National Alliance of Russian Solidarists

An NTS pin

The National Alliance of Russian Solidarists (Russian: Национально Трудовой Союз Nacional'no Trudovoj Sojuz or Народно-Трудовой Союз российских солидаристов Narodnno-Trudovoj Sojuz rossijskix solidaristov)), known by its Russian abbreviation "NTS" (НТС) is a Russian far-right anticommunist organization founded in 1930 by a group of young Russian anticommunist White emigres in Belgrade, Serbia (then part of Kingdom of Yugoslavia).

The organization was formed in response to the older generation of Russian emigres (veterans of the White movement) who were perceived as being stagnant and resigned to their loss in the Russian Civil War. The youth which formed NTS decided to take an active role in fighting communism by studying the newly emerging Soviet culture, the psyche of a person living in the USSR, and developing a political program based on the concept of solidarism.

Political Program

The solidarist ideology of NTS was built on the Christian understanding of people's collective social responsibility for each other's welfare, and the voluntary cooperation between the different layers (as opposed to classes) of society, in opposition to the Marxist concept of the class struggle. It also believed strongly in the "sanctity of the individual", in contrast to Marxist collectivism.

From a 1967 English language NTS pamphlet:

Unlike Communism, Solidarism provides a twentieth-century basis for dealing with present day issues. It rejects a purely materialistic approach to social, economic and political problems. It postulates that man, rather than matter, is the chief problem today. It rejects the concept of class warfare and hatred, and seeks to replace this dubious principle with the idea of co-operation (solidarity), brotherhood, Christian tolerance and charity. Solidarism believes in the innate dignity of the individual and seeks to safeguard as inalienable rights his freedom of speech, conscience and political organization. Solidarists in no way claim that their ideas represent the final answer to all problems, but they believe that man who is master of the atom bomb must also become master of himself and his destiny.

The platform did not rule out a monarchy, but it refused to pre-decide the question of a free Russia's political structure (the policy of "non-predetermination" [Russian: непредрешенчество nepredrešhenčhestvo]) outside of a popular plebiscite. In this regard it was similar to the White movement which deferred the decision of Russia's political structure to a constituent assembly. However, unlike the White movement, its successor organization ROVS, and other emigre organizations, NTS had developed a specific political program which included a definition of human rights and an economic program. This made the organization attract the attention of General Andrey Vlasov during the Russian Liberation Movement, who borrowed many points from NTS's program in developing his own.

The NTS platform rejected the traditional labels of "liberal" and "conservative", claiming "We are not to the right, or to the left, we are at the front!" (Мы не справа и не слева, мы впереди! My ne sprava i ne sleva, my vperedi!) The NTS called for a "second revolution", as opposed to a "counter-revolution", believing that after Bolshevism Russia needed to be reborn and avoid returning to the mistakes of the pre-revolutionary era. At the same time, NTS rejected the views of groups such as the Smenovekhovtsi and Mladorossi who called for a reconciliation with the Bolshevik regime, believing that Bolshevism is corrupt and incapable of evolution, therefore it needs to be eradicated, not reformed.

Some liberal critics in the Russian emigre community have accused NTS of having a fascist ideology. For instance, Dr. Marc Raeff wrote in the Slavic Review (Summer, 1989, 48(2), pp. 305-306) that,

They [the NTS] rejected both Bolshevism and liberal capitalism and embraced Russian patriotism and the priority of national solidarity based on productive labor contributed by all societal sectors. They displayed a predisposition for a corporatist organization of society and a willingness to accept a temporary dictatorship in order to bring about the nation's moral and spiritual regeneration. Their ideas unmistakably resembled those of Italian fascism and Portuguese and Austrian corporatism.

NTS supporters believe the organization always defended democratic participation in government (even in the case of a monarch), championed individual liberties, supported individualism, and rejected chauvinism.

Membership

The NTS initially accepted young men and women only under the age of thirty (occasional exceptions were made), feeling that only the generation which could not in any way be seen as accountable for the events of 1917 could lead this battle. This restriction was removed by World War II. Members could be open or secret, the latter was a frequent option during the NTS's activity in the Russian Liberation Movement.

The NTS included not only Russians but other traditional peoples of Russia (e.g., Georgians, Balts, Kalmyks), hence the organization used the term Rossijane (россияне; meaning "peoples of Russia") rather than Russkie (русские; meaning "ethnic Russians") in their political programs. Many Russophiles also joined the organization, e.g., Germans, Poles, Slovenians.

The organization adopted a logo of the Russian flag with the symbol of St. Vladimir, frequently used by Ukrainians, to demonstrate the continuity and interrelatedness of Russian and Ukrainian tradition. The trident was also used by NTS as a revolutionary symbol, called the "forks of the people's anger".

Perhaps the most famous NTS member was Alexander Galich, a Russian-Jewish screenwriter and bard whose anti-Soviet songs caused him to be exiled from the USSR.

