17 August 2019

Kromiadi, the 1944 Prague Manifesto and Contemporary Alliances


Constantine Kromiadi was a Greco-Russian nationalist who fought on the White side in the Russian Civil Wars. He eventually became a Nazi collaborator who wanted to see Stalin defeated and some form of traditionalist Russia restored.


A top figure within the so-called Vlasov Movement and a supporter of the 1944 Prague Manifesto, Kromiadi as a former White Russian operative believed that collaboration with the Third Reich meant that Russia had the potential to reverse its course and have certain desirable social values and paradigms restored. Formed as a military unit under the aegis of the Third Reich the Vlasovites sought to fight alongside the Nazis and against the Stalinist USSR. Accused by some of war crimes, all agree their combat aims largely failed to materialise. Under Kromiadi the remnants of the movement were re-formed in the various displaced persons camps and worked very early on with the predecessors of the CIA and eventually with the organisation itself.*  
Kromiadi transitioned smoothly from Nazi Collaborator to CIA asset and would remain affiliated with Langley for decades to come.
The 1944 Manifesto associated with Vlasov provides a window into the thought of figures like Kromiadi. It argued from a nationalist platform, and allowed for ethnic groups to pursue self-determination. A somewhat fragmented nationalism or form of federalism, the manifesto was opposed to both internationalist Marxism and the centralised power of Stalinism.
The document centered on protecting the family and placed women's equality within this framework. Opposing both unrestricted market capitalism and collectivism, the authors argued for private property and ownership along with economic policies that supported the family, cottage industries, workers and local economies.
It supported a call to what amounts to a middle class standard of living and protections for what it viewed as the fundamental planks of society and the nation. It is under this national consensus that it argued for 'rights' such as freedom of speech, the press, religion and the right to assemble.
Criticised for collaborating with the Third Reich the supporters of the Manifesto argued that the Western Democracies had betrayed these conservative principles having allied with the USSR in 1941. On a practical level their concord with Nazi Germany was their only hope.
What's most interesting about this is that if the context is changed to the present I find not a few Christian Rightists thinking and arguing along similar lines. The platform of the Prague Manifesto is not all that different from the vision being advocated the Christians who would ally with the Orban and Salvini governments and in some ways the Manifesto's opposition to the Western Democracies echoes the perceived betrayal by the Atlantic Globalists vis-à-vis the interests of nations and the domestic sphere, the family and local economies.
After the war Kromiadi became involved in Radio Liberty which is also associated with Radio Free Europe. Up until the 1970's the organisation could safely be described as a CIA project. Since then it has gone through several incarnations but is still deeply connected to the US Establishment and acts as a propaganda arm of the State Department and the CIA. Many believe (and with good reason) the CIA is still deeply involved in its projects but at this point any funding has been obscured.
During the Cold War the radio networks were used to target the Eastern Bloc and the Soviet Union. For Kromiadi the former Nazi collaborator, the Right wing outlook and aspirations of the American CIA is where he found his home and made his post-war career. Like many other ex-fascists, nationalists and sacral thinkers, the Right and Far Right is where they found their home.
This history has been largely forgotten and is today subject to manipulation. Indeed a small minority of the Vlasovite factions after the war grew frustrated with Western (American) efforts to combat the USSR and ended up moving to the 'left' and formed alliances with former Menshevik elements living in exile, mostly in the United States. Some of these splits were due to a generational divide of those who had come to an anti-Soviet opinion in the context of Bolshevist rule as opposed to older White elements that were ideologically rooted in the imperial period. Of course the Mensheviks themselves were a broad and somewhat divided movement. Though socialist, there was a right-wing element present in their ranks that was able to make compromises and indeed many supported the continuation of WWI in the wake of the 1917 Revolution. Playing a significant role in the Provisional Government led by Kerensky, their disunity and lack of political focus helped to create the conditions leading to the Bolshevik October Revolution later that year. The Provisional Government was a mixed affair containing both aristocratic and capitalist elements. Kerensky himself though a 'socialist revolutionary' would eventually make his way to the United States and worked with the Right-wing Hoover Institution.
