Comrade
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Comrade is a term meaning friend, colleague, or ally. The term originally carried a strong military connotation, a "roommate". After the Russian Revolution, the Russian version of this term (товарищ, tovarishch) was championed by communists as an egalitarian alternative to terms like "Mister", "Miss", or "Missis".
This Bolshevik usage was inspired by the French Revolutionaries, who, upon abolishing the titles of nobility, and the terms monsieur and madame (literally, "milord" and "milady"), employed the term citoyen(ne) (meaning "citizen"). King Louis XVI, for instance, was addressed Citoyen Louis Capet to emphasize his loss of privilege.
During the Russian Civil War, the Czarist White Russians used the word comrades (tovarishchi) as a derogatory term for their Bolshevik enemies, particularly those involved in the Red Army and the soviets. Western politicians and comedians sometimes humorously mock left-wing opponents by calling them 'comrade'.
Because of its use by the Soviets, the term is now strongly associated with socialism, particularly the Marxist-Leninist variety epitomized by the Soviet Union. The term can be affixed to titles to add a Soviet flavour (e.g. "Comrade Colonel"). The usage is fairly flexible. For instance, one might be referred to as Comrade Lenin or Comrade Chairman, or simply as Comrade. Overuse of the word is a common characteristic of communist stereotypes on television and in films. In reality, it was employed rarely, reserved mainly for formal or official settings, in particular, in the military.
In Spanish Socialism, the term was compaņero/compaņera ("companion").
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