I’m currently reading War and Peace in Soviet Diplomacy by T. A. (Timothy Andrew) Taracouzio, which discusses the Soviet Union‘s diplomatic efforts to survive from its founding in 1917 through the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact of 1939 and the beginning of World War II.
In addition to the difficulties in understanding/interpreting the complexities of Communist doctrine as applied by Lenin and Stalin is the shear volume of foreign terms – mostly Latin – used by the author. I am by no means an expert in foreign languages, legal terms, or diplomacy, but was still surprised by how many unknown (to me) phrases were dropped by the author.
cum grano
This, however, must be accepted cum grano, for, in spite of the communist denunciation of the watchword “a general walk-out is the reply to war,” and irrespective of warnings to the workers that such illusions cause considerable damage to an effective struggle against war, communist can by no means oppose the general strike as one of the instrumentalities for transforming an imperialist war into a civil one, or categorically condemn the refusal to resort to such a method as an expression of opportunism.
p36
This one is interesting in that it appears the complete phrase is cum grano salis and literally means “to take with a grain of salt”, i.e., to be skeptical. Perhaps in 1941 it was acceptable to shorten and not include salis.
ex necessitate
In the preceding pages it was said that revolutionary wars are not only those started by proletarian states, but also those conducted by such states ex necessitate – wars in which the latter find themselves on the defensive.
p45
Another phrase that may have been shorten from ex necessitate rei, meaning “From the necessity of the matter.”
pari passu
His revolutionary specifications grew pari passu.
p60
Searching online, pari passu appears to be often used in finance contexts, meaning “at an equal rate or pace.” In this section of the book, the author is simply discussing how Lenin did not speed up the transition to communism but rather kept advancing the cause at a steady rate.
aggression diplomatique
Disappointed in the earlier proposals made to Poland in 1924 and 1925, Chicherin now directed his aggression diplomatique toward Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
p120-121
This French phrase translates to “diplomatic aggression”, which I interpret as “aggressive diplomacy.” It seems this is not a commonly-used phrase, at least not currently, as an online search does not find anything.
