Radical nationalism in Russia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The neutrality of this article is disputed.
Please see the discussion on the talk page.

The neutrality or factuality of this article or section may be compromised by weasel words.
You can help Wikipedia by improving weasel-worded statements.

Members of the National-Bolshevik Party

The term nationalism in Russia refers to far-right extremist nationalist movements and organizations, however it's often mixed up with fascism in Russia. While this terminology does not exactly match the formal definitions of fascism, the common denominator is chauvinism. In all other respects the positions vary over a wide spectrum. Some movements hold a political position that the state must be an instrument of nationalism (such as National-Bolshevik Party, headed by Eduard Limonov), while others (for example, Russian National Unity) resolve to vigilante tactics against the perceived "enemies or Russia" without going into politics.

An anti-nationalism rally in Moscow

Historically, the first prototype of such groups started with the Black Hundreds, then was quickly extinguished by the Soviet regime's anti-nationalistic policies. A new surge of this kind of activism was a byproduct of perestroika and glasnost, including neo-Soviet groups that called for a return of Soviet communism, and white supremacist movements heavily influenced by European and American groups. Several groups such as Pamyat made an effort to combine pre-revolutionary Russian traditionalism with neo-fascism, although they are not as predominant as the aforementioned pro-Soviet and white supremacist groups.

Liberal political parties and human rights groups struggle to oppose these developments.