Andrei Fursov: I have no doubt that Stalin was helped to die
On March 5, 1953, Joseph Stalin died - the head of a huge superpower equipped with a nuclear shield that has protected our country to this day. Despite the obvious services to the people, since the early 1990s, the denigration of the name of Stalin, launched by Nikita Khrushchev, has entered an acute phase.
Today the discussion of the figure Secretary General and his fundamental contribution to the development of our country have become a political trend. There are more and more supporters of Stalin's policy, discussions about his role are being conducted even at the pre-election debates. Why is this happening right now, is this topic being used to divide society, and how exactly did Stalin's death happen, in an interview with Nakanune.RU discusses famous historian and publicist Andrei Fursov.
Question: March 5 is the anniversary of Stalin's death. In December, on his birthday, more than 10,000 red carnations were brought to his grave, which was a record for the organizers of the "Two Carnations for Comrade Stalin" action. Why do you think he receives such a response from his descendants now?
Andrey Fursov: Firstly, now there are a lot of works in which an objective assessment is given. Stalin era, objective information is given who Stalin was. Secondly, the figure of Stalin is evaluated in comparison with what has happened and is happening in Russia over the past 25-27 years. The era of Stalin seems to be much more advantageous in comparison with post-Soviet Russia. Because the Soviet Union was a superpower no one could wipe their feet on the country just like we were wiped out during the Olympics. And besides, the Soviet Union was a society of declared socio-economic equality. And these two points - socio-economic and foreign policy, geopolitical - favorably distinguish the Stalinist Soviet Union from the post-Soviet RF. But there is one more thing.
People are well aware that we are still living on the Stalinist foundation. Nuclear weapon, which was created in the second half of the 1940s, in the early 1950s - this is the foundation laid by Stalin and Beria. And the worse they get international relationships, the more people realize that we are not treated the same way as Serbs and Libyans, just because we have this heritage.
Question: As for the death of Stalin directly - today you can analyze a lot, and what historians come to - was the death of the leader of the USSR violent? Could they have poisoned him? Or just being negligent?
Andrey Fursov: There are two points here. The fact that Stalin interfered with the top is obvious. The fact that a sharp conflict has been brewing at the top since the late 1940s is also obvious. This conflict manifested itself and was quite obvious during the 19th Congress of the CPSU(b), at which the CPSU(b) turned into the CPSU. The abbreviation "b" - that is, "Bolsheviks" - was dropped. And it is enough to look at Stalin's behavior at this congress to understand that he was dissatisfied. And it is no coincidence that immediately after the congress at the plenum, he expanded the composition of the presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU and expanded the list of candidates for members of the presidium. That is, he certainly interfered with the top. And how exactly it happened - whether this death was violent, they poisoned him or simply did not provide assistance, or they poisoned him and did not provide assistance - this is a very difficult question. But I have no doubt that .
Question: Were there many interested?
Andrey Fursov: Part of the party apparatus was interested in this, and here its interests coincided with the interests of our geopolitical opponents. After all, it is no coincidence that since the late 1940s, the Anglo-American special services created a joint special group called How To Make Stalin's Passing - that is, "How to make Stalin go away."
Question: Maybe you have seen the film "The Death of Stalin", around which there was so much noise, public figures opposed the rental of this black comedy?
Andrey Fursov: I have not watched, and I think that even watching such films is not worth it, it is simply insulting for a Soviet person, for a Russian person, for a person who has a sense of national pride. And the fact that this film was bought at all and admitted to the rental - this speaks of the insignificance of the people who did it.
Question: What could Stalin have done if he had been allowed to live at least another 10 years? They say that history has no subjunctive moods, but did he have any unfinished business that would have prevented Khrushchev's coup?
Andrey Fursov: History has a subjunctive mood. Bad historians say it doesn't exist. History always has several options for development. And to say that history does not have a subjunctive mood means to completely deny the multivariance of history and reduce it to such rigid determinism and exclude the problem of human will, the subject, and finally, chance. Marx said that without accidents, history would have a mystical look, therefore, talking about the fact that history does not have a subjunctive mood is an attempt to give history a mystical look. History always has several options. Stalin, of course, would have solved the problem with a successor. Secondly, he at least squeezed out of the presidium what was called the "politburo" before and then under Brezhnev. A number of people.
