A Right-Wing International? Russian Social Conservatism, the World Congress of Families, and the Global Culture Wars in Historical Context

Home , Conservative Revolution, Tsargrad TV

BY CHRISTOPHER STROOP

s the poll observer listened sympathetically, the rural priest diagnosed the root of Russia’s social problems in A“the decay of all the old supports: religion, family, morality, the traditional way of life.”1 An election of representatives to the Russian State Duma was un- derway, and the man the bearded priest was talking to—Professor Sergei Bulga- kov, an Orthodox Christian intellectual and future theologian—was observing the vote in Crimea. While the priest’s la- ment sounds like a textbook complaint of contemporary social conservatives, the year was 1912. Social conservatives have been focus- ing on the family for a long time, and Russians have frequently been at the forefront of the fight for “traditional” values. In more recent times, Russian con- Russian Students Day in Saint-Petersburg, 2014. Photo by Saint-Petersburg Theological Academy via Flickr. servatives were central to the founding License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/. and operations of the World Congress of Families (WCF), a Christian-dominated the global “pro-family” movement today, questions. The first is whether Russia’s inter-confessional coalition of right-wing emphasizing that the nation’s Commu- annexation of Crimea and the subsequent activists from around the world dedi- nist past has given Russia and other East- chill in U.S.-Russian relations represents cated to defending what they call “the ern European countries a taste of the dan- any kind of turning point for the collab- natural family,” that is, a nuclear family gers supposedly inherent in secularism, orative efforts between Russian and U.S. consisting of a married man and woman which “more naïve” Westerners might social conservatives, and particularly the and their children. When the coalition miss. As a result, he maintained, “East- impact of the removal of WCF’s official met for its ninth global conference this ern Europe can really help our brothers imprimatur from what would have been October in Salt Lake City, Utah, several in the West” to resist the “new totalitari- WCF VIII in Moscow, but instead became Russian activists numbered among the anism” associated with “political correct- billed as an international forum called speakers, including Alexey Komov. ness” and the sexual revolution.3 “Large Families: The Future of Human- Komov is WCF’s Regional Representa- In addition, Fr. Maxim Obukhov, the ity.” The second and more interesting tive for Russia and the Commonwealth director of the Russian Orthodox Church question regarding the relationship be- of Independent States; the Howard Cen- (ROC), Moscow Patriarchate’s Depart- tween the U.S. and Russia with respect ter for Family, Religion and Society’s ment of Family and Life, attended and to the global culture wars was posed two representative to the United Nations; received the 2015 Pro-Life Award for his years ago by Political Research Associ- and a member of the Russian Orthodox longtime involvement in prominent Rus- ates’ Cole Parke: “When it comes to the Church’s Patriarchal Commission on the sian organizations that oppose abortion culture wars, who’s exporting and who’s Family and the Protection of Motherhood and promote the “natural family.”4 importing?”5 As Komov’s words suggest, and Childhood. He was in Utah to speak WCF IX represents an opportunity to contemporary Russian conservatives cer- about “The Family in Europe—Past, Pres- consider the outsized role contemporary tainly don’t see themselves as solely on 2 ent, Future,” and during his presenta- Russia plays in the global culture wars, the receiving end of this international tion, he touted Russia’s leading role in with particular attention to two related movement.

4 • The Public Eye WINTER 2016 Very important work has been done on Western culture, which he linked to the on precisely these grounds, arguing that the efforts of American social conserva- “collapse of the family” in books such as godlessness would inevitably lead to tyr- tives to export far right ideology in con- his 1947 Society, Culture, and Personality: anny by making the state into an idol. T. nection, for example, with Uganda’s in- Their Structure and Dynamics, a System of S. Eliot, for example, argued in a 1939 se- famous “Kill the Gays” bill.6 It is also the General Sociology and his 1956 The Ameri- ries of lectures that a critical secular liber- case that U.S. social conservatives helped can Sex Revolution. alism was inherently unstable—it would lay the foundations for resurgent social Sorokin’s work represented a continu- have to be replaced by something with conservatism in post-Communist Eastern ation of nineteenth- and early twentieth- substantive content, and if that some- Europe and Russia. Russian Orthodox century European attempts to defend a thing were not religion, then it would be Christian journalist and commentator role for the realization of spiritual val- the “pagan” fascism of Germany or Italy, Xenia Loutchenko, who has researched ues—in some cases explicitly for Chris- or the Communism of the Soviet Union.14 some aspects of Russian-American col- tianity—in society and governance. This While Eliot referred to the French Neo- laborative culture warring efforts,7 as- discourse was developed, with substan- Thomist theologian and personalist phi- sesses American influence in the early tial Russian participation and influence, losopher Jacques Maritain as an influ- post-Soviet days as particularly impor- in response to revolution, secularization, ence, we know that Maritain was heavily tant with respect to building the Russian and what I have described elsewhere as involved in dialogue with Russian exiles anti-abortion movement (for which Fr. the “perceived cultural threat of nihil- in Paris,15 not least the Christian existen- Maxim Obukhov was honored at WCF ism.”12 tialist Nikolai Berdyaev, who had made IX). Guiding this fear was the idea that, a very similar argument to Eliot’s in his Nevertheless, as Loutchenko and I also absent absolute values grounded in un- 1924 The New Middle Ages (translated discussed in an interview conducted in changing religious truth, human moral- into English in 1933 with the title