Russian National Union
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Russian National Union () was a
Neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...
party in
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
. The party should not be confused with
Russian National Unity Russian National Unity (RNU; transcribed Russkoe natsionalnoe edinstvo RNE) or All-Russian civic patriotic movement "Russian National Unity" () was an unregistered neo-Nazi, irredentist group based in Russia and formerly operating in states wit ...
, a larger group with similar roots, although with no direct connection.


Formation

The Russian National Union was first formed in 1993 as a hardline splinter group of the
nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...
Pamyat The National Patriotic Front "Memory" (NPF "Memory"; , also known as the Pamyat Society; , , ) was a Russian far-right antisemitic, and monarchist organization. ''Pamyat'' also identified itself as the "People's National-Patriotic Orthodox ...
organisation.Antisemitism and Xenophobia: Russia 1996
Based in
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
, the party was jointly led by Konstantin Kassimovsky and Aleksei Vdovin. The new group was supported by Aleksandr Shtilmark and his influential
far right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and Nativism (politics), nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on ...
journal ''Chernaya sotnya'' (Black Hundreds), Shtilmark having quit Pamyat in 1992.Antisemitism and Xenophobia: Russia 1998
/ref> The party adopted its own flag, which it claimed represented the letters
chi __NOTOC__ Chi may refer to: __NOTOC__ Greek *Chi (letter) (Χ or χ), the twenty-second letter of the Greek alphabet Chinese * ''Chi'' (length) (尺), a traditional unit of length, about ⅓ meter *Chi (mythology) (螭), a dragon * Chi (surname) ...
and
rho Rho (; uppercase Ρ, lowercase ρ or ; or ) is the seventeenth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 100. It is derived from Phoenician alphabet, Phoenician letter resh . Its uppercase form uses the same ...
in the
Greek alphabet The Greek alphabet has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early 8th century BC. It was derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, and is the earliest known alphabetic script to systematically write vowels as wel ...
, although critics have argued that it is a deliberate attempt to recall the
swastika The swastika (卐 or 卍, ) is a symbol used in various Eurasian religions and cultures, as well as a few Indigenous peoples of Africa, African and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, American cultures. In the Western world, it is widely rec ...
, including in its use of the
Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
colours of red, white and black. Members of the party have carried swastika flag at far right rallies however.


Ideology


Nazism

The RNU became noted for its
neo-Nazism Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...
and it attracted a strong current of
White power skinhead White power skinheads, also known as racist skinheads and neo-Nazi skinheads, are members of a neo-Nazi, music of white skin head white supremacist and antisemitic offshoot of the skinhead subculture. Many of them are affiliated with white natio ...
support, helping to co-ordinate the activities of skinhead gangs by the mid 1990s. It stressed strong
ethnocentrism Ethnocentrism in social science and anthropology—as well as in colloquial English discourse—means to apply one's own culture or ethnicity as a frame of reference to judge other cultures, practices, behaviors, beliefs, and people, instead o ...
and
racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...
as part of its political discourse. RNU also formed alliances with like-minded groups elsewhere, particularly in western Europe.Parland, ''The extreme nationalist threat in Russia'', p. 73 It produced its own newspaper, ''Shturmovhik'', which became noted for the strong
anti-Semitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
which defined its content. Named for a
Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...
publication ''
Der Stürmer ''Der Stürmer'' (; literally, "The Stormer / Stormtrooper / Attacker") was a weekly German tabloid-format newspaper published from 1923 to the end of World War II by Julius Streicher, the '' Gauleiter'' of Franconia, with brief suspension ...
'' this paper, and its sister magazine ''Natsiia'' (Nation) were noted for their heavy reliance on
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
Nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...
. The pages of ''Shturmovhik'' also contained regular attacks on Black and
Caucasian Caucasian may refer to: Common meanings *Anything from the Caucasus region or related to it ** Ethnic groups in the Caucasus ** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus re ...
immigrants. Another newspaper, ''Russky nablyudatel'' (Russian Observer), began publication in 1995 under the editorship of R. Lobzova.


Orthodoxy

As well as Nazism the RNU emphasised the importance of
Russian Orthodoxy The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The primate of the ROC is the patriarch of Moscow and all Rus ...
to its ideology and saw the religion as a central part of its concept of Russian ethnic identity. Amongst the leading members of the party was Anatolii Makeev, who sought to connect the party's neo-Nazi ideas with a distinctly more Russian brand of nationalism. In 1994 he established the Oprichnina Brotherhood of St Iosof Volotsky, a group that has encouraged violent racism in religious terms and which has established groups in
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
and
Volgograd Volgograd,. formerly Tsaritsyn. (1589–1925) and Stalingrad. (1925–1961), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Volgograd Oblast, Russia. The city lies on the western bank of the Volga, covering an area of , with a population ...
, as well as amongst émigrés in
Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...
. Its stated aims are to unite the Orthodox Church and to re-establish the monarchy, although its propaganda focuses mainly on anti-Semitism and neo-Nazism. Makeev is a member of the Russian Catacomb Church, an offshoot of the
Russian True Orthodox Church Russian True Orthodox Church may refer to: *Catacomb Church The Catacomb Church () as a collective name labels those representatives of the Russian Orthodox clergy, laity, communities, monasteries, brotherhoods, etc., who for various reasons ...
, although his brotherhood retains links to members of both the dissident tendencies and mainstream
Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...
.Jonathan Sutton, William Peter van den Bercken, ''Orthodox Christianity and contemporary Europe'', Peeters Publishers, 2003, p. 333 Another extremist Orthodox group, the ''Soyuz 'Khristianskoe vozrozhdenie (Union of Christian Rebirth), also held joint meetings with the RNU.


Development

The party failed to secure the requisite number of signatures to run candidates in the 1993 Duma election and so did not take part. One candidate was elected as an independent however.P. Ester, Loek Halman, Vladimir Rukavishnikov, Vladimir Olegovich Rukavishnikov, ''From cold war to cold peace?: a comparative empirical study of Russian and Western political cultures'', BRILL, 1997, p. 160 Vdovin was expelled from the RNU in spring 1997 with Kassimovsky confirmed as sole leader of the party. The party disappeared in late 1998 or early 1999 when Kassimovsky began to move away from the religious trappings associated with the RNU. He soon emerged with a new more secular, but equally neo-Nazi, party known as the Russian National Socialist Party.Antisemitism and Xenophobia: Russia 2001


References

{{Authority control 1993 establishments in Russia Eastern Orthodox political parties Neo-fascist parties in Russia Neo-Nazi political parties in Europe Neo-Nazism in Russia Political parties established in 1993 Eastern Orthodoxy and far-right politics Defunct nationalist parties in Russia Defunct far-right parties