Aleksandr Ivanov-Sukharevsky
Encyclopedia
Aleksandr Kuzmich Ivanov-Sukharevsky ' onMouseout='HidePop("60254")' href="/topics/Rostov-on-Don">Rostov-on-Don
, Russian SFSR) is a far right
politician in Russia
who is the leader of the Peoples National Party (NNP).
officer from the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic and a pharmacist from the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic whose family background came from a leading clan of Don Cossacks
, with one of her ancestors lending his name to the Sukharev Tower
. He spent much of his childhood in East Germany, where his father was serving, before returning to Rostov, where in 1967 he entered a local military college.
However he lost interest in a military career, enrolling in Rostov State University in 1970 to study economics. This also failed to excite his interest and in 1974 he entered the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography, qualifying as a film director in 1979.
as director of the film's: Korabl (1988), a drama starring Vladimir Zamansky, Tayna zemli (1985), a film starring Yelena Safonova
, Nikolai Prokopovich, Vladimir Simonov.. Some of his work was however suppressed by the Soviet vetting commission, notably a 1987 documentary Ship, which Ivanov-Sukharevsky claimed was banned by a "gang of Yid
s" under the direction of Alla Gerber
because it dealt with anti-Semitic themes.
, the Russian National Assembly and the All-Russian National Right-Wing Centre. Around this time he also read Adolf Hitler
's Mein Kampf
and Benito Mussolini
's The Doctrine of Fascism and was heavily influenced by both works, especially the latter. However despite sharing much of the ideology Ivanov-Sukharevsky would not accept the label of fascism
, considering the term to be too non-Russian in nature.
He established the NNP in 1994, and has sought to make the party into a leading voice of white nationalism
in Russia. He has built up a reputation as a leader of the racist skinhead
movement in the country. A supporter of like-minded groups across Europe
, Ivanov-Sukharevsky has called for a closer European unity with Russia at the head of an eventual European super-state. His decision to enter politics was not without controversy and in 1995 he was subjected to a series of physical attacks and burglaries of his home by unknown assailants. Although the culprits were never identified Ivanov-Sukharevsky pointed the finger at rival right-extremist leader Alexander Barkashov
. Barkashov's Russian National Unity
movement had consistently rejected offers to co-operate with the NNP, largely because Barkashov viewed Ivanov-Sukharevsky as an unnecessary rival for the leadership of the ultra-nationalists.
Ivanov-Sukharevsky has been jailed on more than one occasion, notably in February 1999 when he was remanded for inciting hatred. During this period he shared a cell with Semyon Tokmakov
, the leader of the Russian skinhead gang Russian Goal
, and he began to recruit the skinheads to his cause. The two published a joint letter from Butyrka prison
in the PNP paper Ya-Russky, and as a result the paper became a popular seller among racist skinheads. He was found guilty in April 2002, although he was almost immediately released under an amnesty.
Ivanov-Sukharevsky was largely supportive of Vladimir Putin
when he was first elected as President of Russia, describing him as an 'indispensable and extremely important politician' and the 'hyper-link between Marxism
and Russism', although adding that 'his ideology reflects the past stage of history'. Although he had not specifically supported Putin's candidature in the election, he had not declared support for any candidate for the Presidency.
which he calls Russism, which emphasises the centrality of race above all divisions. Russism is attractive to racists who adhere to Paganism
rather than the Russian Orthodox Church
, which is generally afforded a central role on the Russian extreme right. Russism seeks to build a link from pre-revolutionary orthodox monarchism
to Nazism
, and identifies the two great heroes of the Twentieth century as Nicholas II of Russia
and Adolf Hitler
, arguing that Hitler was revenge on the Bolsheviks for the revolution
.
According to his personal ideology the Russy consists of eight branches i.e. the "Great Russians", the Belarusians
, the Ukrainians
(the three groups from which he has descent), the Ruthenians
of Carpathia
, the "New Russians
", the Siberians, the Cossacks and the Pomors
.
Rostov-on-Don
-History:The mouth of the Don River has been of great commercial and cultural importance since the ancient times. It was the site of the Greek colony Tanais, of the Genoese fort Tana, and of the Turkish fortress Azak...
