Franco regime, it was very common to read in the regime's press: "El Gobernador Civil Comarada..." and similar phrases. This uniqueness comes from the influence of Joseantonian Falangism.

In Italy, the treatment of camerata is typical of the right, while in the parties and unions of the left (including the communists) compagno is always used.

In Venezuela the term comrade is historically used by members of the Communist Party of Venezuela later by other organizations of the revolutionary left such as the followers of the socialist movement of the century XXI, especially members of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela and Patria Para Todos. Other versions of the word that are used in the plains regions (without political connotation) are "camarita" and "camara".

In English-speaking countries, comrade is almost exclusively associated with the Soviet Union and the hard left. In the United Kingdom it only acquired this character around the second half of the XX century, previously being in more general use and including military contexts.