REVOLUTION FROM THE RIGHT: THE RUSSIAN BLACK HUNDREDS MOVEMENT AND ITS PLACE IN THE HISTORY OF EUROPEAN FAR RIGHT PARTIES AND MOVEMENTS Part I: Posing the questions for studying the Black Hundreds movement

Abstract

In historical literature, the Black Hundreds movement is generally understood as an ideological tendency of different political parties, movements, and individuals on the extreme right end of the political spectre in the Russian Empire. This article is the first in a proposed series of articles about different aspects of the Black Hundreds movement during the reign of Tsar Nicholas II. There are numerous stereotypes, elements of myth making and huge blank spots in both Russian and foreign historiography from the origins of the Black Hundreds movement right up to the present day. A superficial examination of Black Hundred ideology begs the question if the Black Hundreds were fascists or, at least, proto-fascists. Long term and comparative approaches can help us understand both the significance and current relevance of the Black Hundreds. The Black Hundreds movement was not an exclusively Russian phenomenon but rather an integral part of the European-wide rebellion against the heritage of the French Revolution and other great changes. In many ways, the Black Hundreds were forerunners of the mass far-right populist parties in contemporary Europe. Black Hundred criticism of any elites and establishments has a huge current relevance in understanding today’s right-wing populist parties and movements both in Russia and Europe. In its own way, the Black Hundreds movement was a revolutionary movement from the right against the existing order in Russia and made its own contribution to the fall of the autocracy and the special path of the Russian Revolution.