Question: Would this have made it possible to stop the process begun by Khrushchev later?
Andrey Fursov: The point was that Stalin was already waging an unequal struggle. During the war, while it was spared from purges, the nomenklatura was formed, in fact, as quasi-class. In addition, party structures have grown into economic ones. It is no coincidence that in 1946 a resolution was adopted on the inadmissibility of the party structure taking on economic functions. Stalin fought not just with his inner circle, not with some specific people, he fought with a whole layer, which was gradually reborn. And in this regard, it must be said that the fears of Stalin and the fears of Trotsky - two enemies - turned out to be true.
Trotsky in the late 1930s was already frankly writing about the degeneration of the Soviet bureaucracy into a quasi-class and spoke of the danger of its degeneration into the bourgeoisie. Stalin called this group a "damned caste", but he believed that this problem would be solved by purges and pulling up the working class. But he was well aware of the danger that, as socialism approached, the class struggle would intensify. Some of us interpret this as a fight against the "kulaks" - nothing of the kind, he had in mind the danger of the degeneration of the bureaucracy into the bourgeoisie. Both Gorbachev and Yeltsin showed that he was right to fear, this is the aggravation of the class struggle in the course of building socialism.
Question: In this politically hot year, there are debates, and Stalin is constantly remembered. Previously, this was not the case, but now the personality of the Generalissimo is just one of the central themes? Why? Are they trying to divide the people like that? Just like with Ivan the Terrible, they say, is this information stuffing so that there is no consensus among the people, in society?
Andrey Fursov: You know, if this was an informational stuffing that was supposed to divide society, then the mission failed. Recently passed a public poll dedicated to the anniversary October revolution- "Who would you be for in 1917?". Surprisingly, almost all of the youth audience voted for the Bolsheviks. 84% would support the Bolsheviks. This time. Secondly, a month before that, there was also a mass survey about the attitude towards Stalin. In the cohort of young people aged 18 to 24, if I am not mistaken, 74% spoke positively about Stalin. So, if someone thought to split the society, he got the result exactly the opposite.
Question: Activists collect signatures for the installation of a monument to Stalin. Do you think such a day will ever come when the Russian Federation will have separate monument Stalin in Moscow? Who is the winner in World War II? Revolutionary? Or just a strong leader?
Andrey Fursov: I think that if Russia is destined to survive and pass through bottleneck crisis of the next decade, then monuments to Stalin will stand not only in Moscow. They will stand in many cities - the initiative will come not only from above, but also from below. Well, the monument to Stalin is not just a pedestal to the winner in World War II, the Great Patriotic War is more important for us, it will be a monument to the greatest figure in Russian history.
Question: Through the bottleneck of the crisis?
Andrey Fursov: Yes, the world is entering a very, very acute crisis, this is the crisis of the end of the capitalist era. There will be a crisis. The only question is how much it will involve military conflicts. Unfortunately, in history very often the worst option wins. Even if this cup blows us away, we still need to prepare for the worst, as Stalin prepared in 1931 - for 1941. He then said that if we do not run in 10 years the path that Western countries ran for 100 - they will crush us. In 10 years, the Great Patriotic War really began, and in the 1930s we really ran our way very quickly.
In 1937, the Soviet Union achieved military-industrial autarky from the capitalist world. Now the situation is similar, only it is perhaps more acute, because today's Russia is weaker Soviet Union 1930s. Moreover, it is weaker not only in material and technical terms, but also in ideological and political, ideological terms. On the eve of the Great Patriotic War Stalin destroyed the "fifth column", but now our "fifth column" is calmly broadcasting on all channels, and no one touches it. It's not about destroying it, but, of course, it would be worth cutting off the "fifth column" from financial leverage, driving it into an information vacuum, and this is task number one, if, of course, we want to slip through that very "bottleneck".
Andrey Fursov: I'm sure Stalin was helped to die
Great Stalin? Or Dzhugashvili? A. Fursov
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Grudinin scored the most in Yakutia, and Zhirinovsky - in Komi.
As you know, the first three places in the presidential elections in the Russian Federation are occupied by the current head of state Vladimir Putin (76.66% of the votes based on the results of counting 99% of the ballots), Pavel Grudinin (11.8%) and Vladimir Zhirinovsky (5.67%).
