Pamyat
Encyclopedia
Pamyat is a Russia
n nationalist organization identifying itself as the "People's National-patriot
ic Orthodox Christian
movement." The group's stated focus is preserving Russian culture.
Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments, established an "informal historical, cultural and educational organization" uniting activists-bibliophiles and amateur historians. One of the purposes of the newly formed organization was to prepare the upcoming celebration of the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kulikovo
.
Some notable Vityaz activists in Moscow
were Ilya Glazunov
(artist), S. Malyshev (historian), and A. Lebedev (Colonel of the MVD). Similar groups were created in other regions of the USSR
. Later, loosely associated "informal" groups were consolidated under the name Pamyat.
At an internal meeting on October 4, 1985, Pamyat split up into several factions, many of which attempted to retain the same name as the "true" Pamyat. One of them, the so-called Vasilyev's group, led by Dmitri Vasilyev (a former worker in Glazunov's studio), A. Andreyev and A. Gladkov, focused its activities on the media
.
On May 6, 1987, Pamyat conducted an unregistered, and thus illegal, demonstration in the center of Moscow demanding an end to the construction of an officially sanctioned memorial project at Poklonnaya Hill
. It resulted in a two-hour meeting with Boris Yeltsin
, at that time the First Secretary of the Moscow City Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
.
In the fall of 1987, the National-Patriotic Front (NPF) was founded, with the aim of "renaissance", with the intent to "lead Russian people to the spiritual and national revival
" on the basis of "three traditional Russian values": Orthodoxy
, national character and spirituality.
After several splits and the imminent dissolution of the USSR
, the organization adopted a monarchist position.
In August 1990, a permanent NPF council member, Aleksandr Barkashov (the author of the book The ABC of a Russian Nationalist), caused another split after his announcement of being "tired to be preoccupied by recollections. It is time to act". His new group was dubbed "Russian National Unity
" (Русское Национальное Единство). Barkashov promoted the veneration of the swastika
, a traditional Indo-European
symbol which, according to Barkashov, "acts on subconsciousness of theomachists. It paralyses, weakens and demoralizes them."
In 1991 the organization's own newspaper (print run of 100,000) and a radio station (both officially registered) were launched.
By the end of the 1990s, the original Pamyat disappeared from the public scene. Dmitry Vasilyev died on July 17, 2003. The organization reactivated in 2005 and participated in the 2006 Russian March
.
-Masonic
plot" against Russia as "the main source of the misfortunes of Russian people, disintegration of the economy, denationalization of Russian culture, alcoholism
, ecological crisis" (according to Pamyat). The "Zionists" were also blamed for the triggering of the revolutions in 1905
and 1917, the death of millions in the course of the Russian Civil War
and for Joseph Stalin
's personality cult. The contemporary Soviet government apparatus was alleged to be infiltrated by "Zionists and freemasons" working as "agents of Zionism" and serving the purpose of subordinating the Soviet government to the "Jewish capital". The "Zionist Occupation Government
" accusation was often used by Pamyat.
Officially the organization emphasized that its ideology was merely anti-Zionist
and not anti-Semitic. This was also the official Soviet stance.
In 1993, a District Court in Moscow
formally ruled that The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
were a fake, and dismissed a libel suit by Pamyat. The organization was criticized for using the document in their publications.
It was claimed Pamyat's ideology blended fascism with autocratic monarchy (rejecting the "legitimist" Romanov family line), and an interpretation of Orthodoxy that borrowed heavily from the Nazi sponsored Positive Christianity
. One of Pamyat's founders, Valeriy Yemelyanov, attempted to merge religious neo-Paganism with Russian ethnic neo-Nazism
. He is also the author of the book "Dezionization".
Pamyat came out in support of the Yeltsin regime during 1993 bombing of the Russian parliament
, a surprising move in view of the fact that Pamyat had many ideological sympathisers amidst the defenders of the parliament. Pamyat also refused to take part in the 1993 parliamentary elections, as it considered all elections an appearance of the Jewish-Masonic conspiracy.
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n nationalist organization identifying itself as the "People's National-patriot
Patriotism
Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
ic Orthodox Christian
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
movement." The group's stated focus is preserving Russian culture.
History
At the end of 1970s, a historical association called Vityaz (Витязь), sponsored by the SovietSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments, established an "informal historical, cultural and educational organization" uniting activists-bibliophiles and amateur historians. One of the purposes of the newly formed organization was to prepare the upcoming celebration of the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kulikovo
Battle of Kulikovo
The Battle of Kulikovo was a battle between Tatar Mamai and Muscovy Dmitriy and portrayed by Russian historiography as a stand-off between Russians and the Golden Horde. However, the political situation at the time was much more complicated and concerned the politics of the Northeastern Rus'...
.
