V.A. Shnirelman,
PhD, historian
With today’s concerns of WWII history being rewritten and former SS men being honored in several Eastern European states, the issue of anti-Semitism and neo-Nazi movements in Russia is often overlooked. Many politicians claim that this is not relevant anymore. They are understandably more concerned with Russia’s positive image in the mind of the global society than with the true issues of racism and xenophobia in Russia itself.
It is true that the data sociologists have to offer does not seem to be very alarming. Indeed, in the past twenty years the level of migrant-phobia and Chechen-phobia has been much higher than that of anti-Semitism. Xenophobia has developed over this period in a quite complex way. Whereas in the end of the 1980s anti-Semitism had intensified and by 1988–1989 people were anticipating pogroms, the 1990s marked a positive shift in the situation. On average, 8–10 percent of respondents expressed stably negative views of Jews over the past two decades, while Chechen-phobia reached 40–50 percent. The image of a “Chechen mafia” flooded the Russian media in the early 1990s, accompanied later by the talk of “Chechen gunmen” and “Azerbaijani merchants”. Meanwhile, negative stereotypes of Jews were only regularly reproduced in marginal national-patriotic publications of a very limited audience. In the first half of the 1990s “straight forward anti-Semites” comprised no more than 5–9 percent of the population; 6–10 percent in 1997. Sociologists observed the same figures over the last decade as well. Admittedly, there was an outburst of anti-Semitism (up to 17%) in October 1993, and another (over 30%) in 1998–1999. The first was due to rumors surrounding the October 1993 events, and the second was related to the repar- tition of property of 1997–1998. The August 1998 default shocked the Russian society into what sociologists noted to be a sudden rise in radical moods.
In January 1999 almost a third of the respondents (32%) believed that “Jews ruled Russia”. Naturally, the 1998–1999 fall-winter increase in anti-Semitism was largely provoked by the media sensationalizing General Makashov’s anti-Semitic statements. Nonetheless, accusations towards the government along with the belief that “Jews are controlling the country” make these moods seem graver, especially as sociologic surveys in March 2000 had a third of the respondents (31.6%) expressing negative views of Jews. In other words, a relatively low level of anti-Semitism proves no stable immunity to be thought characteristic of Russian citizens. Should the political situation change, anti-Semitic tendencies may drastically increase. Today’s anti-Semitism is often deeply doctrinal in character, whereas anti-immigrant tendencies are instrumental and prone to quicker change. While anti-Semitism remains at the core of their outlook, the modern ultra-right often spare immigrants much more attention in their propaganda. They still believe that Jews are at fault for actively promoting multiculturalism and mass immigration in order to discharge some sort of secret mission aimed at undermining the viability of the “white race”.
While in the 1990s such views were mostly expressed in public brochures and irregular national-patriotic newspapers and magazines that targeted a limited audience, the recent decade saw a drastic change in this regard. Today, racism and anti-Semitism are promoted through fiction and science fiction literature, published in large volumes for a mass audience. Regular scandals have been associated with the Moscow Book Fair, where several publishing houses have been consistently advertising works permeated with a hatred of “non-Russians”. These books are written by well-known writers, often deco- rated with numerous awards and prestigious prizes. One such author shall be our subject here.
Science fiction writer V.V. Golovachev has chosen the struggle between the forces of Light and Dark as the core of his numerous novels. Having gradu- ated from the Ryazan Radio-engineering Institute, he became a development engineer of electronic radio equipment, then, after serving in the army, went on to work for fifteen years at a departmental institute. In 1983 he was accept- ed to the USSR Writers’ Union, having commenced his career in fiction while still an engineer. Exceptionally prolific, he was awarded many literary prizes. Some refer to him as Russia’s top science fiction writer. His books are consid- ered best-sellers and are published in enormous volumes. He is one of Eksmo Publishing House’s favorite authors, his novels are full of astronauts and space aliens, sorcerers and fortune tellers, spies and saboteurs, counter-intelligence and special squad officers who fight for the possession of secrets. Incidentally, his pages are filled with serious men poised for battle, but hardly any women. He is much more interested in armies than in affections. All this is consistently backed by a “national idea” with all its usual stereotypes. His Good and Evil are very concrete and – national. He, also, eagerly follows global and Russian events, and admits that his books are 90% a reflection of reality. This, as we shall see, includes xenophobic reality. The writer obviously sympathizes with Slavic paganism and is involved in “Russian fighting”, which is actively propagated by certain modern Russian pagan leaders. Another detail: the writer admits to a fascination with esoteric literature. Indeed, esoteric notions such as air, astral, chakra, egregore, and meditation, are much more common in his novels than the names of pagan gods. Golovachev persistently maintains that Russia, “bastion of the powers of Light”, is where the fate of the world is being decided now. He claims that “the great resurgent Russia was the final mainstay of divine spirituality on Earth.
