Blueprint

Blueprint (pronounced bloo-print)

(1) A process of photographic printing, used chiefly in copying architectural and mechanical drawings, which produces a white line on a blue background; also called a cyanotype.

(2) A physical print made by this process.

(3) A slang term for a digital rendition of the process.

(4) A slang term for such a drawing, whether blue or not.

(5) By analogy, a detailed outline or plan of action (in text or image).

(6) To make a blueprint.

(7) A technique for optimizing the performance of internal combustion engines by machining (or matching) components to their exact specifications.

1887: The construct was blue + print (blue print and blue-print (1882) were the rarely used alternative spellings).  The figurative sense of "detailed plan" dates from 1926 and use as a verb is from 1939.

Blue dates from the sixteenth century and was from the Middle English blewe, from the Anglo-Norman blew (blue), from the Frankish blāu (blue) (possibly via the Medieval Latin blāvus & blāvius (blue)), from the Proto-Germanic blēwaz (blue, dark blue), from the primitive Indo-European bhlēw (yellow, blond, grey).  It was cognate with the dialectal English blow (blue), the Scots blue, blew (blue), the North Frisian bla & blö (blue), the Saterland Frisian blau (blue), the Dutch blauw (blue), the German blau (blue), the Danish, Norwegian & Swedish blå (blue), the Icelandic blár (blue).  It was cognate also with the obsolete Middle English blee (color) related to the Welsh lliw (color), the Latin flāvus (yellow) and the Middle Irish blá (yellow). A doublet of blae.  The present spelling in English has existed since the sixteenth century and was common by circa 1700.  Many colors have in English been productive in many senses and blue has contributed to many phrases in fields as diverse as mental health (depression, sadness), semiotics (coolness in temperature), popular music (the blues), social conservatism (blue stocking; blue rinse), politics (conservative (Tory) & Whig identifiers and (unrelated) the US Democratic Party), labor-market segmentation (blue-collar), social class (blue-blood), stock market status (blue-chip) and, inexplicably, as an intensifier (blue murder).

Print dates from circa 1300 and was from the Middle English printen, prenten, preenten & prente (impression, mark made by impression upon a surface), an apheretic form of emprinten & enprinten (to impress; imprint).  It was related to the Dutch prenten (to imprint), the Middle Low German prenten (to print; write), the Danish prente (to print), the Swedish prenta (to write German letters).  The late Old French preinte (impression) was a noun use of the feminine past participle of preindre (to press, crush), altered from prembre, from the Latin premere (to press, hold fast, cover, crowd, compress), from the primitive Indo-European root per- (to strike).  The Old French word was also the source of the Middle Dutch (prente (the Dutch prent) and was borrowed by other Germanic languages.

The sense of "a printed publication" (applied later particularly to newspapers) was from the 1560s.  The meaning "printed lettering" is from the 1620s and print-hand (print-like handwriting) from the 1650s.  The sense of "picture or design from a block or plate" dates from the 1660s while the meaning "piece of printed cloth or fabric" appeared first in 1756.  The photographic sense emerged apparently only by 1853, some three decades after the first photographs, the use evolving as printed photographs became mass-market consumer products.  Print journalism seemed to have been described as such only from 1962, a form of differentiation from the work of those employed by television broadcasters.

Blueprinting internal combustion engines is the practice of disassembling the unit and machining the critical components (piston, conrods etc) to the point where they exactly meet the stated specifications (dimensions & weight).  Essentially, the process is one of exactitude, using precision tools to make components produced using the techniques of mass production (which inherently involves wider tolerances) and modifying them by using tighter tolerances, meeting exact design specifications.  It’s most associated with high-performance racing cars, especially those which compete in “standard-production” classes which don’t permit modifications to most components.  In some cases, especially with factory-supported operations, the components might be specially selected, prior to assembly.

Blueprint of the USS Missouri (BB-63), an Iowa-class battleship launched in 1944.  Missouri was the last battleship commissioned by the US Navy.

The first blueprint was developed in 1842 by English mathematician, astronomer, chemist & experimental photographer Sir John Herschel (1792-1871).  What he then termed a “cyanotype process” eliminated the need to copy original drawings by means of hand-tracing, a cumbersome, time consuming (and therefore expensive) process.  At what was then an astonishingly low cost, it permitted the rapid and accurate production of an unlimited number of copies.  The cyanotype process used a drawing on semi-transparent paper that was weighted down on top of a sheet of paper which was then placed over another piece of paper, coated with a mix of ammonium iron citrate and potassium ferrocyanide (derived from an aqueous solution and latter dried).  When the two papers were exposed to light, the chemical reaction produced an insoluble blue compound called blue ferric ferrocyanide (which became famous as Prussian Blue), except where the blueprinting paper was covered and the light was blocked by the lines of the original drawing. After the paper was washed and dried to preserve those lines, the result was a negative image of white (or whatever color the blueprint paper originally was) against a dark blue background.  White was by far the most used paper and the most common cyanotypes were thus blue with white lines.  At least by 1882 they were being described as “blue prints” but by 1887, they were almost universally called blueprints and in engineering and architecture had become ubiquitous, Herschel’s photochemical process producing copies at a tenth the cost of hand-tracing.

