Miscegenated totalitarianisms

I had no intention of learning about a mutant political party that blends fascism and Stalinism this evening, but I did. And for a change, we're not even going to be focusing on our own homegrown lunatic fringe. Fact of the matter is, there's a whole world full of dangerously wacky wingnuts out there that really do warrant our getting to know. And so, with this post, we'll start that process, learning about our fine feathered friends in Russia.

It began with my glimpsing of a photo featured in this spread in the WaPo:


Photo by AFP/Getty Images

Before reading the caption, my immediate reaction was "student radical." The guy being dragged away by the police looks like Ché, and he has the self-satisfied demeanor of the bonghit revolutionary who's just provoked his first first confrontation with authority in the name of "the People," but before he's gotten his ass kicked by the cops. Not too dissimilar from footage I've seen of Chicago in 1968. Then I glanced at the caption:

Nov 7: Policemen arrest a member of the Russian National Bolshevik Party during a rally commemorating the anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution in St. Petersburg. The radical party was outlawed in June.

"National Bolshevism," you say? That has a familiar ring to it now, doesn't it? And I see the hammer and sickle displayed on flags in the background there - but not in the manner I remember. But again - it's kind of like déjà vu... I know I've seen that somewhere before! Maybe a better picture will help:



Uh...



Huh.

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 anti-American and sees the creation of this 'Eurasia' as an essential counterbalance to American global domination. However, [...] the NBP [has] 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.

Oh, National Bolshevism! I get it!

I feel no need to delve into any sort of theoretical discussion of this crew's ideology. Wingnuttery speaks for itself. But I do want to draw attention to this photo I found which combines self-conscious imitation with a shrewd grasp of how to market the movement:



This photo is the digital age equivalent German propaganda during the Nazi era - the heroic pose, the attractive example of racial purity, and the militant style of dress are carbon copies of Nazi imagery:



Also note how deftly the National Bolshevik photo appeals to what I imagine is its core demographic. What angry, nationalist, working-class male, aged 18-34 wouldn't want to join a party with hot, racially pure women like that as members!

Neo-fascism has been rearing its ugly head up in Europe more as of late, but this is by far one of the more bizarre permutations I've seen.