National Alliance of Russian Solidarists - Political Program

Political Program

The solidarist ideology of NTS was built on the Christian understanding of people's collective social responsibility for each other's welfare, and the voluntary cooperation between the different layers (as opposed to classes) of society, in opposition to the Marxist concept of the class struggle. It also believed strongly in the "sanctity of the individual", in contrast to Marxist collectivism.

From a 1967 English language NTS pamphlet:

Unlike Communism, Solidarism provides a twentieth-century basis for dealing with present day issues. It rejects a purely materialistic approach to social, economic and political problems. It postulates that man, rather than matter, is the chief problem today. It rejects the concept of class warfare and hatred, and seeks to replace this dubious principle with the idea of co-operation (solidarity), brotherhood, Christian tolerance and charity. Solidarism believes in the innate dignity of the individual and seeks to safeguard as inalienable rights his freedom of speech, conscience and political organization. Solidarists in no way claim that their ideas represent the final answer to all problems, but they believe that man who is master of the atom bomb must also become master of himself and his destiny.

The platform did not rule out a monarchy, but it refused to pre-decide the question of a free Russia's political structure (the policy of "non-predetermination" ) outside of a popular plebiscite. In this regard it was similar to the White movement which deferred the decision of Russia's political structure to a constituent assembly. However, unlike the White movement, its successor organization ROVS, and other emigre organizations, NTS had developed a specific political program which included a definition of human rights and an economic program. This made the organization attract the attention of General Andrey Vlasov during the Russian Liberation Movement, who borrowed many points from NTS's program in developing his own.

The NTS platform rejected the traditional labels of "liberal" and "conservative", claiming "We are not to the right, or to the left, we are at the front!" (Мы не справа и не слева, мы впереди! My ne sprava i ne sleva, my vperedi!) The NTS called for a "second revolution", as opposed to a "counter-revolution", believing that after Bolshevism Russia needed to be reborn and avoid returning to the mistakes of the pre-revolutionary era. At the same time, NTS rejected the views of groups such as the Smenovekhovtsi and Mladorossi who called for a reconciliation with the Bolshevik regime, believing that Bolshevism is corrupt and incapable of evolution, therefore it needs to be eradicated, not reformed.

Some liberal critics in the Russian emigre community have accused NTS of having a fascist ideology. For instance, Dr. Marc Raeff wrote in the Slavic Review (Summer, 1989, 48(2), pp. 305-306) that,

They rejected both Bolshevism and liberal capitalism and embraced Russian patriotism and the priority of national solidarity based on productive labor contributed by all societal sectors. They displayed a predisposition for a corporatist organization of society and a willingness to accept a temporary dictatorship in order to bring about the nation's moral and spiritual regeneration. Their ideas unmistakably resembled those of Italian fascism and Portuguese and Austrian corporatism.

NTS supporters believe the organization always defended democratic participation in government (even in the case of a monarch), championed individual liberties, supported individualism, and rejected chauvinism.