National Bolshevik Party

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National Bolshevik Party
 
 
Leader Eduard Limonov
 
Founded 1992
Headquarters Moscow
 
Ideology National Bolshevism
(a form of Third Positionism)
International affiliation unknown
 
Website
www.NPB-Info.com

The National Bolshevik Party (Majority)(Russian: Национал-большевистская партия, НБП) (also known as Nazbol) is a political party which is dedicated to the ideology of National Bolshevism. Although the Party was liquidated by a lower court in June 2005, the Russian Supreme Court overturned the ban in August, just two months later. However, the party remained barred from election registration.[1] NBP is a prominent member of "The Other Russia" coalition of opposition parties. It was outlawed again on 19 April 2007.[2]

Contents

[edit] Development of the NBP

Members of the National-Bolshevik Party
Members of the National-Bolshevik Party

The party has been led by Eduard Limonov since its founding in 1992 as National Bolshevik Front when it was formed by the amalgamation of six minor groups. [3] Aleksandr Dugin was amongst the earliest members and was instrumental in convincing Limonov to enter the political arena. The party first attracted attention in 1992 when two members were arrested for possessing grenades, although Limonov argued that they had been planted. The incident achieved little, apart from giving the NBP some publicity for a boycotting campaign they were organising against Western goods. [4]

The NBP joined with other far right groups in 1992 as a member of the National Salvation Front coalition, which was directed in part by Belgian fascist Jean-François Thiriart. [5] The group initially progressed but was eventually undone by the war in Chechnya which the NBP supported. When others within the group began to speak out against it the NBP withdrew from the alliance and it crumbled. [6] The resulting fall-out lead to the NBP producing a one-off document entitled Limonov vs. Zhirinovsky which attacked the leader of their former allies in the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia by stating that 'a Jew masquerading as a Russian nationalist is a sickness, a pathology' (Zhirinovsky having a Jewish background). [7] Since this aborted alliance the NBP attempted to conclude a new deal with Russian National Unity in 1999 but this ultimately came to nothing. [8]

At present, the party membership is around 15,000, with regional departments throughout Russia and a headquarters in Moscow. The party is known for attracting young people on the margin of society, from delinquents to vanguard intellectuals and artists.

[edit] Political programme

Members of the National Bolshevik party at a protest rally in Moscow with a copy of the "Limonka" newspaper. Photo by Mikhail Evstafiev
Members of the National Bolshevik party at a protest rally in Moscow with a copy of the "Limonka" newspaper. Photo by Mikhail Evstafiev
This article is part of the
Third Position series.

This series is linked to the Politics and Elections series

Varieties of Third Positionism

National anarchism
National Bolshevism
Strasserism

Third Position political parties and movements

International Third Position
Official National Front
Parti Communautaire National-Européen
National Bolshevik Front
National Bolshevik Party
Black Front
Parti Communautaire Européen

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Neo-fascism
Political Soldier
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The party believes in the creation of a grand empire that will include the whole of Europe and Russia to be governed under Russian dominance. The party is vehemently opposed to American foreign policy and sees the creation of this 'Eurasia' as an essential counterbalance to Capitalist global domination. However, when Dugin left the NBP to create his own party "Eurasia" the NBP diminished the importance of its geo-political agenda in favor of a national one, concentrating on the defense of Russian minorities in the former USSR republics and the opposition to the political regime in Russia. As for Dugin, Limonov denounced his conservatism and submissiveness to the regime.

On the national arena, the party is highly critical of the government of Vladimir Putin and considers state institutions such as the bureaucracy, the police and the courts to be corrupt and authoritarian. In return the Russian authorities often employ repressive methods against the NBP, although they have not officially proclaimed it to be an extremist organization. The party sees Vladimir Putin as Russia's main enemy and in order to seek alliances with all anti-Putin forces, including once despised liberal parties like Yabloko or former prime minister Kasyanov, is ready to set aside its traditional extremist social and national stances.

[edit] Activities

Since the NBP was refused registration as an official party, its preferred political activity has consisted of direct action stunts, mostly against prominent political figures. One of its most famous direct actions consisted of taking over the Ministry of Health in Moscow on August 2, 2004 in order to protest the cancellation of social benefits in Russia. This was followed by an attempt to occupy Putin's office in December of the same year, although it was put down, and 30 arrests were made. [9]

The NBP's official organ is the journal Limonka (Лимонка). The name is a play of words on Limonov and is idiomatic Russian for grenade. It was forced to change its name after the authorities banned it for "promoting extremism and hatred". The main editor of Limonka for many years was Alexei Tsvetkov (Алексей Цветков).[10]

On November 7, 2006, police detained 27 Nazbol members after an office break-in on the eve of the celebration of the Bolshevik Revolution.[11] In 2007, the NBP took part in the Dissenters March and subsequent demonstrations against the government [12].

