National Bolshevik Party

LEADER: Eduard Limonov

YEAR ESTABLISHED OR BECAME ACTIVE: 1994

ESTIMATED SIZE: 7,000

USUAL AREA OF OPERATION: Russia; United States; Canada; Sweden; Israel; Spain; Venezuela

OVERVIEW

The National Bolshevik Party (NBP), set up in 1994, is known to be headed by a radical Russian writer, Eduard Limonov. The NBP, although a political party, has been repeatedly denied any official status by the Russian government because of its disrepute. Though active mostly in Russia, it reportedly has branches in the United States, Canada, Sweden, Israel, Spain, and Venezuela.

The Nationalist Bolshevik Party, since it was formed, has been making strong efforts to form clandestine armed units by taking young men into their fold and collecting weapons illegally. It has also been accused of planning terrorist attacks in Russia and other countries and of vehemently demanding changes in the borders of the Russian Federation, including an armed invasion of Kazakhstan.

HISTORY

The National Bolshevik Party was reportedly formed in 1994 by Russian scholars Eduard Limonov and Aleksandr Dugin and musicians Yegor Letov and Sergei Kurikhin. Aleksandr Dugin is thought to have left the party soon after its formation. According to published reports, the party formation process actually started in 1992 but was announced during the launch of its paper, Limonoka, two years later. Though the party was registered as an interregional organization in early 1997 and then re-registered on February 9, 1998, it has failed to get national registration in Russia. Bolshevik (Russian for majority) is a reference to the Bolshevik party that overthrew the Russian government in 1917 and established communist rule. The party has been headquartered in Moscow.

Before forming the National Bolshevik Party, Eduard Limonov was reportedly the head of the National Radical Party. In the early 1990s, this party suffered a split. According to analysts, it was divided into the Right-Radical Party and the Limonov Party, even as the Limonov faction retained the National-Radical title. In 1994, it was renamed as Nationalist Bolshevik Party.

Party leaders have often tried to contest elections in Russia but were unsuccessful in winning. According to news reports, in the Duma (state assembly) elections of 1995, Eduard Limonov and Alexander Dugin's attempts to get seats through a single mandate constituency were unsuccessful.

Throughout the 1990s and the early 2000s, members of the NBP have been accused of planning aggressive protests as well as terrorist acts in Russia, with the aim of dethroning President Vladimir Putin's government. Members of the NBP have often disrupted political rallies by throwing eggs, mayonnaise, and tomatoes at politicians of opposing parties.

In 2005, police officers raided the Bolsheviks' headquarters in Moscow where they reportedly arrested forty-eight members. Soon after, in June 2005, the National Bolshevik Party was banned by a Moscow court. However, in August 2005, the Russian Supreme Court overturned the ban.

The Nationalist Bolshevik Party, as of 2005, is said to have over 7,000 members in fifty-one regions of the country. Most of these members are reportedly between the ages of twenty and twenty-two.

PHILOSOPHY AND TACTICS

The Nationalist Bolshevik Party is a leftist revolutionary organization, whose philosophies are based on communism. Party leader Eduard Limonov is known for undertaking rebellious activities against the Russian government. The NBP was reportedly formed with the aim of creating a Russian-dominated "Eurasia" that consists of Europe and Russia. Analysts and monitor groups state the NBP is also anti-American.

The party is also known to be extremely critical of the Vladimir Putin government in Russia. Party members have often publicly criticized the policies of Putin. Over the years, NBP has employed several anti-government strategies, including disrupting political rallies by throwing eggs and tomatoes at political leaders.

According to news reports, the party is also known to have recommended aggressive measures for forming Eurasia. In a project titled "Second Russia," the party recommended specific actions against countries with sizable Russian-speaking minorities—Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and Latvia. The group wanted the aggressive takeover of the land of these countries. "The initial spark should be kindled outside Russia. It should be understood that the emergence of a conflict is not the ultimate goal, but only an indispensable first stage of an armed revolt to replace the powers in Moscow," the party newspaper Limonaka stated.

The National Bolshevik Party's ideologies are based on what is commonly known as National Bolshevism. According to proclamations made by the party, it considers foreign enemies such as the United States as well as the Russian government to be "Satan."