Factory blueprint (quotation drawing produced on diazo machine) of 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR (W196S Uhlenhaut Coupé).  Two were built, one of which sold in June 2022 for a world record US$142 million at a private auction held at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart.

Refinements and economies of scale meant that during the early twentieth century the quality of blueprints improved and costs further fell but by the 1940s, they began to be supplanted by diazo prints (known also as “whiteprints” or “bluelines”).  Diazo prints were rendered with blue lines on a white background, making them easier to read and they could be produced more quickly on machinery which was simpler and much less expensive than the intricate photochemical devices blueprints demanded.  Accordingly, reprographic companies soon updated their plant, attracted too by the lower running costs, the diazo machinery not requiring the extensive and frequent maintenance demanded by the physically big and intricate photochemical copiers.

1929 Mercedes-Benz SSKL printed in blueprint style.

One tradition of the old ways did however endure.  The diazo machines caught on but “diazo print”, “whiteprint” & “blueline” never did; the drawings, regardless of the process used, the color of the paper or the lines (and many used black rather than blue) continued to be known as “blueprints”.  That linguistic tribute persisted even after diazo printing was phased-out and replaced with the xerographic print process, the standard copy machine technology using toner on bond paper.  Used for some time in commerce, large-size xerography machines became available in the mid-1970s and although originally very expensive, costs rapidly fell and the older printing methods were soon rendered obsolete.  As computer-aided design (CAD) software entered the mainstream during the 1990s, designs increasingly were printed directly from a computer to printer or plotter and despite the paper used being rarely blue, the output continued to be known as the blueprint.

Blueprint of the Chrysler Building, New York City, 1930.

Even now, although often viewed only as multi-colored images on screens (which might be on tablets or phones), such electronic drawings are still usually called blueprints.  Nor have blueprints vanished.  There are many things (buildings, bridges, roads, power-plants, railroads, sewers et al) built before the 1990s which have an expected life measured in decades or even centuries and few of these were designed using digital records.  The original blueprints therefore remain important to those engaged in maintenance or repair and can be critical also in litigation.  Old blueprints can be scanned and converted to digital formats but in many cases, the originals are fragile or physically deteriorated and finer details are sometimes legible only if viewed on the true blueprint.  Centuries from now, magnifying glasses in hand, engineers may still be examining twentieth century blueprints.

Lindsay Lohan, blueprinted.    

Finis

Finis (pronounced fin-is, fee-nee or fahy-nis)

End; finish; death; conclusion.

1425–1475: A late Middle English borrowing, either from the French or directly from the Latin fīnis (end; limit, literally “the end" & doublet of fine).  The origin is disputed: It’s possibly from fignis from the primitive Indo-European dheygw- (to stick, set up), from which Latin gained figere & figō (I fasten; to fix) or from fidnis, from bheyd- (to split), which yielded the Latin findō (I divide).  A publishing tradition began in the fifteenth century to place finis at the end of a book, a practice which remained common until the late 1800s.  Existing in Middle English as finishen, finisshen & finischen, the modern English verb finish meant originally (late-fourteenth century) "to bring to an end" and by the mid-fifteenth century, "to come to an end".  The English form came from the thirteenth century Old French finiss- (present participle stem of fenir (stop, finish, come to an end; die)), from the Latin finire (to limit, set bounds; put an end to; come to an end), from finis (that which divides, a boundary, border), often used figuratively to suggest "a limit, an end, close, conclusion; an extremity, highest point; greatest degree.  The meaning "to kill, terminate the existence of" is from 1755.  Modern English offers a myriad of synonyms including over, finish, farewell, windup, completion, expiry, culmination, integration, fulfillment, realization, conclusion, achievement, expiration, finalization, closure, resolution, retirement, result, and outcome.  Finis is a noun

Prime Minister Attlee (left), President Truman (centre) and comrade Stalin (right), Potsdam Conference, 1945. Held in Brandenburg's Cecilienhof Palace in what would soon become the German Democratic Republic (GDR, the old East Germany), the Potsdam Conference (17 July-2 August 1945), was the last of the three (following Tehran, 28 November-1 December 1943 & Yalta, 4-11 February 1945) World War II (1939-1945) meetings of the heads of government of the UK, US & USSR.

