Russia has a very long history of peasant servitude, which was abolished only in 1861. Most peasants were organised in social units called mir. These units had a certain degree of independence from the state and the aristocracy, who formally owned the serfs, in managing joint agricultural and administrative activities. The Bolsheviks carried on a similar system of managing and controlling the peasantry in units, this time called kolhoz (collective household). Urban dwellers were organised in cells and generally the life of a Soviet citizen was controlled and organised by the state. The term vsem mirom, derived from mir, is still very much in use today and refers to a collective decision-making process and the system of thinking where individualistic stands are not welcome.
