Jason Courtoy

PS 4770-001

Dr. Korobkov

The Problem of Ultranationalism

Ultranationalism is generally defined as an extremist version of nationalism. It is most

commonly used for derogatory means, such as condemning a group for threatening

international cooperation or peace. But what truly is ultranationalism? Most groups that are

identified with ultranationalism are fascists, Nazis, and even some radical terrorism groups

could be considered ultranationalists. There are a few precepts needed for a group to be

labeled ultranationalist. Of these the most obvious would be patriotism. The group must have

a patriotic fervor that is xenophobic in nature, expressing its nations need or destiny to control

the world. Additionally the group seeks to rid it of all "others" such as religious, political, racial,

ethnic, etc. It is these precepts (patriotism, xenophobia, world domination, and “others”

cleansing) that this essay will use to explain how Russian ultranationalism developed, what it is,

and why it is an issue.

Russian ultranationalism emerged similarly to that of Germany. Prince Aleksandr

Mikhailovich in his memoirs (published in 1933), made it plainly known that it was the policy of

some Orthodox churches and Russian educators to implant a patriotism within the youth “of a

‘holy hatred’ against all and everything”[ CITATION Sin90 \p 2 \l 1033 ] through their teaching of

history and theology. Lenin and communism’s look towards internationalism later fixed this

xenophobia. It was replaced by international social cooperation, which throughout Europe

failed to cement any radical changes therefore Russia realized that they had to lead the world

in creating the socialist revolution. It was this idea that recreated a nationalist ideology of

Russian Communism that it was on Russia’s shoulders to save the world.

Stalin further ignited a return of this patriotic fervor when in a speech in 1934; he

expressed Russia as the homeland. This was a far departure from Communist dogma about not

expressing nationalism and had never been used since Tsarist Russia. It nevertheless caught on

with the Russian people and would transform into a uniquely Russian term, now iconicized by

James Bond and other spy films as "mother Russia". The reason Stalin brought back this term

was to create a national drive to do what was needed for Soviet Russia. Stalin’s Collectivization

was winding down with many peasants in uprising about their poor conditions. It was Stalin’s

attempt to fix the problem. To some degree, it worked or helped alleviate the issue with the

nationalizing of the Russian defeat of Napoleon in 1812. “In 1812, the soldiers of the Russian

army, despite the fact that they were all serfs, showed the whole world the might of the

Russian folk.”[ CITATION Sin90 \p 4 \l 1033 ]

The Cold War intensified the Russian people’s patriotism. Sinyavsky uniquely expresses

that the Russians find “satisfaction precisely in the fact of being Russian.” (7) This patriotism

was replaced by the Cold War’s isolationism by an intensified xenophobia. Terminology

implemented by the KGB came from old fairytales that explained things in terms of ours or not

ours. This would later play a major role in the development of ultranationalism in Russia.

Unlike Nazi xenophobia where they saw the Aryans as superior to other races, the Russians

came from a deep sense of guilt. This guilt led Russians into anti-Semitism. Sinyavsky explains
that in talking to some Russians the impoverishment that they faced was pushed outwards on

the Jews and others. As he explains, the hardships that they faced were not their own doing

rather it was the Jews, foreigners in Russian disguise. Germany had the same mentality in the

Weimar Republic that it’s not our fault we lost the war, it’s not our fault we are impoverished it

must be the Jews. These developments allowed for the creation, just as it did in Germany, of

ultranationalist thoughts and tendencies.

There are four main types of Russian ultranationalism; National Bolshevism, Fascism,

Orthodox Fascism, and Duginism. While each is fascist in nature, they all go about it in a

different manor. National Bolshevism is a communized Fascism. The meaning of this is that the

communist image it portrays is merely for show. It expresses the international Communist

revolution of the proletariat, but with the Russian people as the leaders and the sole people of

the movement. This dogma most identified with the Soviets in the later years, and ignited the

Russian youth in the 1990s under the Russian National Unity party (RNU). However, it won no

grounds in any election. Even the National Bolshevik Party was shot down in 1997 receiving

only 0.85% of the Duma vote. [ CITATION Dun04 \l 1033 ][ CITATION Sin90 \l 1033 ]