[edit] NBP banned

In November 2005, the Russian Supreme Court upheld a ban on the National-Bolshevik Party on the technical ground that it violated the law on political parties by calling itself a party without being registered as such.[13] The party had already suffered several government crackdowns, including a raid on their offices on 17 June (after which three party members slashed their wrists in protest) and the setting up of Nashi (Ours) [Russian - "our boys", "the good guys", whom NazBols often call "Nashisty" - one consonant away from "Natzisty", Nazis], a government-sponsored movement that has since carried out attacks against the NBP. When formed, Nashi declared that the NBP was its number one enemy.[14] The decision was overturned by the Supreme Court of Justice on August 16 2005, and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation is now actively seeking to exclude them from events (having previously tolerated NBP supporters at rallies). The party has since seen somewhat of a decline in membership, with a number of units working with the growing Movement Against Illegal Immigration.[15]

[edit] International groups

A series of much smaller groups known as the National Bolshevik Party, often made up of Russian immigrants, can be found in Latvia, Moldova, Sweden and Ukraine. Their influence is much smaller than their Russian counterpart. There are also small NBPs, made up mostly of Russian immigrants, in the United States, Canada, Israel, and various European countries.[16]

Some of the main NBP organisations outside Russia include:

[edit] Belarus

In Belarus a Pentecostal church in Minsk was vandalised in 2006 with the NBP emblem drawn on its walls. The NBP is not, however, officailly registered in the country.[17] This followed a similar incident at the Latvian embassy in the city the previous year[18].

[edit] Latvia

The NBP has organised in Latvia and has held offices in Riga[19] This Latvian branch has variously been led by Konstantin Mihailuk and Vladimir Linderman. Although it has made some noted publicity stunts it is largely a very minor phenomenon in Latvian politics[20]. Two Russian party members were detained in May 2007 whilst attempting to illegally cross the border between the two countries.[21]

[edit] Lithuania

A Lithuanian Bolshevik party organises and has close links to the Russian NBP[22]

[edit] Moldova

The Molodvan National Bolshevik Party was refused registration as a political party in 2005 and so registered as non-governmental organization, with Transnistria as its main centre of activity[23].

[edit] Sweden

An NBP organises in Sweden and uses a flag combining the Swedish flag and the NBP flag.[24] The group is led by Thomas Sutter, who has previously claimed to have gone on a hunger strike due to his treatment by the Swedish government.[25] The group's website is inactive.[26]

[edit] Ukraine

The NBP organises in Ukraine and in 1996 they joined a number of other small parties in signing a 'Declaration of the Kiev Council of Slav Radical Nationalists' in an initiative led by the Ukrainian National Assembly[27]. The Ukrainian NBP, which is largely based in the east of the country, broke shaprly from this movement, now known as the UNA-UNSO, during the run-up to the Orange Revolution. Whilst the UNA-UNSO lent its support to Viktor Yushchenko the NBP, with its close ties to Russia, declared in favour of Viktor Yanukovych.[28]

[edit] Dissident groups

A consistent group of NBP followers disagrees with Limonov's new strategy of seeking political alliances with pro-Western and pro-market liberal-democratic forces. They call themselves NBP bez Limonova (NBP without Limonov) or simply National Bolsheviks, because they regard themselves the real followers of National Bolshevism, accusing Limonov of betraying party's original ideas in order to gain personal visibility. In August 2006, an anti-Limonovist faction of the National Bolshevik Party formed the National Bolshevik Front.[29]

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ RIA Novosti - Russia - Court upholds registration ban against National Bolshevik party
  2. ^ "Russia court outlaws radical political party", Reuters (The Globe and Mail), April 19, 2007.
  3. ^ M.A. Lee, The Beast Reawakens, 1997, p. 314
  4. ^ M.A. Lee, The Beast Reawakens, 1997, p. 320
  5. ^ M.A. Lee, The Beast Reawakens, 1997, p. 321
  6. ^ M.A. Lee, The Beast Reawakens, 1997, pp. 328-9
  7. ^ M.A. Lee, The Beast Reawakens, 1997, p. 329
  8. ^ M. Vladimirova, 'National Bolshevik Party Ban Could Herald Wider Political Repression', Searchlight, August 2005, p. 24
  9. ^ J. Raymond, 'Far Right Bids to Set Agenda', Searchlight, February 2005, p. 27
  10. ^ чбчймпо: мЙФЕТБФХТОБС ЦЙЪОШ нПУЛЧЩ: 1 - 15 ЖЕЧТБМС 1998 З. - иТПОЙЛБ
  11. ^ RIA Novosti - Russia - Police detain 27 National Bolsheviks in office break-in attempt
  12. ^ Police Clash With Anti-Kremlin Protesters, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, March 3, 2007
  13. ^ RIA Novosti - Russia - UPDATE: Russian Supreme Court upholds ban on National Bolshevik Party
  14. ^ M. Vladimirova, 'Danger: Official 'Anti-Fascists' at Work', Searchlight, June 2005, p. 25
  15. ^ M. Vladimirova, 'The Movement Against Illegal Immigration - A Fascist Growth Area', Searchlight, June 2006, p. 30
  16. ^ http://eng.nbp-info.ru/409.html
  17. ^ 'National Bolsheviks Accused of Vandalizing Beleaguered Pentecostal Church'
  18. ^ 'Far-left group attacks Latvian embassy in Minsk'
  19. ^ Stephen D. Shenfield,'Russian Fascism: Traditions, Tendencies, Movements', p. 190
  20. ^ N. Muizneiks, 'Latvia' in C. Mudde, Racist Extremism in Central and Eastern Europe, pp. 101-128
  21. ^ 'Latvia’s security services fear arrival of large number of weapons ahead of May 9'
  22. ^ Party flag
  23. ^ Antisemitism and Racism in Moldova
  24. ^ Swedish NBP flag
  25. ^ NBP article
  26. ^ Archive of Swedish NBP website
  27. ^ Ukraine
  28. ^ R. Pankowski & N. Sineaeva, 'Fascists Exploit Political Turmoil', Searchlight, January 2005, pp. 24-5
  29. ^ http://www.nationalvanguard.org/printer.php?id=9967

[edit] External links