Nikolay Vasilyevich Ustryalov (; November 25, 1890 – September 14, 1937) was a Russian politician and a leading pioneer of
National Bolshevism
National Bolshevism (russian: национал-большевизм, natsional-bol'shevizm, german: Nationalbolschewismus), whose supporters are known as National Bolsheviks (russian: национал-большевики, natsional-bol'sheviki ...
. His great-uncle was
Nikolay Gerasimovich Ustryalov.
Early years
Ustryalov was born in
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
. He graduated in law from
Moscow University in 1913.
Teaching at Moscow University, he was initially a member of the
Constitutional Democratic Party
The Constitutional Democratic Party (russian: Конституцио́нно-демократи́ческая па́ртия, translit=Konstitutsionno-demokraticheskaya partiya, K-D), also called Constitutional Democrats and formally the Party of P ...
.
[S.V. Utechin, ''Russian Political Thought: A Concise and Comprehensive History'', JM Dent & Sons, 1964, p. 253] Ustryalov belonged to a tendency of
Slavophile intellectuals, although from early on he departed from his contemporaries by being less enthusiastic about the
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops vi ...
than the likes of
Sergei Bulgakov
Sergei Nikolaevich Bulgakov (; russian: Серге́й Никола́евич Булга́ков; – 13 July 1944) was a Russian Orthodox theologian, priest, philosopher, and economist.
Biography
Early life: 1871–1898
Sergei Nikolaevich B ...
and
Peter Berngardovich Struve
Peter (or Pyotr or Petr) Berngardovich Struve (russian: Пётр Бернга́рдович Стру́ве; pronounced ; 26 January 1870 in Perm – 22 February 1944 in Paris) was a Russian political economist, philosopher, historian and editor ...
. He started out as a supporter of the
"Whites" in the
Russian Civil War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Russian Civil War
, partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I
, image =
, caption = Clockwise from top left:
{{flatlist,
*Soldiers ...
and saw service under the command of
Aleksandr Kolchak
Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak (russian: link=no, Александр Васильевич Колчак; – 7 February 1920) was an Imperial Russian admiral, military leader and polar explorer who served in the Imperial Russian Navy and fought ...
.
However Ustrialov changed his views towards a fusion of
nationalism
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...
with
Bolshevism
Bolshevism (from Bolshevik) is a revolutionary socialist current of Soviet Marxist–Leninist political thought and political regime associated with the formation of a rigidly centralized, cohesive and disciplined party of social revolution, ...
, with the new
communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...
presented as the best hope for re-establishing Russia as an international power.
Martin A. Lee
Martin A. Lee is an American author and activist who has written books and articles on far-right movements, terrorism, media issues, and drug politics.
Education and career
Lee has an undergraduate degree in philosophy from the University of Mich ...
, ''The Beast Reawakens'', Warner Books, 1998, p. 316
Ideology
Amongst Ustrialov's written works were contributions to ''"The Problems of Great Russia"'' and ''"Morning of Russia"'', two pre-Bolshevik journals in which he called for unity amongst the
Slavs and rejoiced in the overthrow of
Tsar
Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the ter ...
ist rule. In exile he founded the journal ''"Okno"'' (Window) with other dissidents and in 1921 published his seminal collection of articles ''"
Smena vekh
The Smenovekhovtsy ( rus, Сменовеховцы, p=smʲɪnəˈvʲexəftsɨ), a political movement in the Russian émigré community, formed shortly after the publication of the magazine ''Smena Vekh'' ("Change of Signposts") in Prague in 1921. ...
"'' ("Change of Landmarks"), in which he expounded his theories of nationalism and that gave rise to a weekly magazine, ''Smena vekh''. The main ideologue for the
Smenovekhovtsy
The Smenovekhovtsy ( rus, Сменовеховцы, p=smʲɪnəˈvʲexəftsɨ), a political movement in the Russian émigré community, formed shortly after the publication of the magazine ''Smena Vekh'' ("Change of Signposts") in Prague in 1921. ...
as his followers became known, Ustryalov used written works such as ''In the Struggle for Russia'' (1920) and ''Under the Sign of Revolution'' (1925) to argue against the views of Struve.
