By Yorgos Mitralias

The subject of this article is not Putin the warmonger, nor Putin the invader of Ukraine. The subject of this article is Putin, the anti-democrat, the reactionary and the liberticide with increasingly fascist practices. So, after presenting the first pillar of the Brown International in gestation in the person of Israeli genocidaire Bibi Netanyahu, and awaiting the third who would be a Donald Trump all haloed by a possible success in the American elections in a few days’ time, here is Russia’s Vladimir Putin, godfather and idol of the global far right, and second pillar of this neo-fascist International in construction!
But why has Putin become the idol of the far right and neo-fascists the world over? The answer is the same as the one given recently when talking about Netanyahu: Putin is the “flesh of the flesh” of this global extreme right, because he shares with it the same profound aversion to the most elementary democratic rights and freedoms, the same adoration of the supreme leader and brute force, the same lack of any scruples in the exercise of power, the same hatred of the different and the minority, the same chauvinistic and obscurantist pseudo-messianism, the same division of humanity into conquering and dominating races and nations on the one hand, and dominated and subjugated races on the other. It would therefore be enough to replace Netanyahu’s name with Putin’s, to assert that “the neo-fascist and neo-Nazi right-wing scum in Europe and around the world recognize themselves in him because they consider, quite rightly, that Vladimir Putin is flesh of their flesh. And not just because of his warlike and other “exploits”, which have made Putin’s Russia the model state of their dreams (and our nightmares). If all these people celebrate him and identify with him, it’s also because Putin is a pure-blooded fascist by virtue of his origins, his training and his mentors….”
However, Putin’s elective affinities with the international far right take on their full meaning when we add to them his shared mortal hatred of all things left-wing. This is how Putin sets himself up as a more than visceral anti-communist when he addresses his compatriots a few hours before his invasion of Ukraine, justifying it with these words: “So let me start with the fact that modern Ukraine was created entirely by Russia, or more precisely, by Bolshevik and Communist Russia. The process began almost immediately after the 1917 revolution, and Lenin and his comrades-in-arms did it in a very crude way to Russia itself – by secession, by ripping off parts of its own historical territories.“ And to make it clearer, Putin adds these phrases worthy of a nostalgic of the tsarist regime: “From the point of view of the historical destiny of Russia and its people, the Leninist principles of state building were not only a mistake, they were, as we say, even worse than a mistake.”
But this visceral anti-communism wouldn’t be enough to qualify Putin as a fascist if it weren’t for his bad company with patent fascists and his increasingly frequent… “bizarre” statements about the history of Nazism. Like, for example, the one he made during his interview with ultra-reactionary American journalist Tucker Carlson last February, when he asserted that “the Poles had not given the Danzig Corridor to Germany, and went too far, pushing Hitler to start World War II by attacking them. Why was it Poland against whom the war started on 1 September 1939? Poland turned out to be uncompromising, and Hitler had nothing to do but start implementing his plans with Poland.”
So here’s Mr. Putin, rewriting the history of the Second World War to exonerate Hitler and his criminal regime. As we wrote at the time: “So, if Mr. Putin is to be believed, the real culprit behind the outbreak of the Second World War was…Poland! And Mr. Hitler and his army, who he claims were so friendly to the Poles, only attacked Poland…under duress due to the intransigence of that country’s leaders! In other words, Putin takes at face value, adopts and re-proposes to us what Hitler himself said at the time to justify his invasion of Poland! But what’s even more mind-boggling is that this outrageous absolution of Hitler and his Third Reich comes from the same Mr. Putin who keeps talking about the need to “denazify” Ukraine in order to justify his war against that country!!”
Mr. Putin’s attempt to rewrite the history of the Second World War isn’t all that surprising, given his predilection for ultra-reactionary or even outright fascist “philosophers” and other “masters of thought” currently in vogue in Putin’s Russia. Take, for example, Ivan Ilyin (Иван Ильин), a Russian émigré philosopher and champion of Mussolini’s fascism and Hitler’s Nazism, both of which he served and associated with in the ’20s and ’30s, and whom Putin has been quoting more and more frequently over the past decade. Why this adoration of this Slavophile aristocrat and avowed fascist? Because Ilyin postulated a (greater) Russia – including the Ukraine, which should not exist – that resembles like two drops of water the one Putin is building: a highly centralized state, headed by an all-powerful, idolized autocrat, who would rule regardless of the outcome of the electoral ritual known in advance.
