Political Editing : Soviets Take Exception to Dictionary

Soviet editors of special editions of the Oxford English Dictionary changed the definitions of key political words to fall in line with Communist Party doctrine, the OED’s publisher said today.

George Richardson, chief executive of the Oxford University Press, said he regretted the changes in the Soviet editions. “I think it’s rather unfortunate that it’s turned out this way. I think that its political overtones should have been thought about more carefully.”

In the Soviet edition of the Oxford Student’s Dictionary of Current English, “socialism” is defined as “a social and economic system which is replacing capitalism.”

The Soviet edition of the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English defined “capitalism” as the system “replacing feudalism and preceding communism.”

Both dictionaries changed the definitions of other political words:

“Communism”--”the revolutionary replacement of capitalism.”

“Imperialism”--”the highest and last stage of capitalism.”

“Fascism”--”a form of reactionary, nationalistic, anti-democratic, anti-Communist, bourgeois movement and regime, typical of the era of imperialism.”