Modern Russian Conservatism: Bonds and Contradictions (A Content Analysis of Telegram Channels)

The article continues author’s publication based on the analysis of three trends in modern Russian conservatism conventionally called “whites” – representatives of the right-wing sovereign-patriotic ideology; “reds” – bearers of the left-wing sovereign-patriotic ideology; and “greens” – supporters of Islamic conservatism in the Russian republics. One of the key conclusions in the previous article was that negative consolidation is currently a main mechanism in the ideological unity of these movements. This article analyzes alleged stability of such an ideological bond under the pressure of domestic political problems, primarily related to differing attitudes of these movements to migration, ethnicity and religion. Although representatives of the three ideological conservatism currents use common terminology of “defending traditional values” and fight against a common enemy in political polemics, they put fundamentally different, often irreconcilable meanings into these narratives. Therefore, the conservative ideology of “Russia’s special way” and “traditional values” does not restrain the growth of ideological and political conflicts within conservative mainstream of Russian ideological life. In addition, there are different dynamics in development of the studied cconservatism currents in Russia. In our opinion, the “whites” and, first of all, their nationalist wing, are increasing their influence in society to a greater extent than other varieties of Russian conservatism. At the same time, “nationalist” narrative greatly weakens the negative consolidation bonds of “Whites,” “Reds,” and “Greens” towards a common rejection of the West, liberalism, “non-traditional” sexual orientations, and other “non-traditional” values. Popularity of nationalist discourse is explained by its simplicity and appeal to the problems that really concern many people, by skillful combination of populist rhetoric and activism. Further growth of nationalist populism in a multi-ethnic and multi-confessional country is dangerously fraught with mass conflict.