Neo-Nazism

The term Neo-Nazism is used to refer to any social or political movement seeking to revive Nazism or a racist form of Fascism, and which postdates the Second World War. Often, especially internationally, those who are part of said movements do not use the term to describe themselves, either eschewing the terms neo-Nazism and/or Neo-Fascism (out of either: tactical avoidance of the stigma surrounding them, or actual ideological distinctiveness from them) or rejecting the 'neo' prefixing their commitment to Fascism or National Socialism. The use of the neo- prefix is not universally used to describe Neo-Nazi groups either, and there are also Neo-Nazi groups that specifically use the prefix.

Neo-Nazism in Russia

Russia may seem like an unlikely place for a flowering of neo-Nazi movements due to the strong memories of the devastation that was wrought on the nation by the Nazi German invaders during World War II. Nevertheless, the post-Soviet era has seen the rise of a variety of extremist nationalist political movements, some of them paramilitary organizations of openly neo-Fascist or neo-Nazi persuasion. These organizations are characterized by extreme xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and an active interest among a few of these groups in overthrowing the government and taking power by force. However, neo-Nazis still represent a small minority when it comes to rebellious groups, with much of that category actually filled by Communists and Islamic extremists.

Related Topics:
Russia - World War II - Nationalist - Xenophobia - Anti-Semitism

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Social roots

The collapse of the Soviet economic system which culminated the early 1990s caused an economic and social meltdown of epochal proportions, one often described as far exceeding the devastation the USA has experienced during the Great Depression. There was a great deal of popular discontent with the widespread unemployment and poverty, as well as the widely perceived humiliation with the end of the Cold War that was generally seen as constituting an unconditional surrender to the nation's enemies.

Related Topics:
Soviet - USA - Great Depression - Unemployment - Poverty - Cold War

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This discontent found its main outlet in the major political parties that stood in opposition to the Boris Yeltsin government (1991-1998), especially the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (Kommunisticheskaya Partiya Rossijskoj Federacii, KPRF) which generally advocated a return to the Soviet economic policies, and the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (Liberal'no Demokraticheskaya Partiya Rossii, LDPR) led by Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a xenophobic and chauvinist movement without a clear agenda beyond the opposition to the "democrats", i.e. the ruling political factions allied to Yeltsin.

Related Topics:
Boris Yeltsin - Communist Party of the Russian Federation - KPRF - Liberal Democratic Party of Russia - LDPR - Vladimir Zhirinovsky

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However, soon enough it became clear that neither of these parties were capable of accomplishing any serious changes in the national policy, and indeed soon they came to be widely seen as having had "sold out" to the "anti-people regime" (anti-narodny rezhim, a label widely used by the Communists to refer to Yeltsin's government).

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Consequently, a number of extremist paramilitary organizations of the neo-Nazi persuasion were able to tap into the wellspring of discontent and despair among those who saw no future for themselves under the established conditions, particularly among the marginalized, lesser educated, and habitually unemployed youth.

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Of the three major age groups, the youth, adults, and the retired elderly, it was the youth who in a sense had been hit the hardest. The elderly suffered greatly due to inadequate, or often unpaid, pensions (social security benefits), but they found effective political representation in the Communists, and generally their concerns were addressed sooner or later through better budget allocation. The adults, though often suffering financially and psychologically, such as due to a breadwinner's loss of work, still were generally able to find some employment and get by. Moreover, an established egalitarian system of indoctrination instigated by the Soviet Union generally predisposed most against the message of right-wing extremists. The youth generally had no such prior inclinations. Also, the youth had only experienced the last days of the Communist regime, which were made up of brutal crack downs, but without any idealistic presence, and was thus similar to Nazism.

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Ideology

Russian neo-Nazi organizations generally defined themselves as standing outside of the political process, disdaining the electoral system and advocating the overthrow of the government by force. Their ideological programs centered on Russian national identity, defending the Russians against what they perceived as a takeover of the country by people from ethnic minorities, notably Jews and migrants from the Caucasus region. Cleansing the nation by killing or expelling the non-Russians was a generally accepted goal, claimed to be a way to solve pretty much all of the woes facing the country. Their ideology became epitomized in the short slogan "Russia for the Russians", a catchphrase adopted more widely by less extremist factions later on. They did not generally have discernible economic programs, quite unlike the German NSDAP.

Related Topics:
Caucasus - Russia for the Russians - NSDAP

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The neo-Nazis did openly admire and imitate the German Nazis and Hitler. Mein Kampf stood high on their reading list. The most prominent organization, Russian National Union (Russkoe Nacional'noe Edinstvo) led by Aleksandr Barkashov, adopted a three ray swastika as its emblem (the Nazi swastika can be thought of consisting of two "rays", i.e. the _|¯ (Z) shaped segments). Some others preferred the original version. In order to harmonize Hitler's notion of the Germanic master race with the Russian national feeling, the doctrine was updated to include all Aryans or Indo-Europeans, both Germanic and Slavic. The definition explicitly excluded Jews and the people from the Caucasus (widely seen as alien and "black" because of a slightly darker skin color). On a more practical level, the neo-Nazis considered the Russians as a special and chosen nation, while looking down on others, including the non-Russian Slavic peoples.

Related Topics:
Hitler - Mein Kampf - Russian National Union - Russkoe Nacional'noe Edinstvo - Aleksandr Barkashov - Swastika - Master race - Caucasus

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These groups then exploited the vulnerability and discontent of young people, as explained above. However, Nazism did also attract many of the old, who while at times had adequate living conditions, still suffered greatly in the Soviet economic collapse.

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Activities

The neo-Nazis made it an explicit goal to take over the country by force, and they did put in serious effort into preparing for this. The paramilitary organizations operating under guise of sports clubs organized training for their members in squad tactics and weapons handling. Weapons were stockpiled, generally illegally (due to very restrictive Russian gun laws) (Note: These gun laws were, and still are, for most part ignored. This is evidenced by the ease of which the Russian Mafia can obtain guns, especially AK-47s.) Reputedly, many were interested in martial arts and unarmed combat, and did a good job organizing realistic hand-to-hand combat classes. Despite these extensive preparations, quite incredible by the standards of a Western nation, the neo-Nazis have not yet carried out any well-known attacks or otherwise come out into the open. Their most notable action so far was the participation in the armed defense of the building of the State Duma (Russian parliament) against government forces during the standoff between Yeltsin and the Communist dominated parliament in 1993, which Yeltsin won. The neo-Nazis did generate considerable anxiety because of their potential for pogroms against people they do not like and indeed of actual power seizure. No such things have so far materialized, although rumors of impending pogroms did circulate widely in the early 1990s. See also Pamyat.

Related Topics:
AK-47 - Martial arts - Hand-to-hand combat - State Duma - Pogrom - Pamyat

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Human right groups expressed concerns over what they see as inability or unwillingness of the Russian police and security establishment such as FSB to act against the activities of the domestic neo-Nazi movement. Allegations have been made that the failure of the government to take decisive measures suggests a possibility to use paramilitary groups as a potential tool in a future struggle for power. Parallels have been drawn between this situation and the situation in 1930s Germany, just before the NSDAP took power. In Germany, the rich and the powerful in government often supported the Nazis, if for no other reason than because, of the three major political powers at the time (being the Communists, the National Socialists and the democrats), the Nazis were the only group with the strength and will to actually do something about the rising tide of Communism, making them at least practically, the defenders of the traditional German upper-class.

Related Topics:
FSB - NSDAP

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