Revolutionary Activity

The NTS believed that force was the only means by which the Soviet regime could be toppled, and that an internal revolution was the best means for this.

The group made several attempts at sending its people into the USSR illegally before, during, and after World War II for the purpose of creating an underground revolutionary force in Soviet Russia. The organization, despite the support of foreign intelligence agencies, could not match the powerful network of the OGPU and NKVD. The pre and post war attempts were the least successful, often ending in shootouts with the Soviet Secret police, or capture. The war period was the most successful, although there were a high number of casualties who either suffered at the hands of the Gestapo, or sleeper cells which were uncovered by the Soviet secret police.

The NTS was also actively involved in the Russian Liberation Movement during the war.

The organization adopted a new strategy after the war called the "molecular theory" of revolution, where Soviet citizens were urged (via propaganda literature and radio messages) to create "molecular revolutionary groups" no larger than three people in size in order to minimize the risk of infiltration. These groups were to keep in contact with the NTS center which was located in Frankfurt, Germany. At a ripe moment, the center would coordinate the activity of the molecules and create a revolutionary army out of them.

The NTS's "Closed Sector", the coordination center for underground revolutionary activity, was dissolved in 1991 after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Propaganda

The NTS actively sent out propaganda leaflets via air balloons and other means, including direct mail. Messages with anti-Stalinist slogans and the NTS's political program were printed on leaflets, handkerchiefs, fake rubles, false books, etc.

The organization also set up a radio station called Radio Free Russia. Broadcasts were made from West Germany into the Soviet zone until the West German government was pressured by the Soviet government to shut the station down.

Publications

The Posev publishing house was run by NTS as a means of publishing anti-Soviet literature. Samizdat literature smuggled outside of the USSR was published, such as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's writings and the poems of Alexander Galich and Bulat Okudzhava. Posev (Посев, lit. "sowing" in Russian) is also the name of a magazine published by NTS since 1945.

Currently, the Posev publishing house mainly publishes books on Russian history, focusing specifically on the history of the anti-communist movement.

Presidents of the NTS

• 1930-1933 Duke Sergei Leuchtenberg
• 1934-1954 Viktor M. Baydalakov
• 1955-1972 Vladimir D. Poremsky
• 1972-1984 Aleksandr Artemov
• 1984-1995 Evgeni Romanovich Ostrovsky (Romanov)
• 1997-2001 Leonid Dmitrievich Kuznechov

Soviet response

The Soviets responded to NTS's activities via several methods including arrests, assassination attempts, kidnappings, counterpropaganda, and diplomatic pressure. NTS members who were found in Soviet controlled territories were arrested. Several assassination attempts were made against key NTS members. One of them, NTS chairman George Okolovich, had his would be assassin, Mikhail Khokhlov, confess to him and defect, embarrassing the Soviet government with his media campaign. There were also several bombing attempts.

Dr. Rudolf Trushnovic, a prominent NTS member of Slovenian origin, was kidnapped by Stasi agent Heinz Glezke and smuggled abroad in a Soviet diplomatic car to the East German sector. He is believed to have died in transit as a result of the trauma from the struggle that ensued during his kidnapping.

Anti-NTS pamphlets and newsreel films were produced by the USSR. One such pamphlet was supposedly written by Constantine Cherezov, a former NTS member who defected from Germany back to the USSR. The pamphlet accuses the leaders of NTS being employees of American and British intelligence. It also labels them as drunkards, homosexuals, and gamblers who had at one point or another served the Nazi regime.

In addition, the Soviet government used its international ties to pressure foreign governments to suppress NTS's activities. One such successful example is the closing down of "Radio Free Russia" by the West German government.

Songs

A song titled "The Bright Hour Knocks" (Бьёт светлый час B'ët svetlij čas) became the organization's main song, used as an anthem but never called such. It was written in the early 1930s by NTS member Michael Gnilorybov.

Another song was also very popular, called "Youth" (Молодёжная Molodëžnaja) or "The Past is the Source of Inspiration" (В былом источник вдохновенья V bylom istočnik vdoxnoven'ja), written by NTS member Pavel Zelensky (Павел Николаевич Зеленский; 1904–1978) in the late 1930s. This song was also adopted by the Russian Scout organization ORYuR as the anthem of its leadership circle, which had many NTS members.

See also

• White movement
• Russian Liberation Movement
• Russian All-Military Union (ROVS)
• VSHSON
• White Emigre
• Russian All National Popular State Movement
• Mladorossi
• Smenovekhovtsi
• Evraziitsi

References

• (1994) The Mission of the Russian Emigration, M.V. Nazarov. Moscow: Rodnik. ISBN 978-5-86231-172-3
• (1986) Novopokolentsy, B. Prianishnikoff. Silver Spring, MD. ISBN 978-0-9616413-1-3

External links

• Official site of the NTS
• Site of the Posev publishing house
• Site of the Perm NTS group, which split off from the main NTS organization in the 1990s (in Russian)