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Untitled[edit]

I have added back in the info about the French use of "camarade" during the French revolutionary period. Presumably it was removed because the source wasn't cited explicitly enough before. I've also removed the statement that the term "comrade" was adopted in the 19C because socialists wanted to avoid the "liberalism" of the French revolution. The reason I've removed it is twofold: (1) it partially contradicts the fact that in France, "comrade" was used during the revolution itself, (2) it contradicts what we know for sure about the socialist movement: 19C socialists admired the French revolution, they saw it as a great step forward and they deliberately chose the 100th anniversary of the revolution to launch the Second Socialist International in 1889 - see "One Hundred Years of Socialism" by Sassoon. -86.136.26.164

FWIW, the French camarade arises from the Spanish camarada Source User:Ejrrjs says What? 18:24, 16 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Genosse <-> Kamerad[edit]

The German word "Genosse" is often used by socialists, communists and socialdemocrats. But "Kamerad" or "Kameradschaft" is a military word, or they are used by nationalists, nazis, neo-nazi or other right wing groups, unusually by left wing people.

I'm in a volunteer fire department in Germany and we also speak of "Kameraden"(plural) and "Kameradschaft". In German schools the classmates are called "Klassenkameraden" (class comrades).

Yes, but this article is about the word Comrade as it is used by "communists" etc, and germany speaking bolsheviks, and in East Germany, Genosse was the word they used. Bronks 18:32, 26 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

In Poland[edit]

Comrade=towarzysz (editor: 71.211.136.201)

Okay, I'll add it to the article. Bronks 17:56, 29 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Korean??[edit]

Anyone know the Korean usage? Babelfish gives this, 동지. I don't know the accuracy of this or what the English phonetics would be, but would be a nice addition to the page.

Hebrew[edit]

In Hebrew, the word is "Haver", which also means "friend" - used by Labor Zionists (Poale Zion) (e.g., "Irv was a haver with diverse and intense interests..." [1] - I don't know how to put in the Hebrew letters though --Davecampbell 02:16, 14 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Russian Army[edit]

(sorry for bad English) Word "Comrade"("tovarishch") is used not only for superior officers; it's official form. For example, "comrade private", "comrade sergeant" are also used. Ingwar JR 10:54, 4 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Are you sure? It is my understanding that this is no longer used in the Russian army. Unless it came back in with Putin.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.17.146.39 (talk • contribs)

Yes, I'm sure. Word "comrade" is official address in Russian Army, militia and other militarized organizations (Ministry of Extraordinary Situations (Russian Federation), Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, for example) not for superior officers only, but for all. It have a long tradition (modern Russian Army was created from Soviet Army), and now it's associates in Russia more with Victory in World War II, and in generally with army, then with communists. Please, change the text of article. Ingwar JR 10:39, 6 May 20

so doesnt it relate with communist parties either way?

Chinese[edit]

As far as I know, the title of tongzhi is also widely used in state owned enterprises besides the party and government offices. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.108.86.114 (talk) 05:07, 21 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

An anonymous user deleted this text from the Chinese usage of the word:

"Due to the character "同" (meaning "same") and the fact that "同性恋" (tóng xìng liàn) is the technical term corresponding to "homosexual" in English, Tongzhi has recently become a slang term meaning "gay"."

This text belongs in the article because it is very relevant to the Chinese usage. I am new to Wikipedia. Can we warn that IP address for vandalism?--Honghaier 21:13, 5 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Comrade[edit]

There is a program called Comrade similar to Xfire —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.100.26.80 (talk) 22:49, 14 March 2007 (UTC).[reply]

Cm.?[edit]

What's the abbreviation? 128.146.46.2 (talk) 19:07, 29 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

In the US, I've usually seen it as Cde. or occasionally Crde. Cadriel (talk) 01:44, 30 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Russian usage[edit]

As Russian, I confirm the usage of 'comrade' ('tovarisch') in Army as a standard form of address, but that's not correct for the Russian police - militsiya. They don't use it in militsya definitely. I can't site the source, unfortunately.Vihljun (talk) 01:08, 28 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

"Mainly used by"[edit]

I'm not a fan of the sentence that reads: "The term is mainly used by left-wing organizations ..." I agree that it is often used by left-wing organizations and that it frequently has Leftist connotations, but I don't think that's its main usage. For example, it's commonly used by soldiers and police officers of all stripes to describe a "fallen comrade." I think the reference to left-wing organizations is appropriate and should be in the intro paragraph, but I don't think "mainly" is the right word. How about "often" or "frequently"? Nsfreeman (talk) 15:03, 19 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