The End Moscow in May 2015,8 it would be a mis- ity will decay and society will descend of Our Time). Berdyaev would exert con- take to think of the relationship between into chaos. Sexual “permissiveness” is of siderable influence on American under- U.S. and Russian social conservatives as particular concern, because it supposed- standings of Russian history and on re- something of one-way influence, or to ly indicates a reversion to an animalistic ligious anti-Communism.16 Meanwhile, look at Russian social conservatism as nature that only higher values are capa- the refrain about the state becoming an essentially confined to Russia itself.9 Seriously considering Rus- sia’s influence on international social conservatism, both historically and in our own time, It’s a mistake to think of U.S. and Russian social conservatives presents new ways of thinking as having a one-way relationship, or to imagine Russian about the global culture wars— conservatism as confined to Russia itself. as well as important insights for how progressive activists might strategically resist the international Right’s global encroach- ment on human rights. ble of countering. As the fin-de-siècleRus - idol has become a staple of conservative sian Christian philosopher and apologist defenses of “religious freedom.” As Tuck- RUSSIAN RELIGIOUS CONSERVATISM IN Prince Evgeny Nikolaevich Trubetskoi put er Carlson put it in April 2015, in defense HISTORICAL CONTEXT it, “Faith in the ideal is that which makes of the supposed right of businesses not to It’s no coincidence that the idea to man human.”13 Similar sentiments, in- hire atheists, “If there’s no God, then the found WCF was hatched in Russia in cluding in the writings of Trubetskoi and highest authority is government.”17 1995, as the result of discussions be- Bulgakov, were often tied to the concern But to return to Berdyaev and his re- tween Allan Carlson, then president of that in a society without prevailing spiri- lationship to the contemporary Russian the Rockford, Illinois-based Howard Cen- tual values, the state will be elevated to Right, it is important to note that he was ter for Family, Religion and Society, and the status of a god, an idol that would not only an advocate of a religious soci- Anatoly Antonov and Viktor Medkov, encroach utterly on human freedom. ety, but also of a kind of Russian national two professors of sociology at Lomonosov As the fictional revolutionary conspira- messianism. That is, he (along with Bul- Moscow State University.10 Nor is it coin- tor Shigalev put it in Dostoevsky’s 1872 gakov and others) believed in a particular cidental that Carlson was heavily inspired novel Demons, “Beginning with absolute Providential calling for Russia, and, while in the first place by the Russian-born con- freedom I conclude with absolute despo- opposing the Bolsheviks, they looked for- servative sociologist Pitirim Sorokin, tism. And I would add that apart from my ward to a future in which a spiritually re- longtime head of the Sociology Depart- solution to the social question, there can newed Russia would have an important ment at Harvard, where Sorokin worked be no other.” role to play in reviving the Christian roots from 1930-1959.11 Throughout his years Christian critics of 20th-century to- of European civilization.18 The key point in the West, Sorokin consistently exhib- talitarianism advocated the realization of here, even more than any specific under- ited concern about the ostensible crisis of religious values in society and statecraft standing of family relations, is the idea

WINTER 2016 Political Research Associates • 5 of a special role for Russia in the world’s munist bloc). In the 1990s, there was ues and the embrace of progressive sexual moral progress—an idea that, despite the a widespread sense that perhaps these mores19—the Russian discourse of moral intellectual contortions that thinkers like thinkers had preserved a more authen- mission and the superiority of Christian Berdyaev and Bulgakov went through in tic form of Russian thinking and culture. values to those of the “decadent” West attempts to avoid charges of chauvinism Russian nationalism was on the rise—its has played a key role in the resurgence of and nationalism, all too easily play into a official suppression had been a source of social conservatism in post-Soviet Rus- sian society. It should be noted that this discourse is essentially imperial; Russian concerns about pub- Perhaps feeling betrayed by the middle class his policies had lic morality have never been only helped create, Putin took a populist, nationalist turn, identifying about Russia, but have always been bound up with considerations of himself more closely with the Orthodox Church and expecting its the role that Russia should play in absolute loyalty in return. the wider world. One of the most influential exponents of this excep- tionalist discourse today is the neo- Eurasianist Alexander Dugin.20 sense of Russian exceptionalism: a sense tension in the USSR—and some Russians These days, these sensibilities get a that Russia represents a morally superior gravitated to the messianic conceptions boost from Russian political leaders as civilization. of intellectuals like Bulgakov and Berdy- well. Not only has Dugin had Russian With or without claiming inherent aev, or the much more radically conser- President Vladimir V. Putin’s ear,21 but moral superiority, in any case, there is a vative monarchist Ivan Ilyin, for ways to Putin also sent the leadership of the cur- clear claim here that Rus- sia has a spiritual mission to enlighten other nations. Historically, this claim is rooted in Slavophilism, a nineteenth-century Rus- sian form of nationalist thinking that asserted that Russia had a special path of development and represented a more holistic, harmonious, moral civilization than that of the Latin West. Instead of the West’s calculation, capitalism, individual rights, contracts, and “rational- ism,” Russia had “sobornost.” A nearly untranslat- able term, sobornost was invoked by Aleksey Kho- myakov and other Slavo- philes to mean a kind of collective social harmony in which individuals real- ize themselves organically Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, Moscow. Photo by Marco Fieber via Flickr. License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc- as a part