Russian Politics & Law AJOURNAL OF TRANSLATIONS JULY-AUGUST 2008 Theorizing Post-Soviet Russia’s Extreme Right Comparative Political, Historical, and Sociological Approaches Guest Editor: Andreas Umland cM.E.SharpeRussian Politics and Law, vol. 46, no. 4, July—Augst 2008, pp. 31-46. © 2008 M.E. Sharpe, Inc. All rights reserved ISSN 1061-1940/2008 $9.50 + 0.00. DOI 10.2753/RUP1061-1940460402 ANDREAS UMLAND Zhirinovsky’s Last Thrust to the South and the Definition of Fascism Fascists in each country must make fascism their own national move- ment, adopting symbols and tactics that suit the traditions, psychology, and tastes of their own country. —James Barnes, British advocate of “universal fascism,” 1928 Since the establishment of the political system of post-Soviet Russia, aca- demic, political, and public discussion in the Russian Federation (RF) has focused on the questions of the possible rise of a Russian variety of fascism (2-13) and of the appropriateness of comparing events in the former Soviet Union with events in interwar Europe: in particular, the Weimar Republic of 1918-33 (14-16). Throughout the post-Soviet period, moreover, the problems of clearly defining the generic concept of “fascism” and of adequately applying the term to specific phenomena in Russian politics have been the subjects not only of journalistic investigations (17) or of debates among historiographers and political scientists (18-23). The theme of fascism in Russia has featured in a number of official declarations (24, 25), tabled bills (26, 27), legal documents (28), expert appraisals (29-31), juridical analyses (32), and even court examinations (33). Perhaps the loudest scandals and most publicized court proceedings related to this theme are those connected with the name of Vladimir Zhirinovsky (34). ‘This article contributes to the discussion of the main scientific terms used in the comparative study of contemporary Western and Russian antidemacratism, English translation © 2008 M.E. Sharpe, Inc., from the Russian text © 2007 “Bez temy.” “Poslednii brosok na iug Zhirinovskogo i definitsiia fashizma,” Bez temy, 2007, no. 2, pp. 46-57. Translated by Stephen D. Shenfield. 3r32 RUSSIAN POLITICS AND LAW which started ten years ago in Politicheskie issledovaniia (35-37), continued in some other Russian-language publications (38~44), and was recently renewed in Voprosy filosofii with criticism of the expression “conservative revolution” (45, 46) and analysis of the ideologies of Russian National Unity (RNU) and of the Eurasia (Evraziia) movement (47). The goal of the project is to examine post-Soviet Russian antidemocratism in the context of international research into right-wing extremism and to apply the conceptual apparatus created by international social science to the political situation in Russia. On the one hand, the specific character of post-Soviet antidemocratism must certainly not be overlooked; on the other, general concepts developed initially for a Western context must not be overextended. The project is based on the existing secondary literature (48-66). I have attempted to go beyond previous studies by means of the application (where justified) of Western general concepts to the conceptualization of the ideolo- gies of Russian antidemocratic organizations. Thus, I do not provide here yet another description of the Liberal-Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR). Instead, I touch on certain conceptual-terminological and discourse-analytic problems of the interpretation of the ideology of Vladimir Zhirinovsky—in particular, the question of the appropriateness of applying the concept of fascism to his ideas. As Ihave explained in detail before (35, 36), Roger D. Griffin, the most influ- ential specialist in the comparative study of fascist ideologies, defines fascism as “palingenctic ultranationalism” (43)." Griffin regards the myth of a nation born anew—that is, the idea of a national revolution or “palingenesis”—as the core of fascist ideology (47), For Griffin, moreover, “ultranationalism” encompasses a broad spectrum of ethnocentric, racist, culturalist, and even supranationalist ideologies. Fascism as a general concept, according to Griffin, differs from other types of ultranationalism in being revolutionary in character—not only in social and political but also in cultural and anthropological terms (67-74). Zhirinovsky’s Early Ideology as Revolutionary Imperialism In a similar previous article about the conceptual and contextual problems of interpreting Russian ultranationalism, I attempted to challenge the currently predominant view of RNU as the most important fascist party in post-Soviet Russia (47). Below I cast doubt on another commonplace of commentaries on Russian right-wing extremism—namely, in respect of their appraisal of the LDPR. Yet now I wish to question the popular opinion that Zhirinovsky’s ideology is unambiguously nonfascist. Without a doubt, the most important episode in the history of the LDPR was the elections to the State Duma in December 1993. With 22.92 percent