None of the other five candidates representing the non-parliamentary opposition managed to get more than 2% of the vote. Thus, Ksenia Sobchak (Civil Initiative party), which ranks fourth, has 1.67%, Grigory Yavlinsky (Yabloko) has 1.04%, Boris Titov (Growth Party) has 0.76%, Maxim Suraikin (Communists of Russia) has 0.68%, and 0.65% is scored by Sergei Baburin (Russian All-People's Union Party).
However, there are also “anomalous” regions in Russia, in which representatives of the non-parliamentary opposition found much more supporters than in the whole country.
So, Baburin showed his most high score in Chechnya - 1.18%.
Ksenia Sobchak expectedly received the highest support in her native St. Petersburg - 4.32%.
Yavlinsky's highest figure was 3.17% of the votes he earned in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
As for Grudinin and Zhirinovsky, as the Club of Regions has already reported, the representative of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation showed the highest result in Yakutia - 27.24%. The founder of the LDPR had the most supporters in Komi, where he won 10.24% of the vote.
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The Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)
Yakutia showed the lowest percentage of those who voted for Vladimir Putin. He was supported by 64.38%. And the candidate from the Communist Party Pavel Grudinin received the highest result in the country in the republic - 27.25%. Political observer Timofey Yefremov believes that such election results indicate a loss of public confidence in the head of Yakutia, Yegor Borisov, and a negative assessment of his work in the republic.Main
Political scientist Salin: in 2019 pressure on regional authorities increased from below
In 2019 it has become increasingly difficult for regional authorities to cope with grassroots protests and contain their exit from the local to federal level, says political scientist Pavel Salin, summing up the results of the year at the request of the Club of Regions. “And if we project the situation as early as 2020, then there is a possibility that the regionals will not take a hit from below, but following the example of regional elites and governors of the 90s. they will simply get rid of the intermediate role of an intermediary between the population and the federal center, or even will warm it up, and all this pressure and discontent from below will be more actively projected onto the federal center,” Salin predicts.Governor Vladimirov: an integrated approach to rural development provides new opportunities for the development of the Stavropol Territory
Vladimir Putin at a meeting of the State Council for agricultural policy declared the priority importance of the implementation of the program for the integrated development of the village. A participant in the State Council meeting, Stavropol Governor Vladimir Vladimirov, believes that the future of the entire region depends on the successful implementation of the program announced by the president: “This is not only production, but also development social sphere, entrepreneurship, staffing, housing construction. This is a program with a wide scope, which is complemented by the possibilities of national projects.”Political scientist Dobromelov: the political agenda in 2019 sharply regionalized
Speaking about the main results of 2019, Grigory Dobromelov, Director of the Institute for Applied Political Research, noted that the political agenda in the country has "dramatically become regionalized." According to him, there is no common federal agenda, and more and more stories from the subjects of the Russian Federation began to pass into it. At the same time, there is no mechanism for managing the new agenda. Among other events that in one way or another affect the regions, Dobromelov noted the implementation of national projects and "the beginning of a full-fledged transition of power."Experts appreciated Kudrin's words about the inability of the regions to implement national projects
At a meeting of the Council for Strategic Development and National Projects, Chairman of the Accounts Chamber Alexei Kudrin said that the governors doubt the successful achievement of national project indicators: “The subjects, signing many agreements, do not fully understand how they will fulfill them, but one governor told me that they signed these agreements on their knees.” Political scientist Pavel Salin is confident that this information will not soften the harsh guidelines lowered from above. At the same time, he notes that for the federal center, first of all, the level of social optimism from the implementation of national projects will be more important than their financial implementation. Economist Nikita Krichevsky believes that Kudrin, as an official of the old formation, simply does not understand the methods of work of the new governors and the paradigm in which they exist.Experts: open voting in the competition for the election of the mayor of Barnaul is a way to control deputies
At the initiative of the United Russia, the rules for voting at the competition for the election of the mayor of Barnaul have been changed. Previously, deputies elected the mayor by secret ballot. Now the procedure will take place in open mode. Experts believe that in this way the city authorities will try to show the governor of the Altai Territory, Viktor Tomenko, the possibility of controlling the deputies and that "appointing a protege of the Barnaul mayor's office as a city manager is the only right decision." At the same time, political scientists note that open voting can carry risks for all levels of government.Political scientist Vitaly Ivanov: in addition to Belozertsev, there are others who want to lead the Penza region
Penza Governor Ivan Belozertsev, answering a question about being nominated for a second term, said that it did not depend on him, but on the inhabitants of the region and the president's decision. Political scientist Yevgeny Semyonov believes that with such a response, the head of the region is already projecting his participation in the campaign. Political scientist Vitaly Ivanov notes: “ Penza region“This is not the poorest and not the most lost region, there are those who want to lead it, and this is already a fact in favor of the fact that Belozertsev may not be left.”American adoptive parents shelled out huge sums to get the right to take a child away from a Russian orphanage. And overcame a lot of bureaucratic difficulties. But in many cases, having passed all the obstacles, they suddenly began to engage in assault.
