people's

   imposed by autocracy

   The language of totalitarianism or contempt in various compounds, as follow:

   people's army an army pledged to the support of a regime when the former non-political or professional army has been disbanded

   people's car a device for financing Nazi re-armament

    In 1938 any German who had paid 750 marks at a rate of not less than 5 marks a week received an order number, but none received a car. Today Volkswagen has long shaken off its dubious beginnings.

   people's court a tribunal supporting the regime without trained judges or juries, and without justice or mercy

    There is a certain irony in the fact that the three Communists acquitted by a properly constituted court in 1934 of involvement in the Reichstag fire should have been the first victims of the Nazi Volksgerichtshof.

   people's democracy an autocracy

   Usually Communist, and newspeak at its best, since its citizens are denied effective voting rights or access to a free press.

   people's justice summary killing without trial

   Without even the legalistic routine of a PEOPLE'S COURT to delay the process:

    Spare them after all? When they should be punished according to the people's justice. (Kyle, 1983, writing of the Czar and his family)

   people's lottery a national lottery operated by a licensee

   people's militia an armed force supporting those who have seized power

   It may be institutionalized to keep a watch over and counterbalance what remains of a professional army.

   people's palace a mansion for the exclusive use of an autocrat

   As in Syria:

    And it was he who told me that his palace in Damascus, built at a cost of 120 million dollars — and of course no one but the Commander was allowed to enter it — was called Kasr el Sharb, the People's Palace. (Theroux, 1995 — the 'Commander' (of the Nation) was the autocrat Assad)

   people's republic an autocracy

   Usually Communist and slightly less offensive than PEOPLE'S DEMOCRACY, although the people are unlikely to notice any difference:

    ... fatuous violation of language that in our day terms the grotesque dictatorship a 'People's republic'. (Theroux, 1979)

   people's tribunal a political court on the lines of a PEOPLE'S COURT

    ... normally the only indication that the People's Tribunal had done its work was the appearance in the street outside of the common red placards announcing that the accused had been guillotined. (Kee, 1984, writing of Germany in 1939)