SLAVOPHILES AND COMMISSARS Also by Judith Devlin RELIGION AND REBELLION (editor with Ronan Fanning) THE RISE OF THE RUSSIAN DEMOCRATS: the Causes and Consequences of the Elite Revolution THE SUPERSTITIOUS MIND: French Peasants and the Supernatural in Nineteenth-Century France Slavophiles and Commissars Enemies of Democracy in Modern Russia Judith Devlin Lecturer in Modern History University College, Dublin First published in Great Britain 1999 by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978-1-349-40232-8 ISBN 978-0-333-98320-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780333983201 First published in the United States of America 1999 by ST. MARTIN’S PRESS, INC., Scholarly and Reference Division, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Devlin, Judith, 1952– Slavophiles and commissars : enemies of democracy in modern Russia / Judith Devlin. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Russia (Federation)—Politics and government—1991– 2. Nationalism—Russia (Federation) 3. Authoritarianism—Russia (Federation) 4. Russia (Federation)—Intellectual life—1991– I. Title. DK510.763.D486 1999 320.947'09'049—dc21 98–50836 CIP © Judith Devlin 1999 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1999 978-0-333-69933-1 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. 10987654321 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00 99 To my mother This page intentionally left blank Contents Acknowledgements viii List of Abbreviations and Conventions ix Glossary of Parties and Groups x Introduction xvii Part I: Ideas 1 The Intelligentsia and the Nationalist Revival 3 2 Neo-Fascism 34 3 Russian Orthodoxy and Nationalism 61 Part II: Politics 4 The Genesis of the August Coup, 1989–91 93 5 The National Salvation Front, 1991–92 118 6 The Advent of Vladimir Zhirinovsky 138 7 Zyuganov’s Communists and Nationalism, 1993–95 157 8 The Quest for Power: the 1995–96 Elections 181 Conclusion 196 Notes 206 References 273 Index 311 vii Acknowledgements This work owes much to the assistance received from many quarters. My colleagues in University College Dublin, especially Tadhg O hAnnracháin, Eamon O’Flaherty, Hugh Gough and Peter Butterfield, enabled me to observe the Presidential elections in Irkutsk at first hand, for which heartfelt thanks. I am grateful also to the University for helping to fund my research. The staff of several libraries in Moscow, London and Dublin gave me much invaluable assistance. In particular, I would like to thank Ms Mairin Cassidy and her colleagues in the library of University College Dublin; the librarians of the State Public Historical Library in Moscow, the Russian State Library and the INION Library; the staff of the library of the School of Slavonic Studies in London; the lib- rarian and staff of Trinity College Dublin. I am grateful to many Russian friends and experts who kindly and generously gave their time to discussing Russian politics with me and offering advice and guidance. I would particularly like to thank Andrei Mironov and Tanya Vargashkina in Moscow. Successive members of the Irish Embassy in Moscow have given me invaluable practical aid and generous hospitality: my thanks are particularly due to Brian Earls, Tom and Kiki Russell. Many friends in Dublin also assisted my researches, especially Deirdre MacMahon, Michael Sanfey, Anna Murphy, Carla King, John Murray, Aidan Kirwan and Valeria Heuberger in Vienna. Thanks are also due to those who read earlier drafts of this book, especially Professor Stephen White. I am grateful also to Professor R.J. Hill for encouragement and assistance. Finally, the work would not have been written without the assistance of my mother, who dealt with all practical matters while it was on the go. viii List of Abbreviations and Conventions Publications AiF Argumenty i fakty IHT International Herald Tribune Lit. Gaz. Literaturnaya gazeta MN Moscow News NG Nezavisimaya gazeta NYRB New York Review of Books RG Rossiiskaya gazeta RM Russkaya mysl’ SK Sovetskaya kul’tura SR Sovetskaya Rossiya Conventions ” = hard sign ’ = soft sign, except where followed by e, where it is rendered by ie ky = style adopted to transliterate surnames such as Pribylovsky Soft Russian i is rendered only after ki as in sovetskii ks = x ix Glossary of Parties and Groups Agrarian Party: Party of former CPSU members