It turned out that Americans probably just wanted to be proper parents. Do everything according to science, trusting some specialists in instilling family values.
Emily Orcher knows what Reattachment Therapy is. Her parents started treatment when she was 4. The torture was daily for 2 years.
“Mom lay down on me, pressed on my face and said: mom is in charge, you must obey me. She spoke very aggressively,” says Emily Orcher.
Such a diagnosis is made in the United States to many adopted children. There is no scientific basis for this therapy. In a number American states some of its techniques are prohibited by law. However, there are more and more supporters of such treatment every year.
Jean Mercer is part of a group of professionals who are trying to stop the spread of dangerous practices. But so far without success.
“It is believed that in order to restore attachment, an adult must have total control over the child: they grab him, shout at him, provoke him. Everything decides for him: how much and what you can eat, whether you can drink or go to the toilet,” says psychologist, forensic expert Gene Mercer.
A 200-pound foster mom has a session supervised by psychotherapist Martha Welch (she is in white in the background). Mom was convinced that an abandoned child is angry at adults in his soul. His anger will only grow over the years and she herself will become the first victim. This anger must be "opened" like an abscess. Specialized clinics charge 13 thousand dollars for a 2-week session of intensive therapy, which consists in mental and physical pressure.
“Followers of this therapy give terrible examples: serial killers, Saddam Hussein, Adolf Hitler and so on, they all allegedly suffered from the Disattachment Syndrome and were not cured in time. And the adoptive parents, of course, say: oh God, we certainly do not want our child to grow up like this, and we will do everything we can!” - notes psychologist, forensic expert Gene Mercer.
Emily grew up as a timid and very shy child. Parents wanted to correct this shortcoming. At first she was taken to collective therapeutic sessions, and then "treated" at home.
“I remember that I couldn’t breathe and stopped seeing for a moment. Everything went dark in my eyes, I felt very bad, I felt defenseless, very alone,” recalls Emily Orcher.
According to American human rights activists, over the past 20 years in the United States, at least 60 children have suffered from pseudo-psychologists: 20 of them are Russian children adopted by Americans. 6 little Russians did not survive such treatment.
One of the first high-profile cases in our country took place in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, in October 2000. Victor Alexander Matty-Johnson or Vitya Tulimov died of hunger and cold in the basement, where he was locked up for the night by his adoptive parents. Forensic experts stated extreme degree exhaustion and numerous beatings on the boy's body.
Viti's adoptive parents have been following Attachment Recovery Therapy since day one.
As well as the parents of 8-year-old Denis Uritsky, who was starved to death in 2005.
In the same year, two-year-old Vika Bazhenova was beaten to death.
In 2009, Vanya Skorobogatov. Pathologists counted 80 marks from blows on his body.
The footage in which Jessica Bigley makes her adopted son Christoph (aka Daniil Bukharov) swallow hot sauce made a lot of noise at the time. The video camera is held by his brother Oleg. The woman was genuinely surprised when she was convicted for this method of education.
“People don’t really understand what they are doing, and if they do, they consider it normal. A couple of generations ago it was in the order of things: to force a child to rinse growth with a tasteless soup. It was not considered as child abuse. As well as being deprived of food as a punishment or locked in a dark closet. So many, when they hear about such things now, they say: well, my grandmother also did that, ”explains psychologist, forensic expert Jean Mercer.
Nancy Thomas is one of those who vehemently promotes the idea of non-attachment in adopted children. She does not have special education, in the past engaged in dog training. For 30 years she has been giving advice on how to rein in naughty children. Here's how she recommends responding to obscene words:
"For each bad word, which you call me, I want you to massage my legs for 5 minutes. My feet are very dry, what other words do you know to massage my feet? "What?! Massaging your feet?! I won't swear at you." And for every bad word they call me, they massage my feet for 5 minutes,” says Nancy Thomas in the educational film.