of the commu- nd/2.0/. nity, a concept that was meant to contrast with the individualism conceptualize Russian greatness. And rently-ruling United Russia Party books that supposedly characterized the West. that greatness could not be conceptual- by the nineteenth- and twentieth-century The collapse of the Soviet Union ized apart from a mission that was larger Russian religious philosophers Vladimir brought with it an upsurge in interest in than Russia itself. Solovyov, Berdyaev, and Ilyin as New Russian religious and émigré thought, Along with post-Communist concerns Year’s presents in 2014. These three in- already known to Soviet dissidents in about a “demographic winter”—the idea tellectuals had varying approaches to samizdat (the underground reproduction that the West is suffering a “birth dearth” theology and politics—the Christian so- of censored publications across the Com- of too few babies as a result of secular val- cialist Berdyaev and the monarchist Ilyin

6 • The Public Eye WINTER 2016 hated each other—but all of them advo- tives’ international efforts, making it all ism motivated by religious hatred”—one cated the integration of religious values the more important for advocates of hu- was freed on probation—with the vocal in society and governance.22 In his third man rights to be aware of them. support of some U.S. conservatives like term in office, Putin has worked very Concerned Women for America’s Janice closely with the leadership of the Russian RUSSIA’S HARD RIGHT TURN Shaw Crouse.25 Two would emerge to in- Orthodox Church, Moscow Patriarchate, Since the end of 2011, when tens of ternational celebrity.) and Russian plutocrats to promote so- thousands of Russians participated in The “Punk Prayer” performance led to new legislation, enact- ed in June 2013, that made it a crime to in- sult religious believers’ feelings. But the law was just one expression of what Russian political commentator Al- exander Morozov has called a “conservative revolution,” marked by populist rhetoric scapegoating political opponents and the LGBTQ community, which began with Pu- tin’s third term.26 There was also the Dima Ya- kovlev Law, Russia’s ban on the adoption of Russian children by U.S. citizens, which passed the Russian State Duma and Fed- eration Council in late December 2012 and “Enough is enough – Open your mouth!” Demonstration against homophobia in Russia. Photo by Marco Fieber via Flickr. License: took effect on January https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/. 1, 2013. The Russian president’s children’s cial conservatism at home and abroad. mass protests against election fraud, Rus- rights ombudsman, Pavel Astakhov, The latter include figures such as “God’s sian social conservatism’s star has risen pushed hard for this law, promoting it not oligarch,” Konstantin Malofeev,23 the within Russian circles of power. The late- only on the grounds of individual cases of successful founder of Marshall Capital 2011 protests continued into 2012, ahead abuse and neglect involving Russian chil- Partners who is known for investing his of the election of Putin to a third term as dren adopted by Americans, but also on fortune into Orthodox Christian and so- president. Perhaps feeling betrayed by the basis of opposition to potential adop- cial conservative initiatives, such as the the middle class his policies had helped tion of Russian children by same-sex cou- Russian Society of Philanthropists for the create, representatives of whom made ples.27 While this law could hardly have Protection of Mothers and Children, the up the bulk of the protesters, Putin took been well-liked by many American so- Safe Internet League, and the YouTube a populist, nationalist turn, identifying cial conservatives—Russia was a popular channel “Tsargrad TV,” which Loutchen- himself more closely with the Orthodox country for American evangelicals seek- ko has described as an attempt to build a Church and expecting its absolute loyalty ing to adopt foreign children—National Russian FOX News.24 It also included for- in return. This became abundantly clear Organization for Marriage President mer Russian Railways President Vladimir that February, when members of the fem- Brian Brown actually joined a delegation Yakunin. (Yakunin is on the U.S. sanc- inist punk collective Pussy Riot famously of French members of the Front National tions list for his closeness to President Pu- demonstrated in Moscow’s Cathedral of in Moscow, where he encouraged the tin, while Malofeev has been sanctioned Christ the Savior, performing their “Punk passage of the law because it would keep by the European Union in response to Prayer” to condemn Patriarch Kirill, head Russian children from going to countries accusations from the Ukrainian govern- of the Russian Orthodox Church, for that allow same-sex couples to adopt.28 ment that he was financing the rebels in backing Putin’s candidacy. (Three mem- June 2013 then saw the passage of Donbas.) This elite backing lends consid- bers of the collective were sentenced to Russia’s federal law “for the Purpose of erable oomph to Russian social conserva- two years in penal colonies for “hooligan- Protecting Children from Information

WINTER 2016 Political Research Associates • 7 Advocating for a Denial of Traditional of the rise of the concept of Russ- took credit for Russia’s conservative Family Values,” popularly known as the kiy Mir, or “Russian World.” This legislative onslaught. For example, Scott “anti-gay propaganda law,” which bars way of speaking presumes a fra- Lively, a far-right author and activist who vaguely defined “propaganda” of “non- ternal coexistence of the Slavic is currently on trial for crimes against traditional” sexual relations to minors, peoples—Russian, Ukrainian, humanity for his role in promoting the effectively making it illegal to provide Belarussian—in a single “Ortho- Uganda “kill the gays” bill and who has LGBTQ teenagers with life-saving infor- dox Civilization.” It is a powerful traveled to Russia and Eastern Europe mation.29 Members of the United Russia archetype. It is an image of unity on more than one occasion, claimed Party quickly fell in line with the changes that appeals to Russians, because credit for the passage of the anti-gay originating at the top, and so opposition it gives them a sense of a larger “propaganda” law.35 to such moves was eliminated from the destiny and supports the imperial Despite examples of claims to have political center amid increasing rhetoric vision that increasingly character- exported their initiatives to Russia, how- about ‘national traitors’ and ‘fifth colum- izes Russian politics. ever, U.S. social conservatives also fre- nists.’ In Morozov’s view, the Russian po- This imperial ethos was certainly on quently recognized Russia’s agency and litical center is now “full of supporters of display in what would have been WCF’s leadership in global social conservatism. 30 global ‘conservative revolution.’” eighth annual meeting in 2014, when the WCF Managing Director Larry Jacobs Meanwhile, direct Russian govern- World Congress of Families had planned minced no words when he reiterated the ment collaboration with the Orthodox to head back to its birthplace in Russia. Russian messianic trope described above, Church has proceeded apace in matters of Those plans, however, took a different declaring on End Times Radio in June both domestic and foreign policy. Pavel turn. 2013, “The Russians might be the Chris- Astakhov’s position on “children’s rights” tian saviors of the world.”36 Likewise, it is actually an essentially radical doctrine was not an affect, or mere diplomacy, of state non-interference in family mat- when American anti-LGBTQ crusader ters—that is, despite staggeringly high Paul Cameron proclaimed to the Rus- rates of domestic abuse in Russia, he sian State Duma that he had come is opposed to any legal enshrining “to thank the Russian people, the of the term “domestic abuse” on State Duma, and President Pu- the grounds that it is an affront tin… in the name of the entire to the sacrality of the (“natural”) Christian world” for Russia’s ac- family and paves the way for tive legal repression of LGBTQ undue state interference in par- rights.37 ents disciplining their children. A few months after Camer- In this respect, Astakhov’s offi- on’s visit to Russia, however, it cial pronouncements parrot the became more complicated for ideas of the far right Archpriest Russian and U.S. social conser- Dimitry Smirnov, head of the vatives to unite, making it mo- ROC’s Commission on Family Mat- mentarily possible to hope that in- ters and the Protection of Mother- ternational tensions might hamper hood and Childhood, who frequently the effectiveness of the global culture has Astakhov’s ear.31 wars. In our interview in May 2015, Lout- As Sergei Chapnin has astutely ob- chenko and I speculated that 2014 might served, the ROC has coordinated with GLOBAL SOCIAL CONSERVATISM IN PU- have represented a turning point in this government propagandists to promote TIN’S THIRD TERM—A RIGHT-WING INTER- regard. Although subsequent events patriotism and traditional values. Chap- NATIONAL? have shown that many American social nin writes, “Beyond liturgy and piety, Prior to the annexation of Crimea, conservatives are more than willing to other traditions were revived: respect for Putin had received a substantial amount work with Russia, when Russia annexed the family, opposition to abortion,32 the of praise from representatives of the U.S. Crimea in March 2014, the world at large banning of homosexual practice and pro- Religious Right, even if some mistrusted reacted with alarm, and the conservative paganda. These measures are seen as as- his KGB past. President and CEO of the “pro-family” world became divided. WCF serting traditional Russian mores in op- Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, had planned to go back to Russia that position to the decadence of the West.”33 Franklin Graham, for example, could coming September for its eighth confer- But Russian conservatism isn’t just de- not resist praising Putin for the passage ence, but Putin’s brand had now become fensive. As Chapnin explains, there’s an of Russia’s anti-gay “propaganda” law, toxic to enough conservatives to make imperial element as well: declaring that Russia was acting more this difficult, even apart from any fear of The Church has taken on a com- morally on this issue than the United the possible violation of U.S. sanctions plex ideological significance over States, despite his reservations about against Russia. WCF withdrew its official the last decade, not least because Putin’s Soviet background.34 American sponsorship from the event, releasing Christian culture warriors also sometimes a statement explaining that their with-

8 • The Public Eye WINTER 2016 drawal was made necessary by practical as proof that Russia was a global leader Family,” which defined the family “as the considerations, but which also went out in tackling problems other countries fundamental group of society and the of its way to praise Russian churches and wouldn’t face. As one of the first speak- natural environment for the growth and individuals for their “leadership role in ers, Duma deputy Yelena Mizulina, who well-being of all its members and particu- the fight to preserve life, marriage, and authored the anti-gay “propaganda law,” larly children.”45 This resolution, spon- the natural family at home and as part of proudly announced, an event like this sored in part by Russia—whose influence the international pro-family movement.” one, which took place in the Kremlin and at the UN is bolstered by its permanent It added, “The World Congress of Fami- the Cathedral of Christ the Savior (where seat and veto on the UN Security Coun- lies takes no position on foreign affairs, the Pussy Riot protest took place), most cil—was clearly understood, by both sup- except as they affect the natural family.”38 likely could not take place in Europe or porters and opponents, as an attack on Other social conservative groups were the U.S. in their current climates. individual rights and a win for supporters not so sympathetic. Concerned Women Last year’s WCF in Salt Lake City may of the “natural family”46 (which implicitly for America pulled out of the event alto- belie Mizulina’s statement to some ex- excludes families headed by same-sex gether, with its CEO and president Penny tent—WCF IX Nance declaring that her organization demonstrated a did not “want to appear to be giving aid clear attempt to WCF Managing Director Larry Jacobs minced and comfort to Vladimir Putin.”39 (Subse- tone down Hard quently, articles in the conservative jour- Right