National Bolshevism

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Flag of the National Bolsheviks.

National Bolshevism is a political movement that claims to combine elements of nationalism (historically thought of on the extreme 'Right') and Bolshevism (historically thought of on the extreme 'Left') . The ideology claims a direct link to Hegel, whom it presents as the father of idealism. In addition, it is fiercely anti-American ("against Wall Street") in tone and against the Weimar Republic and the Treaty of Versailles. It is also highly traditionalist in the mould of Julius Evola. Economically the National Bolsheviks seek to marry the New Economic Policy of Vladimir Lenin to the Corporatism of Benito Mussolini. This marriage of fascist mixed economy with the "soft" market economy portions of Lenin's theory have caused many communists to reject it as a fascist ideology. Influenced heavily by the idea of geopolitics, current Russian National Bolshevism movements seek a merger between Russia and the rest of Europe in a union, to be known as Eurasia.

Contents

1 Germany
2 Russia
3 Present day currents
4 References
5 See also
6 External links

Germany

National Bolshevism is said to have roots in World War I Germany, where nationalist writers such as Ernst Niekisch, a later SPD minister in the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic, and Ernst Jünger were prepared to tolerate the spread of communism as long as it took on the clothes of nationalism and abandoned its world-wide mission (an idea which seemed abhorent to the communists themselves).

There was also 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 of occupation from 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 first described how the Berlin section had defended Laufenberg and Wolfheim previously, and praised them for rejecting the Treaty of Versailles. However he rejected the notion of a "revolutionary people's war" with the German proletariat and the bourgeoisie unuiting 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. Goldstein arguied that it was absurd to think teh german bourgeoisie would dig its own grave in such a fashion. He further discussed how during teh war the National Bolsheviks had described the Spartakusbund's policy of inviting soldiers to leave the front as a "stab in the back". Goldstein rounded off his remarks saying "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."

Laufenberg replied:

"We wrote in a text which appeared in 1915, in the pamphlet Democracy and Organisation: "Not in so far as the social economy serves for the exploitation by a minority, but, on the contrary, in so far as it serves to keep the whole of society alive, there grows up for the proletariat a natural interest in its preservation. The proletariat must therefore prevent unitary economic areas from being torn apart, and prevent more highly developed economies from being dominated by less developed ones. It must prevent the right of nations to self-determination, which it grants to all nations, from being injured in its own nation. A result of this is the military submission of the proletariat to the existing leadership of the Army, in case of wars which threaten the economy in its function of keeping society alive."

He further argued that miltary submission could happen without political submission.

Then a deleaget from Kiel remarked:

"Laufenberg has said that, even in a classless society, the interest of the German proletariat lies in maintaining Germany as the industrial heart of Europe. He continued, we represent the interests of the German proletariat against the representatives of the Jewish proletariat. Once again, differences between proletarians."

The KAPD resolved:

The Congress of the KAPD declares that it cannot agree with the nationalist teaching of Laufenberg and Wolffheim. The workers organised in the KAPD recognise themselves without reservation as international socialists and, as such, reject all propaganda for the revival of nationalist thought in the ranks of the working class.

If comrades Laufenberg and Wolffheim continue to propagate their nationalist tendency, they place themselves outside the ranks of the international socialists.

In January 1923 the French Army occupied the Ruhr and Wilhelm Cuno organised economis subsidies to the workers organsations there, while maintaining a policy of passive resistance. The Bolshevik regime organised demonstations demouncing French Imperialism and heralding the German Revolution. Pravda urged Germany to form an ''intimate economic and political alliance with the Soviet Union. Radek endeavoured to engage some of the right-wing nationalists he had met in prison to enagage 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.

Ulrich Graf von Brockdorff-Rantzau, the German ambassador to the Russiafollowed the policy of developing a close relationship withe the Soviet Union until his death in 1928. Paul Eltzbacher and Karl Haushofer also theorized about an alliance between nationalist forces in Germany and the Soviet Union, although they did not use the term themselves.

Russia

Meanwhile, 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 Smenavekhites (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. Stalin's idea of "socialism in one country" was interpreted as a victory by the National Bolsheviks.

In Western parlance, the term "National Bolshevism" has, on occasion, been applied to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and his brand of anti-communism. However, strictly speaking, Solzhenitsyn cannot be labeled a National Bolshevik since, whilst he was not anti-authoritarian, he wished a revival of Russian culture that would see a greater role for the Russian Orthodox Church and a withdrawal of Russia from its role overseas into a state of international isolationism. Solzhenitsyn and the vozrozhdentsy (or "revivalists" as his followers became known) thus differed from the National Bolsheviks who were not religious in tone (although not completely hostile either) and who felt that involvement overseas was important for the prestige and power of Russia. In fact there is open hostility between Solzhenitsyn and Eduard Limonov, the head of Russia's unregistered National Bolshevik Party. Solzhenitsyn has described Limonov as "a little insect who writes pornography", while Limonov described Solzhenitsyn as a traitor to his homeland who contributed to the downfall of the USSR. [link]

Present day currents

Amongst the leading practitioners and theorists of National Bolshevism are Thomas Sutter, Aleksandr Dugin and Eduard Limonov, who leads the unregistered[link] National Bolshevik Party in Russia. 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). National Bolsheviks participated in demonstrations against the G8 in St petersberg.

In fiction, an apparently successful National Bolshevist movement is featured in George Orwell's 1984 as, ironically, "Eurasia", one of the two rivals of Oceania.

References

External links