Some notable Vityaz activists in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
were Ilya Glazunov
Ilya Glazunov
Ilya Glazunov , contemporary Russian artist from Saint Petersburg, born in 1930. He holds the title of People's Artist of Russia, and serves as a rector at the Fine Arts Academy in Moscow...
(artist), S. Malyshev (historian), and A. Lebedev (Colonel of the MVD). Similar groups were created in other regions of the USSR
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. Later, loosely associated "informal" groups were consolidated under the name Pamyat.
At an internal meeting on October 4, 1985, Pamyat split up into several factions, many of which attempted to retain the same name as the "true" Pamyat. One of them, the so-called Vasilyev's group, led by Dmitri Vasilyev (a former worker in Glazunov's studio), A. Andreyev and A. Gladkov, focused its activities on the media
News media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...
.
On May 6, 1987, Pamyat conducted an unregistered, and thus illegal, demonstration in the center of Moscow demanding an end to the construction of an officially sanctioned memorial project at Poklonnaya Hill
Poklonnaya Hill
Poklonnaya Gora is, at 171.5 metres, one of the highest spots in Moscow. Its two summits used to be separated by the Setun River, until one of the summits was razed in 1987...
. It resulted in a two-hour meeting with Boris Yeltsin
Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999.Originally a supporter of Mikhail Gorbachev, Yeltsin emerged under the perestroika reforms as one of Gorbachev's most powerful political opponents. On 29 May 1990 he was elected the chairman of...
, at that time the First Secretary of the Moscow City Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
.
In the fall of 1987, the National-Patriotic Front (NPF) was founded, with the aim of "renaissance", with the intent to "lead Russian people to the spiritual and national revival
Romantic nationalism
Romantic nationalism is the form of nationalism in which the state derives its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs...
" on the basis of "three traditional Russian values": Orthodoxy
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
, national character and spirituality.
After several splits and the imminent dissolution of the USSR
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union was the disintegration of the federal political structures and central government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , resulting in the independence of all fifteen republics of the Soviet Union between March 11, 1990 and December 25, 1991...
, the organization adopted a monarchist position.
In August 1990, a permanent NPF council member, Aleksandr Barkashov (the author of the book The ABC of a Russian Nationalist), caused another split after his announcement of being "tired to be preoccupied by recollections. It is time to act". His new group was dubbed "Russian National Unity
Russian National Unity
Russian National Unity or All-Russian civic patriotic movement "Russian National Unity" , is a far right, fascist political party and paramilitary organization based in Russia and operating in states with Russian-speaking populations. It was founded by the ultra-nationalist Alexander Barkashov...
" (Русское Национальное Единство). Barkashov promoted the veneration of the swastika
Swastika
The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form in counter clock motion or its mirrored left-facing form in clock motion. Earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization of Ancient...
, a traditional Indo-European
Indo-European
Indo-European may refer to:* Indo-European languages** Aryan race, a 19th century and early 20th century term for those peoples who are the native speakers of Indo-European languages...
symbol which, according to Barkashov, "acts on subconsciousness of theomachists. It paralyses, weakens and demoralizes them."
In 1991 the organization's own newspaper (print run of 100,000) and a radio station (both officially registered) were launched.
By the end of the 1990s, the original Pamyat disappeared from the public scene. Dmitry Vasilyev died on July 17, 2003. The organization reactivated in 2005 and participated in the 2006 Russian March
2006 Russian March
The 2006 Russian March was an extensive enterprise on organizing the wide-ranging nationalist public mass demonstration, one of annual Russian marches in several major Russian cities under the slogan "it's our country", attached to November 4, 2006, the Day of National Unity...
.
Ideology
The recurring motive in the group's ideology was the claim of the existence of a so-called "ZionoZionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
-Masonic
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
plot" against Russia as "the main source of the misfortunes of Russian people, disintegration of the economy, denationalization of Russian culture, alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
, ecological crisis" (according to Pamyat). The "Zionists" were also blamed for the triggering of the revolutions in 1905
Russian Revolution of 1905
The 1905 Russian Revolution was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. Some of it was directed against the government, while some was undirected. It included worker strikes, peasant unrest, and military mutinies...
and 1917, the death of millions in the course of the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
and for Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
's personality cult. The contemporary Soviet government apparatus was alleged to be infiltrated by "Zionists and freemasons" working as "agents of Zionism" and serving the purpose of subordinating the Soviet government to the "Jewish capital". The "Zionist Occupation Government
Zionist Occupation Government
Zionist Occupation Government or Zionist Occupied Government is an antisemitic conspiracy theory which holds that Jews secretly control a given country, while the formal government is a puppet regime....
" accusation was often used by Pamyat.