Nancy Thomas travels the world giving lectures. A year ago, she was received in Yekaterinburg. Her book "When Love Is Not Enough" is in great demand on the Internet and has even been translated into Russian.
"One woman in California kept her adopted children in a cage. At the trial, she stated that she was guided by the book of Nancy Thomas. But Nancy Thomas did not call for literally locking children in a cage. She advised locking them in a room. However, after trying this technique, and not getting a result, the woman decided: I probably am not doing enough?! I need to be even stricter," says psychologist, forensic expert Gene Mercer.
Emily Orcher often experiences panic attacks and suffers from depression. Attachment Restoration Therapy experienced in early childhood changed her forever. By the way, these are not her adoptive parents, but her mother and father. Emily is still afraid of her parents and is unable to share her innermost with them.
According to NovostiVolgograd.ru news agency, the author of the appeal to Governor Andrey Bocharov and Chairman of the Regional Duma Nikolai Semisotov claims that after the transition of the Volgograd Region to the MSC + 1 temporary zone, weather-dependent residents of the region began to feel worse. In addition, in his opinion, "isolation" from Moscow will negatively affect the economy of the region. The author of the petition argues his point of view with reference to sleep doctors and emphasizes that not all residents of the region took part in the referendum, which resulted in a decision to change the time zone.
Over 14 thousand people have already left their signatures under the appeal. Many of them leave their comments under the petition, including those that are not quite censored. The number of signatories is growing before our eyes: the counter on the site is updated almost every minute.
« Volgograd was in its own time zone, our hour noon coincided with astronomical. Now it doesn't match”, - Elizaveta from Volgograd writes in the comments. - " In addition to the inconvenience and reduced sleep of Volgograd residents, which will undoubtedly affect their health, the change did not bring any benefit. And those who work with Moscow began to stay at work for an hour longer". Supports return to the zone UTC+3 and the father of the family named Denis: P My whole family, six people, sign up. We are in constant stress, as we go to bed like in Moscow, and wake up in Volgograd. Sleepless and angry, constant confusion". In addition to Volgograd residents, residents of neighboring regions, who also switched to local time, also leave their signatures under the petition. For example, a user from Saratov claims that it is impossible to get used to such a change: the neighbors of Volgograd residents, who have decided to move to the MSC + 1 belt, have been regretting their recklessness for two years now and dreaming of synchronizing their watches with the capital again.
However, even if the petition gains even more signatures, it is unlikely that its results will be taken into account by local authorities. According to the law, it will be possible to reconsider the issue of changing the time zone in the region no earlier than two years after the results of the referendum are summed up. Since the decree on the transfer of clocks in the Volgograd region has already been signed by the president, there is no turning back for the region - and the townspeople, dissatisfied with the fact that they were forced to have their will by those who longed for a hypothetical "light hour", are waiting for many more months of forced "restructuring" of biological rhythms.
Leaders of the New Right are taking advantage of the Germans' declining confidence in official authority They have more and more supporters. The nearly one million refugees who arrived in Germany in 2015 provided a catalyst of sorts for the new right-wing movement. Fear of strangers and their "dominance" accelerates the process of unification and daily forces more and more "concerned" citizens to join the right ranks.
More and more German citizens are rallying against the state, its institutions and elected representatives. A slowly growing contempt for democracy is combined here with a rapidly growing xenophobia. The number of violent right-wingers is growing so rapidly that refugee shelters are burning almost every day.
So far, all this remains the lot of a radical minority. So far, the majority are those tens of thousands of volunteers who every day offer assistance to refugee reception facilities. At the same time, however, the new right-wing movement is gaining strength, its methods are becoming more subtle, and its appeal far surpasses that of its predecessors. Previously, the word "right" was often associated with shaven-headed thugs in bomber jackets and army boots, who did not always manage to prick on the forearm English words Blood & Honor ("Blood and honor") without errors ...
New Right
These street radicals have not disappeared anywhere, but today they are being reinforced: the new right-wing circles include representatives of the bourgeois middle class, conservative intelligentsia, believing Christians, disaffected. They attract people who actually consider themselves to be on the left, such as German Putin fans, opponents of globalization and radical pacifists. Those who have long been considered incompatible are rallying. Together they form a powerful protest movement that, through street demonstrations and a digital campaign on the Internet, is radicalizing moods in the country.
