The word was primarily used to describe networks, when people made each a favour in exchange for another favour.
According to Max Vasmer, the origin of the word blat is the Yiddish blatt, meaning a "blank note" or a "list".[4] However, according to both Vasmer and N. M. Shansky, blat may also have entered into Russian as the Polishloanword blat, a noun signifying "someone who provides an umbrella" or a "cover".[4] The word became part of Imperial Russiancriminal slang in the early 20th century, where it signified relatively minor criminal activity such as petty theft.[4]
Blatnoy originally meant "one possessing the correct paperwork", which, in the corrupt officialdom of Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union indicated that the blatnoy was well connected.
In addition, the word blatnoy came to indicate career criminals because they had a blatnoyor special status in the Russian criminal underworld. The word is used to indicate association with the criminal underworld (e.g. "blatnoy language"/Fenya, "blatnoy behavior", "blatnoy outlook").[citation needed]
The adverbial usage of the word is po blatu(по блату), meaning "by or via blat".[4]
A notable operation of blat system was the institution of tolkachs. Because in the Soviet Union, the Gosplan wasn't able to calculate efficient or even feasible plans, enterprises often had to rely on people with connections, who could then use blat to help fulfill the quotas. Eventually most enterprises came to have a dedicated supply specialist – a tolkach(literally pusher) – to perform this task.