, Russian SFSR) is a far right
Far right
Far-right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and ultra-right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. Far-right politics may involve anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are...
politician in Russia
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...
who is the leader of the Peoples National Party (NNP).
Early life
Ivanov-Sukharevsky was the son of a Red ArmyRed Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
officer from the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic and a pharmacist from the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic whose family background came from a leading clan of Don Cossacks
Don Cossacks
Don Cossacks were Cossacks who settled along the middle and lower Don.- Etymology and origins :The Don Cossack Host was a frontier military organization from the end of the 16th until the early 20th century....
, with one of her ancestors lending his name to the Sukharev Tower
Sukharev Tower
The Sukharev Tower was one of the best known landmarks and symbols of Moscow until its destruction by the Soviet authorities in 1934. The tower was built in the Moscow baroque style at the intersection of the Garden Ring with the Sretenka street in 1692-1695.Tsar Peter the Great ordered the...
. He spent much of his childhood in East Germany, where his father was serving, before returning to Rostov, where in 1967 he entered a local military college.
However he lost interest in a military career, enrolling in Rostov State University in 1970 to study economics. This also failed to excite his interest and in 1974 he entered the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography, qualifying as a film director in 1979.
Film director
Ivanov-Sukharevsky first came to notice in the Soviet UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
as director of the film's: Korabl (1988), a drama starring Vladimir Zamansky, Tayna zemli (1985), a film starring Yelena Safonova
Yelena Safonova
-Selected filmography:-External links:...
, Nikolai Prokopovich, Vladimir Simonov.. Some of his work was however suppressed by the Soviet vetting commission, notably a 1987 documentary Ship, which Ivanov-Sukharevsky claimed was banned by a "gang of Yid
Yid
The word Yid is a slang Jewish ethnonym. Its usage may be controversial in modern English language. It is not usually considered offensive when pronounced , the way Yiddish speakers say it, though some may deem the word offensive nonetheless...
s" under the direction of Alla Gerber
Alla Gerber
Alla Efremovna Gerber is a Russian politician, journalist and film critic.- Life :In 1955 Alla Gerber graduated from the faculty of law of the Moscow State University. In the following years she worked as a lawyer and a journalist...
because it dealt with anti-Semitic themes.
Politics
Ivanov-Sukharevsky was admitted as a captain in the right-wing militia group the Moscow Cossack Guards in 1992 although he claims to have had no involvement with any political parties until establishing his own in 1994. This is disputed by Stephen Shenfield however, who states that Ivanov-Sukharevsky was a member of such groups as Russian National UnityRussian 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...
, the Russian National Assembly and the All-Russian National Right-Wing Centre. Around this time he also read Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf 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...
's Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf is a book written by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. It combines elements of autobiography with an exposition of Hitler's political ideology. Volume 1 of Mein Kampf was published in 1925 and Volume 2 in 1926...
and Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
's The Doctrine of Fascism and was heavily influenced by both works, especially the latter. However despite sharing much of the ideology Ivanov-Sukharevsky would not accept the label of fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
, considering the term to be too non-Russian in nature.
He established the NNP in 1994, and has sought to make the party into a leading voice of white nationalism
White nationalism
White nationalism is a political ideology which advocates a racial definition of national identity for white people. White separatism and white supremacism are subgroups within white nationalism. The former seek a separate white nation state, while the latter add ideas from social Darwinism and...
in Russia. He has built up a reputation as a leader of the racist skinhead
Nazi-Skinheads
White power skinheads are a white supremacist and antisemitic offshoot of the skinhead subculture. Many of them are affiliated with white nationalist organizations....
movement in the country. A supporter of like-minded groups across Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Ivanov-Sukharevsky has called for a closer European unity with Russia at the head of an eventual European super-state. His decision to enter politics was not without controversy and in 1995 he was subjected to a series of physical attacks and burglaries of his home by unknown assailants. Although the culprits were never identified Ivanov-Sukharevsky pointed the finger at rival right-extremist leader Alexander Barkashov
Alexander Barkashov
Alexander Petrovich Barkashov is a Russian political leader on the extreme right. In 1990, Barkashov founded an ultra-nationalist political party and paramilitary organization called Russian National Unity.-Biography:Born in Moscow, of peasant roots, Barkashov's father was an electrician and...