The NBP also claims that if it comes to power, it will "transform" Russia by uniting all Russians (and Russian-speaking countries) into one state.

Leaders of the NBP have publicly rejected friendship ties with the United States, while at the same time maintaining that ties with other countries such as Germany, Iran, India, and Japan should be built.

Analysts suggest that NBP members, because of their anti-West stance, are also known to have recommended dissolving all contracts with Western countries, especially the United States. NBP proclamations claim that the Russian economy should be based on the principle of communism.

LEADERSHIP

EDUARD LIMONOV

Founder of the Nationalist Bolshevik Party, Eduard Limonov is known to be a rebellious writer. Limonov was a member of the Soviet Literary Underground Group in the 1960s. In 1974, he went to the United States and started writing novels. In 1982, Limonov flew to France and came in close contact with European political radicals, including Jean-Marie Le Pen. In 1994, soon after returning to Russia, Limonov started a radical newspaper, Limonaka. At this time, Limonov and other Russian scholars formed the National Bolshevik Party.

Analysts state that Limonov's tactics have been aimed at Russian and the U.S government policies. He is thought to be behind many of the aggressive strategies implemented by the NBP.

In April 2001, Limonov and some followers were arrested at Altai (a mountain range in Siberia) on the charge of terrorism and preparing an armed rebellion in Kazakhstan. Limonov was imprisoned for two and a half years. While in prison, Limonov wrote a book, The Other Russia, in which he branded President Vladimir Putin's Russia as a "police state."

OTHER PERSPECTIVES

The activities and philosophies of NBP have received criticism as well as support in Russia. Talking about the activities of the Nationalist Bolshevik Party in 1990s, Ilya Ponamarev, leader of the Communist Party-controlled Young Left Front said that the "organization never was or is a youth movement at all. It is a postmodernist aesthetic project of intellectual provocateurs (in the positive meaning of the word) in which many bright and nontrivial personalities like Eduard Limonov, Aleksandr Dugin, Sergei Kurikhin and (analyst) Stanislav Belkovsky were involved. It was an effort, and, a quite successful one, to mobilize the most passionate and intellectually dissatisfied part of society (in contrast to the Communist Party, which utilized the social and economic protests of the leftist electorate). For this mobilization, the NBP used a bizarre mixture of totalitarian and fascist symbols, geopolitical dogma, leftist ideas, and national-patriotic demagoguery."

While banning the National Bolshevik Party in June 2005, the Moscow Regional Court noted that the NBP's actions were "targeted at forced constitutional change, breaking the integrity of the Russian Federation, establishing armed units."

SUMMARY

The Nationalist Bolshevik Party (NBP) was founded by rebel writer Eduard Limonov. The party has failed to get national registration as it reportedly indulges in illegal activities. As of 2005, the party is still active. A Russian court banned the party in June 2005, an action that was later overturned by the Russian Supreme Court in August 2005. According to analysts, as of 2005, the party, with over 7,000 members and branches in fifty-one regions of Russia, aims at creating a unified Russian nation with all Russian-speaking countries.

KEY EVENTS

2003:

Two Nationalist Bolshevik Party members detained for throwing mayonnaise at Alexander Veshnyakov, chairman of the Central Election Committee of Russia.

2003:

Nationalist Bolshevik Party members attack Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov.

2003:

Natalia Tchernova of NBP hurls an egg at Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov.

2003:

Fourteen members of National Bolsheviks Party seize roof of Ministry of Justice and display "Liberty or Death!"

2003:

NBP central committee announces boycott of Presidential elections of March 14, 2004.

2004:

Tula's National Bolshevik Party activists seize roof of the Department of Justice building.

2004:

Moscow Special Police raid the office of NBP paper General Line.

SOURCES

Web sites

MosNews.com. "Moscow Court Bans Russia's Radical National Bolshevik Party." 〈http://www.mosnews.com/news/2005/06/29/nbpliquidated.shtml〉 (accessed October 15, 2005).

The St. Petersburg Times. "Ban on National Bolshevik Party Overturned by Court." 〈http://www.sptimes.ru/story/483〉 (accessed October 15, 2005).

The Seattle Times. "Reincarnated Bolsheviks Rattle Russia's Leaders." 〈http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002486682_bolsheviks11.html?syndication=rss〉 (accessed October 15, 2005).