General Fascism, or as Sinyavsky identifies it as “undisguised Fascism” [ CITATION Sin90 \p

10 \l 1033 ], is taken directly from the playbook of Nazism. Unlike National Bolshevism,

undisguised Fascism has rejected all Marxist ideology for a pure form of Fascism. This

undisguised Fascism expresses outright that the Jews are the national enemy of Russia, and the

reason for their suffering and lack of world power. They see a conspiracy of sorts as the Jews

wanting to conquer the world, expressed idyllically as Marxism. It is for this reason that they
reject Communist dogma and replace it with a non-Jewish ideology, Nazism/Fascism. Their

main goal is a returning of Russia not just to its former glory, but also to its pagan and mystical

roots.[ CITATION Sin90 \l 1033 ]

The most interesting, unique, and frightening form of Russian ultranationalism is

Orthodox Fascism. Its ideology is similar to Nazism, but rather than a racial purity, of pure

Russian, it is based on being Orthodox Russian. In other words, “he who is not Orthodox is not

Russian.”[ CITATION Sin90 \p 10 \l 1033 ] The idea was to transform the Soviet state from a

“church without a state”[ CITATION Sin90 \p 11 \l 1033 ] into a theocracy. It was in some ways

already changing because of the release of religious freedoms towards the end of the Soviet

Union. While not all religions were allowed, the remaining Orthodox priests were allowed to

have services. It is believed by advocates of Orthodox Fascism, that the Orthodox religion is

free of Jewish and Western influence and ideology as well as being distinctly Russian. Sinyavsky

points out that Orthodoxy has taken a strong hold in Russia, not because of its moral or ethical

ideas, but because of its ethnical roots to Russia’s past. This connection to Russia's ethical roots

created a national fervor by saying one was an Orthodox Christian. [ CITATION Sin90 \l 1033 ]

Duginism is a unique case of Fascism. It’s named after neo-Fascist Aleksandr Dugin, its

creator. It’s a combination of Orthodox Fascism, National Bolshevism, and anti-Semitism.

Dugin was the founder of the ideology of the National Bolshevik Party. He also was the one

that ran for office in 1997 that ended in failure. He is a staunch Eurasianist that sees Russia as

the leader and centerpiece of the Eurasian government. His new ideology, labeled Duginism,

expresses a war between Atlantics and Eurasians. This is similar to the Communist proletariat
versus capitalists, in that the Atlantics represent the seafaring people and the Eurasians as the

land faring. The difference is that the Atlantics require capitalism to survive, while the

Eurasians do not because they are not isolated. Rather they can work together with the

exclusion of the Atlantics as a community headed by Russia and Dugin. It is capitalism that

stresses a hold on Europe and makes them be Atlantics in nature. Therefore he proposes three

main alliances (similar to those that his National Bolshevism advocated, and Germany’s

National Bolshevism proposed) a Russo-German, a Russo-Tokyo, and a Russo-Tehran Alliance.

All of these alliances are a means to create a world empire dominated by Moscow. Most of his

theory comes from a belief that Russia would not exist as an ethnicity if it were not for a

Russian empire. In sum, without an empire the Russian people would be no more. The

uniqueness Dugin sees in Russia (separating it from German Nazism) is its inclusivism, in that

Russia is so ethnically diverse and has historically never tried to create a mono-ethnic empire.

Ironically, he ignores the ethnic purges of Stalin’s regime. [ CITATION Dun04 \l 1033 ]

The problem of Russian ultranationalists is the same as all ultranationalists. They tend

to be extremely right wing, neo-Nazis in one form or another. They express heavy xenophobic

tendencies, ironically considering Dugin’s proposed inclusivism of Russia. Xenophobia is a

major issue for any nation, most commonly when used as the reason for the destruction of a

nation and the creation of its hardships. Coupled with anti-Semitism it eventually turns

outward into violence against “not us” groups.

Another problem is how closely Russia seems to resemble that of Weimar Germany.

