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Konstantin Rodzaevsky | |
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Константин Родзаевский | |
 Rodzaevsky in 1934 | |
| Secretary General of theRussian Fascist Party | |
| In office 26 May 1931 – 1 July 1943 | |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Konstantin Vladimirovich Rodzaevsky (1907-08-11)11 August 1907 Blagoveshchensk,Russian Empire |
| Died | 30 August 1946(1946-08-30) (aged 39) Moscow,Russian SFSR,Soviet Union |
| Cause of death | Execution by shooting |
| Political party | Russian Fascist Party |
| Profession | Lawyer |
| Signature |  |
Konstantin Vladimirovich Rodzaevsky (Russian:Константин Владимирович Родзаевский; 11 August [O.S. 29 July] 1907 – 30 August 1946) was the leader of theRussian Fascist Party, which he led in exile fromManchuria. Rodzaevsky was also the chief editor of the RFP paperNash Put'. After the defeat of anti-communist forces in theRussian Civil War, he fled to Manchuria in 1925 and eventually became the leading figure of the Russian Fascist movement. He was lured by theNKVD to return to the Soviet Union with false promises of immunity and executed in aLubyanka prison cellar after a trial for "anti-Soviet and counter-revolutionary activities".
Konstantin Vladimirovich Rodzaevsky was born in a small town neaf the city ofBlagoveshchensk, the administrative city ofAmur Oblast on the 11th of August 1907. Konstantin's family was decidedly middle class and was a part of a quite rare and frail status of Siberian bourgeoise. Vladimir Ivanovich, his father, was a gentleman who worked as a notary with a degree in law. His mother, Nadezhda Mikhailovna was from an old Blagoveshchensk family and devoted herself to raising Konstantin alongside his younger brother, Vladimir, and his two sisters, Nadezhda and Nina. Most notably, Konstantin had at some point became a member of theKomsomol during his adolescence.[1]
Unexpected to his family, Rodzaevsky fled theSoviet Union for Manchuria in 1925. InHarbin, Rodzaevsky entered the law academy and joined theRussian Fascist Organization. On May 26, 1931, he became theSecretary General of the newly created Russian Fascist Party; in 1934 the Party amalgamated with theAll-Russian Fascist Organization ofAnastasy Vonsyatsky, Rodzaevsky becoming its leader. He modeled himself onBenito Mussolini, and also used theSwastika as one of the symbols of the movement.
Rodzaevsky collected around himself personally selectedbodyguards, using the symbolism of the formerRussian Empire and Russiannationalist symbols; like theItalianBlackshirts, the Russian Fascists wore blackuniforms with blackcrossed belts. Rodzaevsky's black shirts were armed with weapons obtained from theImperial Japanese Army. They created an international organization ofWhite émigrés with a central office inHarbin, the "Far EastMoscow", and made connections in twenty-six nations around the world. The most important of these international posts were inNew York City.
Rodzaevsky had around 12,000 followers inManchukuo. During the 2,600th anniversary of the founding of theEmpire of Japan, Rodzaevsky, with a select group of people, paid his respects toEmperorHirohito at the official celebration in the region.
The fascists installed a greatswastika illuminated byneon light at their branch inManzhouli (Manchouli), at least 3 km from the Soviet border. It was kept on all day and night to provide a show of power against the Soviet government. Rodzaevsky awaited the day when, leaving these signs on the Russian border, he would lead the White Anti-Soviet forces, joining WhiteGeneral Kislitsin and Japanese forces, into battle to "liberate the people of Russia from Soviet rule". Their main military acts involved the training of theAsano Detachment, an entirely ethnic-Russianspecial force in theKwantung Army, organized for carrying out sabotage against Soviet forces in case of any Japanese invasion ofSiberia. Japan was apparently interested in creating aWhite Russian regime inOuter Manchuria.[2]
DuringWorld War II, Rodzaevsky tried to launch an open struggle againstBolshevism, but Japanese authorities limited the RFP's activities to acts ofsabotage in the Soviet Union. A notoriousanti-Semite, Rodzaevsky published numerous articles in the party newspapersOur way andThe Nation; he was also the author of thebrochure "Judas’ End"[3]and the book "Contemporary Judaisation of the World or theJewish Question in the 20th Century".[4]
Upon theSoviet invasion of Manchuria and the impending occupation, Rodzaevsky fled Harbin and moved to Shanghai, leaving his family behind.[5] At the end of the war, Rodzaevsky had what he called a "spiritual crisis". He claimed thatJoseph Stalin's regime was evolving into anationalist one. Rodzaevsky said he now understood that Stalinism was the ideal embodiment and realization of "our Russian fascism." In a long personal letter, he explained himself, made excuses, and admitted his mistakes. He admitted to participating in anti-Soviet activities, but said these were "acts against the motherland out of love for the motherland."[5] He said he was wrong to support Germany, but that he'd believed Hitler could help Russia by exterminating the Jews. The letter also showed striking similarities with the doctrines ofNational Bolshevism, with Rodzaevsky saying he was now a "national Communist and convincedStalinist":
I issued a call for an unknown leader, ... capable of overturning the Jewish government and creating a new Russia. I failed to see that, by the will of fate, of his own genius, and of millions of toilers, Comrade J.V. Stalin, the leader of the peoples, had become this unknown leader.
Rodzaevsky personally begged Stalin for forgiveness, referring to himself as "your unworthy slave".[5] In response, the Soviets offered him an amnesty and a job as a journalist in one of their newspapers. Rodzaevsky returned, only to be arrested upon arrival (along with fellow party-memberLev Okhotin). The trial, which began on August 26, 1946, was widely covered in the Soviet press. It was opened by the chairman of theMilitary Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union,Vasily Ulrikh. Rodzaevsky and other leaders of the RFP were charged withanti-Soviet agitation, creation of the Russian Fascist Party and distributing anti-Soviet propaganda among White army exiles and creation of similar anti-Soviet organizations in China, Europe and the United States. In addition, according to the verdict, he was involved in preparing an attack on the Soviet Union, together with a number of Japanese generals, as well as personally organizing spies and terrorist groups against the Soviet Union with the cooperation of German and Japanese intelligence. All of the defendants pleaded guilty.[6]
Rodzaevsky was sentenced to death. Also sentenced to various punishments wereGrigory Semyonov, Lev Fillipovich Vasilevsky, Aleksei Proklovich Baksheev,Lev Okhotin, Ukhtomsky and others. Rodzaevsky wasexecuted in aLubyanka prison cellar on 30 August 1946.
In 2001, Rodzaevsky's final book,The Last Will of a Russian Fascist ("Zaveshchanie russkogo fashista"), was published in Russia. On 11 October 2010, due to a decision by the Central District Court of Krasnoyarsk, the book became recognized in Russia as extremist material, and has been included in theFederal List of Extremist Materials (No. 861).
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