Before the Cold War: The group photographs from the Tehran Conference (left), Yalta Conference (centre left) and Potsdam Conference (centre right & right) are among the most re-produced images from World War II.  The only constant presence among the leaders was comrade Stalin. 

Harry Truman (1884–1972; US president 1945-1953) and the USSR’s comrade Stalin (1878-1953; Soviet leader 1924-1953) attended for the duration while Winston Churchill (1875-1965; UK prime-minister 1940-1945 & 1951-1955) represented the UK until 24 July, leaving the following day for London to be present for the declaration of results of the general election.  He left without saying farewell to Truman and Stalin because he expected to be re-elected and return within days.  Instead, the Conservatives were defeated in a landslide and, on 28 July, the new prime minister, the Labour Party’s Clement Attlee (1883–1967; UK prime-minister 1945-1951) flew to Potsdam for the conference’s resumption.  The defeat provoked a variety of reactions within the Soviet delegation.  Comrade Stalin, who had no particular objection to elections, believing "it mattered not who voted but rather who counted the votes", was surprised, having assumed the Conservative Party would have “fixed” the result.  Churchill’s doctor noted in his diary the comment of one female Soviet soldier who, on hearing the news, said she expected Mr Attlee would “… now have Mr Churchill shot”.  On 29 July, leaving Chequers (the prime minister’s Buckinghamshire country house) for what he assumed would be the last time, Churchill signed finis in the visitors’ book.  He was too pessimistic, returning to office in 1951 and staying, despite a severe stroke in 1953, until 1955, resisting the efforts of many of his colleagues to "prise him out".

Zucchetto

Zucchetto (pronounced zoo-ket-oh or tsook-ket-taw (Italian)

A small, round skullcap worn by Roman Catholic ecclesiastics, a priest's being black, a bishop's violet, a cardinal's red, and the pope's white; a calotte; the style is worn also by Syriac (or Malankara Orthodox) and some Anglican clergy.

1850–1855: From the Italian zucchetto, a variant of zucchetta, diminutive of zucca (gourd, squash, pumpkin) from the Late Latin cucutia (gourd), probably from the Classical Latin cucurbita.  Depending on the country or order, a zucchetto may also be referred to as a pilus, pilos, pileus, pileolo, subbiretum, submitrale, soli deo, berrettino, calotte or calotta.  Although unattested, it may be related to the primitive Indo-European tjukka (gourd) and the alternative spelling was zuchetto which most dictionaries seem now to list as non-standard.  The Italian noun zucchetta was (1) a tromboncini (a kind of squash), (2) an ecclesiastic skullcap or (2) a military helmet worn in the 16th century.  The relationship between the small vegetable and the head-covering is the shape, the construct being zucca (gourd, squash, pumpkin) + -etto.  The etto- suffix was used to forms nouns from nouns, denoting a diminutive.  It was from the Late Latin -ittum, accusative singular of –ittus, and was the alterative suffix used to form melioratives, diminutives, and hypocoristics and existed variously in English & French as -et, in Italian as Italian -etto and in Portuguese & Spanish as -ito.  With an animate noun, -etto references as male, the coordinate female suffix being -etta, which is also used with inanimate nouns ending in -a.  It should not be confused with the homophonous suffix -eto.  Zucchetto is a noun; the noun plural is zucchettos.

The first head covering recognizably zucchettoesque was the Greek pilos which evolved also into the modern beret which was in its early forms a larger, irregularly-shaped zucchetto.  A classic medieval adaptation to the climate, it covered a monk’s tonsure (that part of the head from which the hair was shaved, a practice not formally abandoned in the Roman Catholic Church until 1972) thus providing, depending on the season, either insulation or protection from the sun.  It is similar in appearance to the Jewish kippah and this presumably was intentional although the theological basis of two differs.

Ecclesiastical fashion statement: Cardinal George Pell (1941-2023) wearing zucchetto with matching choir cape.

In the Roman church, the color of the zucchetto can be used to determine the office held but the distinctions are not absolute.  A pope for example obviously wears a white but bit that right extends also to those in orders where white vestments are worn.  Cardinals wear scarlet, archbishops, bishops and other notables amaranth and the more junior ranks black.  Apparently informally, some monks wear the brown of their traditional habits.  By convention, a prelate (a bishop or cardinal) removes his zucchetti when in the presence of a more senior appointee and all doff the things when the pope is in the room.  Observers of such things have noted that except during the most formal occasions, this etiquette seems wither to be waived or ignored.

