Russia for Russians

Russia for Russians (Russian: Росси́я для ру́сских, Rossiya dlya russkikh, Russian pronunciation: [rɐˈsʲijə dʲlʲɪ ˈruskʲɪx]) is a political slogan and nationalist doctrine, encapsulating the range of ideas from bestowing the ethnic Russians with exclusive rights in the Russian state to expelling all non-Russians from the country. Originated in the Russian Empire in the latter half of the 19th century, the slogan has become increasingly popular in modern Russia, challenging the dominant discourse of multiculturalism within Russia.

The original "Russia for Russians" idea has variously been ascribed to a Black Hundreds ideologue Vladimir Gringmut, to General Mikhail Skobelev (1843-1882), or to Tsar Alexander III of Russia (1845-1894). Gringmut authored one of the first publications to use the slogan. He proclaimed "Russia for Russian" as a slogan of the Russian Monarchist Party, which, he wrote, "clearly sees that if Russia is left to the people of alien stock and religion, and to foreigners, – not only will not be the Autocracy, but Russia herself." Another version attributes the notion to Alexander III, who declared that "Russia should belong to Russians, and all others dwelling on this land must respect and appreciate this people". According to General Aleksey Kuropatkin, Alexander chose "Russia for Russians" as his watchword. General Skobelev is also reported to have said that "I want to inscribe on my banner: 'Russia for Russians and in a Russian way,' and raise this flag as high as possible!"

In the last decades of the 19th century, some Russian political movements proposed reclassifying "Russia" as an ethnic or even as a racial category. They advocated "Russia for Russia" and believed that Russians deserved more rights than other nationalities in their "own empire" as they had established and maintained the state in the first place. Such exclusive nationalists denounced non-Russians as grossly ungrateful for the benefits they had received from Russian rule. Although these sentiments caught the minds of some intellectuals in the latter part of the 19th century, right-wing xenophobic organizations originated during the Russian Revolution of 1905, when political parties were finally legalized. They made "Russia for the Russians" their battle cry, yet were determined to preserve "one and united Russia" through the Russification of the non-Russians. The first hostile "other" to be targeted were the Jews, and "Russia for Russians" was soon augmented with the slogan "Beat up the Yids and save Russia!".

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Wikipedia