troiki

English

Etymology

From Russian тро́йки (trójki), plural of тро́йка (trójka).

Noun

troiki

1. plural of troika
   • 1997, Oleg V. Khlevniuk, “Penal Policy and “Legal Reforms””, in Peter H. Solomon, Jr., editor, Reforming Justice in Russia, 1864-1996: Power, Culture, and the Limits of, Armonk, N.Y., London: M. E. Sharpe, →ISBN, page 202:

     The troiki received extraordinary powers: to impose sentences even to death, without supervision, and to oversee the implementation of their decisions.

   • 1997, Robert Service, A History of Twentieth-Century Russia, Allen Lane, The Penguin Press, →ISBN, page 222:

     In searching out ‘anti-Soviet elements’, troiki were enjoined to capture escaped kulaks, ex-Mensheviks, ex-Socialist-Revolutionaries, priests, pre-revolutionary policemen and former members of non-Russian parties.

   • 2002, E. A. Rees, “Republican and Regional Leaders at the XVII Party Congress in 1934”, in Centre-Local Relations in the Stalinist State, 1928-1941, Palgrave Macmillan, →DOI, →ISBN, page 73:

     In 1933 he [Robert Eikhe] waged a fierce struggle against the regime’s opponents, petitioning the Politburo in July 1933 to retain the power of the troiki in West Siberia to impose the death penalty.

   • 2002, Stephen G. Wheatcroft, “Towards Explaining the Changing Levels of Stalinist Repression in the 1930s: Mass Killings”, in Challenging Traditional Views of Russian History, Palgrave Macmillan, →DOI, →ISBN, section 4 (The Ezhovshchina and the resumption of mass killings, 1937–38, page 136:

     They were given a five-day period within which to form special troiki to administer the cases and to carry out a survey of the numbers to be shot and exiled.