The zucchetto is worn throughout most of the Mass, is removed at the commencement of the Preface, and replaced at the conclusion of Communion, when the Blessed Sacrament is put away, the zucchetto never worn at any occasion where the Blessed Sacrament is exposed and it’s always removed at the end of the last secret prayer, replaced after the ablutions.  Thoughtfully, there’s usually provided also a funghellino (literally “little mushroom”), a kind of hat-stand fashioned usually from brass or wood on which a zucchetto sits when not worn.

Pope Benedict XVI (1927–2022; pope 2005-2013, pope emeritus 2013-2022) & Cardinal Pell in the Vatican.

The zucchetto has also entered the long list of the Catholic Church’s list of cargo cult items.  In a tradition which is said to have be started by Pius XII (1876-1958; pope 1939-1958), cardinals & bishops, if presented with a new zucchetto, may kiss theirs and give it to the generous faithful soul.  Some prefer to take the gift, place it briefly on their heads and hand it back with a blessing.  Recent popes have also adopted the practice, presumably thinking it a good photo opportunity.  Obviously the system could be open to abuse.  Should a zucchetto which has adorned the head of a pope or cardinal fall into the hands of a voodoo priest, they could use it to make a voodoo doll.

Conglomerate & Agglomerate

Conglomerate (pronounced kuhn-glom-er-it or kuhng-glom-er-it (noun & adjective) and kuhn-glom-uh-reyt or kuhng-glom-uh-reyt (verb))

(1) Anything composed of heterogeneous materials or elements; mass.

(2) A corporation consisting of a number of subsidiary companies or divisions in a variety of unrelated industries, usually as a result of merger or acquisition.

(3) A coarse-grained sedimentary rock consisting of round rock fragments cemented together by hardened silt, clay, calcium carbonate, or a similar material. The fragments (clasts) have a diameter of at least 2 mm (0.08 inches), vary in composition and origin, and may include pebbles, cobbles, boulders, or fossilized seashells. Conglomerates often form through the transportation and deposition of sediments by streams, alluvial fans, and glaciers.

(4) Gathered into a rounded mass; consisting of parts so gathered; clustered.

(5) Consisting of heterogeneous parts or elements.

(6) Of or relating to a corporate conglomerate.

(7) In geology, of the nature of a conglomerate.

(8) To bring together into a cohering mass.

(9) To gather into a ball or rounded mass.

1565–1575: From the Latin conglomerātus, past participle of conglomerāre (to roll-up), from glomerāre (to wind into a ball), the construct being con- + glomer- (stem of glomus) (ball of yarn or thread) + -ātus (-ate).  The prefix con- was from the Middle English con-, from the Latin con-, from the preposition cum (with), from the Old Latin com, from the Proto-Italic kom, from the primitive Indo- European ḱóm (next to, at, with, along).  It was cognate with the Proto-Germanic ga- (co-), the Proto-Slavic sъ(n) (with) and the Proto-Germanic hansō.  It was used with certain words to add a notion similar to those conveyed by with, together, or jointly or with certain words to intensify their meaning and, later, to indicate being made from or bringing together of several objects.  The suffix -ate was a word-forming element used in forming nouns from Latin words ending in -ātus, -āta, & -ātum (such as estate, primate & senate).  Those that came to English via French often began with -at, but an -e was added in the fifteenth century or later to indicate the long vowel.  It can also mark adjectives formed from Latin perfect passive participle suffixes of first conjugation verbs -ātus, -āta, & -ātum (such as desolate, moderate & separate).  Again, often they were adopted in Middle English with an –at suffix, the -e appended after circa 1400; a doublet of –ee.  Related forms include conglomeratic, conglomeritic, conglomerated, conglomerating, conglomerateur, conglomeration & conglomeratize.

Agglomerate (pronounced uh-glom-uh-reyt (adjective & noun) and uh-glom-er-it (noun))

(1) To collect or gather into a cluster or mass.

(2) Gathered together into a cluster or mass.

(3) In botany, crowded into a dense cluster, but not cohering.

(4) In geology, a mass of angular volcanic fragments united by heat; distinguished from conglomerate.

(5) In meteorology, an ice-cover of floe formed by the freezing together of various forms of ice.

1675-1685: From the Latin agglomerātus, past participle of agglomerāre, the construct being ad- (to) + -glomerāre (to wind or add into a ball), from glomus (a ball; a mass), from globus (genitive glomeris), (a ball of yarn) of uncertain origin.  Related forms are the adjective agglomerative, the nouns agglomerator & agglomeration and the verbs (used with or without object), agglomerated & agglomerating.  The intransitive sense "grow into a mass" dates from 1730.