A totally absurd article![edit]

This article is utterly absurd, as it's based on the notion that the English word "comrade" is somehow a socialist form of address across the world. No, it's not - and the end of the article clearly describes it: in most languages, socialists have been using an existing word for "friend", "companion" or "colleague" as their form of address. This includes Russian, where "tovarishch" (товарищ) meant exactly this. That was the word used by Russian socialists as a form of address amongst themselves. As Germany was a centre of socialism in the late 19th century, much socialist writing was translated into German, and "tovarishch" happened to be translated as "Kamerad", which was and is a common German word for "friend" or "mate". German socialist, however, preferred to address each other with the synonym "Genosse".

When those originally Russian texts were translated from German into English, "Kamerad" was translated as "comrade", which is an old English word meaning the exactly the same thing: "friend", "companion" or "colleague". It has existed in English since the Middle Ages, as an import from French, and can be found in Shakespeare plays (Henry IV, Lear) and poems of Tennyson with just that meaning. However, as "comrade" has never been as commonly used as "friend", "companion" or "colleague", the fact that English language socialist writings claimed that Russian socialists called each other "comrade" meant that British and American socialists also started to call each other "comrade", meant that this word gradually became seen as a socialist/communist word. Also, many Russian-English dictionaries began to translate "tovarishch" with "comrade" because of this, which even further strengthened the myth that Russian socialist addressed each other "comrade".

The article even claims that the roots for "comrade" somehow can be found in the French Revolution, although the French revolutionaries addressed each other "citizen"!

If this article is to be kept at all, it needs to be thoroughly rewritten, as an article describing how a an "innocent" English word was transformed into a politically loaded word because of poor translation. Or perhaps such a text should be merged with a text about how another "innocent" word, "gay", became associated with homosexuals? Thomas Blomberg (talk) 11:17, 7 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Russian etymology[edit]

In article I found that Tovarishch is from Old Turkish - tavar ishchi. That version from dictionary of Max Vasmer, he was a German, so Russian is a foreign language for him, so he made a lot of mistakes. In dictionary for example of Pavel Chernih, who mostly investigated old slavic texts and old russian, tovarishch is derivative from Old Russian, where it close to stan ("army camp"). ~~ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.22.57.35 (talk) 03:24, 9 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

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British Usage section (factuality citation)[edit]

The 'British Usage' section selectively quotes an existing part of the article, omitting any mention of the (small) communist/Maoist parties who are most fond of the term, but intimating that 'comrade' is an "especially common" greeting within the Labour Party. I have yet to hear a reference to "Comrade Starmer" (or Comrade [other frontbencher]) and until I do, I question the motivation of creating this section without the full context or evidence. Members of left parties such as CPB do call fellow members 'comrade', and that is not a matter of contention. I notice the editor chose to copy the bit about the (original, Mosley-led) British Union of Fascists which collapsed in 1939 when their leadership was interned for the duration of the war. I am not aware of current far right parties (of which the BNP was the biggest example in the last two decades) using the term, suggesting that the current batch of "kamaraden" are happy to eschew use of this honorific. 109.145.4.231 (talk) 22:41, 6 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

This article needs improvement[edit]

This article needs drastic improvement. Currently, you would get the feeling that "comrade" isn’t just a word associated with left-wing ideologies. This article also makes it seem like a far-left term, when in fact it is used by reformist socialists and social-democrats in France, Germany, Spain etc. It is also a word with a meaning, which isn’t really shown here. The fact that in English it’s only associated with radical revolutionary communism doesn’t mean it is a communist word. It objectively isn’t. I am going to rewrite the bulk of the article using reliable sources once I find the time. Comrade is a normal word expressing comradeship, it is used all over the political spectrum. It is associated to socialism, from social-democracy to, yes, Stalinism. But not only Stalinism. Cordially. Encyclopédisme (talk) 22:19, 14 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

It all depends on context. Please keep in mind that we don't write articles on generic English words, unless they have some special history. If you can find something interesting, it will be interesting :-) Therefore the article looks left-leaning. - Altenmann >talk 02:08, 15 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I do find things interesting. It’s normal that it’s left-leaning, though Canada, the US, the UK, Australia and New Zealand aren’t the entire anglophone world, and they aren’t even the entire West (remember, Eastern Europe and Latin America are also included in that, sometimes, next to continental Western Europe). This word is associated with not just communism, but socialism, social-democracy, unions, and labour movements. Il be working on it once I find the time, sources and energy. Cheers. Encyclopédisme (talk) 11:20, 15 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]