Albert Makashov

Albert Makashov
Альберт Макашов
Member of the State Duma
In office
29 December 2003 – 24 December 2007
In office
17 December 1995 – — 18 January 2000
People's Deputy of the Soviet Union
In office
25 May 1989 – 2 January 1992
Personal details
Born
Albert Mikhailovich Makashov

(1938-06-12) June 12, 1938 (age 86)
Levaya Rossosh, Voronezh Oblast, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
CitizenshipRussia
Political partyCommunist Party of the Russian Federation
Movement in Support of the Army
Known forCommander of the Ural Military District (1989-1991)

Colonel General Albert Mikhailovich Makashov (Russian: Альберт Михайлович Макашóв; born 12 June 1938) is a Russian officer and a nationalist-communist politician.

Biography

Makashov was born in Levaya Rossosh, Voronezh Oblast. He graduated from the Tashkent Higher Combined Arms Command School, finished the M. V. Frunze Military Academy (with the gold medal), and the General Staff Academy (with the gold medal) during the 1960s. He became major general of the Red Army in 1979, serving in the Caucasus region.

In 1989, Makashov was elected to the Supreme Soviet. He ran in the 1991 presidential election as an "independent nationalist", obtaining 3.74%. He then supported the Soviet coup d'état attempt that took place later in the same year. During the October crisis of 1993 he was in charge of the defense of the White House. He organized a people army which, on 3 October, stormed the police cordons, seized the Moscow Mayor's office and attempted to seize the Ostankino Tower.

After the rebellion was suppressed, Makashov and a number of other opposition figures were arrested. After the imprisonment and amnesty in 1994, he was elected a deputy to the State Duma as a member of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (since 1995).

1991 presidential campaign

Makashov ran in the 1991 Russian presidential election. His running mate was Alexey Sergeyev (who had originally been running for president himself).[1]

Having made a name for himself after strongly attacking perestroika at the 1990 RSFSR Party Congress, calls for Mashakov to run for president arose in mid-May.[2][3] Demonstrators at a May 10, 1991 pro-Stalin demonstration in Moscow organized by the conservative movement Yedinstvo were reported by the media to have called for Mashakov to run.[2] Several military units in Central Russia endorsed him as a candidate.[3]

On May 14, 1991, Makashov announced that he would run for president.[3]

Makashov declared his goal as president would be to preserve Russia as a power by insuring that it be strong and wealthy.[4] He promised that would fight for the preservation of a strong Soviet Union and its armed forces.[3] He also promised that to restore law and order to Russian society.[4] He opposed the privatization of Russian industries, arguing that enterprises should instead be placed under the control of worker collectives.[4] He additionally proposed changing the RSFSR's political system so that its parliament and its local soviets would be elected by workers' collectives rather than through popular elections.[4]

Considered to be a hard-liner, during his campaign Makashov publicly exchanged heated debate with reformers such as Aleksandr Yakovlev.[5] He also attacked liberal media, accusing them of distributing anti-military propaganda.[3] Makashov's campaign politics were characterized as neo-Stalinist.[6] He was considered to be a military zealot.[7]

Mashakov's campaign appealed to a core base of neo-Stalinists.[8] His candidacy received the backing of neo-Stalinist Nina Andreyeva.[4]

Two of the groups which Makashov intended to focus on getting the votes of were military personnel and "patriotic" Russians.[9] A third group he intended to focus on were members of the workforce who were worried by Yeltsin's economic proposals. In order to appeal to this third group, Makashov's campaign repeatedly referenced "social defense" in the transition to a market economy.[9]

Accusations of antisemitism

Jewish associations and a number of commentators have accused Makashov of being antisemitic. According to a report produced by the Anti-Defamation League and the National Conference on Soviet Jewry, Makashov "has become infamous worldwide for his anti-Semitic outbursts blaming Jews for the country's economic problems, and advocating the establishment of a quota on the number of Jews allowed in Russia."[10] The Jewish Week stated that Makashov "has long revelled in unabashed anti-Jewish rhetoric".[11]