Conglomerate rocks (left) are those compose of mostly rounded, gravel-size clasts, a matrix of finer grained sediments, such as sand, silt or compressed clay filling the gaps between the clasts, the form held together with calcium carbonate, iron oxide, silica, or hardened clay which acts as a natural cement.  Agglomerate rocks (right) are large, coarse fragments associated with the lava flow ejected during explosive volcanic eruptions.  Although they resemble sedimentary conglomerates, agglomerates consist almost wholly of angular or rounded lava fragments of varying size and shape. Fragments are usually poorly sorted in a matrix, or appear in a mix of volcanic dust or ash that has turned to stone.

An agglomeration of Lindsay Lohan magazine covers.

Bolshevik & Menshevik

Bolshevik (pronounced bohl-shuh-vik, bol-shuh-vik or buhl-shi-vyeek (Russian))

(1) A member of the more radical majority of the Social Democratic Party, 1903–1917, advocating, inter alia, the immediate and forceful seizure of power by the proletariat (in Russia and in some factions, beyond); after 1918, a member of the Russian Communist Party.

(2) In the West, historically (mostly early-mid twentieth century), a disparaging or contemptuous term used to refer to an extreme radical or revolutionary (often lowercase).  Applied loosely, it was used (even neutrally) to refer to any member of a Communist party.

(3) In the West a term, sometimes humorous, used as an adjective (often as bolshie) applied to anyone deliberately combative or uncooperative and strident or assertive in their actions or expression of view; used especially where there was a perception of behavior of attitude in conflict with socially constructed expectations (women, nuns etc).

Circa 1915: From the Russian большеви́к (bolʹševík), from большинство́ (bolʹšinstvó) (majority) (those in the majority (Majoritarians)), the construct being bólʾsh(iĭ) (larger, greater (comparative of bolʾshóĭ (large) and thus the sourced of bolʾshinstvó (majority)) + -evik (one that is (a variant of –ovik, the noun suffix)).  The adjective bol'shiy (greater), comparative of the adjective bol'shoy (big, great) is probably most familiar from the famous Bolshoi Ballet and was from the Old Church Slavonic boljiji (larger), from the primitive Indo-European root bel- (strong), source also of the Sanskrit balam (strength, force), the Greek beltion (better), the Phrygian balaios (big, fast), the Old Irish odbal (strong), the Welsh balch (proud) and the Middle Dutch, Low German & Frisian pal (strong, firm).  The popular contraction in the West (and one now remote from its party-political origins) should always be spelled bolshie.  Bolshevik & Bolshevist are nouns & adjectives, Bolshevism is a noun and Bolshevistic an adjective.  The noun plural is Bolsheviks (Bolsheviki in the Russian which is pronounced buhl-shi-vyi-kyee).

Norman Mailer (1923–2007) and bolshie woman Germaine Greer (b 1939) at the Town Bloody Hall debate between the author and a panel of feminists, 30 April 1971, The Town Hall, New York City.  Both were well chosen, Greer was the author of The Female Eunuch (1970) which remains one of feminism's seminal texts and Mailer regarded (fairly or not) as a misogynist and one who received a suspended sentence for (twice) stabbing the second (the artist Adele Morales (1925–2015)) of his six wives.

In the twentieth century, “bolshevik” was often used as a term of disparagement, often from establishment figures disturbed by challenges to the status quo, subversive types like TS Elliot (1888-1965) and James Joyce (1882-1941) both called literary bolsheviks and some painters wore “artistic bolshevik” as a badge of honor; later, there would be feminists who proudly described themselves as “bolshie women”.  Winston Churchill (1875-1968; UK prime-minister 1940-1945 & 1951-1955) abhorred communism and not infrequently referred to the new order in Moscow as the “Bolshevik baboons” and was supportive of a multi-national military intervention in the Russian Civil War (1918-1920) but was also, strategically, a realist.  His biographer recounted how he note there were:

“…nearly half a million anti-Bolshevik Russians under arms, and the Russians themselves planned to double this figure.  If we were unable to support the Russians effectively, it would be far better to take a decision now to quit and face the consequences, and tell these people to make the best terms they could with the Bolsheviks.”

So it transpired and the small foreign forces were withdrawn but he always made clear that as Minister for War, he did this out of military necessity and not any lack of conviction that the communists should have been overthrown, telling a press conference in Washington DC in 1954 that had he “…been properly supported in 1919, I think we might have strangled Bolshevism in its cradle, but everybody turned up their hands and said, ‘How shocking!’”

Menshevik (pronounced men·she·vik, men-shuh-vik or myin-shi-vyeek (Russian))

A member of the faction of the Russian Social-Democratic Workers' Party opposed to the Bolsheviks; inter alia, they advocated a gradualist approach to the attainment of socialism through parliamentary government and cooperation with bourgeois parties.  By 1918, the remaining members had been absorbed into the Communist Party of Russia, formed that year.

