Like the majority of the Russian second-grade politicians, Dmitry Rogozin, leader of the Rodina (Homeland) party, was invented by the President’s administration for accomplishing a tactical scheme. The political force ratio in the State Duma required adjustments, as well as it was necessary to explain the Communists that the price for cooperation they demanded was too high: in the end, it was just easier to do without them.

The CPRF leaders had quickly got into things and come to their senses, but then something went wrong. The problem was that the new election block Rodina (later on it became a political party) embraced almost the same ideology as the Communists did: that is a mix of social demagogy and nationalist rhetoric. It is not surprising—this whole thing was started just to steal votes from Gennady Zyuganov. However, in politics, just like in chemistry, the wrong proportions and changes in the contents of the ingredients may give quite an unexpected result. Either the presidential administration fooled itself, or messed up. In other words, instead of a socialist and patriotic party they got a Nazional-Sozialistische Partei. Obviously, nobody had in mind to plan that. This as well concerns Rogozin himself, as he understands that having gotten into the ultra-right niche, he undoubtedly deprives himself of respect from the part of a decent political society. This is exactly why his Rodina party is so consistent in taking every little chance to display their “leftism”. It either addresses the Socialist International organization, or asks to join the European Left Party. However, in reality the Rodina party is heading in a rather different direction—towards skinheads, Neo-Nazis, and other participants of the Right March. Well, maybe the Right March itself was not originally planned as a fascist sabbath. “They wanted to yell out ‘Viva, Russia!’, instead it turned out to sound like ‘Hail Hitler!’”, Russian poet Ilya Kormiltsev pointed out. “The heart has reasons that reason does not understand!”

Political technologists close to the presidential administration were also sincere in their desire to offer the people modernized and Europeanized variant of the socialist patriotism. Not stale and obsolete, like that of Zyuganov, but a brand new one, beautiful and dynamic. Really—Russian nationalism performed by Rogozin’s supporters turns out to be modernized and Europeanized—but in a German Nazism way. If Zyuganov’s aesthetic ideal is national “Tchernaya Sotnya” (“The Black Hundred”), 1909 version, then Rogozin’s party is way too advanced, way too westernized, with its patterns swiftly approaching the NSDAP of 1929 or so version. See the progress?!

It would be unjustly if we say that the Rodina party has no connections with the left. It surely does! Hitler’s National Socialist (note that!) party also did have a number of slogans, borrowed from the left ideology. Not from the communists only, but from the respectable social democrats as well. It’s not by accident that the Communist International leaders in the 1920s were talking about resemblance of social democratic and Nazi’s programs (so great it was that they even made up a term for it - “social fascism”). They were mistaken, however, about the main point. Social democracy with all its moderateness was based, like all left movements, on the class solidarity. National socialism was another pattern.

State regulation, full employment, recreation for working families and guaranteed welfare for average citizens—will any of the left be against that? There existed however some differences—Nazis promised to provide all this social good within capitalism and not through the social reforms, but through ethnic cleansing. Not by promoting democracy, but through “hard and fast rules” policy. From above. Not through people’s solidarity, but through manipulations (or what they now call political technologies). All these differences brought people to concentration camps, further on to death, as they constituted the essence of the left ideology and morale.

Maturing of the Russian fascism was long, and main characters were rather reluctant to speed up the process. This ambiguity was favorable for the leaders of the Rodina party: they can play Nazis for a little bit, while in other environment they can present themselves as socially conscious respected MPs with a deal of common sense, who are not alienated from the left ideas. You can do whatever you want, this is post-modern age!

Suddenly something unexpected happened. As ill (or maybe good) luck would have it, Parisian suburban riots have taken place shortly before the elections to the Moscow City Duma. These Parisian riots provoked a truly racist hysterics in the national liberal press. It doesn’t matter that all these sinister scenes which were portrayed by the Russian mass media, had nothing to do with the reality. In the end, the French newspapers started to reprint headlines and most ridiculous quotations from the Russian press, which made their readers laugh at—the French reacted to publications of this kind a lot like we do when we hear foreigners telling stories about branchy cranberries and bears walking in the street. A Parisian could be sitting in a small cosy café, nodding, as he is reading about immigrant quarters dwellers destroying their own cars, ravaging their own (insured in advance) shops and setting mosques on fire. He would smile good-naturedly, learning from Russian reporters about immigrant terror and Arab arbitrariness, which had supposedly plunged Paris in chaos. However, these stories were not so innocent, as they may seem. They lowered the threshold of the acceptable. Racism was now permitted and approved of in the civilized society. Not the nationalists, but the liberals are to take responsibility for it. If any liberal today is still indignant about nationalist and racist propaganda ads of the Rodina party, then let him recall comments made by the liberal press concerning events in France. The soil had been dug and the seeds had been put in. Gathering crops was the only duty “Rogozin and Co” had to do.

They couldn’t hold themselves away from seduction. All rules and restrictions were thrown away. Too big a piece was coming straight in hands. The prize was too obvious. What’s more important, the game proposed was too adjusted to their own moods and ideas. One cannot dictate their will to their heart!

Why just Rogozin? All political parties have now joined into a desperate race in the same field. Everybody just started yelling about illegal immigrants, inhabiting and littering the home city. Not only were the real problems of the Moscow City unknown to the politicians, but they as well showed little concern to know more. In course of the electoral campaign no one manages to offer a solution about how to overcome traffic jam at the beginning of the day, to solve housing problem, to prevent increase in taxes on the municipal services, and to preserve the historical center of the capital, which has gradually been destroyed by estate frauds and house construction magnates. No, migrants here…that was the main slogan of the campaign.

In the given circumstances any person, respectful of him or herself, and possessing at least basics of the citizen’s self-sensation, will not go to the polling station. He or she is openly treated as a nerd. This is at least insulting.

As everyone but Edinaya Rossiya (relying upon administrative resources), who was just observing this disgrace and beaming with satisfaction, was involved in this racist bacchanalia, then the fairest decision (and the most legitimate one) would have been to cancel elections and ban all the parties: Edinaya Rossiya—for abusing its administrative opportunities, and the rest—for sowing ethnic discord.

But the authorities decided differently: they tried to debar the Rodina party, as the Rodina was beating everyone else in this racist demagogy competition. Unlike all the rest, it was having a home game. Others were more or less reacting to the conjuncture, were following the dumb political technologists’ guidelines, while the Rodina party had enough born fascists, who were sincere in expressing their desires to wipe away human “trash” off he streets. Sincerity is a subject to reward. The Rodina party was denied participation in the elections. Thus it won its political victory.

All in all, the Moscow City Duma elections are not everything. Political dividends Rogozin is getting now, out of this scandal, are incomparably higher than those he could have gotten on gaining four or five seats in the Moscow parliament. The Rodina leader did not even conceal his satisfaction.

Meanwhile, Rogozin’s party was not banned. It was instead granted an image of the hunted one, with nobody to hunt after it. Its representatives are not taken into jail (unlike those of the Nationalist Bolshevik Party or the Red Youth Avantguard); they are not killed like members of the Youth Left Front. To cut a long story short, the Rodina party’s working conditions are decent.

Rogozin has been made the most prominent politician in Russia, next to Putin.

The President’s administration is definitely screwing something up…

Boris Kagarlitsky is a Director of The Institute for Globalization Studies.

December 2, 2005