The Russian language and culture still preserved the semantic keys of the Hyperborean Culture of Profound Peace”. At the same time, the Forces of Light are associated with the resurgent Slavic paganism with its own complicated military and educational structures. These organizations work alongside the state ones, which are somewhat affected by corruption and serve the enemy forces. Notably, former Spetsnaz, GRU and national security employees become soothsayers, thereby closely linking paganism to the national-patriotic ideology whose followers are concentrated in the agencies of law enforcement. This is a modern form of paganism, where traditional beliefs and deities intermingle with esoteric notions. Events always unfold on the backdrop of the Ancient Arctic Homeland and memories of the hyperborean ancestors who are thought to have moved from the Extreme North southwards, inhabiting the expanses of modern Russia. The antediluvian Hyperborea is presented as an empire, its sacred shrine (the grave of the Savior, “keeper of the Slavic clan”) located in the province of Arkhangelsk, i. e. close to the Kola Peninsula where modern enthusiasts enjoy searching for traces of a lost civilization. How then does the author portray the battling forces and their active participants? In his novel Vedich (M.: Eksmo, 2007) he maintains that the entire leadership of the state, including the national security forces, is enslaved by black wizards (“konungs”), “ministers of the cult of Satan”. The agents of these sorcerers are highly influential in Russian Orthodox churches as well. Notably, Russian Orthodoxy is set off against “Biblical Christianity”. The latter is presented as a “disease”, ostensibly having bent Russian Orthodoxy to its will and imposed foreign ideas and rituals on it, making it believe in an “alien god”. The writer claims that this kind of faith is irreconcilable neither with the Indo-European nor with the Slavic culture, the Christian God being a “God of social injustice”. Russian Orthodox priests are portrayed as weak and meek people incapable of resisting “global evil”, but related to the criminal world and creating obstacles before the resurgence of Slavic paganism. All this is easily recognizable as the ideologemes of modern Russian neo-paganism, merging Russian nationalistic ideas with traces of Soviet atheist propaganda. Moreover, this contains the popular pagan idea that Christianity was created by the Jews to deprive the “goyim” of their will and enslave them in order to achieve global supremacy.
The enemy forces are fought by the “Knights of the Clan”, former spetsnaz troops and military counterintelligence workers, well-trained in Slavic martial arts. These are linked to the pagan “Clan-loving” Community, have pagan names, and are fighting “for Russia, for the Clan, for a world without evil”. Coming back to the author’s statement that his novels contain many references to the real world: indeed, Russia today is home to many such pagan com- munities which recruit members from guards and armed forces employees. Politically, the writer is oriented not at a democratic system, but at a leader. The events of Vedich unfold around the young Sergiy (pagan name – Svetovid, the Light-seer), trained by the soothsayers to become the “Uniter and Enlightener of the Russian Clan.” The enemies unsuccessfully attempted to destroy this hero.
The author succumbs to the temptation to include himself in the book as a popular science fiction writer, a “protector of the true history of the Slavic clan” and enemy of “fake historic concepts”, allegedly imposed on the Russians by “foreign scholars” as far back as the 18th century. It is not at all sur- prising that he includes the Norman theory in these “unpatriotic concepts”, claiming in contradiction that Russia’s direct ancestor was Hyperborea of the Extreme North. Golovachev closely follows national and foreign events, and should the discussion thereof be able to serve the idea of patriotism, is quick to include them in his works. In the mid-2000s, for example, he mentioned the “orange revolutions” in his new novel and, naturally, ascribed them to the work of satanic powers.
