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Neo-Fascism and the State: the Negotiation of National Identity in Modern Russia

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Neo-Fascism and the State: the Negotiation of National Identity in Modern Russia Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University Communication Dissertations Department of Communication 5-10-2017 Neo-Fascism and the State: The Negotiation of National Identity in Modern Russia Hanna Baranchuk Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/communication_diss Recommended Citation Baranchuk, Hanna, "Neo-Fascism and the State: The Negotiation of National Identity in Modern Russia." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2017. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/communication_diss/84 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Communication at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Communication Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. NEO-FASCISM AND THE STATE: THE NEGOTIATION OF NATIONAL IDENTITY IN MODERN RUSSIA by HANNA BARANCHUK Under the Direction of M. Lane Bruner, PhD ABSTRACT The present dissertation is a study of the process of national identity renegotiation in modern Russia. More specifically, I analyze the use of the word fascism in contemporary Russian discourse. Developing a blend of Kenneth Burke’s theory of human motives and Jacques Lacan’s psychoanalytic theory of the subject, I compare the psycho-rhetorical narratives of the four distinct parties - Vladimir Putin, state-sponsored “anti-fascists” (Nashi), independent anti- fascists (Antifa), and neo-fascists - which fight over the usage of the word fascism in their attempts to renegotiate the meaning of Russianness. While explicating the mechanism of national identity construction, Lacan’s theory, as I argue, does not help distinguish among various visions of the nation. Therefore, I build upon Burke’s classification of symbolic frames (comedy, tragedy, epic, elegy, satire, the burlesque, and the grotesque) to differentiate among alternative fantasy-frames (Lacanian fantasy and Burkean frame) as more or less politically dangerous and ethically sophisticated. As the reading of the four psycho-rhetorical narratives shows, the vision of Russia proposed by Russian neo-fascists dangerously approximates the Russian idea promoted by the state and pro-Putin “anti-fascists.” INDEX WORDS: Neo-fascism, National identity, Nationalism, Neo-fascists, Nashi, Antifa, Putin, Russia, Burke, Lacan, Psycho-rhetorical criticism NEO-FASCISM AND THE STATE: THE NEGOTIATION OF NATIONAL IDENTITY IN MODERN RUSSIA by HANNA BARANCHUK A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University 2017 Copyright by Hanna Baranchuk 2017 NEO-FASCISM AND THE STATE: THE NEGOTIATION OF NATIONAL IDENTITY IN MODERN RUSSIA by HANNA BARANCHUK Committee Chair: M. Lane Bruner Committee: Mary Stuckey Angelo Restivo William Downs Electronic Version Approved: Office of Graduate Studies College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University May 2017 iv DEDICATION To my family and friends, those who are close and those who are afar. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work would be impossible without the inexhaustible and invaluable guidance of my dissertation advisor, Professor M. Lane Bruner. I also want to express colossal gratitude to the dissertation committee members for their patience, time and desire to share helpful insights. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................. v 1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 1 2 THE TRAGICOMEDY OF THE NATION .......................................................... 19 2.1 Ideological Criticism as a Psycho-Rhetorical Enterprise .............................. 20 2.2 The Two Lacks as the Birthplace of Subjectivity ........................................... 35 2.3 The Mirror Stage and the Study of National Identity Construction ............ 42 2.4 The Neurotic Structure of National Subjectivity ........................................... 50 2.4.1 The Formula of the Subject .......................................................................... 53 2.5 Fantasy as an Attitude of the National Subject .............................................. 60 2.6 The Objet a and Symptoms ............................................................................... 62 2.7 Attitude and Fantasy-Frames: A Lacanian-Burkean Ethical Framework . 70 2.8 The Imaginary and the Symbolic Levels of a Psycho-Rhetorical Analysis of the Nation 87 2.8.1 The Imaginary: A Symptom as a Linguistic Motive .................................... 