National Bolshevism is a political movement that
claims to combine elements of
nationalism and
Bolshevism.
National Bolshevism is often
anti-capitalist in tone, and sympathetic
towards certain nationalist forms of
communism and
socialism.
Nevertheless, National Bolshevism is separate and distinct from
National Communism. National
Bolsheviks have historically defended both
Stalinism and
Strasserism, although in current times they do
not wish to re-create those systems.
The ideology claims a direct link to
Hegel,
whom it presents as the father of
idealism.
The ideology is highly
traditionalist in the mold of
Julius Evola. Amongst other influences claimed
by the movement are
Georges Sorel,
Otto Strasser and
José Ortega y Gasset (although
this last influence is largely because of his rejection of
left and
right labels, which is also a feature of
National Bolshevism). While Strasser was a "dissenting Nazi" who
advocated a more socialist (than Hitler) Nazi-type system, and is
as such often associated with racist groups (many of which are
admittedly inspired by Strasser), he did not openly advocate
antisemitism during his life and
associated with
Jews throughout his political
career (especially while in exile during the Reich years in
Germany). The modern Limonovist wing of the NBP in Russia goes
beyond this and opposes xenophobia and racism, but, rather,
supports a territorial (not racial) Russian nationalism.
Today,
Russia
is considered to be the center of National
Bolshevism, and almost all of the National Bolshevik parties and
organizations in the world are connected to it. Amongst the
leading practitioners and theorists of National Bolshevism are
Aleksandr Dugin and
Eduard Limonov, who leads the unregistered
and banned
National Bolshevik
Party in Russia.
National Bolsheviks participated in
demonstrations against the G8 in Saint
Petersburg
.
Influenced
heavily by the idea of geopolitics,
current Russian National
Bolshevism movements propose a merger between Russia and the rest
of Europe in a union to be known as Eurasia. Lately there rose an opposition to
the efforts of Limonov to find allies even if they are pro-
Western capitalists; some even left the
National Bolshevik Party and formed the
National Bolshevik Front.
There are National Bolshevik groups in parts of the
former Soviet Union, which are tied to
the Russian National Bolshevik Party.
Other groups, such as
the Franco
-Belgian
Parti Communautaire
National-Européen also share National Bolshevism's desire
for the creation of a united Europe (as well as many of its
economic ideas), and French political figure Christian Bouchet has also been influenced
by the idea.
Germany
National
Bolshevism is said to have roots in World
War I Germany
, where
nationalist writers such as Ernst Niekisch and Ernst Jünger were prepared to tolerate the
spread of communism as long as it took on
the clothes of nationalism and abandoned its internationalist
mission.
There was
a current in the German Communist
Party based around Heinrich
Laufenberg and Friedrich
Wolfheim of Hamburg
that, in
1919, argued for collaboration between workers' organisations and
the bosses to drive the French army from
occupying the Ruhr. They visited
Karl Radek in the Moabit prison in 1920.
A Russian
Bolshevik, Radek disagreed with
Lenin's support for the treaties of
Brest-Litovsk and
Versailles. This current gravitated to
the KPD(O) (Communist Party of Germany (Opposition)) despite their
call for workers to give up their arms. At the August congress of
the
Communist Workers
Party of Germany (KAPD), the first topic of debate was
nation and
class.
Arthur Goldstein rejected the notion of a "revolutionary people's
war" with the German
proletariat and the
bourgeoisie uniting against the
Entente bourgeoisie. He argued that any
such war should be fought not for national victory but to overthrow
the Entente Cordiale bourgeoisie and carry communism into the
Entente countries as well. He further discussed how during the war,
the National Bolsheviks had described the
Spartakusbund's policy of inviting soldiers to
leave the front as a "
stab in the
back". Goldstein stated, "In the text
Communism against
Spartacism, it is openly admitted that in Hamburg the nation
is elevated to the starting point of politics, that therefore the
concept of the nation is considered the most important, that it
should be the measure for the politics of the German and
international proletariat."
Radek wanted some of the right-wing nationalists he had met in
prison to unite with the Bolsheviks in the name of National
Bolshevism.
He saw in National Bolshevism a way to
"remove the capitalist isolation" of the Soviet Union
.
Paul Eltzbacher and Karl Haushofer theorized about an alliance
between nationalist forces in Germany and the Soviet Union, although they did not use the term National
Bolshevism.