Among the stylistic peculiarities of his novels is abbreviation play and information coding in topsy-turvy words, i.e., words with mixed syllables.
E.g., in Vedich the famous publishing house that has regularly been publishing Golovachev since 1997, Eksmo, turns into Moeks, whereas the “temples of the One Freedom Brotherhood”, created by the dark forces, are abbreviated into BES (demon). This way, both a hint as to the demonic essence of such organizations and an intimation of their relation to the freemasons are achieved, although the author does not trust the mass reader to figure this out and goes on to explain that the satanic powers are faithfully served by the freemasons’ lodges and the Christian church. A Russian “neo-freemason” is featured on the ruling body of the Dark powers, and their rituals are consistently described as requiring the use of human blood. This is a clear reference to the “Judeo-Masonic conspiracy”, because in the modern neo-pagan mythology the Christian church is perceived as a tool in the hands of the Jews.Modern xenophobic rhetoric also plays a part in the novel, whereby Islam is closely related to crime and the “indigenous population” is described as being forced out of commerce which is helpful for the enemies of Russia. Meanwhile, Russian extremism is justified as a “defensive nationalism”, “the reaction of the Russian space itself to the overtaking of power by ethnically foreign elements which are destroying the human race through all means available.” Among the ringleaders of these enemy powers are a Tajik and a Georgian, i.e. persons from the Caucasus and Central Asia, former USSR nations which currently cause nothing but xenophobic reactions in nationalistic patriots. Moreover, the chief priest of the “konungs” is made out to be American, and their international community even includes an Australian native whose features are particularly revolting. In other words, differently than in Soviet times, today the writer imagines the international society as being an absolute evil, against which he sets off “purebred” Russian knights and sooth- sayers. Some negative characters are quite reminiscent of the remains of those obsolete races of the past described by esoteric teachings after Elena Blavatskaya. The racist connotations are obvious.
Another novel expands upon the same subject: the controversially named The Non-Russians Are Coming, the Carriers of Death (M.: Eksmo, 2009). Here, again, Russian soothsayers united by the Russian National Order (RuNO), throttle the criminal intentions of the forces of evil which are plotting the world domination. As in Vedich, the Russians are protected by the “Union of Slavic Communities”, i.e., a Russian pagan association. In this novel, the racial idea is obvious enough that the Russian knights are only portrayed with “linen hair”, while their enemies are dark-haired.
The writer is astoundingly inventive in his desire for semantic encryption. He gives the leaders of the “dark powers” names which seem strange until read right to left. This method suggests the enemies’ nationality, as this is the way Hebrew is read. Besides, the names themselves prove the point: the priest Tivel turns out to be Levit (Levite, the ancient Jewish title of a high priest); the ruler of the world Harot is linked to the Torah. Tivel’s full name is Ikus Tupak Tedub Mesv Hampastu Iezad Nechel Tivel, the first four words reading “All You B*****s Die” right to left to expose his real intentions. His servant is Rellik, i.e. Killer. Finally, one of the functionaries of the “Galactic Knesset” is called Aduy Senechel Di-Zh, easily translated as “Judas the Jew”. The rest of the words in his name, as well as Tivel and Harot’s, point to them being “inhuman” (“se ne chel[ovek]” = “this is no [hu]man”). Again, the writer is not taking any risks counting on the readers’ sharpness as he names the highest ruling body of the evildoers the “Galactic Knesset”, one of the secret organizations – Sanhedrin, Harot in full – Harot Senechel Si-On (Zion), and one of the most dangerous enemies – Otto Mandel. In short, the enemies of the Russian soothsayers and pagans are directly identified as Jews. Moreover, the Sanhedrin is directly linked to the “Union of Secret Orders”, freemasons once again. Indeed, at the end of the novel the freemasons appear unmasked as the Illuminati battling the Russian knights. The author’s fear of the Judeo-Masonic threat never abandons him, as once again the Jews are fighting alongside the freemasons. The intricate workarounds described above are so as to avoid accusations of anti-Semitism.
The author is, on the other hand, quite direct in identifying civil rights advocates as haters of Russia. Other enemies include the former socialist states and many former Soviet republics. Revisiting the theme of “orange revolutions”, the author blames “armed gangs” for inciting these, acting under orders from the “dark powers”. Another threat is posed by China, the Chinese allegedly being “global locusts” bent on seizing the land of others. This problem is discussed in racial terms: the yellow race is said to be trying to oust the white.