and kolkhoz direct- ors founded in February 1993 to protect the interests of the agro- industry nomenklatura. Usually aligned with the KPRF but on occasion ready to collaborate with Yeltsin (to whose camp several of its leaders defected). All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks: Party of unrepentant neo- Stalinists founded in November 1991 and led by Nina Andreeva. Its opposition to the new regime was so extreme as to render it politically irrelevant. All-World Russian Assembly: Congress of nationalist and Orthodox forces organised by General Alexander Sterligov in May 1993. Black Hundreds: officially encouraged, pre-revolutionary popular bands of violent, anti-revolutionary, ultra-nationalist anti-Semites. Brotherhood of St Sergius of Radonezh: A vocal caucus, of extreme nationalist and conservative orientation, within the Orthodox Church. Member of the similarly inspired Union of Orthodox Brotherhoods, founded in 1990. Christian Democratic Movement of Russia (RKhDD): Founded in April 1990, the political wing of this religiously inspired, fractious organisation moved, under the leadership of Viktor Aksyuchits, to more extreme nationalist positions after 1991, ultimately embracing monarchism. Disappeared from view after 1993. Christian Democratic Union of Russia (CDU): Liberal Christian group founded in August 1989 by former dissident, Alexander Ogorodnikov. Civic Union: Caucus, founded in 1993, uniting parties of the centre right and providing a platform for figures like Alexander Rutskoi and Alexander Volsky. x Glossary of Parties and Groups xi Committee for the Restoration of Christ the Saviour: Nationalist, reli- gious conservation group, broadly opposed to Gorbachev’s reforms. Their cause was ultimately adopted by Yuri Luzhkov, mayor of Moscow, who was largely responsible for the rebuilding of the cathedral in the mid-1990s. Committee for the Saving of the Neva–Ladoga–Onega: Nationalist, anti-reform conservation group, founded in April 1989. Communist Party of the Russian Federation: Founded in June 1990, as the KP RSFSR, in an attempt by conservatives to prise control of the Communist Party away from Gorbachev, was banned by Yeltsin after the August 1991 coup. Reformed as the KPRF in February 1993 under the leadership of Gennady Zyuganov, following a judgement largely in its favour by the Constitutional Court. A coalition of nation- alists, neo-Stalinists and conservatives, the party jettisoned its Marxist heritage in favour of a nationalist socialist programme and winning power at the polls. Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU): The ruling party between 1917 and 1991. Led by Gorbachev between 1985 and 1991, when it was dissolved by Boris Yeltsin. Communists for the USSR: Viktor Anpilov’s neo-Stalinist election bloc in 1995. Congress of Civic and Patriotic Forces: Nationalist meeting organised in February 1992 by V. Aksyuchits and others in the hope of founding a nationalist opposition caucus to Yeltsin. Congress of Russian Communities (KRO): Nationalist organisation, courting the Russian diaspora, founded in 1993–94. Briefly attracted attention in 1995, when it provided a political base for the conserva- tive apparatchiks Yuri Skokov and Alexander Lebed. Constitutional Democratic Party of Popular Freedom Democratic Russia (Kadets): A party in name only, synonymous with its leader, Mikhail Astafiev. It was initially a liberal democratic group when founded in May 1990, then joined the opposition to Yeltsin in 1992 and associated with conservative nationalist positions. Democratic Russia: Umbrella organisation for democratic groups and proto-parties founded in October 1990. xii Glossary of Parties and Groups Derzhava: Short-lived movement founded to provide a political base for Alexander Rutskoi on his release from prison in February 1994. Proclaimed religious, authoritarian nationalism. Experimental Creative Centre: Officially funded group of self-styled thinkers and researchers which, in 1990 and 1991 under the leadership of Sergei Kurginyan, attempted to provide ideological underpinning for the restoration of an authoritarian collectivist regime, under osten- sibly nationalist credentials. Fellowship of Russian Artists: Group of nationalist writers and intel- lectuals, founded in 1988, committed to the conservation of the Soviet system.