National Salvation Front (Russia)
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The National Salvation Front (NSF or FNS; russian: Фронт национального спасения; ФНС, ''Front natsional'nogo spaseniya'', ''FNS'') was a broad coalition of
communist 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 s ...
,
socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
, and
right-wing nationalist Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right-wing nationalism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics and populism, populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti-Elitism, elitist sentiments, opposi ...
movements against the government of
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...
in
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
. Established in 1992, the FNS was the first group to be banned in
post-Soviet Russia The post-Soviet states, also known as the former Soviet Union (FSU), the former Soviet Republics and in Russia as the near abroad (russian: links=no, ближнее зарубежье, blizhneye zarubezhye), are the 15 sovereign states that wer ...
before playing a leading role in the
1993 Russian constitutional crisis The 1993 Russian constitutional crisis, also known as the 1993 October Coup, Black October, the Shooting of the White House or Ukaz 1400, was a political stand-off and a constitutional crisis between the Russian president Boris Yeltsin and t ...
.


Foundation

The FNS was established at a congress on 24 October 1992 at which an alliance was concluded between some 3,000 communist and nationalist activists united by their opposition to the presidency of
Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...
. Hard-line nationalism was represented by a number of leading authors and ideologues, including
Valentin Rasputin Valentin Grigoriyevich Rasputin (; russian: Валентин Григорьевич Распутин; 15 March 193714 March 2015) was a Russian writer. He was born and lived much of his life in the Irkutsk Oblast in Eastern Siberia. Rasputin's w ...
,
Alexander Prokhanov Alexander Andreyevich Prokhanov (russian: Алекса́ндр Андре́евич Проха́нов; born 26 February 1938) is a Russian writer, a member of the secretariat of the Writers Union of the Russian Federation and the author of more ...
and
Igor Shafarevich Igor Rostislavovich Shafarevich (russian: И́горь Ростисла́вович Шафаре́вич; 3 June 1923 – 19 February 2017) was a Soviet and Russian mathematician who contributed to algebraic number theory and algebraic geometry. ...
. They were joined by former leading figures from the Soviet days such as General
Albert Makashov Colonel General Albert Mikhailovich Makashov (russian: Альберт Михайлович Макашóв; born 12 June 1938) is a Russian officer and a nationalist- communist politician. Biography Makashov was born in Levaya Rossosh, Voronezh ...
and Colonel
Viktor Alksnis Viktor Imantovich Alksnis (russian: italic=yes, Виктор Имантович Алкснис, lv, Viktors Alksnis; born 21 June 1950) is a Russian politician and former Soviet Air Force colonel of Latvian descent. He is the chairman of Russi ...
and political figures including
Sergey Baburin Sergey Nikolayevich Baburin (russian: Серге́й Николаевич Бабурин, born 31 January 1959) is a Russian nationalist politician, member of the State Duma of the first, second and fourth convocations where he served in th ...
and
Constitutional Democratic Party – Party of Popular Freedom The Constitutional Democratic Party – Party of Popular Freedom (Russian: Конституционно-демократическая партия - Партия народной свободы) was a political party in the USSR and Russia. It fo ...
leader Mikhail Astafyev.Richard Sakwa, ''Russian Politics and Society'', Routledge, 1996, p. 83 The co-chairmen of the movements were Baburin, (both
Russian All-People's Union The Russian All-People's Union (ROS; russian: Российский общенародный союз; РОС; ''Rossiyskiy obshchenarodnyy soyuz'', ''ROS'') is a Russian conservative political party formed in October 1991. In 2001, it merged into ...
),
Gennady Zyuganov Gennady Andreyevich Zyuganov (russian: Генна́дий Андре́евич Зюга́нов; born 26 June 1944) is a Russian politician, who has been the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and served as ...
(future leader of the
Communist Party of the Russian Federation , anthem = , seats1_title = Seats in the State Duma , seats1 = , seats2_title = Seats in the Federation Council , seats2 = , seats3_title = Governors , seats3 = , seats4_title ...
), Ilya Konstantinov, Astafyev,
Valery Ivanov Valery Nikolayevich Ivanov (russian: Валерий Николаевич Иванов) (born 1948) was a Soviet diplomat. As First Secretary of the Soviet Embassy to Australia, he was expelled on 22 April 1983 under suspicion of being a spy afte ...
, Vladimir Isakov, Gennady Sayenko and
Albert Makashov Colonel General Albert Mikhailovich Makashov (russian: Альберт Михайлович Макашóв; born 12 June 1938) is a Russian officer and a nationalist- communist politician. Biography Makashov was born in Levaya Rossosh, Voronezh ...
. The involvement in Zyuganov in the FNS helped to ensure that when he established his new Communist Party in 1993 it included a significant strain of nationalism in its ideology.


