NEO-FASCISM AND THE STATE:
THE NEGOTIATION OF NATIONAL IDENTITY IN MODERN RUSSIA
by
HANNA BARANCHUK
Under the Direction of M. Lane Bruner, PhD
https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1087&context=communication_diss

A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University 2017

ABSTRACT

The present dissertation is a study of the process of national identity renegotiation in
modern Russia. More specifically, I analyze the use of the word fascism in contemporary
Russian discourse. Developing a blend of Kenneth Burke’s theory of human motives and Jacques
Lacan’s psychoanalytic theory of the subject, I compare the psycho-rhetorical narratives of the
four distinct parties - Vladimir Putin, state-sponsored “anti-fascists” (Nashi), independent antifascists (Antifa), and neo-fascists - which fight over the usage of the word fascism in their
attempts to renegotiate the meaning of Russianness. While explicating the mechanism of national
identity construction, Lacan’s theory, as I argue, does not help distinguish among various visions
of the nation. Therefore, I build upon Burke’s classification of symbolic frames (comedy,
tragedy, epic, elegy, satire, the burlesque, and the grotesque) to differentiate among alternative
fantasy-frames (Lacanian fantasy and Burkean frame) as more or less politically dangerous and
ethically sophisticated. As the reading of the four psycho-rhetorical narratives shows, the vision
of Russia proposed by Russian neo-fascists dangerously approximates the Russian idea promoted
by the state and pro-Putin “anti-fascists.”

INDEX WORDS: Neo-fascism, National identity, Nationalism, Neo-fascists, Nashi, Antifa,
Putin, Russia, Burke, Lacan, Psycho-rhetorical criticism

TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................. v
1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 1
2 THE TRAGICOMEDY OF THE NATION .......................................................... 19
2.1 Ideological Criticism as a Psycho-Rhetorical Enterprise .............................. 20
2.2 The Two Lacks as the Birthplace of Subjectivity........................................... 35
2.3 The Mirror Stage and the Study of National Identity Construction............ 42
2.4 The Neurotic Structure of National Subjectivity ........................................... 50
2.4.1 The Formula of the Subject.......................................................................... 53
2.5 Fantasy as an Attitude of the National Subject.............................................. 60
2.6 The Objet a and Symptoms............................................................................... 62
2.7 Attitude and Fantasy-Frames: A Lacanian-Burkean Ethical Framework . 70
2.8 The Imaginary and the Symbolic Levels of a Psycho-Rhetorical Analysis of
the Nation 87
2.8.1 The Imaginary: A Symptom as a Linguistic Motive.................................... 90
2.8.2 The Symbolic: The Objet a as the Ultimate Motive and the Four Discourses
94
2.9 The Critical Vigor of a Lacanian-Burkean Theory of National Identity
Construction .......................................................................................................................... 114
3 THE HISTORY OF THE NATIONAL SUBJECT: THE RUSSIANS AND THE
RUSSIAN IDEA........................................................................................................................ 119
vii
3.1 The Rewriting of History as an Ethical Enterprise...................................... 119
3.2 The Russian Idea ............................................................................................. 128
4 THE TRAGIC NARRATIVE OF THE RUSSIAN NEO-FASCIST MASTER178
4.1 The Reciprocity of Russian Neo-Fascism and the Russian Idea................. 179
4.2 Fascism, Pathology, Irrationality, and Ethics .............................................. 191
4.3 The Success and Failure of Russian Neo-Fascism........................................ 212
4.4 The Tragic Imagery of Russian Neo-Fascism............................................... 222
4.5 The Triumph of the Symbolic Master ........................................................... 255
5 THE MANY FACES OF TRUE AND PURPORTED ANTI-FASCISM IN
MODERN RUSSIA................................................................................................................... 267
5.1 Nashi as an Ideological Mouthpiece of the Kremlin .................................... 268
5.1.1 Nashi’s Tragic “Anti-Fascism”.................................................................. 280
5.1.2 Nashi’s Competitive “Democracy”............................................................. 321
5.2 The Comic National Fantasy of Independent Anti-Fascists (Antifa) as the
Agent of the Analyst’s Discourse ......................................................................................... 330
5.3 Vladimir Putin’s Russian Idea as a Tragic Response to Actual and
Perceived Fascism ................................................................................................................. 351
6 CONCLUSION....................................................................................................... 372
WORKS CITED............................................................................................................ 387
1
1 INTRODUCTION
On November 4, 2005, for the first time in the history of the country, Russians observed
National Unity Day.1
 The holiday was supposed to celebrate “the best features and qualities of
the Russian national character,” “traditions of mutual help,” and “sensitivity to the pain and
misfortunes of others.”
2 Yet, the spirit of the holiday was far from a display of compassion,
goodness or unity. Instead, National Unity Day was marked by fear and anger triggered by socalled Russian Marches (or Right Marches) – demonstrations organized by neo-fascist, ultranationalist and anti-immigrant activists in major cities in Russia. Major targets of the discontent
voiced by organizers and participants of the Russian Marches have been the churki (literally
translated as “wooden stubs”), or knuckleheads, as extreme nationalists derogatorily refer to
non-Slavic Muslim labor immigrants from former Soviet republics in Central Asia, the South
Caucasus, and Russian republics in the North Caucasus.3
In Moscow more than 2,000 members of ultra-right organizations “marched” from the
statue of Griboedov in Chistye Prudy to the Slavic Square, chanting “Russia is against
occupants,” “The Russians are coming,” “Russia belongs to us,” “Glory to the Empire,” “Russia
is everything, others are nothing,” “Russia is for Russians, Moscow is for Muscovites,” and
“Sieg Heil!”
4
In 2013 the Russian March attracted around 6,000 participants, who openly urged
for violent actions against non-Slavic population of Russia.5