National-Bolshevik Party

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National Bolshevik Party




Leader	Eduard Limonov

Founded	1992
Headquarters	Moscow

Political ideology	National Bolshevism (a combination of Nationalism, Leninism and Neo-Eurasianism)
International affiliation	unknown

Website	www.NPB-Info.com

Members of the National-Bolshevik Party

The National Bolshevik Party (Russian: Национал-большевистская партия) (also known as Nazbol) is a political party, (currently banned in Russia) 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 is still barred from election registration. [1]. NBP is a prominent member of "The Other Russia" coalition of opposition parties.

1 Development of the NBP
2 Political programme
3 Activities
4 NBP banned
5 International groups
6 Dissident groups
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Development of the NBP

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. ^[1] 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. ^[2]

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. ^[3] 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. ^[4] 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). ^[5] Since this aborted alliance the NBP attempted to conclude a new deal with Russian National Unity in 1999 but this ultimately came to nothing. ^[6]

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

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, 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 traditional its 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 carried out mostly against prominent political figures in order to protest political and social issues and to gain popularity among the Russian population. One of its most recent and 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 thirty arrests were made. ^[7]

Members of the National Bolshevik party at a protest rally in Moscow with a copy of the "Limonka" newspaper. Photo by Mikhail Evstafiev

NBP member with an issue of Another Russia by Eduard Limonov

The NBP's official organ is the journal Limonka (Лимонка). The name - literally little lemon- 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). [2]

On November 7th 2006, police detained 27 Nazbol members after an office break in on the eve of the celebration of the Bolshevik Revolution.[3]

[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.[4] The party had already suffered several government crack-downs, including a raid on their offices on 17 June (following which three party members slashed their wrists in protests) and the setting up of Nashi (Ours), a government-sponsored movement that has since carried out attacks on the NBP. When formed Nashi declared that the NBP was its number one enemy. ^[8] The decision was overturned by the Supreme Court of Justice on August 16 2005, although it has left the NBP in a virtually untouchable position as even 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 saw something of a decline in membership, with a number of units throwing their lot in with the growing Movement Against Illegal Immigration. ^[9]

[edit] International groups

A series of much smaller groups, often made up of Russian immigrants, known as the National Bolshevik Party can be found in Latvia, Moldova, Sweden and Ukraine, although 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. [5]

[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, as 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.[6]

[edit] References

^ M.A. Lee, The Beast Reawakens, 1997, p. 314
^ M.A. Lee, The Beast Reawakens, 1997, p. 320
^ M.A. Lee, The Beast Reawakens, 1997, p. 321
^ M.A. Lee, The Beast Reawakens, 1997, pp. 328-9
^ M.A. Lee, The Beast Reawakens, 1997, p. 329
^ M. Vladimirova, 'National Bolshevik Party Ban Could Herald Wider Political Repression', Searchlight, August 2005, p. 24
^ J. Raymond, 'Far Right Bids to Set Agenda', Searchlight, February 2005, p. 27
^ M. Vladimirova, 'Danger: Official 'Anti-Facsits' at Work', Searchlight, June 2005, p. 25
^ M. Vladimirova, 'The Movement Against Illegal Immigration - A Fascist Growth Area', Searchlight, June 2006, p. 30