. Barkashov's 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...
movement had consistently rejected offers to co-operate with the NNP, largely because Barkashov viewed Ivanov-Sukharevsky as an unnecessary rival for the leadership of the ultra-nationalists.
Ivanov-Sukharevsky has been jailed on more than one occasion, notably in February 1999 when he was remanded for inciting hatred. During this period he shared a cell with Semyon Tokmakov
Semyon Tokmakov
Semyon Valeryevich Tokmakov is a figure in the Russian nationalist movement. Tokmakov was a leader of the skinhead organization Russian Goal. He achieved notoriety in 1998 when he and other skinheads attacked William Jefferson, a black United States Marine embassy guard in Moscow...
, the leader of the Russian skinhead gang Russian Goal
Russian Goal
Russian Goal is a militant far-right skinhead organization in Russia, at one time led by Semyon Tokmakov. The group achieved international notoriety in 1999 when its members, led by Tokmakov, attacked William Jefferson, a black United States Marine embassy guard...
, and he began to recruit the skinheads to his cause. The two published a joint letter from Butyrka prison
Butyrka prison
Butyrka prison was the central transit prison in pre-Revolutionary Russia, located in Moscow.The first references to Butyrka prison may be traced back to the 17th century. The present prison building was erected in 1879 near the Butyrsk gate on the site of a prison-fortress which had been built...
in the PNP paper Ya-Russky, and as a result the paper became a popular seller among racist skinheads. He was found guilty in April 2002, although he was almost immediately released under an amnesty.
Ivanov-Sukharevsky was largely supportive of Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
when he was first elected as President of Russia, describing him as an 'indispensable and extremely important politician' and the 'hyper-link between Marxism
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
and Russism', although adding that 'his ideology reflects the past stage of history'. Although he had not specifically supported Putin's candidature in the election, he had not declared support for any candidate for the Presidency.
Ideology
Ivanov-Sukharevsky has developed his own ideologyIdeology
An ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies , or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to...
which he calls Russism, which emphasises the centrality of race above all divisions. Russism is attractive to racists who adhere to Paganism
Paganism
Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....
rather than the Russian Orthodox Church
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...
, which is generally afforded a central role on the Russian extreme right. Russism seeks to build a link from pre-revolutionary orthodox monarchism
Monarchism
Monarchism is the advocacy of the establishment, preservation, or restoration of a monarchy as a form of government in a nation. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government out of principle, independent from the person, the Monarch.In this system, the Monarch may be the...
to Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
, and identifies the two great heroes of the Twentieth century as Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia, Grand Prince of Finland, and titular King of Poland. His official short title was Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias and he is known as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church.Nicholas II ruled from 1894 until...
and Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf 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...
, arguing that Hitler was revenge on the Bolsheviks for the revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
.
According to his personal ideology the Russy consists of eight branches i.e. the "Great Russians", the Belarusians
Belarusians
Belarusians ; are an East Slavic ethnic group who populate the majority of the Republic of Belarus. Introduced to the world as a new state in the early 1990s, the Republic of Belarus brought with it the notion of a re-emerging Belarusian ethnicity, drawn upon the lines of the Old Belarusian...
, the Ukrainians
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
(the three groups from which he has descent), the Ruthenians
Ruthenians
The name Ruthenian |Rus']]) is a culturally loaded term and has different meanings according to the context in which it is used. Initially, it was the ethnonym used for the East Slavic peoples who lived in Rus'. Later it was used predominantly for Ukrainians...
of Carpathia
Carpathian Ruthenia
Carpathian Ruthenia is a region in Eastern Europe, mostly located in western Ukraine's Zakarpattia Oblast , with smaller parts in easternmost Slovakia , Poland's Lemkovyna and Romanian Maramureş.It is...
, the "New Russians
Novorossiya
Novorossiya is a historic area of lands which established itself solidly after the annexation of the Crimean Khanate by the Russian Empire, but was introduced with the establishment of Novorossiysk Governorate with the capital in Kremenchuk in the mid 18th century. Until that time in both Polish...
", the Siberians, the Cossacks and the Pomors
Pomors
Pomors or Pomory are Russian settlers and their descendants on the White Sea coast. It is also term of self-identification for the descendants of Russian, primarily Novgorod, settlers of Pomorye , living on the White Sea coasts and the territory whose southern border lies on a watershed which...
.