Sentence:  Mongi Slim of Tunisia and Frederick Boland of Ireland were early favorites in the running , but France did n't like the former and the <WSD>Soviet</WSD> Union would have none of the latter . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  a former communist country in eastern Europe and northern Asia; established in 1922; included Russia and 14 other soviet socialist republics (Ukraine and Byelorussia and others); officially dissolved 31 December 1991