There are many reasons to expect that Germany will also have its own "Tea Party", and this will lead to a sharp change in the balance of political forces. According to the latest polls, the right-wing Alternative for Germany is gaining up to 10%. But in the summer, after an ugly struggle for inner-party leadership, the party seemed to be about to collapse, and even today it hardly surpasses the bowling club in its professionalism.
The rest of the parties are now helplessly watching the processes on the right side of society. Vice-Chancellor and head of the SPD Sigmar Gabriel, who back in the summer declared the need for dialogue with supporters of the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West (PEGIDA) movement, gave in a little later and began to call the radical demonstrators “punks”.
However, the right-wing movement instills the most uncertainty in the CDU / CSU Union. Members and functionaries are literally torn between loyalty to the chancellor and the need to ensure that Christian parties remain a political homeland for citizens who today turn their backs on them. It is possible that the fate of Merkel will depend, in particular, on how she builds relations with the new right...
Tell me who's your friend...
The participants in the action "Germany is us" in Plauen, which brought together several thousand people, until recently were considered a moderate bourgeois response to the Dresden PEGIDA. It is not customary here to wave the battle flags of the Reich and walk around with wooden gallows with the name of Angela Merkel. Representatives of right-wing parties were considered non grata. However, in recent weeks, the mood in Plauen has also become more aggressive. Now they are no longer talking about the Federal Republic, but about the "state of scoundrels." Few speakers refrained from the temptation to call the Federal Chancellor, shortly before announced by the American Time as "Person of the Year," a "traitor to the people." Law-abiding citizens exchange angry tirades against the state and creepy stories about outsiders. And this combination of old resentments and new conspiracy theories is characteristic of a movement on the conservative fringes of the political spectrum.
In the summer, the Fund. Otto Brenner, funded by the German trade unions, has published a study on right-wing populism in Germany. It follows that the new right today can be recognized by the fact that they no longer wish to unequivocally identify themselves with the right camp. This complicates things: “The boundaries between the traditionally left and right positions are becoming blurred. These politicians, for the most part, place themselves outside the classical division into right and left.”
The New Right loves to read the monthly magazine Compact. His Chief Editor Jurgen Elsesser used to be a member of the Communist Union, writing for Junge Welt, Neues Deutschland and Freitag. Many of his comments could still be published today in left-wing publications. Yes, and Elsesser's enthusiasm for Vladimir Putin is met with great understanding in certain left-wing circles. Elsesser supports the Russian government. The pro-Kremlin Institute for Democracy and Cooperation (a Russian NGO founded in 2007 by lawyer Anatoly Kucherena “to defend democracy and human rights in the EU and the USA.” - Profile) is co-financing the conference hosted by Compact magazine and acts as a media partner for the event.
The Leo Tolstoy Institute in Berlin, founded in the fall of 2014, is also among Elsesser's friends. The Institute is called upon to "promote German-Russian friendship" and arranges language courses, lectures, and concerts. He is trying to oppose the Anglo-Saxon influence "something German-Russian", for example, Putin's concept of Eurasia. According to a study by the Hungarian Institute public opinion Political Capital, Russia maintains relations with far-right groups in at least 13 EU countries, including the Free Party of Austria, the Flemish Interest in Belgium, the Party for a Better Hungary (Jobbik), and the National Front in France. At the end of 2014, one Russian bank issued a loan in the amount of 9 million euros to the latter. “The German far right has been trying for many years to establish contact with Russian politicians- consider in the German intelligence services. “And Moscow is taking advantage of it.”
With fire and sword
Most New Right speakers do not resort to violence. They affect the mood in the country at conventions, in the marketplaces and, above all, on the Internet. Thus, they create a spiritual ground, having felt which, aggressive nationalists believe that now they can turn right-wing slogans into action. It is not surprising that the man who attacked Cologne mayoral candidate Henriette Reker with a knife showed himself right now. For 30 years, the whole city knew about his neo-Nazi beliefs, which, however, remained theoretical. And now it seemed to him that it was possible to move on to action. “I had to do it,” he told the police after the assassination attempt. “Foreign migrants are taking our jobs away.” In right-wing circles, this "act of necessary defense" was received with enthusiasm.