Officially the organization emphasized that its ideology was merely anti-Zionist
Anti-Zionism
Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionistic views or opposition to the state of Israel. The term is used to describe various religious, moral and political points of view in opposition to these, but their diversity of motivation and expression is sufficiently different that "anti-Zionism" cannot be...
and not anti-Semitic. This was also the official Soviet stance.
In 1993, a District Court in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
formally ruled that The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a fraudulent, antisemitic text purporting to describe a Jewish plan for achieving global domination. It was first published in Russia in 1903, translated into multiple languages, and disseminated internationally in the early part of the twentieth century...
were a fake, and dismissed a libel suit by Pamyat. The organization was criticized for using the document in their publications.
It was claimed Pamyat's ideology blended fascism with autocratic monarchy (rejecting the "legitimist" Romanov family line), and an interpretation of Orthodoxy that borrowed heavily from the Nazi sponsored Positive Christianity
Positive Christianity
Positive Christianity was a slogan of Nazi propaganda adopted at the NSDAP congress 1920 to express a worldview which is Christian, non-confessional, vigorously opposed to the spirit of "Jewish Materialism", and oriented to the principle of voluntary association of those with a common...
. One of Pamyat's founders, Valeriy Yemelyanov, attempted to merge religious neo-Paganism with Russian ethnic neo-Nazism
Neo-Nazism
Neo-Nazism consists of post-World War II social or political movements seeking to revive Nazism or some variant thereof.The term neo-Nazism can also refer to the ideology of these movements....
. He is also the author of the book "Dezionization".
Pamyat came out in support of the Yeltsin regime during 1993 bombing of the Russian parliament
Russian constitutional crisis of 1993
The constitutional crisis of 1993 was a political stand-off between the Russian president and the Russian parliament that was resolved by using military force. The relations between the president and the parliament had been deteriorating for a while...
, a surprising move in view of the fact that Pamyat had many ideological sympathisers amidst the defenders of the parliament. Pamyat also refused to take part in the 1993 parliamentary elections, as it considered all elections an appearance of the Jewish-Masonic conspiracy.
Quote
From the open letter of the NPF "Pamyat" leader D. Vasilyev to the President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin:- "... Your Jewish entourage... have already made good use of You and don't need You anymore. You will share the destiny of NapoleonNapoleon INapoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
, HitlerAdolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
, etc. who were Zionist-maintained dictators... The aim of international Zionism is to seize power worldwide. For this reason Zionists struggle against national and religious traditions of other nations, and for this purpose they devised the Freemasonic concept of cosmopolitanismRootless cosmopolitanRootless cosmopolitan was a Soviet euphemism widely used during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1948–1953, which culminated in the "exposure" of the alleged Doctors' plot...
."
Further reading
- William Korey, Russian Antisemitism, Pamyat, and the Demonology of Zionism, Harwood Academic Pub, 2007
- Walter LaqueurWalter LaqueurWalter Zeev Laqueur is an American historian and political commentator. He was born in Breslau, Germany , to a Jewish family. In 1938, Laqueur left Germany for the British Mandate of Palestine. His parents, who were unable to leave, became victims of the Holocaust...
, Black Hundreds : the Rise of the Extreme Right in Russia, New York : HarperCollins, 1993 - Marlène Laruelle, Le Rouge et le noir. Extrême droite et nationalisme en Russie, Paris, Éditions du CNRS, 2007
See also
- Anti-ZionismAnti-ZionismAnti-Zionism is opposition to Zionistic views or opposition to the state of Israel. The term is used to describe various religious, moral and political points of view in opposition to these, but their diversity of motivation and expression is sufficiently different that "anti-Zionism" cannot be...
- Anti-Zionist Committee of the Soviet PublicAnti-Zionist Committee of the Soviet PublicOn March 29, 1983, the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union has approved the resolution 101/62ГС to "Support the proposition of the Department of Propaganda of the Central Committee and the KGB USSR about the creation of the Anti-Zionist Committee of the...
- History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet UnionHistory of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet UnionThe vast territories of the Russian Empire at one time hosted the largest populations of Jews in the diaspora. Within these territories the Jewish community flourished and developed many of modern Judaism's most distinctive theological and cultural traditions, while also facing periods of...
- Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and National Character
- ZionologyZionologySoviet Anti-Zionism was a doctrine promulgated in the Soviet Union during the course of the Cold War, and intensified after the 1967 Six Day War. It was officially sponsored by the Department of propaganda of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and by the KGB. It alleged that Zionism was a form...
- Neo-paganism
- NationalismNationalismNationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
External links
- The NPF Pamyat official website (English)
- Russian Antisemitism, Pamyat, and the Demonology of Zionism by William Korey
- Russia's "Red-Brown" Hawks The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Vitalii Goldanskii, June 1993
- Pamyat: Call to Russian People (in Russian)
- Nationalism and Xenophobia in Russia (in Russian)