The novel contains many narrative typical of today’s xenophobic discourse. For example, it is discovered that the enemy forces are about to develop a program to decrease the birth rate and to increase mortality in Russia, while the Russian knights are fighting for the “natural dynamic of the Russian super-ethnos”. The enemies (the “dark powers”) are forming a distorted value system and imposing foreign ideological positions, foreign cultural relations,and foreign lifestyle, associated with an “unhealthy obsession with the Internet among the young”. The indigenous population of Russia is being actively driven out by newcomers; migrant laborers are depriving the local population of jobs. The Russian knights want all ethnicities and nations to live freely in Russia “as long as they lack criminally imperative ambitions”. That is to say, the author does expect some of them to be harboring such ambitions! All these traits, of course, are easily recognized as the stereotypes of modern xenophobia.
Again, the novel features the motif of Hyperborea, located on the sunken continent of Arctis. The vast knowledge of its inhabitants and their rivalry with Atlantis come into play. The author also mentions the search for traces of Hyperborea on the Kola Peninsula led today by enthusiasts distant from real scholarship. The author urges his readers to believe in the reality of Hyperborea and pounces again at the “orthodox scholars” who relate it to pseudo-science. The core subject of the novel is the struggle for the hyperborean heritage, which is supposed to grant its possessor power over the entire world. Tivel wants to launch the “World Axis Vortex” created by the ancient hyperboreans. Should he succeed, he would become the ruler of the world. However, his search for the key to the vortex is in vain, and a great conflict develops over the possession of the key, while, as we have seen, it is actually the reader who needs a key to decipher the encoded names of the characters and understand the essence of the struggle.
So, a successful science-fiction writer turns out to be a full-fledged xenophobe and anti-Semite, which would hardly merit writing about were it a singular event. Unfortunately, this is not the case. An entire cohort of writers is speculating on venerating the heroic deeds of the “Slavic Aryans” in the times of hardship, glorifying their “Northern Homeland”, and describing their “civilizing work”. Naturally, the “sabotage” of the enemies, described as “Southerners”, members of “other races”, “uncreative nomads”, etc., is not concealed. Essentially, this is a slavicized Nazi myth; the writers who think of themselves as “original thinkers” appealing to the “unique Russian identity” are in fact plagiarizing entire blocks out of the ideological heritage of the Nazis. Another such writer was, for example, Yu. D. Petukhov (b. 1951, d. 2009), a former engineer as well. He was engaged in the history of the ancient Indo-Europeans (“Aryans”), whom he first identified with the Slavs, and later turned into descendants of the “Ruses”, proclaiming them to be the Earth’s “purest race”, civilizers and propagators of culture. Apparently, they had created all ancient civilizations and led the nations to progress. They did, however, have enemies incapable of creativity who merely took over and ruined everything the Aryans had created. Unsurprisingly, these were “Semites”. Petukhov took his scheme of historical development from such pillars of European racism as Gobineau and Houston Chamberlain, whose works had previously laid ground for Nazi historiosophy.
Is there need for any more examples? Should we remind ourselves that films of anti-Semitic contents are sometimes broadcast over the main TV channels? Or that some screenwriters and directors have a morbid interest in freemasonry? Or that the frequently broadcast documentary on Leo Trotsky is not devoid of hints at the “Judeo-Masonic conspiracy”? Alas, many Russiancitizens today obtain their knowledge of the history of Russia and the world not from the works of professional historians, but from this sort of films, works of science-fiction, and fantasy novels. All this causes certain mistrust and wariness of “foreigners”. Such moods may lie dormant for a time, so we should not be appeased by the results of sociological surveys: in critical times these moods present themselves through entirely predictable mass behavior, from friendly support of xenophobes to open acts of aggression against “foreigners”, their property, their culture, and their religion. All this is familiar from the experience of 1930s-1940s Germany. There is no reason to think that today’s Russian citizens are immune to this, especially as an entire range of well-known writers are hard at work developing xenophobic and anti-Semitic views in their readership.