Acts of right-wing violence have increased dramatically in recent months, and they are becoming more and more brutal. So, on the night of December 7, in the Thuringian town of Altenburg, unknown people entered a typical high-rise building, where the authorities accommodated 70 refugees, after which two baby carriages caught fire on the landing, 10 people, including a baby, were poisoned by smoke.
As of December 7, the German Ministry of the Interior counted 817 “criminal acts against refugee shelters”; Compared to 2014, the number of assassination attempts increased by at least 4 times, and the number of arson by 11 times. Since the summer, there has been a sharp surge in violence in Germany.
This dynamic is "frightening" and "a shame for Germany," says German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière. It is not only the security agencies that are obliged to respond to it, but the whole society, he is convinced. “We must be vigilant so that xenophobia and right-wing extremism do not penetrate into the central layers of society.”
The Federal Office of the Criminal Police conducted its own analysis of the situation and stated that crimes are often committed by far from typical right-wingers: they include less than a third of those who came to the attention of the investigating authorities. Most were considered citizens of unblemished reputation up to the point when they went to refugee shelters with weapons that shoot metal balls, with clubs or powerful firecrackers. The more persuasively the New Right portrays itself as the victims of a hostile political class, the more powerful is the momentum that makes people defensive by resorting to violence.
Such new form fierce resistance is a pan-German phenomenon... The problems associated with refugee policy seem to be created "to form a substantial-ideological consensus" on the right flank of society, according to one analytical report of the Federal Office of the Criminal Police. As a result, a "nationalist ideology" is spreading throughout the country. Those who give refugees a warm welcome may become the object of hatred in the future more and more often, the German police warned last summer. The number of attacks on party headquarters or on persons with political powers has increased dramatically in recent weeks ...
Roots of evil
However, it is more important to deal with the symptoms to understand the reasons for this legal shift. Where does such anger, hatred for strangers and “those at the top” come from?
Some things may be due to globalization, the fruits of which are enjoyed primarily by economic and political elites, while many citizens believe that they are faced exclusively with negative consequences in the form of job exports, wage dumping, or an influx of foreign migrants and refugees that are perceived as a threat.
It seems that the refugee crisis is focusing all the hidden fears of German society, resulting in an explosive mixture. Nationally preoccupied people, who were afraid of "the dominance of strangers", even when there was not a single foreigner in the entire district, are now filled with anxiety for the fatherland. Critics of Islam in connection with the large influx of refugees, mostly Muslims, present a terrible scenario of the "Islamization of the West" or even the German Sharia state. The socially weak are afraid that refugees will compete with them for jobs or social benefits. And all the politically disillusioned citizens, who previously considered the current people's deputies good for nothing and democracy as a weak form of government, are convinced that the poor administration of the refugee crisis confirms their case.
Sociologists warn that a significant part of the German population has long moved away from what is commonly called democratic consensus. These people do not go to the polls, they ignore the parties and practically do not read newspapers.
However, it is by no means only the precariat (people who do not have permanent employment. - "Profil") that is receptive to the anti-democratic theses of the new right movement. The beliefs of the conservative part of the population in last years shifted to the right, partly due to trends in the German party system. A significant part of the traditional electorate of the CDU and CSU has long been unable to find a party in Germany that would meet their views. These people distanced themselves from the "Christian" politicians, because they did not want to support the modernization course of Angela Merkel, who, in her ten years as Chancellor, has given up one habitual position after another. In conservative circles, they perceived with bewilderment both the almost complete equalization of the rights of same-sex unions and traditional families, and the active increase in the number of nursery places, and the introduction of parental leave for fathers, and the abolition of military service on conscription, and, finally, the rejection of nuclear energy. And after Merkel's welcoming stance on refugees, the last ties between conservative German citizens and the CDU are shattering.
The situation is aggravated by the fact that the ruling Grand Coalition unites almost 80% of the seats in the Bundestag, and both opposition parties, the Left and the Greens, belong to the left flank. Alternative for Germany, as well as the Free Democratic Party of Germany (FDP), in the fall of 2013 could not overcome the five percent threshold. Thus, millions of more right-wing citizens are not represented in parliament at all.
That is why the political scientist Herfried Münkler speaks of the "narrowing of the political horizon." “The axis of tension between the political establishment and a large part of society has been broken,” says sociology professor Hartmut Rose. This is the deep reason for the success of the new right movement...