1907: From the Russian меньшеви́к (menʹševík) from меньшинство́ (menʹšinstvó) (minority) from ме́ньше (ménʹše), the comparative of ма́лый (mályj) (little), the sense being “those in a minority” (the Minoritarians), the construct being ménʾsh(iĭ) (lesser, smaller (comparative of málenʾkiĭ (small) and thus the source of menʾshinstvó minority)) + -evik (one that is (a variant of –ovik, the noun suffix)).  The source the Russian men'she (lesser), was a comparative of malo (little), from the primitive Indo-European root mei- (small).  Menshevik & Menshevist are nouns & adjectives, Menshevism is a noun and Menhevistic an adjective.  The noun plural is Mensheviks (Mensheviki in the Russian which is pronounced myin-shi-vyi-kyee).

The noun minimalist dates from 1907 in the sense of “one who advocates moderate reforms or policies" and was originally an adapted borrowing of Menshevik; as understood as "a practitioner of minimal art" it dates from 1967, the term “minimal art” being noted first in 1965.  It was an adjective from 1917 in the Russian political sense and since 1969 in reference to art.  It was comrade Lenin (Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov 1870–1924 and known by his alias Lenin; revolutionary, political theorist and founding head of government (Soviet Russia 1917-1924 and the Soviet Union 1922-1924) who vested Bolshevik (as Bolsheviki meaning Majoritarians or those in the majority) and Menshevik (as Mensheviki meaning Minoritarians or those in the minority).

Comrade Lenin Agitprop.

Lenin was a classic example of a political phenomenon which would so frequently feature in twentieth century revolutionary politics: the middle-class radical.  His intellectual predisposition had already tended that way but it was after the regime in 1886 hanged his elder brother in punishment for his involvement in an attempt to assassinate the reactionary Tsar Alexander III (1845–1894; Emperor of Russia 1881-1894) that his interest shifted from the mostly theoretical.  Apparently somewhat an inept activist in his younger years, he was soon apprehended by the Tsar’s secret police and transported to Siberia where he wrote a treatise on Russian economic development in which he claimed that capitalism was already the country’s dominant mode of production, quite a startling assertion given the state of things.  He found himself on a sounder intellectual footing as a political tactician, his 1902 pamphlet What Is to Be Done? which advocated a rigid centralism in party structure, the vetting of members and a tightly enforced discipline.

Lenin actually borrowed the title from Nikolay Chernyshevsky's 1863 pro-revolutionary novel What Is to Be Done? (1863), a book not without critics but one which exerted a still often underestimated influence on those who would in the years to come build the political movements which culminated in the events of 1917.  It also drew the attention of Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) who in 1886 wrote his own What Is to Be Done? although it’s a work more of moral theology and was published sometimes as (the probably more accurate) What Then Must We Do? and (in English) as What to Do?

Lenin knew what to do.  A brief work of stark clarity, his pamphlet was quite a change from the verbose and discursive stuff of the era and attracted much attention although its uncompromising was too much for many, the second party congress of the Russian Social-Democratic Workers’ Party in 1903 ending in acrimony although Lenin did secure one pyrrhic victory, his faction winning a majority in the congress vote, enabling him to label his group the Bolsheviki (Majoritarians), the opposition responding, with some implied irony, that they were therefore the Mensheviki (Minoritarians).  The Bolsheviki accused the Mensheviki of being anti-revolutionaries and the Mensheviki labelled the Bolsheviki (and especially Lenin) dictatorial and intolerant.  Had the word fascist then existed, both sides would have used it.  As things soon transpired, defections meant Lenin didn’t long have the numbers and the Mensheviki became the majority (although both sides kept their names), prompting Lenin to damn them as usurpers and it was in this spirit the congress ended, the two factions setting up their own newspapers and network of spies, little time devoted to the revolution because of the internecine conflict.  The outbreak of revolutionary protest in 1905 was thus a surprise to both Mensheviki and Bolsheviki and neither side was sufficiently organized to take advantage of the situation which the Tsar’s forces soon suppressed with a mixture of carrot and stick.