The fall of Communism in Russia left a huge ideological and governmental gap, when coupled
with instant democracy and compromise it is a deadly concoction. Quite a few in Russia

believe, as does Dugin, that Russia was stripped of its power and glory by some outside force.

Just as the Germans did in post-World War I by ostracizing the Jews for single handily bringing

about the demise of the German empire. Roger Griffin in his review “Old Hat, New Bird”

expresses that Fascism fits too well into this situation offering the belittled and humiliated

nation a path to its former glory. But Russia’s fascists do not express their path as one of

development, as Hitler and the Nazis did in Weimar Germany, rather it is one of rebirth. No

longer is Russia a backwards economy and un-modern, instead Russia’s power and empire

needs to be reborn. [ CITATION Dun04 \l 1033 ] [ CITATION Gel93 \l 1033 ] [ CITATION Gri00 \l 1033 ]

A major deterrent of Russian ultranationalism is that many of them are actually ethnic

Russians in former Soviet nations. Places like Poland, Ukraine, Latvia, etc that were before

Russian majorities, but after the fall of the Soviet Union became minorities. Creating dis-

heartedness for their new nation and nationalism, and desiring for their old position in society

to be restored by Russia. This causes a problem with Putin’s call for ethnic Russians to return to

the Russian Federation. Theoretically if these ultranationalist Russians return to the Federation

it could ignite a wave of ultranational victories in the Duma or riots. Luckily, as Remington

points out that the major issue for ultranationalists and advocates of Eurasianism is their

“inability to define a common national program.” In other words, ultranationalists cannot

decide upon a common ideology that they all agree with. This is where Dugin’s ideology is most

frightening. It is simply because he has managed to incorporate all of Russian nationalism’s

ideas, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, Orthodox theocracy, even his own spin of Marxist and Nazi

conspiracies. It is known to that he was the advisor for Putin on all things geopolitical. That
Putin also expressed Russia “as a Eurasian country”[ CITATION Dun04 \p 8 \l 1033 ], makes this

even more menacing. Not to mention the fact it was also known that Dugin was one of the

main architects for Russia’s “concept of national security.” [ CITATION Dun04 \p 10 \l 1033 ] But

his failed election of 1997 and finally being cast down by the Putin and Medvedev

administrations, it is far less likely his theories will catch on. This is why these ex-Soviet

nationalists in various countries in Eastern Europe need to be watched closely. [ CITATION

Dun04 \l 1033 ][ CITATION Gel93 \l 1033 ][ CITATION Rem09 \l 1033 ]

These problems are easily overlooked however by today’s scholars. The resemblance

that the Russian Federation has to Weimar Germany is strikingly disturbing. Though it might

seem insane to conclude that ultranationalists like Dugin could ever gain power, the same was

said of Hitler when he ran for a seat in the Duma. Many saw his eventual win as a means to

console the Nazis desire for power by giving them a place in the government. It should not be

overlooked the youth upsurge of the 1990’s of ultranationalists in Russia. Concluding in Dugin’s

run for a seat in 1997. As it could be a precursor, though theoretical, to the similar rise of

Nazism. It is also necessary not to over look the anti-Semitism of these groups because of the

vast number of Jews still living in Russia.

 Bibliography

Dunlop, John B. "Aleksandr Dugin's Foundations of Geopolitics." Demokratizatsiya (Winter 2004): 41-57.

Gellner, Ernest. "Homeland of the Unrevolution." Daedalus (Summer, 1993): Vol. 122, No. 3, pp. 141-
153.

Griffin, Roger. "Old Hat, New Bird." The Review of Politics (Autumn, 2000): Vol. 62, No. 4, pp. 844-847.

Ingram, Alan. "Alexander Dugin: geopolitics and neo-fascism in post-Soviet Russia." Political Geography
(2001): Vol. 20, No. 8, pp. 1029-1051.

Remington, Thomas F. Politics in Russia. Boston: Longman, 2009.

Sinyavsky, Audrey. "Russian Nationalism." Massachusetts Review (Winter 1990): Vol 31. Issue 4, pp. 475-
494.