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Mir (Social)The Russian word mir (мир), besides its direct meanings of peace and world, had some other meanings related to social organization in Imperial Russia. The first meaning was to denote the secular part of the society organization, as opposed to church organization. Some literary critics say that the name of the novel of Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace, contains a word play implying this addditional meaning, elusive from non-Russian speakers. The second meaning was used in Imperial Russia to denote local self-government of peasant communities (obshchinas) at the village level in a form of the full assembly of the community, as well as a community iself. Among its duties were control of the common land and forest (if such existed), levying recruits for military service, imposing punishments for minor crimes. It was also held responsible for taxes underpaid by members, as well as for crimes by the members. This type of shared responsibility was known as кругова́я пору́ка; (English transliteration: krugovaya poruka) (the meaning of the expression changed over the time). Related article
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