rheto- no words when he reiterated the Russian nals First Things40 and American Conserva- ric43—but her messianic trope, declaring, “The Russians tive41 have warned against the religious claim matters. might be the Christian saviors of the world.” nationalism of Putin’s “Corrupted Ortho- To Russian and doxy” or “Orthodox Terrorism.”) U.S. social con- It wasn’t that CWA or other social conservatives, a key servatives who turned against Russia takeaway from now objected to Russia’s hard anti-LGBTQ the forum was line, of course. It was that the annexation the impression of territory in violation of international that, while Rus- law revived Cold War era right-wing per- sia is very happy ceptions of Russia as a threatening state to be working that is not to be trusted. (In this regard, with foreigners in it should not be forgotten that Ameri- the fight for the can Christians have missionary ties to so-called “natu- Ukraine, which is also a popular country ral family,” it is for U.S. adoptions.) Nevertheless, the Russia that is at American leaders of WCF stuck by their the helm. WCF’s Russian partners. The meeting went for- Larry Jacobs ad- ward, but not as an official WCF confer- mitted as much ence. Instead, the conference was titled when he stated “Large Families: The Future of Human- at the event, “I ity.” U.S. WCF leaders remained inti- think Russia is mately involved, with Communications the hope for the Director Don Feder and Managing Direc- world right now.” tor Jacobs on the organizing committee.42 Invoking Alexan- The event depended for its financing pri- der Solzhenitsyn, Larry Jacobs at a WCF presentation, 2012. Photo by HazteOir.org via Flickr. marily on Russian oligarchs Yakunin and Jacobs went on License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/ . Malofeev. to explain that Meanwhile, the lack of international since Russia had approval for the renamed WCF VIII most defeated Marxism, it could help the West couples). Komov has bragged of his part likely emboldened Russian social conser- defeat “cultural Marxism” today—a near- in delegations to the UN, which included vatives in their claim to global leadership ly identical claim as that which Alexey Russian political leaders Mizulina and in the fight against abortion and LGBTQ Komov made this past fall at WCF’s meet- Astakhov, in which they pursued similar rights—a claim that WCF’s American ing in Salt Lake City.44 goals.47 leaders and their fellow conservative And Russia is clearly pushing forward Meanwhile, when I spoke with Rus- comrades, apparently untroubled by with this agenda on the international sian commentator and researcher Xe- Russia’s increasing anti-Westernism, stage, with Komov in a leadership role. nia Loutchenko in May, she highlighted had already recognized. For example, Take, for example, Russia’s role in secur- Russia’s success in attracting members of some Russian speakers highlighted the ing the passage of a UN Human Rights the European Right, mentioning that the changed circumstances of the conference Council resolution on “Protection of the French Front National recently took mil-

WINTER 2016 Political Research Associates • 9 lions of dollars in loans from a Russian of moral superiority attracted its share year.54 It is also important, of course, that bank, in what many saw as a reward for of fellow travelers, so has, and does, the Russia is exporting its culture wars in the National Front’s support for the an- now resurgent right-wing brand. what the Russian state considers its more nexation.48 She also described Yakunin’s This right-wing iteration of moral ex- immediate sphere of influence, with World Public Forum, which hosts an an- ceptionalism entails a belief that Russia Astakhov turning up at regional WCF nual “Dialogue of Civilizations” in Greece, was given a Providential calling to revive conferences in countries such as Georgia, as a “right-wing international.” The the Christian roots of European, or more and a Russian-model anti-LGBTQ “propa- phrasing might be hyperbolic, with its in- broadly Western, civilization. Despite (or ganda” initiative, withdrawn at least for vocation of the Soviet-dominated Comin- perhaps because of) the sense of moral the present, having been recently consid- tern, or Communist International, which superiority of Russian civilization, it has ered in Kyrgyzstan’s parliament.55 was dedicated to spreading Communism proven irresistible to certain Western The events of 2014 may have tempered around the world from the 1920s-40s. Russophiles—whether late nineteenth- enthusiasm for Russia among some on Nevertheless, drawing a the U.S. Right, but for many comparison between the of those dedicated to the Comintern and the contem- pursuit of an anti-human porary global culture wars, After Putin annexed Crimea in 2014, rights, “pro-family” agenda in which Russia is playing a at home and abroad, part- leading role that is far from U.S. paleo-conservative Pat Buchanan nership with Russian social entirely derivative, makes a suggested that God is on Russia’s side conservatives will continue. valid point. We will not be now. If we wish to understand the able to grasp Russia’s role effect of such partnerships, in the global culture wars if however, we must stop look- we persist in treating Russia ing at Russian social conser- as essentially a recipient of vatism as a kind of Ameri- America’s exported culture wars, and not and early twentieth-century British reli- can import. We should take steps not to an independent actor, and even exporter, gious conservatives, or, fast forwarding underestimate the global significance of in its own right. to the present, American “paleo-conser- Russian culture warring in its own right. The recent Cold War past makes it dif- vative” Pat Buchanan.50 Notably, it was While there is a complex transnational ficult for some, on both the Left and the after Putin annexed Crimea on March 18, intellectual history at play here, Russian Right, to imagine contemporary Russia 2014, that Buchanan strongly suggested actors are more than capable of damag- as a conservative state vying for the role that God is on Russia’s side now.51 Like ing LGBTQ and women’s rights all on of international leader in global right- Buchanan, the American leadership in their own, independent of U.S. actors. wing politics. Retired NYU Professor Ste- WCF seems