It’s no coincidence that the Kremlin wanted to honor this champion of fascism and Nazism by naming Moscow University’s Higher Political School after him. Unfortunately for him, his scandalous decision provoked the student’s anger this spring, who mobilized in their thousands in at least ten Russian cities. Despite the repression, their petition gathered 28,000 student signatures in just a few days, forcing the authorities and the school’s director, none other than the Kremlin’s other philosopher-guru Alexander Dugin, to call the protesters “the sixth column of the West” and “agents of foreigners”! A telling detail: this Dugin liked to talk to and be photographed with deputies from Greece’s very neo-Nazi …
Moscow students’ poster: Let’s say “no” to fascism at the RGGMoscow students’ poster: Let’s say “no” to fascism at the RGGUIn the end, what unites Putin with neo-fascist and far-right parties and organizations around the world is not only their conspiracism, their penchant for the police conception of history, their misogyny and their shared hatred of democracy (even bourgeois democracy), freedom of expression and the right of workers to organize in unions and strike. Nor their hatred of migrants, feminists, LGBT people, Muslims, anti-racists, ecologists, anti-fascists and all those who dare to challenge them. What unites them and makes them, Putin in the lead, so dangerous is above all their necrophilic inhumanity and their common mortifying aversion to all that is class struggle, resistance and the fight for the emancipation of those below!
So it’s clear that, taking advantage of his country’s importance and the financial, military, political and other resources it can make available to him, Putin seems increasingly determined to play the card of federator of the ever-growing international far right. In short, he is determined to forge ahead with the construction of the Brown International he aspires to lead…
Mr. Putin’s attempt to rewrite the history of the Second World War isn’t all that surprising, given his predilection for ultra-reactionary or even outright fascist “philosophers” and other “masters of thought” currently in vogue in Putin’s Russia. Take, for example, Ivan Iline (Иван Ильин), a Russian émigré philosopher and champion of Mussolini’s fascism and Hitler’s Nazism, both of which he served and associated with in the ’20s and ’30s, and whom Putin has been quoting more and more frequently over the past decade… Why this adoration of this Slavophile aristocrat and avowed fascist? Because Iline postulated a (greater) Russia – including the Ukraine, which should not exist – that resembles like two drops of water the one Putin is building: a highly centralized state, headed by an all-powerful, idolized autocrat, who would rule regardless of the outcome of the electoral ritual known in advance.
poster of the students’ movement: on the left,Ilyin makes the fascist salute, and Dugin on the rightIt’s no coincidence that the Kremlin wanted to honor this champion of fascism and Nazism by naming Moscow University’s Higher Political School after him. This scandalous decision provoked a reaction from students this spring, who mobilized in their thousands in at least ten Russian cities. Despite the repression, their petition gathered 28,000 student signatures in just a few days, forcing the authorities and the school’s director, none other than the Kremlin’s other philosopher-guru Alexander Dugin, to call the protesters “the sixth column of the West” and “agents of foreigners”! A telling detail: this Dugin liked to talk to and be photographed with deputies from Greece’s very neo-Nazi group Golden Dawn…
we say no to fascismUltimately, what unites Putin with neo-fascist and far-right parties and organizations the world over is not only their conspiracy mongering, their penchant for the police conception of history, their misogyny and their shared hatred of democracy (even bourgeois democracy), freedom of expression and the right of workers to organize in trade unions and go on strike. Nor their hatred of migrants, feminists, LGBT people, Muslims, anti-racists, ecologists, anti-fascists and all those who dare to challenge them. What unites them and makes them, Putin in the lead, so dangerous is above all their necrophilic inhumanity and their common mortifying aversion to all that is class struggle, resistance and the fight for the emancipation of those from below!
So it’s clear that, taking advantage of his country’s importance and the financial, military, political and other resources it can make available to him, Putin seems increasingly determined to play the card of federator of the ever-growing international far right. In short, he is determined to forge ahead with the construction of the Brown International he aspires to lead…