Whether the revolution was to be in than hands of the Mensheviks or Bolsheviks was decided in the war-time chaos of 1917.  Without the war, the Tsarist regime might have endured but when in February it became clear the army were either unable or unwilling to act against the strikes and demonstrations, it became apparent to all the Tsar must abdicate which he did on 15 March (under the Gregorian calendar or 2 March under the Julian calendar then used.  The “administration” which formed in the wake of the revolution (of which the Mensheviks were a part) was from the start beset with problems, some of its own making and few were responsive to the methods adopted, the factionalized and quasi-democratic structures adopted ill suited to deal with the multiple crises of the time.  Strikes and other industrial disruptions may not have made the subsequent Bolshevik insurrection inevitable but the failure to extricate Russia from the war and the not unrelated shortages of food and medical supplies probably did.  What’s remembered as the October revolution (on 7 November (Gregorian calendar) or 25 October (Julian calendar)) was organized by the Bolshevik party and, having seized power, it wasn’t for decades relinquished.  Were there any doubt about the methods and morality of the Bolsheviks, the tsar and his family, under house arrest since March 1917, were on 16 July 1918 murdered although historians continue to debate whether Lenin personally ordered the shootings, documentary evidence impossible to assess because comrade Lenin order it all burned.

Cardinal

Cardinal (pronounce kahr-dn-l)

(1) Of prime importance; chief; principal.

(2) A color in the red spectrum.

(3) In the Roman Catholic Church, a high honor; an appointment by the pope to the College of Cardinals, ranking above all but the pope.

(4) In the Church of England, the two minor canons of St Paul's Cathedral, London who held two historic titles (Senior Cardinal and Junior Cardinal), abolished on 1 February 2016.  The only women in Western history to be styled Cardinal have been Church of England minor canons.

(5) A bird, the crested grosbeak, cardinalis cardinalis, of North America, the male of which is bright red (also called cardinal grosbeak).

(6) A woman's short cloak with a hood, originally made of scarlet cloth and popularly worn in the eighteenth century.

(7) In set theory mathematics, cardinal numbers are a generalization of the natural numbers used to measure the cardinality (size) of sets. The cardinality of a finite set is a natural number: the number of elements in the set. The transfinite cardinal numbers describe the sizes of infinite sets.

(8) A fritillary butterfly, pandoriana pandora, found in meadows of southern Europe.

(9) In astrology, of or relating to the signs Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn (the four zodiacal signs marking the equinoxes and the solstices).

(10) A freshwater fish, the cardinal tetra (Paracheirodon axelrodi).

(11) A type of mulled red wine (obsolete).

Pre 1150: From the Middle English from the Old English, from the Old French cardinal, from the Latin cardinālis, the construct being cardin ((stem of cardō) hinge) + ālis (the third-declension two-termination suffix (neuter -āle) used to form adjectives of relationship from nouns or numerals).   Meaning was thus something on which other things depend.  As used by the Roman church as titles for the ecclesiastical princes who constitute the sacred college, it’s short for cardinalis ecclesiae Romanae (episcopus cardinalis, in the original Latin), meaning "principal, chief, essential".  Origin of this is uncertain but meaning (and position in the Roman hierarchy) altered much over the years.  In the tituli (parishes) of the diocese of Rome, as early as the ninth century, the term cardinal was applied to any priest permanently assigned to a church or, specifically, to the senior priest of an important church, the familiar modern understanding (a prince of the church), evolving later in the middle ages.  Related forms are the adverb cardinally, the noun cardinalship and the adjectives inter-cardinal, post-cardinal & sub-cardinal.

The cardinal points (1540s) are north, south, east, west.  The cardinal sins (pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth), dating from circa 1600, are well known and much practiced; they’re referred to also as the seven deadly sins or the capital vices.  The cardinal virtues (circa 1300), divided into the natural (justice, prudence, temperance, fortitude) and the theological (faith, hope, charity), are less known and though much admired, seldom observed.

Ms Cardinal

Cardinal George Pell (1941-2023) does his bit to promote gender DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) in the Holy See.  Cardinal Pell, Pope Benedict XVI (1927–2022; pope 2005-2013, pope emeritus 2013--2022) and Kevin Rudd (b 1957; Australian prime-minister 2007-2010 & 2013), Canberra, Australia, 2008.

It’s been suggested if Pope Francis (b 1936; pope since 2013) would like his pontificate remembered for something rather than nothing in particular, he should appoint a woman cardinal.  She would have to be from the laity; priests would never accept a cardinal-nun, except perhaps one who has taken a vow of silence and these days, they’re hard to find.  Although cardinals have most often been drawn from the priesthood, historically the title has not been limited to those holding ecclesiastical office and there have been a small number of lay-cardinals (non-ordained), the last dying in 1899.  While it’s true the 1917 Code of Canon Law permits only the ordained to be appointed, the papal theocracy is an absolute monarchy and the right pope, if so inspired, could make a woman a cardinal by issuing a motu proprio (literally “on his own impulse”, the law-making mechanism available to absolute monarchs and usually styled a "royal decree").  From the usual suspects, there would be opposition, thus it must be not only the right woman, it would need to the the right pope and a pope certainly has some room to move, the office of cardinal lies exclusively in his gift and he need consult no-one.  