prepared to see Russia as do- If we consider Russian involvement in phen F. Cohen’s recent writings, for ex- ing the Lord’s work, and therefore to go WCF as entirely derivative of U.S. leader- ample, have desperately tried to salvage a on working closely with Russian social ship, we may well miss the full import of vision of post-Soviet Russia as somehow conservatives despite tense international the new Russia-led “right-wing interna- left-wing. While Cohen is not wrong to relations and concerns about Russia’s tional,” which would hamper the ability perceive continuity between Soviet and role in the Ukraine crisis.52 What’s more, of human rights advocates to counter its post-Soviet Russia, it is important to note Franklin Graham has lost all compunc- influence. that the relevant ideological continuity tion about praising Putin, and, after a re- extends further back, with its origins ly- cent visit to Moscow during which he met ing in the messianic discourse of moral with Patriarch Kirill, seems to be entirely Christopher Stroop (@C_Stroop) earned superiority associated with the Russian on board with the idea that Russia is “pro- a Ph.D. in Russian history and Interdis- intellectuals and, before them, with Rus- tecting traditional Christianity.” In turn, ciplinary Studies in the Humanities from sian Slavophilism, which intellectual his- Patriarch Kirill has declared American Stanford University. Currently a Provost’s torian Andrzej Walicki once described, Protestants and Catholics who defend the Postdoctoral Scholar in the History Depart- quite accurately, as “a conservative uto- “natural family” to be “confessors of the ment at the University of South Florida, 49 pia.” During the Soviet Union’s seven faith.” Such propagandistic statements, Christopher is also a senior research fellow decades of existence, the conservative meant to impact U.S. public opinion, in the School of Public Policy at the Russian version of this Russian messianism per- might be construed as Russia exporting Presidential Academy of National Economy sisted in the Russian diaspora and among its culture wars to us, as leaders of the and Public Administration in Moscow and 53 Soviet dissidents such as Solzhenitsyn. “godless” West. In this regard, it is also editor of the academic journal State, Reli- The Soviet Union, meanwhile, projected worth noting that the Russian Orthodox gion and Church. its own purported moral superiority as Church, Moscow Patriarchate is expand- the ostensible vanguard of socialism, a ing its presence in Paris, with plans for system understood as far more just than the construction of a new cathedral that Western capitalism. Just as the official will include a cultural center, which is ex- Soviet, left-wing version of this ideology pected to be completed by the end of this

10 • The Public Eye WINTER 2016 endnotes

A Right-Wing International?, 2013, http://www.politicalresearch. fsu/2014-03-31/putins-brain. Community Forum of [the Ombudsman p. 4 org/2013/10/17/u-s-conservatives- of the Office of the President of the and-russian-anti-gay-laws-the-wcf/#. 22. Paul Goble, “Window on Eurasia: Russian Federation for Children’s The Kremlin’s Disturbing Reading List Rights] P. Astakhov), April 5, 2014. 1. Sergei Bulgakov, “Na vyborakh. Iz 12. Christopher Stroop, “Nationalist for Russia’s Political Elite,” Window on dnevnika” [Observing the Elections: http://www.dimitrysmirnov.ru/blog/ War Commentary as Russia’s Religious Eurasia—New Series, January 24, 2104, cerkov-56880/. From my Journal], Russkaia mysl’ Thought: The Religious Intelligentsia’s http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot. [Russian Thought] 33:11 (1912), 185- Politics of Providentialism.” Russian ru/2014/01/window-on-eurasia- 32. With respect to abortion, as of 92, esp. 189. Review 72:1 (2013), 94-115, esp. 100- kremlins-disturbing.html. November 21, 2011, according to 01. Federal Law 323-F3, Russia banned 2. World Congress of Families IX, “The 23. Joshua Keating, “God’s Oligarch,” Family in Europe - Alexey Komov, abortions after 12 weeks except in the 13. E. N. Trubetskoi, “Vozvrashchenie Slate, October 20, 2014, http://www. case of rape (up to 22 weeks) or medical Maria Hildingsson, Laszlo Marki, Dr. k filosofii” (The Return to Philosophy) slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/ J. Szymcsak,” YouTube Video, 1:01:35, necessity (at any time). Orthodox in Filosofskii sbornik L’vu Mikhailovichu foreigners/2014/10/konstantin_ Christian leaders and their allies in November 13, 2015, https://youtu.be/ Lopatinu k tridtsatiletiiu nauchno- malofeev_one_of_vladimir_putin_s_ a9Rpyl2NofI. the Duma continue to push for more pedagogicheskoi deiatel’nosti. Ot favorite_businessmen_wants_to.html. severe restrictions, such as required 3. I thank PRA researcher L. Cole Parke Moskovskago Psikhologicheskogo ultrasounds. Obshchestva. 1881-1911.) 24. Xenia Loutchenko, “Vera ili for providing me with a recording of ideologiia? ‘Tsargrad-TV’, Radio ‘Vera,’ (Philosophical Festschrift in Honor of 33. Sergei Chapnin, “A Church of Komov’s presentation, which he gave i Novye Dukhovnye Skrepy” (Faith or on October 27, 2015 to an apparently Lev Mikhailovich Lopatin’s Thirty Years Empire: Why the Russian Church of Scientific-Pedagogical Work [1881- Ideology? Tsargrad-TV, Radio ‘Faith,’ Chose to Bless Empire,” First Things, highly receptive audience (judging by and New Spiritual Supports), Colta, the laughter, comments, and applause 1911], from the Moscow Psychological November 2015, http://www. Society). (Moscow: Kushnerev, 1912), September 22, 2014, http://m.colta. firstthings.com/article/2015/11/a- audible in the recording). ru/articles/media/4720. 