kulak (Russian: “fist”) Wealthy or prosperous landed peasant in Russia. Before the Russian Revolution of 1917, kulaks were major figures in peas¬ ant villages, often lending money and playing central roles in social and administrative affairs. In the War Communism period (1918-21), the Soviet government undermined the kulaks’ position by organizing poor peasants to administer the villages and requisition grain from richer peasants. The kulaks regained their position under the New Economic Policy, but in 1929 the government began a drive for rapid collectivization of agriculture and
Kublai Khan; in the National Palace Museum, Taipei
COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL PALACE MUSEUM, TAIPEI, TAIWAN, REPUBLIC OF CHINA
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Kulturkampf ► Kunstler I 1057
“liquidation of the kulaks as a class” (dekulakization). By 1934 most kulaks had been deported to remote regions or arrested and their land and property confiscated.
Kulturkampf \kul-'tur- 1 kampf\ German "culture struggle" Bitter struggle by Otto von Bismarck to subject the Roman Catholic church to state controls. Bismarck, a staunch Protestant, doubted the loyalty of Catholics in his new German Empire and became concerned by the Vat¬ ican Council’s 1870 proclamation on papal infallibility. In 1872 the state dissolved the Jesuit order in Germany. The May, or Falk, Laws of 1873 (applying only to Prussia) limited church powers, and in 1875 the state mandated civil marriage services. Bismarck retreated in the face of strong Catholic resistance, especially by the Center Party. By 1887, with many anti-Catholic laws repealed, Pope Leo XIII declared the conflict over.
Kumasi \ku-'ma-se\ formerly Coomassie \ku-'ma-se\ City (pop., 1998 est.: 578,000), south-central Ghana. A 17th-century Asante king chose the site for his capital and conducted land negotiations under a kum tree, which gave the town its name. Located on north-south trade routes, it became a major commercial centre. The British gained control of the city in 1874. Called the “Garden City of West Africa,” it remains the seat of Asante kings. Its central market is one of the largest in western Africa. Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (1951) is located there.
Kumazawa Banzan Vku-ma-.za-wa-'ban-.zanX (b. 1619, Kyoto, Japan—d. Sept. 9, 1691, Shimofusa) Japanese political philosopher. Born a ronin, he was taken into service by the feudal lord of Okayama at age 15. Largely self-taught, he became a disciple of the Chinese Neo- Confucianist Wang Yangming. As chief minister of Okayama from 1647, he tried to put into practice the Confucian teachings on governance. Forced to resign in 1656, he spent the rest of his life studying and writ¬ ing. He called for advancement in the government bureaucracy based on merit, not heredity, and advocated more government responsibility in eco¬ nomic life and less control by feudal lords. His ideas so infuriated the government that he was kept in custody or under surveillance the rest of his life.
Kumin Vkyu-minX, Maxine orig. Maxine Winokur (b. June 6, 1925, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.) U.S. poet. She studied at Radcliffe College. Her poetry, written primarily in traditional forms, deals with loss, fragil¬ ity, family, and the cycles of life and nature. Her New Hampshire farm inspired Up Country (1972, Pulitzer Prize); later collections include the acclaimed The Retrieval System (1978), Our Ground Time Here Will Be Brief { 1982), Nurture (1989), and Connecting the Dots (1996). She wrote numerous children’s books, some with Anne Sexton, as well as novels and short stories.
kumquat *k3m- 1 kwat\ Any of several evergreen shrubs or small trees of the genus Fortunella (rue, or citrus, family), or their fruit. Native to eastern Asia, kumquats are cultivated throughout the subtropics. The mainly thornless branches bear dark green, glossy leaves and white, orangelike flowers. The small, bright orange-yellow, round or oval fruit has mildly acid, juicy pulp and a sweet, edible, pulpy skin. Kumquats may be eaten fresh, preserved, or candied, or made into jams and jel¬ lies. In the U.S., hybrids have been produced with other CITRUS fruits.
Kun Ykun\, Bela (b. Feb. 20, 1886,
Szilagycseh, Transylvania, Austria- Hungary—d. Nov. 30, 1939?,
U.S.S.R.) Hungarian communist leader. He fought in the Austrian army in World War I, was captured by the Russians, and became a Bol- i shevik. After returning to Hungary in 1918, he founded the Hungarian Communist Party. When Count Karolyi resigned in March 1919, Kun headed the new Hungarian Soviet Republic. He created a Red Army Bela Kun, drawing by Bela Uitz, 1930; that reconquered much of the terri- j n the Legujabbkori Torteneti Muzeum, tory lost to Czechoslovaks and Budapest
Romanians and eliminated moderate courtesy of the legujabbkori torteneti muzeum, elements in the government. In BUDAPEST _
August the regime collapsed, and Kun fled to Vienna and then Russia. As a leader of the Comintern, he tried to foment revolution in Germany and Austria in the 1920s. Eventually accused of “Trotskyism,” he fell victim to Joseph Stalin’s purge trials.
kundalini \,kun-d3-'le-ne\ In some tantric forms of Yoga, the cosmic energy believed to be within everyone. It is pictured as a coiled serpent lying at the base of the spine. Through a series of exercises involving posture, meditation, and breathing, a practitioner can force this energy up through the body to the top of the head. This brings about a sensation of bliss, as the ordinary self is dissolved into its eternal essence, atman.
Kundera Vkiin-de-raV Milan (b. April 1, 1929, Brno, Czech.) Czech- born French writer. He worked as a jazz musician and taught at Prague’s film academy, but he gradually turned to writing. Though a member of the Communist Party for years, his works were banned after he partici¬ pated in Czechoslovakia’s short-lived liberalization movement (1967— 68), and he was fired from his teaching positions. He immigrated to France in 1975 and was stripped of his Czech citizenship in 1979; he became a French citizen in 1981. His works combine erotic comedy with political criticism. The Joke (1967), his first novel, describes life under Stalin. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting (1979), a series of wittily ironic medi¬ tations on the modern state, and the novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984; film, 1988) were banned in his homeland until 1989. His later books include Immortality (1990) and Slowness (1994).
Kunene River See Cunene River
kung fu Piny in gongfu Chinese martial art that is simultaneously a spiritual and a physical discipline. It has been practiced at least since the Zhou dynasty (1111-255 bc). Its prescribed stances and actions are based on keen observations of human skeletal and muscular anatomy and physi¬ ology, and many of its movements are imitations of the fighting styles of animals. Its combative techniques resemble those used in karate and tae kwon do. Self-discipline is emphasized. Kung fu performed as exercise resembles t'ai chi ch'uan.
Kunitz \'kyu-nits\, Stanley (Jasspon) (b. July 29, 1905, Worcester, Mass., U.S.) U.S. poet. He worked as an editor while contributing verse to magazines; much of it was collected in volumes such as Selected Poems 1928-1958 (1958, Pulitzer Prize). With The Testing-Tree (1971), he began to write shorter, looser, more emotional poetry. Among his later collec¬ tions, noted for their subtle craftsmanship and treatment of complex themes, are The Coat Without a Seam (1974), The Lincoln Relics (1978), Next-to-Last Things (1985), and Passing Through (1995). He was also U.S. poet laureate twice (1974-76, 2000-01).