Thread by @areidross, One thing that's interesting apropos the merging of left and right in [...]

One thing that's interesting apropos the merging of left and right in weird authoritarian social movements is to look at how it happens in Russia. Here's a lil thread about left involvement in the Russian far right through a lil group called the National Front circa 2015. /1

Most of my followers will already be familiar with the two-pronged approach presented by the fascist group Rodina. On one hand in 2015 they supported the World National Conservative Movement, on the other hand, they supported the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia. /2

Through the former, they helped drive material support and training for fascist groups all over the world (see co-founders, Russian Imperial Movement). Through the latter, they cultivated disinfo networks in defense of Assad's heinous war crimes and Putin's other picadillos. /3

You'll also be familiar with the actual National Bolsheviks and their involvement in different factions over the years, including the Young Vanguard of Russian Socialism, a militant group linked to the Atomwaffen/Base network. These are just fascists, not leftists. /4

However, coalitions have formed over the years that incorporate various Stalinists and leftists, and it's interesting to look at those groups to see wtf the left is doing there. Let's start with this old Stalinist, Vladimir Kvachkov. /5

Kvachkov was arrested for plotting the assassination of a businessman, whom he accused of being part of a "Judeo-Christian mafia." Weird? Well, he leads a group called the People's Militia, which he hoped to arm with crossbows and lead to a national revolution. /6

Along w the National-Stalinist background, the People's Militia like monarchism. Around 2014, though, they joined the Russian National Front with fascist and left-wing groups to create a Novarossiya coalition opposed to other groups on the far right that supported Ukraine. /7

Who else was in that coalition? Aside from the Union of Orthodox Standard-Bearers (photo), who sound as fun as they are, there's another fun quasi-Stalinist group called the Assembly of the Russian People. This group comes from Sergei Kucherov, a long time politico. /8

It seems Kucherov started out in a group literally called the Stalinist Bloc before it splintered off into various political cults nostalgic for the Black Hundreds—but from the left. Joining the groups backed by Kucherov and Kvachkov in the National Front are more weird ones. /9

One of my favorite National Front groups is the Movement for Nationalization and Deprivatization of the Country’s Strategic Resources. How can you have a group name without six letters in the acronym? How!? Anyway, they're nominally left-presenting and even hate Putin. /10

What are they doing in the Novarossiya National Front? Ask the same question of the Group Pushing for the Referendum "For Responsible Government," originally called the Army of the Popular Will. It was founded by an extreme anti-Semite named Yurii Mukhin, who loves Stalin. /11

Along with these fine chums, who deny all Stalin's crimes (a la Grover Furr), there's a real shark: Great Russia. Founded through the machinations of Rodina and the Movement Against Illegal Immigration, Great Russia is a real institution on the Russian far-right. /12

For those who don't remember the Movement Against Illegal Immigration, they carried out a pogrom in Kondoponga, a race riot in Manezh Square, and reconstituted as the "Russkie" coalition infamous for "raids" on suspected undocumented workers and gay ppl some years back. /13

Great Russia is led by Saveliev, a Duma deputy who swore an oath of fealty to the Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna in Madrid, because he's a complete fucking Ortho-Monarchist. Of course, with Great Russia, the Russian Imperial Movement is also involved in the National Front. /14

So there you have it. A fanciful coalition uniting the left and right, pro-Putin and anti-Putin, in a social movement that has street-level power and discreet political connections. It has some roots in the Surkovian "managed nationalism" strategy, but is also its own beast. /15

The main goal of the group is anti-liberal imperialism, plain and simple. The Stalinists in it also want a greater Russia inclusive of Belarus and other territories. They were particularly involved in whipping the far right into line with Malofeev's war in Ukraine. /16

Now, why on earth would anyone want to replicate this sort of organization, or promote the transformation of US social movements around the kind of anti-liberal populism that we see occurring here? Totally baffling, guyz. /17

Now here are some interesting and useful references: (/Ends)

https://www.tdx.cat/bitstream/handle/10803/308508/st1de1.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

https://www.sova-center.ru/en/xenophobia/reports-analyses/2016/08/d35252/

https://archive.org/stream/NewRussianNationalism/NewRussianNationalism_djvu.txt

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Russian_Nationalism/SjZyDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=russian%20imperial%20movement https://books.google.com/books?id=hNNyDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT595&lpg=PT595&dq=Movement+for+Nationalization+and+Deprivatization+of+the+Country%E2%80%99s+Strategic+Resources&source=bl&ots=xeBrTRXD63&sig=ACfU3U0auB6lOiIQdtefNv3DJuOW1eSp1g&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwje-rXc8IPpAhU5GDQIHVp8AicQ6AEwCXoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=for%20responsible%20government&f=false

Militant Right-Wing Extremism in Putin’s Russia

https://www.tdx.cat/bitstream/handle/10803/308508/st1de1.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Addendum: Here's a report on 2019's Russia March. Notice many familiar names: Great Russia, Kvachov supporters, Russian Imperial Movement, Black Hundreds, & the Movement For Nationalization and Deprivatization of the Country’s Strategic Resources...

https://www.sova-center.ru/en/xenophobia/news-releases/2019/11/d41692/

Addendum2: A thread on people pushing back against the far right in Russia, and some successes and things they've helped accomplish... https://twitter.com/areidross/status/1254178897098244096

https://twitter.com/areidross/status/1254178897098244096

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