Makashov was accused of appearing on TV to "advocate the extinction of the 'Zhyds', and he promised to take at least 10 Zhyds with him into the next world." According to Alexander Saley, a communist deputy from Tatarstan and ally of Makashov, "He was misquoted. [He] was quite specific in addressing specific people but the media put it in a more general way. Among Makashov's closest friends are quite a few Jews."[12] After the general's call for expulsion of all Jews at a public meeting in 1999, there were attempts to prosecute him for hate speech; the newspaper Kommersant ran an article about him named "Makashov — Zoological Antisemite".[13] David Duke, who visited Moscow in 1999, met Makashov and expressed his support for the General.[14]

Makashov was among the signatories of the "Letter of 5000", which was described as "an appeal to the prosecutor general urging him to review the activity of all Jewish organizations in Russia due to their alleged extremism" against non-Jews. The open letter was published in January 2005 in Rus Pravoslavnaya, a Russian Orthodox newspaper. Amongst the 500 signatures, Makashov was among 19 members of the State Duma (five from the Communist Party, and 14 from the Rodina Party).[15] Makashov defended the letter in an appearance on a televised debate show hosted by Vladimir Solovyov on 3 February 2005; 53 percent of the more than 100,000 viewers who called the station maintained that Makashov got the better of his debate opponent— Alexei Leonov— who denounced Makashov for ethnic incitement.[11]

References

  1. ^ Mann, Dawn (April 22, 1991). ""COMMUNISTS OF RUSSIA" CONFERENCE". www.friends-parters.org. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
  2. ^ a b Rahr, Alexander (May 13, 1991). "GENERAL MAKASHOV PROPOSED FOR RUSSIAN PRESIDENCY". www.friends-parners.org. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Archived from the original on September 20, 2018. Retrieved September 19, 2018.
  3. ^ a b c d e Rahr, Alexander (May 15, 1991). "MAKASHOV AGREES TO RUN FOR RUSSIAN PRESIDENCY". www.friends-parners.org. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Archived from the original on September 20, 2018. Retrieved September 19, 2018.
  4. ^ a b c d e Rahr, Alexander (June 4, 1991). "MAKASHOV CAMPAIGNING". www.friends-partners.org. Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty. Archived from the original on September 20, 2018. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
  5. ^ Wishnevsky, Julia (May 28, 1991). "YAKOVLEV CLASHES WITH MAKASHOV". www.friends-partners.org. Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty. Archived from the original on September 17, 2018. Retrieved September 16, 2018.
  6. ^ Nichols, Thomas M. The Russian Presidency: Society and Politics in the Second Russian Republic.
  7. ^ Kara-Murza, Vladimir (June 16, 2011). "Russia's First Presidential Election, Twenty Years On". www.worldaffairsjournal.org. World Affairs Journal. Archived from the original on September 30, 2018. Retrieved September 30, 2018.
  8. ^ Solovyov, Vladimir; Klepikova, Elena (June 1995). Zhirinovsky. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company. pp. 17–18. ISBN 9780201409482.
  9. ^ a b Urban, Michael E. (1992). "Boris El'tsin, Democratic Russia and the Campaign for the Russian Presidency". Soviet Studies. 44 (2): 187–207. doi:10.1080/09668139208412008. JSTOR 152022.
  10. ^ Anti-Defamation League; National Conference on Soviet Jewry (2001). "Growing Anti-Semitism in Russia". The Reemergence of Political Anti-Semitism in Russia. Archived from the original on 22 September 2014. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  11. ^ a b Ruby, Walter (10 February 2005). "The Great Hate Debate". The Jewish Week. Archived from the original on 2 July 2012. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  12. ^ "A history of hate". The Guardian. 15 August 1999. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  13. ^ "Макашов — зоологический антисемит". Kommersant (in Russian). No. 28. 25 February 1999. p. 2. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  14. ^ "'МЫ С ВАМИ, БРАТЬЯ ПО БОРЬБЕ!' ('We are with you, BROTHERS TO COMBAT!')". Zavtra (in Russian). Vol. 41, no. 306. 10 December 1999. Archived from the original on 21 February 2005. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  15. ^ IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (12 March 2007). "Anti-Semitism and response by the government (2005 - March 2007)". Retrieved 20 February 2016.

Further reading