1-9, esp. 9. church-of-empire. Chapnin served 4. Benjamin May, “World Congress Miranda Blue, “Pussy Riot’s as managing editor of the Journal of 14. T. S. Eliot, The Idea of a Christian 25. of Families IX Announces Four American Detractors,” Right Wing the Moscow Patriarchate, an official Recipients Who Will Receive Awards Society, NY: Harcourt, Brace and organ of the Russian Orthodox Church, Company, 1940. Watch, February 18, 2014, http:// in Salt Lake City on October 27,” www.rightwingwatch.org/content/ Moscow Patriarchate, from 2009 Christian Newswire, October 20, 2015, 15. Catherine Baird, “Religious pussy-riots-american-detractors. until December 16, 2015. Chapnin’s http://www.christiannewswire.com/ Communism? Nicolai Berdyaev’s moderate, highly informed and frank news/7575776890.html. Contribution to Esprit’s “Interpretation 26. Alexander Morozov, assessments of Russian church life of Communism,” Canadian Journal of “Konservativnaia revoliutsiia: smysl are impressive, and his presence in 5. Cole Parke, “U.S. Conservatives Kryma” [A Conservative Revolution: and Russian Anti-Gay Laws – The History 30:1 (1995), 29-47. the patriarchate was a rare bright spot The Meaning of Crimea], Colta, March among its prominent predominantly WCF.” Eyes Right Blog, October 17, 16. Christopher Stroop, “The 17, 2014, http://www.colta.ru/ 2013, http://www.politicalresearch. far-right voices. On December 18, Russian Origins of the So-Called Post- articles/society/2477. social media associated with the org/2013/10/17/u-s-conservatives- Secular Moment: Some Preliminary and-russian-anti-gay-laws-the-wcf/#. 27. Brody Levesque, “Russian Russian intelligentsia and Orthodox Observations,” State, Religion and Church exploded with the news that Church 1:1 (2014), 59-82, https:// children’s rights commissioner: 6. Rev. Kapya Kaoma, “Globalizing only Italy can adopt Russian Chapnin had been fired from the the Culture Wars: U.S. Conservatives, www.academia.edu/5949640/ patriarchate for his critical views of The_Russian_Origins_of_the_So- children,” LGBTQ Nation, December African Churches, and Homophobia,” 3, 2013, http://www.lgbtqnation. the church’s prevailing ideology and Political Research Associates: 2009, Called_Post-Secular_Moment_Some_ relationship to the Russian state, Preliminary_Observations. com/2013/12/russian-childrens- http://www.politicalresearch.org/wp- rights-commissioner-only-italy-can- particularly for remarks he made in content/uploads/downloads/2012/11/ 17. Scott Kaufman, “Fox Guest: Keep adopt-russian-children/. a talk given at the Carnegie Moscow africa-full-report.pdf. Discrimination Legal Because Bible Center on December 9. The media 28. See Miranda Blue, “Globalizing have now confirmed the firing. See, for For example, see Xenia Loutchenko, Tells Businesses Not to Hire Atheists,” 7. Homophobia, Part 2: ‘Today the Whole example, “Moscow Patriarchate Fires “Vera ili ideologiia? ‘Tsargrad-TV’, Alternet, April 7, 2015. http://www. World is Looking at Russia,’” Right Sergey Chapnin, Editor of its Journal.” Radio ‘Vera,’ i Novye Dukhovnye alternet.org/news-amp-politics/ Wing Watch, October 3, 2013. http:// AsiaNews.it, Dec. 19, 2015. http:// Skrepy” (Faith or Ideology? Tsargrad- fox-guest-keep-discrimination-legal- www.rightwingwatch.org/content/ www.asianews.it/news-en/Moscow- TV, Radio ‘Faith,’ and New Spiritual because-bible-tells-businesses-not- globalizing-homophobia-part-2-today- Patriarchate-fires-Sergey-Chapnin,- Supports), Colta, September 22, hire. whole-world-looking-russia. editor-of-its-journal-36205.html. 2014, http://m.colta.ru/articles/ 18. Christopher Stroop, “The media/4720. Russian Origins of the So-Called Post- 29. “Federal Law of the Russian 34. Franklin Graham, “Putin’s Olympic Federation of July 29, 2013, No. 135- Controversy,” Decision Magazine, Christopher Stroop, “Religion Secular Moment: Some Preliminary 8. F3, Moscow. Amending Article 5 of February 28, 2014, http://billygraham. and Politics in Russia: An Insider’s Observations,” State, Religion and the Federal Law ‘On the Defense of org/decision-magazine/march-2014/ View,” The Wheel, November, 2015, Church 1:1 (2014), 59-82, https:// www.academia.edu/5949640/ Children from Information Harmful putins-olympic-controversy/. http://static1.squarespace.com/ for their Health and Development,’ static/54d0df1ee4b036ef1e44b144/ The_Russian_Origins_of_the_So- 35. Hannah Levintova, “How US Called_Post-Secular_Moment_Some_ and other legislative acts of the Russian t/564281e0e4b0a83ded1ed2 Federation with the goal of protecting Evangelicals Helped Create Russia’s Preliminary_Observations. 5e/1447199200469/Loutchenko.pdf. children from propaganda rejecting Anti-Gay Movement,” Mother Jones, February 21, 2014. http://www. My abridged translation of our 19. Kathryn Joyce, “Missing: The traditional family values.”: http:// 9. motherjones.com/politics/2014/02/ interview has been published in a new ‘Right’ Babies,” The Nation, February www.rg.ru/2013/06/30/deti-site-dok. world-congress-families-russia-gay- independent U.S.-based journal of 14, 2008, http://www.thenation.com/ html rights?page=2. Meredith Bennett- Orthodox Christian thought. “Religion article/missing-right-babies/. 30. Alexander Morozov, Smith, “Scott Lively, American Pastor, and Politics in Russia: An Insider’s 20. Although it is a little too “Konservativnaia revoliutsiia: smysl Takes Credit for Inspiring Russian Anti- View. Xenia Loutchenko Interviewed essentializing in its treatment of Kryma” [A Conservative Revolution: Gay Laws,” Huffington Post, September by Christopher Stroop,” The Wheel Russian national character, on Russian The Meaning of Crimea], Colta, March 9, 2013, http://www.huffingtonpost. 1:3 (2015), 30-35, Available online: exceptionalism, including brief 17, 2014. http://www.colta.ru/ com/2013/09/19/scott-lively-russian- http://static1.squarespace.com/ comments on Dugin, see Paul Coyer, articles/society/2477. anti-gay-laws_n_3952053.html. static/54d0df1ee4b036ef1e44b144/ “(Un)Holy Alliance: Vladimir Putin, t/564281e0e4b0a83ded1ed2 the Russian Orthodox Church and 31. Jennifer Monaghan, “Russian 36. Quoted in Jay Michaelson, “The 5e/1447199200469/Loutchenko.pdf. Russian Exceptionalism,” Forbes, May Orthodox Priest: Parental Violence ‘Natural Family’: The Latest Weapon Campaigns are Anti-Family,” The in the Christian Right’s New Global Hannah Levintova, “How US 21, 2015, http://www.forbes.com/ 10. Moscow Times, March 24, 2015. War on Gays,” The Daily Beast, June Evangelicals Helped Create Russia’s sites/paulcoyer/2015/05/21/unholy- http://www.themoscowtimes.com/ 14, 2015, http://www.thedailybeast. Anti-Gay Movement,” Mother Jones, alliance-vladimir-putin-and-the- article/russian-orthodox-priest- com/articles/2015/06/14/the-natural- February 21, 2014. http://www. russian-orthodox-church/. parental-violence-campaigns-are- family-the-latest-weapon-in-the- motherjones.com/politics/2014/02/ 21. Anton Barbashin and Hannah anti-family/517976.html. Archpriest christian-right-s-new-global-war-on- world-congress-families-russia-gay- Thoburn, “Putin’s Brain: Alexander Dimitry Smirnov, “Vystuplenie gays.html. rights?page=2. Dugin and the Philosophy Behind protoiereia Dimitriia Smirnova 37. Christopher Stroop, “Russian Cole Parke, “U.S. Conservatives Putin’s Invasion of Crimea. Foreign na Obshchesetvennom sovete P. 11. Parliament Hosts U.S. Anti-Gay and Russian Anti-Gay Laws – The Affairs, March 31, 2014, https://www. Astakhova” (Archpriest Dimitry Activist Paul Cameron,” Religion WCF.” Eyes Right Blog, October 17, foreignaffairs.com/articles/russia- Smirnov’s Presentation at the