"Alternative for Germany"
None of the recognized parties, with the exception of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), can in principle expect that its voice will be heard in the new right-wing protest circles. In early August, the new leader of the party, Frauke Petri, presented a plan for an "autumn offensive" at a board meeting. Main topics: the euro and immigration. Everyone soon forgot about the euro - the party made a choice in favor of a radical option. AfD functionaries tried to outdo each other with extreme calls to resolve the refugee issue, from closing borders or removing the right to asylum from the Basic Law to the right to use firearms against refugees - of course, only "in case of emergency" ...
“Of course, we owe our revival primarily to the refugee crisis. We can say that he was a gift for us,” says the deputy head of the party, Alexander Gauland, while calling the migrants only “barbarians”.
After the impressive success of the French "National Front", many in the AfD dream of repeating such a breakthrough, becoming the right-wing "people's party" of Germany. Officially, Petrie still distances himself from Marine Le Pen's party. Nevertheless, many points of their programs almost coincide, especially on such topics as asylum, immigration and integration. And even in the field of economic policy, many of their theses are discouragingly similar: the National Front, like the AfD, does not accept the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), as well as bailing out the euro, banking union and anti-Russian sanctions. The AfD, like the National Front, is distrustful of large banks and concerns.
In addition, the party masses yearn for a show of solidarity with the French. In the comments on the party's official Facebook page, people wonder why the AfD does not celebrate Le Pen's successes. PEGIDA did not deny her supporters this pleasure: “Congratulations, Marin! Congratulations, National Front!” Lutz Bachmann wrote on his page on the social network…
"Gatekeepers" and "Maestro of Disinformation"
Often, supporters of the new right deliberately boycott the classical media and prefer to receive information from their own sources. In the jargon of German communicators, journalists are commonly referred to as “gatekeepers”: like watchmen at the gates of a medieval city, they decide which news is relevant and interesting enough to let it into the minds of readers or viewers.
More and more Germans believe that the "gatekeepers" - the classic media - are hiding important news from them. For example, that climate change is not so scary. Or that the euro is about to collapse and that nuclear power plants are safe. That the Americans want to bring Germany to the handle, and Putin is fighting for eternal peace. Therefore, the new right prefers to choose its own media “gatekeepers” and trust those who filter and manipulate information much more radically. Their supporters can correspond for hours on the Internet with like-minded people and revel in their bloodthirstiness on forums.
PEGIDA leader Lutz Bachmann is a "master of disinformation". The man, who trained as a cook and served time for theft, drug dealing and repeated burglaries, daily regales his Facebook friends with heartbreaking stories about the everyday life of refugees: in Osnabrück, a captured foreign stowaway showed aggression; in Speng (North Rhine-Westphalia) an Afghan molested a schoolgirl. Of course, these are all just "regrettable isolated cases," Bachmann ironically. When it comes to negative news, the provocateur implicitly believes the "false press". And he floods his feed with messages that fit into his picture of the world, whether it be verified information or wild rumors.
The degree of radicalization of a part of society can be judged by the fact that more and more often the instigators of discord do not hide their names, says Bielefeld conflictologist Andreas Zick: “Such radicalization makes people distance themselves from the majority in society.” In addition, self-identification with the group increases, group solidarity increases. This was also understood by the organizers of the right-wing movement, who now urge their supporters to sign under the comments with their real name ...
"Blond Beasts"
Traditional popular parties can only regain the trust of citizens if they manage to implement policies that distance themselves from xenophobia and nationalism, but at the same time take into account the sense of overwhelming burden and vulnerability that Germans today have. Otherwise, as German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble stated in Brussels at the beginning of December, the results of local elections in France will not put a "full end to this whole discussion."
Neither politicians nor the bourgeois middle class should have illusions about the goal of the right-wing ideologists and the ever-growing crowd of their "fellow travelers". This is the same goal pursued by people like Carl Schmitt, one of the fascist ideologues of the Weimar Republic. They want to destroy the existing democratic system in order to build something of their own, and it doesn't matter what specific shape this "something" will have.
One of the favorite visual images of movement is the image of a blonde woman with a blonde child on her lap, which is shared with each other by thousands of Facebook users. At the bottom is the signature: "Germany will outlive the FRG."
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