Sentence:  Communism envisioned […] an Authority Ranking of political control (in theory, the dictatorship of the proletariat; in practice, a <WSD>nomenklatura</WSD> of commissars under a charismatic dictator). 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  The people on such lists; by extension, any privileged class, a social or political elite. (from 20th c.)