Nomenklatura

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 politcal monopoly and outlawed opposition. The nomenklatura were the only group of persons who held citizenship rights. At the time of the Soviet Union's demise along with nomenklatura in 1992, nearly 300 million people were dominated, controlled, and were citizenshipless in the country of their birth.

The idea of an elite and privileged nomenklatura to manage the civil services of the Soviet State originated with its founder, Vladimir Lenin.