1927, in the context of Soviet literary censorship, in reference to writing "obscure or ambiguous, often allegorical, which disguises dissent," from Aesop, the traditional father of the allegorical fable, + -ic. The term (Russian ezopovskii, 1875) arose under the Tsars and the style was used by Russian communists. Once they took power the word was applied by them as a charge against their own dissidents.