Ideology

Shafarevich argued that the changes taking place in Russia were reminiscent of the settlement imposed on
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
after the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
whilst Konstantinov, who chaired the group's organising committee, stated that the aims of the group were to oust Yeltsin as President, establish a new coalition government that would take control of prices, end the dismantling of the armaments industry and halt the removal of troops from the former
Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...
states. ''Dyen'', a right-wing nationalist journal edited by a number of nationalist intellectuals including
Aleksandr Dugin Aleksandr Gelyevich Dugin ( rus, Александр Гельевич Дугин; born 7 January 1962) is a Russian political philosopher, analyst, and strategist, who has been widely characterized as a fascist. Born into a military intelligen ...
(accused by Yeltsin of being
anti-Semitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...
), threw its weight behind the FNS and functioned as the effective mouthpiece of the party. Dugin's ally
Eduard Limonov Eduard Veniaminovich Savenko ( rus, Эдуард Вениаминович Савенко, , ɨdʊˈart vʲɪnʲɪɐˈmʲinəvʲɪtɕ sɐˈvʲenkə, links=yes; 22 February 1943 – 17 March 2020), known by his pen name Eduard Limonov ( rus, Эд ...
made his
National Bolshevik Front The National Bolshevik Front (NBF; russian: Национал-большевистский фронт; НБФ; ''Natsional-bolshevistskiy front'', ''NBF'') is a Russian political party with a political program of National Bolshevism. The party was ...
a constituent part of the FNS as well. As a result of Dugin and Limonov's involvement the FNS won the support of
Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...
Third Position The Third Position is a set of neo-fascist political ideologies that were first described in Western Europe following the Second World War. Developed in the context of the Cold War, it developed its name through the claim that it represented a ...
ist
Jean-François Thiriart Jean-François Thiriart (22 March 1922, Brussels – 23 November 1992), often known as Jean Thiriart, was a Belgian political theorist. Coming from a left-wing background, during the Second World War he was a collaborator with the Nazi Third Rei ...
who established the European Liberation Front as a network of support groups across western Europe.Lee, ''The Beast Reawakens'', p. 322 The group's combination of Soviet communism and militant Russian nationalism was not always a comfortable marriage, however. Amongst the founders was and his
National Republican Party of Russia The National Republican Party of Russia (NRPR; russian: Национально-республиканская партия России; НРПР; ''Natsionalno-respublikanskaya partiya Rossii'', ''NRPR''), before 1991 Republican People's Party ...
, a hard-line nationalist group that claimed to take its inspiration from
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a Russian novelist. One of the most famous Soviet dissidents, Solzhenitsyn was an outspoken critic of communism and helped to raise global awareness of political repress ...
. However a leaflet produced by Lysenko containing virulently anti-
Caucasian Caucasian may refer to: Anthropology *Anything from the Caucasus region ** ** ** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus region * * * Languages * Northwest Caucasian l ...
sentiment was criticised by a communist leader of the FNS, leading to Lysenko's party withdrawing from the Front in July 1993, with Lysenko dismissing the movement as too communist and internationalist.


