26.10.2025, Rostov-on-Don.
Fascism can produce an impression of respectability, but its essence always includes the idea of the superiority of one supposedly chosen civilized community over other supposedly “less civilized” ones, stated Andrey Klochkov, a participant in Russia’s special military operation and former lecturer in history and philosophy at the Don State Technical University (DSTU), on November 24, Rossa Primavera News Agency‘s correspondent wrote.
“We have a stereotype that fascism is exclusively an idea connected with the uniqueness of a certain nation. That all [fascists] must show the Nazi salute, hate Jews, and everything must be black and white,” stated Klochkov.
However, according to him, fascism can look very respectable and even attractive for young people. “There’s a joke: the best design project of the 20th century was ‘Hugo Boss’,” he added, reminding everyone of the German businessman Hugo Boss’s collaboration with the Nazis.
Using Italian fascism as an example, the historian explained that initially this fascism presented itself as a rebel movement with a certain “black flair of romanticism.” “But then, when fascism enters parliament, it must become respectable,” noted Klochkov.
“And it’s not necessary to show the Nazi salute — be it like Musk or like Hitler. It is enough to profess ideas connected with the superiority of one chosen civilization — either God-chosen or civilizationally chosen,” he described the essential features of fascism.
“And when we see examples of Russian neo-Nazis who go to Ukraine and fight there for our adversary, or, in fact, Ukrainian neo-Nazis, volunteers from Israel, who are accommodated in Kiev hotels and then go to the front — we should not be surprised either,” the participant of Russia’s special military operation stated.
He recalled how Nikolai Gogol, in his historical novella Taras Bulba, described the schism that runs through Russian-Ukrainian society. “This schism was depicted in the form of two brothers — Ostap and Andrey. Where Ostap chooses the side of faith, Orthodoxy, comradeship: ‘There is no bond more holy than comradeship!’. And Andrey chooses the beautiful Polish girl,” reminded Klochkov.
“Even when his father kills him — ‘I gave you life, I will take it away’ — Gogol writes that Andrey’s last thoughts are of his beloved, and so on. So it is a question of choice: of Western civilization, of a Western orientation,” the historian added.
“And fascism, in this case, is a way of contrasting Western civilization with some conditional (existing in the minds of ideologists) Eastern civilization: some kind of Horde, some kind of ‘Russian Untermenschen’, Muscovites, and so on. That is, there is a certain developed cultural civilization, and there is a certain backward, less-than-civilization,” explained the historian.
On November 24, a presentation of the revised multi-authored monograph “Ukrainism: Who constructed it and why” was held in Rostov-on-Don at the Don State Technical University. The monograph was written in 2023 by members of the Aleksandrovskoye commune of the Essence of Time movement, edited by political scientist Sergey Kurginyan.
The first edition of the multi-authored monograph “Ukrainism: Who constructed it and why” was published in 2017. In March 2023, the research team of the Aleksandrovskoye commune presented the first two volumes of the second edition in Moscow. In 2024–2025, a documentary film series “Ukrainism,” based on the monograph’s materials, was released on the Zvezda TV channel.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