WINTER 2016 Political Research Associates • 21 endnotes

Dispatches, December 12, 2013. sections/europes-east/national-fronts- rfdeti.ru/news/9835-pavel-astahov- http://religiondispatches.org/russian- russian-loans-cause-uproar-european- prinimaet-uchastie-v-konferencii- parliament-hosts-u-s-anti-gay-activist- parliament-310599. Also relevant: vsemirnogo-kongressa-semey-v- paul-cameron/. Sam Ball, “Sarkozy to Meet Putin as tbilisi. “ V Kyrgyzstane iz parlamenta French Right Looks to Russia,” France otozvan zakonoproekt o zaprete 38. World Congress of Families, 24, October 29, 2015, http://www. gei-propagandy” (In Kyrgyzstan the “Planning for World Congress of france24.com/en/20151028-sarkozy- Parliamentary Bill Banning Gay Families VIII Suspended,” n.d., http:// meet-putin-french-right-looks-russia- Propaganda has been Withdrawn), Gay worldcongress.org/press-releases/ syria-hollande-assad. Russia, June 30, 2015, http://www. planning-world-congress-families-viii- gayrussia.eu/world/11571/. suspended. 49. Andrzej Walicki, The Slavophile Controversy: History of a Conservative 39. Evan Hurst, “Russian ‘Pro- Utopia in Nineteenth-Century Russian Family’ Conference Exposing Internal Thought, Notre Dame: University of Dissension Among American Religious Notre Dame Press, 1989. Right Leaders?” Two Care Center Against Religious Extremism, September 10, 50. Michael Hughes, “The English 2014, http://www.twocare.org/ Slavophile: J. W. Birkbeck and Russia,” russian-pro-family-conference- The Slavonic and East European exposing-internal-dissension-among- Review, 82:3 (2004), 680-706. american-religious-right-leaders/. 51. Patrick J. Buchanan, “Whose Side 40. Mykhailo Cherenkov, “Orthodox is God on Now?” April 4, 2014. http:// Terrorism,” First Things, May 2015, buchanan.org/blog/whose-side-god- http://www.firstthings.com/ now-6337. article/2015/05/orthodox-terrorism. 52. For more evidence of this, note 41. Philip Jenkins, “Putin’s the effusive praise lavished on Russian Corrupted Orthodoxy,” The American actors by WCF IX Executive Director Conservative, March 24, 2015, http:// Janice Shaw Crouse: Fr. Mark Hodges, www.theamericanconservative.com/ “Janice Shaw Crouse: Homosexual articles/putins-corrupted-orthodoxy/. Activists Peddling ‘Falsehoods’ about World Congress of Families,” Life Site, 42. Hannah Levintova, “Did Anti-Gay September 29, 2015, https://www. Evangelicals Skirt US Sanctions on lifesitenews.com/news/janice-shaw- Russia?” Mother Jones, September 8, crouse-homosexual-activists-peddling- 2014, http://www.motherjones.com/ falsehoods-about-world-con. politics/2014/09/world-congress- families-russia-conference-sanctions. 53. “Franklin Graham praises ‘Gay Propaganda’ Law, Criticizes 43. Peter Montgomery, “World US ‘Secularism,’ in Russia Visit,” Congress of Families in Denial over Pravmir, November 3, 2015, http:// Promoting Homophobia Globally,” www.pravmir.com/franklin-graham- Right Wing Watch, October 21, 2015, praises-gay-propaganda-law-critizes- http://www.rightwingwatch.org/ us-secularism-in-russia-visit/. Priest content/world-congress-families- Mark Hodges, “Russian Orthodox denial-over-promoting-homophobia- Patriarch: Americans for natural globally. marriage are ‘Confessors of the Faith,’” 44. “Final Plenary Session,” Pravmir, November 3, 2015, http:// International Forum “Large Family [sic.] www.pravmir.com/russian-orthodox- and the Future of Humanity,” http:// patriarch-americans-for-natural- www.familyforum2014.org/#!final- marriage-are-confessors-of-the-faith/. plenary-session/c1umu. 54. “France: A New Russian Orthodox 45. “Resolutions and Voting Results Cathedral in Paris,” Dici, February of 29th HRC Session,” UN Watch, July 14, 2014, http://www.dici.org/en/ 2, 2015, http://www.unwatch.org/ news/france-a-new-russian-orthodox- resolutions-and-voting-results-of- cathedral-in-paris/. “Frantsiia 29th-hrc-session/. razreshila stroit’ pravoslavnyi dukhovno-kultur’nyi tsentr v parizhe” 46. Jay Michaelson, “At the United (France has Permitted the Construction Nations, it’s Human Rights, Putin of an Orthodox Cultural Center in Style,” The Daily Beast, June 26, 2014, Paris), Pravoslavie.ru, December 25, http://www.thedailybeast.com/ 2013, http://www.pravoslavie.ru/ articles/2014/06/26/at-the-united- news/67006.htm. Since the days of nations-it-s-human-rights-putin- Berdyaev and Bulgakov, both of whom style.html. Rebecca Oas, “Big Win lived out most of the rest of their lives for Traditional Family at UN Human in France after the Bolshevik victory in Rights Council,” C-Fam, July 9, 2015, the Russian civil war, there has been https://c-fam.org/friday_fax/big-win- a large Russian Christian presence in for-traditional-family-at-un-human- Paris with a complicated relationship rights-council/. to Moscow. While the details of this 47. “Plod very. Posol vsemirnogo situation are beyond the scope of this kongressa semei v OON Alexey Komov. article, it is important to note that Chast’ 2” (The Fruits of Faith. The Moscow seems to be attempting to Ambassador of the World Congress of exert greater influence over the ethnic Families to the UN, Alexey Komov. Part Russian Christian population that 2), http://tv-soyuz.ru/peredachi/plod- remains in France. very-posol-vsemirnogo-kongressa- 55. “Pavel Astakhov prinial uchastie semey-v-oon-aleksey-komov-chast-2. v konferentsii Vsemirnogo kongressa 48. On the National Front’s semei v Tbilisi” (Pavel Astakhov Took relationship to Russia see Anne-Claude Part in a Conference of the World Martin, “National Fronts Russian Congress of Families in Tbilisi), Press Loans Cause Uproar in European Service of the President of the Russian Parliament,” EurActiv.com, December Federation’s Ombudsman for Children’s 5, 2014, http://www.euractiv.com/ Rights, May 18, 2015, http://www.

22 • The Public Eye WINTER 2016