Claiming to be inspired by figures such as General
Aleksei Brusilov
Aleksei Alekseyevich Brusilov ( rus, Алексе́й Алексе́евич Бруси́лов, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsʲej ɐlʲɪkˈsʲejɪvʲɪdʑ brʊˈsʲiɫəf; – 17 March 1926) was a Russian and later Soviet general most noted for the developme ...
and
Vladimir Purishkevich
Vladimir Mitrofanovich Purishkevich ( rus, Влади́мир Митрофа́нович Пуришке́вич, p=pʊrʲɪˈʂkʲevʲɪt͡ɕ; , Kishinev – 1 February 1920, Novorossiysk, Russia) was a far-right politician in Imperial Russia, no ...
, both of whom had said they would serve the Bolsheviks in the interests of Russia, Ustryalov called for a reconciliation with the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
as it was only the Bolsheviks who could guarantee Russia's security.
[Utechin, ''Russian Political Thought'', p. 254] With the introduction of the
New Economic Policy
The New Economic Policy (NEP) () was an economic policy of the Soviet Union proposed by Vladimir Lenin in 1921 as a temporary expedient. Lenin characterized the NEP in 1922 as an economic system that would include "a free market and capitalism, ...
Ustryalov saw a process of "normalisation" beginning in the Soviet Union and argued that increasingly the USSR was "like a radish" in that it was red on the outside but white on the inside.
Ustryalov did not consider himself a communist, rejecting the ideology as a foreign import, but began to use the term "National Bolshevik" after discovering it in the writings of
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
dissident
Ernst Niekisch
Ernst Niekisch (23 May 1889 – 23 May 1967) was a German writer and politician. Initially a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), he later became a prominent exponent of National Bolshevism.
Early life
Born in Trebnitz (Silesia), and b ...
.
Despite his enthusiasm Ustryalov was dismissed as an enemy by
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...
and lived in exile in
Harbin,
Manchuria
Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer M ...
. Here he worked as an advisor at the
China Far East Railway
The Chinese Eastern Railway or CER (, russian: Китайско-Восточная железная дорога, or , ''Kitaysko-Vostochnaya Zheleznaya Doroga'' or ''KVZhD''), is the historical name for a railway system in Northeast China (als ...
, (KVZhD). He was Dean of the Faculty of Law at Harbin from 1920 until 1924.
Return to the Soviet Union
With attitudes towards National Bolshevism having thawed under Stalin, Ustryalov was able to return to the Soviet Union in 1935.
Trotsky
Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian M ...
regarded the forces that gathered around Ustryalov as not wanting Russia to return to a state of semi-colonial dependence on Western capitalism and therefore not wanting a restoration, without, however, being the least bit socialist. According to Trotsky, Ustryalov and his followers foresaw the conversion of the Soviet state into a normal bourgeois state, and asserted that this state should be supported. Ustryalov's past as a White counted against him, however, and he struggled to find employment or even acceptance as a Soviet citizen in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...
. Eventually he was sent to a
gulag
The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= was the government agency in ...
.
[Jeanne Vronskaya & Vladimir Chuguev, ''The Biographical Dictionary of the Former Soviet Union - Prominent People In All Fields From 1917 to the Present'', London: Bowker-Saur, 1992, , p. 561]
In 1937, during the
Great Purge
The Great Purge or the Great Terror (russian: Большой террор), also known as the Year of '37 (russian: 37-й год, translit=Tridtsat sedmoi god, label=none) and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Yezhov'), was Soviet General Secret ...
, he was arrested on charges of espionage and "
anti-Soviet agitation". On September 14, 1937 he was sentenced to death penalty and executed on the same day.
[Hiroaki Kuromiya, ''Stalin'', Pearson Education, 2005, p. 138]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ustryalov, Nikolay
1890 births
1937 deaths
Eurasianism
Great Purge victims from Russia
National Bolsheviks
People executed by the Soviet Union
Politicians from Saint Petersburg
Perm State University faculty
Russian Constitutional Democratic Party members
Soviet academics
Soviet fascists
Soviet nationalists
Soviet revolutionaries
Harbin Institute of Technology faculty