Words at Play : Favorite Words From Foreign Languages
Language of Origin:
Russian
About the Word:
Nowadays, apparatchik is generally used as a mild insult for a blindly devoted official, follower, or member of an organization, such as a corporation or political party.
For example, an Op-Ed piece in the New York Times described a London mayoral candidate as, "a lifelong left-wing activist, a local government apparatchik, a consummate manipulator of subcommittees and votes of confidence."
Originally the word referred specifically to a Communist official or agent. It comes from the Russian apparat meaning "party machine" and for much of the 20th century specifically "the political machine of the Communist party" + -chik, an agent suffix.