Russia
Flag of the Russian National
Bolsheviks.
In
Russia, as the civil war
dragged on, a number of prominent "Whites" switched to the Bolshevik side
because they saw it as the only hope for restoring greatness to
Russia. Amongst these was Professor
Nikolai Ustrialov, initially an
anti-communist, who came to believe that Bolshevism could be
modified to serve nationalistic purposes. His followers, the
Smenovekhovtsi (named after a series
of articles he published in 1921
Smena vekh (Russian:
volte-face), came to regard themselves as
National Bolsheviks, borrowing the term from Niekisch. Similar
ideas were expressed by the
Evraziitsi
party and the pro-Monarchist
Mladorossi.
Stalin's idea of "
socialism in one country" was
interpreted as a victory by the National Bolsheviks.
Vladimir Lenin, who did not use the term
'National Bolshevism', identified the Smenovekhovtsi as a tendency
of the old
Constitutional Democratic
Party who saw Russian communism as just an evolution in the
process of Russian aggrandisement. He further added that they were
a 'class enemy' and warned against communist believing them to be
allies.
The term
National Bolshevism has sometimes been applied to
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and
his brand of
anti-communism. However,
Solzhenitsyn cannot be labeled a National Bolshevik since he was
thoroughly anti-Marxist and anti-Stalinist, and he wished a revival
of
Russian culture that would see a
greater role for the
Russian
Orthodox Church, a withdrawal of Russia from its role overseas,
and a state of international isolationism. Solzhenitsyn and his
followers, known as
vozrozhdentsy (
revivalists)
differed from the National Bolsheviks, who were not religious in
tone (although not completely hostile to religion), and who felt
that involvement overseas was important for the prestige and power
of Russia. There was open hostility between Solzhenitsyn and
Eduard Limonov, the head of Russia's
unregistered
National Bolshevik
Party. Solzhenitsyn had described Limonov as "a little insect
who writes pornography", and Limonov described Solzhenitsyn as a
traitor to his homeland who contributed to the downfall of the
USSR. In
The Oak and the Calf, Solzhenitsyn openly
attacked the notions that the Russians were 'the noblest in the
world' and that 'tsarism and Bolshevism ... [were] equally
irreproachable', defining this as the core of the National
Bolshevism to which he was opposed.. This argument doesn't exactly
fit the modern Limonov NBP which loses the racial-nationalist
leanings and pursues territorial nationalism for Russia, however.
Upon the recent death of Solzhenitsyn, Limonov wrote an article on
the oppositional web page Grani.ru, in which, while still standing
by his criticism of and disagreement with the writer, he claims to
be his social modern equivalent. He states that although they
differed on political viewpoints, as radical authors in their own
times, they hold similar social positions.
The Nazbol officially promote a free socialist inner society
combined with aggressive foreign policy to defend all Russian
people. Such a change in some Nazbols is probably the result of
repression, arrests, and controversial imprisonment of NBP party
members in Russia (being the victims of some of their own
propositions caused some members to liberalize viewpoints).
Economically, the National Bolsheviks support a mix of the
New Economic Policy of
Vladimir Lenin and
corporatism. The most recent explanations put
forth on the official website of the party show a wish to
nationalize large businesses and industries while supporting the
growth of private small and medium business. This appeared along
with statements that deny any links to fascism and point out how
any antisemitism, xenophobia, or racism is against the principles
of the Nazbol. These statements generally show the trends in
liberalizations that have been demonstrated recently by Limonov's
block, most strikingly represented by the NBP's membership in the
OGF.
Footnotes
- Court Upholds Registration Ban Against National
Bolshevik Party
- 'G8 to bring Russian city to standstill'
- National
Bolshevik Front website
- G. Atkinson, 'Nazi shooter targets Chirac',
Searchlight, August 2002
- Martin A.
Lee, The Beast Reawakens, p.315
- Martin A.
Lee, The Beast Reawakens, p.316
- Speech by V.I. Lenin on March 22 1922 in V. Lenin, On the
Intelligentsia, Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1983, pp.
269-9
- G. Hosking, A History of the Soviet Union, London:
Fontana, 1990, pp. 421-2
- Hosking, op cit
- Hosking, op cit
- A. Solzhenitsyn, The Oak and the Calf, 1975,
pp.119-129
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