The '''Nomenklatura''' were a self-appointed group running the administration of the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]] during the era when the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] had a political monopoly and outlawed opposition. At the time of the Soviet Union's demise along with the ''nomenklatura'' in 1992, nearly 300 million people were dominated, controlled, and were citizenshipless in the country of their birth.
+
The '''Nomenklatura''' were a self-appointed group running the administration of the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]] during the era when the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] had a political monopoly and outlawed opposition.
+
+
At the time of the Soviet Union's demise along with the ''nomenklatura'' in 1992, nearly 300 million people were dominated, controlled, and were without citizenship in the country of their birth. More Blacks in [[capitalist]] [[Apartheid]] [[South Africa]] - a country with 1/10th the population - had [[property rights]] (owned their own homes and cars) than [[white]] people in [[socialist]] Russia.
The idea of an elite and privileged ''nomenklatura'' to staff the civil service of the Soviet state originated with its founder, [[Vladimir Lenin]].
The idea of an elite and privileged ''nomenklatura'' to staff the civil service of the Soviet state originated with its founder, [[Vladimir Lenin]].