90 2.8.2 The Symbolic: The Objet a as the Ultimate Motive and the Four Discourses 94 2.9 The Critical Vigor of a Lacanian-Burkean Theory of National Identity Construction .......................................................................................................................... 114 3 THE HISTORY OF THE NATIONAL SUBJECT: THE RUSSIANS AND THE RUSSIAN IDEA ........................................................................................................................ 119 vii 3.1 The Rewriting of History as an Ethical Enterprise ...................................... 119 3.2 The Russian Idea ............................................................................................. 128 4 THE TRAGIC NARRATIVE OF THE RUSSIAN NEO-FASCIST MASTER 178 4.1 The Reciprocity of Russian Neo-Fascism and the Russian Idea ................. 179 4.2 Fascism, Pathology, Irrationality, and Ethics .............................................. 191 4.3 The Success and Failure of Russian Neo-Fascism ........................................ 212 4.4 The Tragic Imagery of Russian Neo-Fascism ............................................... 222 4.5 The Triumph of the Symbolic Master ........................................................... 255 5 THE MANY FACES OF TRUE AND PURPORTED ANTI-FASCISM IN MODERN RUSSIA ................................................................................................................... 267 5.1 Nashi as an Ideological Mouthpiece of the Kremlin .................................... 268 5.1.1 Nashi’s Tragic “Anti-Fascism” .................................................................. 280 5.1.2 Nashi’s Competitive “Democracy” ............................................................. 321 5.2 The Comic National Fantasy of Independent Anti-Fascists (Antifa) as the Agent of the Analyst’s Discourse ......................................................................................... 330 5.3 Vladimir Putin’s Russian Idea as a Tragic Response to Actual and Perceived Fascism ................................................................................................................. 351 6 CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................... 372 WORKS CITED............................................................................................................ 387 1 1 INTRODUCTION On November 4, 2005, for the first time in the history of the country, Russians observed National Unity Day.1 The holiday was supposed to celebrate “the best features and qualities of the Russian national character,” “traditions of mutual help,” and “sensitivity to the pain and misfortunes of others.”2 Yet, the spirit of the holiday was far from a display of compassion, goodness or unity. Instead, National Unity Day was marked by fear and anger triggered by so- called Russian Marches (or Right Marches) – demonstrations organized by neo-fascist, ultra- nationalist and anti-immigrant activists in major cities in Russia. Major targets of the discontent voiced by organizers and participants of the Russian Marches have been the churki (literally translated as “wooden stubs”), or knuckleheads, as extreme nationalists derogatorily refer to non-Slavic Muslim labor immigrants from former Soviet republics in Central Asia, the South Caucasus, and Russian republics in the North Caucasus.3 In Moscow more than 2,000 members of ultra-right organizations “marched” from the statue of Griboedov in Chistye Prudy to the Slavic Square, chanting “Russia is against occupants,” “The Russians are coming,” “Russia belongs to us,” “Glory to the Empire,” “Russia is everything, others are nothing,” “Russia is for Russians, Moscow is for Muscovites,” and “Sieg Heil!”4 In 2013 the Russian March attracted around 6,000 participants, who openly urged for violent actions against non-Slavic population of Russia.5 1 National Unity Day is “Den’ narodnogo edinstva” in Russian, also known as People’s Unity Day in English. 2 In the Russian language the English word “Russian” has two variants: “Russky” means “ethnic Russian;” “Rossiysky” means “something/somebody belonging to, somebody living in the Russian Federation,” not necessarily “ethnic Russian.” In this instance, “Russian” is “Rossiysky.” For more about this holiday, see “Federal Law,” n. pag. In the dissertation all titles of and citations from articles in Russian have been translated by me. 3 Churki is translated by Zarakhovich, “Inside Russia’s Racism Problem,” n. pag. 4 In the following years the slogans of the Russian March were similar: in 2007 - “Russians, stand up,” “Russian order or war,” and “Tolerance is AIDS”; in 2008 - “Glory to Russia!” and “Glory to the Russian people!” 2 At the end of the demonstrations members of the Slavic Union (abbreviated as SS) raised their
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