The National Bolshevik Party operated from 1994 as a Russian political party
with a political program of National Bolshevism. The NBP became a prominent
member of The Other Russia coalition of opposition parties. Russian courts
banned the organization: it never officially registered as a political
party. In 2010, its leader, Eduard Limonov, founded a new political party,
The Other Russia. There have been smaller NBP groups in other countries.
The NBP often used direct-action stunts, mostly against prominent political
figures. Its official publication, the newspaper Limonka, derived its name from
the party leader's surname and from the idiomatic Russian word for a grenade.
The main editor of Limonka for many years was Alexei Vyacheslavovich
Tsvetkov. Ideology
The NBP historically defended Stalinism, although later on the party said it did
not wish to re-create that system. The NBP was highly critical of the Putin
government and argued that state institutions such as the bureaucracy,
the police and the courts were corrupt and authoritarian.
The NBP had denied links to fascism, stating that all forms of antisemitism,
xenophobia and racism were against the principles of the party.
History In 1992, Eduard Limonov founded the
National Bolshevik Front as an amalgamation of six minor groups.
Aleksandr Dugin was amongst the earliest members, and was instrumental in
convincing Limonov to enter politics. The party first attracted attention in
1992 when two members were arrested for possessing grenades. The incident gave
the NBP publicity for a boycott campaign they were organizing against Western
goods. In 1992, the NBF joined the National
Salvation Front coalition. When others within the coalition began to speak out
against the NBF, it withdrew from the alliance. The resulting fallout led the
NBP to produce a document entitled Limonov vs. Zhirinovsky, which
criticized the leader of their former allies, the Liberal Democratic Party of
Russia, stating that "a Jew masquerading as a Russian nationalist is a sickness,
a pathology". Following the aborted alliance, the NBP attempted to reach a
new deal with Russian National Unity in 1999, but this came to nothing.
In 2001, Limonov was arrested with NBP members on charges of illegal purchasing
of weapons. In 2003, Limonov was released from Lefortovo Prison. On 2
August 2004, NBP members occupied the Ministry of Health in Moscow in order to
protest the cancellation of social benefits. This was followed by a failed
attempt at occupying Putin's office in December of the same year — an attempt
that resulted in 30 arrests. The NBP was banned by a Russian lower
court in June 2005, but the Russian Supreme Court overturned that ban on 16
August 2005. In November 2005, however, the Russian Supreme Court upheld a ban
on the party on the grounds that the NBP called itself a political party without
being registered as such. In August 2006, an anti-Limonovist
faction of the NBP that was more right-wing, anti-liberal, anti-leftist,
anti-Kasparov and aggressively nationalist formed the National
Bolshevik Front. On 7 November 2006, police detained 27 NBP members after an
office break-in on the eve of the celebration of the October Revolution.
In 2007, the NBP took part in a Dissenters' March and subsequent
demonstrations against the Putin government.
In 2009, NBP members took part in Strategy-31, a series of civic protests
in support of the right to peaceful assembly. In July 2010, NBP members
founded a new political party, The Other Russia. The NBP continued to organize,
however, and in May 2011, NBP activists attacked the Embassy of Serbia in Moscow
in solidarity with Ratko Mladić. International groups
Several small groups, often made up of Russian immigrants, named National
Bolshevik Party have existed in countries across Europe and North
America. In Belarus, a Pentecostal church in Minsk was vandalised in 2006,
with the NBP emblem drawn on its walls. The NBP was not officially registered in
the country. This followed a similar incident at the Latvian embassy in the
city the previous year. Latvia's NBP has had members hold office in Riga and has
executed notable publicity stunts, but remains largely marginal there. The
Latvian branch has been led by Vladimir Linderman and Aijo Beness. In 2006, the
Latvian NBP was active in anti-capitalist demonstrations and in
blockades against Latvian SS veterans' parades during Latvian Legion Day.
In Lithuania, National Bolsheviks appeared in 2005 in Visaginas and
Klaipėda. One of their most notable actions was against education reform.
The Moldovan NBP was refused registration as a political party in
2005, so it registered as a non-governmental organization, with
Transnistria as its main centre of activity. In Ukraine, the NBP joined
other small parties in signing a Declaration of the Kiev Council of Slav
Radical Nationalists in 1996, in an initiative led by the Ukrainian National
Assembly. The Ukrainian NBP, which was largely based in the east of the
country, was active in anti-Ukrainian Insurgent Army and anti-NATO
demonstrations. During the Orange Revolution, the Ukrainian NBP did not
support Viktor Yushchenko or Viktor Yanukovych.
Notable members = Current=
Eduard Limonov Zakhar Prilepin
Vladimir Linderman Aijo Beness
Sergei Aksenov Aleksandr Averin
Andrei Dmitriev Taisiya Osipova
Maxim Gromov = Former=
Aleksandr Dugin Roman Konoplev
= Deceased= Yegor Letov
Aleksandr Nepomniachtchi Natalya Medvedeva
Aleksandr Dolmatov Yuriy Chervochkin
Andrei Sukhorada Sergey Kuryokhin
References Bibliography
Martin A. Lee The Beast Reawakens External links
National Bolshevik Party – old website National Bolshevik Party website
Nazbol – website of russian national-bolsheviks
NBP-INFO – National-Bolshevik blog Limonka
Who Are the National-Bolsheviks? by Andrei Dmitriev
Russia: National Bolsheviks, The Party Of 'Direct Action' from Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty Maria Nozhenko: Right-wing nationalism
in Russia: A by-product of electoral competition or a political agenda for
the future?, FIIA Briefing Paper 135, The Finnish Institute of International
Affairs. Russian fascism: traditions, tendencies,
movements by Stephen Shenfield