All-Russian Fascist Organisation Explained

All-Russian Fascist Organization
Colorcode:black
Leader1 Title:Leader
Leader1 Name:Anastasy Vonsiatsky
Dissolution:1942
Headquarters:Putnam, Connecticut
Successor:Russian Fascist Party
Newspaper:Fashist
Ideology:Fascism
Membership:Several hundred
Position:Far-right

The All-Russian Fascist Organization (VFO) (Всероссийская фашистская организация; ''Vserossiyskaya Fašistskija Organizatsiya") was a Russian white émigré group led by Anastasy Vonsiatsky. It was based in Putnam, Connecticut, United States and was founded on May 10, 1933, by Vonsiatsky and Donat Yosifovich Kunle, a former White Russian Army officer. The group never had more than several hundred members.[1] [2]

In 1934, in Yokohama, the Russian Fascist Party (RFP) and VFO attempted to merge into a new entity, the All-Russia Fascist Party. On April 3, 1934, representatives from both organisations signed a protocol number 1, which proclaimed the merger of RFP and VFO and the creation of the All-Russia Fascist Party (VFP). The new organisation was intended to connect the RFP's organizational structure with the financial resources of the VFO. April 26, 1934, in Harbin on 2-m (Unity) Congress of Russian Fascists happened formal association VFO and the RFP and the creation of the All-Russia Fascist Party.[3]

A full merger was quite problematic however, because Vonsiatsky was an opponent of anti-Semitism and considered the support base of the RFP—primarily Russian Cossacks and the monarchists—as an anachronism. In October–December 1934 there was a split between Konstantin Rodzaevsky and Anastasy Vonsiatsky. The Vonsiatsky group remained in the RFP, but later he refounded his party as the All-Russian National Revolutionary Party.[4] [5] The party remained a marginal feature.[4] It was renamed several times, eventually assuming the name All-Russian National Revolutionary Toilers and Workers-Peasants Party of Fascists (Russian: Всероссийская национально-революционная трудовая и рабоче-крестьянская партии фашистов).[6]

In 1940 – December 1941, the cooperation of Rodzaevsky and Vonsiatsky resumed, interrupted with the start of Japanese-American War.

On June 21, 1941, Donat Kunle, a pilot, was killed in a plane crash in California, resulting in the VFO ceasing the publication of its newspaper, Fashist.[7]

After the U.S. entry into World War II in 1942 Anastasy Vonsiatsky was arrested by the FBI for espionage, after which the party ceased to exist.

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Oberlander, p. 163
  2. News: Brumberg . Abraham . 1978-08-27 . Quixotic Crusade Against the Soviets . 2023-12-24 . Washington Post . en-US . 0190-8286.
  3. The Russian Fascists: Tragedy and Farce in Exile, 1925—1945 by John J. Stephan, p. 160
  4. Oberlander, pp. 165–168
  5. Winter, Barbara. The Most Dangerous Man in Australia . Carindale, Qld: IP (Interactive Publications), 2010. p. 131
  6. emigrantica.ru. Фашист (Putnam, Connecticut, USA, 1933—1941)
  7. Book: Civil Aeronautics Journal . 1941 . Office of Aviation Administration . 50 . en.