Clashes with Yeltsin

On 28 October 1992 Yeltsin declared the FNS as unconstitutional, effectively making the group the first to be outlawed since the collapse of communism. Konstantinov however argued that Yeltsin had overstepped his authority in doing so and stated that only a court could make such a pronouncement. The case was taken to the
Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...
, which overturned the ban on 12 February 1993. The FNS was one of the leading groups involved in the
1993 Russian constitutional crisis The 1993 Russian constitutional crisis, also known as the 1993 October Coup, Black October, the Shooting of the White House or Ukaz 1400, was a political stand-off and a constitutional crisis between the Russian president Boris Yeltsin and t ...
. The group even announced during the crisis that they had established a shadow government and were preparing to take control from Yeltsin. Several leading members of the group were arrested and held in Lefortovo Prison in the immediate aftermath of the unrest, whilst the Front, along with the
Russian Communist Workers Party The Russian Communist Workers' Party (in Russian: Российская Коммунистическая Рабочая Партия; transcription: ''Rossiyskaya Kommunisticheskaya Rabochaya Partiya'' or ''RKRP'') was a communist party in Russia. ...
and
Alexander Rutskoy Alexander Vladimirovich Rutskoy (russian: Александр Владимирович Руцкой; born 16 September 1947) is a Russian politician and a former Soviet military officer, Major General of Aviation (1991). He served as the only vic ...
's Free Russia Party, was barred from participating in the 1993 Duma elections. As a result of their non-participation the nationalist vote was dominated by the
Liberal Democratic Party of Russia ) , abbreviation = LDPR (English)ЛДПР (Russian) , native_name = , newspaper = ''For the Russian People'' , youth_wing = , seats1_title = Seats in the Federation Council , seats1 = , seats2_title ...
of
Vladimir Zhirinovsky Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky, ''né'' Eidelshtein (russian: link=false, Эйдельштейн) (25 April 1946 – 6 April 2022) was a Russian right-wing populist politician and the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) f ...
, who had taken no part in the FNS.


Decline

The group began to fall apart in mid-1994 as a response to ethnic unrest in the
North Caucasus The North Caucasus, ( ady, Темыр Къафкъас, Temır Qafqas; kbd, Ишхъэрэ Къаукъаз, İṩxhərə Qauqaz; ce, Къилбаседа Кавказ, Q̇ilbaseda Kavkaz; , os, Цӕгат Кавказ, Cægat Kavkaz, inh, ...
. The leadership of the FNS attacked Yeltsin for what they saw as his heavy-handed response to ethnic separatism but ultra-nationalist leaders Limonov and
Alexander Barkashov Alexander Petrovich Barkashov (russian: Алекса́ндр Петро́вич Баркашо́в, sometimes transliterated as ''Aleksandr''; born 6 October 1953) is a Russian political leader and far-right nationalist who in 1990 founded Russia ...
, the leader of the
far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...
Russian National Unity Russian National Unity (RNU; transcribed Russkoe natsionalnoe edinstvo RNE) or All-Russian civic patriotic movement "Russian National Unity" (russian: Всероссийское общественное патриотическое движен ...
and an emerging political force at the time, praised what they saw as the decisiveness of Yeltsin, with Barkashov even offering Yeltsin the use of his street army for use in
Chechnya Chechnya ( rus, Чечня́, Chechnyá, p=tɕɪtɕˈnʲa; ce, Нохчийчоь, Noxçiyçö), officially the Chechen Republic,; ce, Нохчийн Республика, Noxçiyn Respublika is a republic of Russia. It is situated in the ...
.Lee, ''The Beast Reawakens'', pp. 328-329 In 1994, some former members of the front created two small nationalist organisations: one led by and one led by Ilya Konstantinov.


References

{{Russian nationalism 1992 establishments in Russia 1993 Russian constitutional crisis 1994 disestablishments in Russia Banned communist parties Banned far-right parties Banned political parties in Russia Defunct communist parties in Russia Defunct far-right parties Defunct nationalist parties in Russia Defunct political party alliances in Russia Far-right political parties in Russia Left-wing nationalist parties National Bolshevik parties Neo-Sovietism Neo-Stalinist organizations Political parties disestablished in 1994 Political parties established in 1992 Russian nationalist organizations