If the thought of outraged theologians sounds a bit tiresome, Francis could appoint a woman and not tell anyone.  That’s because there are secret cardinals or cardinals in pectore ("in the breast" (ie in their hearts)), a medieval invention whereby a pope would appoint a cardinal but not publish his name, an act provided for in canon law as creati et reservati in pectore.  It was a mechanism created to protect the lives of those for whom wider knowledge of their elevation might have put them in harm's way.  An in pectore creation is known only to pope and appointee so, should the pope die before revealing the cardinal in pectore's identity, the person's status as cardinal expires.  The last pope known to have named cardinals in pectore was Saint John Paul II (1920–2005; pope 1978-2005) who created four, including one whose identity was never revealed.  This is the sort of cloak and dagger stuff practiced by the Vatican, the Freemasons and the Secret Society of the Les Clefs d’Or.

In July 2022, in what proved a surprisingly wide-ranging interview with the Reuters news agency, Pope Francis revealed he would be appointing two women to the Dicastery for Bishops, the committee which assists the pontiff in the selection of bishops.  It's a matter thought of some significance because the creation of bishops is a pope's personal prerogative and while under no obligation to following the advice of the dicastery, it seems unlikely he would not take advantage of the symbolism of the committee's afforcement by women by making their influence apparent.  Historically, the Dicastery for Bishops had maintained an all-male membership.

The pope was responding to questions about the place of women in the Vatican establishment; the Praedicate evangelium (an apostolic constitution reforming the Roman Curia, published and promulgated in March 2022) and which dicasteries might in future be entrusted to lay-members of the Church, especially women.  The pope responded by saying he was "...open should an opportunity arise", adding that "...two women will be going to the Congregation of Bishops, on the commission to elect bishops.  In this way, things open up a little bit.”  Too this he added that he sees "in the future" the possibility of lay people being appointed to lead certain Vatican departments such as the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, the Dicastery for Culture and Education, or the Vatican Apostolic Library.  To illustrate how things were opening up, he mentioned the appointment in 2021 of Sister Raffaella Petrini (b 1969) as deputy governor in the Vatican City Governorate, making her the first woman to hold the position and the earlier assumption by Francesca di Giovanni (b 1953) of the office of undersecretary for the multilateral sector in the Secretariat of State's Section for Relations with States and International Organizations, another first.

Other notable appointments by Pope Francis include Sister Nathalie Becquart (b 1969; a French member of the Xaviere Missionary Sisters), as co-under-secretary of the Synod of Bishops (which prepares the big meetings of bishops held every few years) and Sister Alessandra Smerilli (b 1974; of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians), as Undersecretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.  Within the bureaucracy, there have been women in upper-level positions for some time including Barbara Jatta, the first female director of the Vatican Museums, Nataša Govekar (b 1975; Director of the Theological-Pastoral Office of the Dicastery for Communication and Cristiane Murray (b 1962; deputy director of the Holy See’s Press Office, all of whom were appointed by the current pontiff.  Critics did note that except for some "technical" positions, the jobs allocated to women tended to be either at the "deputy" and "assistant" level or in roles that were advisory rather than decision-making but all concede there has been progress and Praedicate evangelium allowing any baptized Catholic, including lay men and women, now to head most Vatican departments.

Not unexpectedly, the Reuters correspondent appears not to have brought up the matter of women being appointed to any clerical office, a matter successive popes have not merely dismissed but banned from being even discussed.  Nor was there any mention of a revival of the idea of lay cardinals, an office in abeyance since 1899 and apparently precluded by the 1917 revisions to Canon Law although, as an absolute sovereign of both Church and state, a pope could issue a motu proprio creating any baptized Catholic a lay-cardinal, man or women.  Subject only to bitchy letters of complaint (a dubia) from outraged bishops and pedantic theologians, what a pope rules actually becomes the law, a convenient arrangement for a head of state and one asserted (without some  success) by Adolf Hitler (1889-1945; head of government (1933-1945) & head of state (1934-1945) in Nazi Germany) and (with less support) by Richard Nixon (1913-1994; US president 1969-1974).

Lindsay Lohan in costume as nun with Smith & Wesson .50 Magnum revolver with 8" barrel (S&W500: SKU 163501) in promotional poster for Machete (2010).  Raised in the Roman Catholic faith, Lindsay Lohan is the ideal candidate to be the Church's first female cardinal.  Indeed, so obvious are her credentials to wear the scarlet a pope may already have appointed her Cardinal in pectore and if so, it was probably renowned Mean Girls (2004) fan Benedict who would have noted similarities between many of the movie's plot lines and the antics of the Curia.