As we daily creep toward geopolitical scenarios that echo the 1920's and 1930's, the matrix in which fascism arose, these histories are all the more pertinent. This is especially true as the history is being revised and filtered and re-cast to fit modern agendas. There's a warning here and despite all the revision taking place, the facts don't lie. The Far Right and Fascist forces associated with World War II that wished to continue the fight (as it were) overwhelmingly associated with the American Right, American intelligence agencies, think-tanks and propaganda arms. Kromiadi is but an interesting footnote to the story. Journalists and historians have probed these questions but what came out before 1989 remained fodder for the Far Left and when much more was revealed in the 1990's, the forward looking cultural moment meant that such stories and revelations were unable to stir a great deal of interest. For those of us who continue to find this narrative a source of great fascination we see history coming full circle and beginning to repeat itself. And as is so often the case, the lessons have not been learned.
In those days there were Right-wing socially conservative forces which were sometimes less than fully on-board with the fascist programme and yet were willing to work with and alongside these forces to achieve their greater goals and to defeat the enemies which they perceived as representing godless collectivist internationalism and the threat of totalitarianism. History views these collaborators as controversial and to the minds of many contemporaries and historians they were nevertheless (despite the nuances) part of the larger fascist orbit. That's something to consider and at the very least should give some people a reason to pause.
On a related note, there has been discussion as of late related to Far-right Fascist forces within Italy supporting pro-Russian forces in the Donbass Conflict. Given that Russia's greatest historical enemy and recurring fear is directed toward fascism and Germany this relationship struck many as contrived and indeed I believe the narrative surrounding the story to be a case of manufacture and spin on the part of Western-Establishment media outlets. However, as the US propaganda arm Polygraph demonstrated there are Neo-Nazi elements and a degree of fascist reminiscence within the Russian sphere. This cannot be denied. While I cannot fully elaborate on the narratives and ideologies of all these groups, the Vlasov heritage and that of the notorious Kaminski Brigade undoubtedly play at least some part. And while Vlasov, Kromiadi and others within this larger Russian Liberation movement did affiliate with the Nazis and were by some estimations fascists, their actual ideology proves a bit more complicated. Again, there is a spectrum and while they openly allied with German fascism, in their own minds they represented something different. Certainly no one would accuse them of being fully aligned with the Generalplan Ost (GPO) objectives of Berlin. The alliance was a pragmatic move, a relationship of convenience. This too informs today's discussion or ought to.
The results of the First World War turned Western society on its head. And what arose in its wake alarmed many conservatives. Many Christians feared a new order was arising and that it would take something severe to put a stop to the forces and momentum which had spawned communism and the revolutions in Russia, Hungary and Germany. In that sense what later happened in Germany was not unique. Conservatives of all stripes were appalled at the moral shift taking place in the 1920's and thus when fascism arose in its various forms, it found many friends and allies. Some were fascist in their own right. Others became so. Some sought power and when the second war erupted they found opportunities to wield it and punish their enemies. Those that didn't openly ally with fascism and yet supported it grew silent at the war's conclusion, especially as the scope of the destruction and the war crimes came into public view. The larger history and story of fascism's rise and public support effectively went down the memory hole... and we risk paying for it in our own day.
See also:

Old Nazis, the New Right, and the Republican Party: Domestic fascist networks and their effect on U.S. cold war politics by Russ Belant (1991): South End Press

Traitors, Collaborators and Deserters in Contemporary European Politics of Memory: Formulas of Betrayal - Gelinada Grinchenko and Eleonora Narvselius, editors (2018): Palgrave Macmillan Memory Studies

The Beast Reawakens by Martin A. Lee (1999): Routledge

 

*Oberammergau, a tourist centre famed for its medieval passion play also served as a CIC/CIA training school in counter-intelligence and was a centre of these activities in the early days. Perhaps it still does. Even today a trip to the Garmisch-Partenkirchen district reveals not only many natural wonders and stunning beauty but a distinct and noticeable presence of the US military. Long perceived as an Alpine playground, the area has also served as a beachhead for US power in Central Europe. An imperial outpost if ever there was one the setting always intrigued me and reminded me of something out of a James Bond movie. Breathtaking scenery, skiing, Bavarian splendour at its best combined with intrigue, plots and alliances. During the Cold War (and even today) Moscow undoubtedly kept tabs on the NATO hub.