Russian Nationalism Today: The Views Of Alexander Dugin

Contemporary Review, July, 2001 by Dmitry Shlapentokh

The Importance of Dugin's Views

I was ready to part, for Dugin's time was in short supply. While he rounded off before my eyes the prospect of a grand alliance of Russia, Iran, Central Asia, and possibly even Israel to confront Nato, another visitor was already waiting to talk to him. He, too, was a representative of the country which Dugin viewed as the mortal enemy of Russia/Eurasia, the United States.

Dugin's views, i.e., the sense of hostility to the West, seem to be spreading among the Russian elite, and not only among those who disagree with the government. In a public radio interview, the editor of one of the new Russian magazines stated that Russia and Nato are on a collision course and the Russian elite should strengthen the country's armed forces to be ready for all eventualities.

In the editor's view, the West in general and America in particular have done their best to destroy Russia. Russians, he continued, should drop their illusions about the West and be quite pragmatic and even cynical in dealing with the West. He stated that present day Russians would be wise not to follow the example of Nicholas II. He had fought for peace, just as Brezhnev had. The results of these struggles for peace were a disaster, the commentator emphasized. Russia experienced devasting defeats and the revolutions that led to Nicholas' death. Russians should look not to him but to Alexander III, who did not fight for peace. Alexander understood that the West was Russia's enemy and prepared for the war. And it was Alexander's policy that made Russia a powerful and influential player in global affairs. The commentator implied that the present day Russian elite should follow the road of Alexander's pragmatic nationalism.

How should one view the statements of Dugin and similar people about the inevitable confrontation of Russia/Eurasia with the West? Some of them should be carefully scrutinized. There are those who state that unless Russia is engaged the present day Russian elite will follow the Weimar scenario, and a Russian Hitler will come to power. This scenario is not only pleasing to the Russian elite for it implies a direct economic benefit, but it is also pleasing to Western scholars in Russian studies. For them, the prospect of a mighty nationalistic Russia threatening to confront the West also entails various materialistic benefits -- i.e., a better job market, fatter grants, easiness of publications, etc. This certainly explains their interest in Dugin and similar figures who are practically unknown in their own country but popular in the West.

Moreover, Dugin and other Russian nationalists do not seem to grasp the practical implications, both in their own lives and for Russia, of a confrontation with the West. In a nationalistic/authoritarian state Dugin would hardly be allowed to entertain foreigners. Quite likely a new wave of terrorism would consume Dugin and similar extravagant thinkers regardless of their professed love for a nationalistic order. For, as protagonists of the French and Russian Revolutions discovered long ago, revolutions usually eat their children. For the general population, the new political arrangement would call for a strict work discipline, conscription and, of course, a further decline in the already low standard of living.