Nazionalismo bianco e nazionalismo nero. Una lettura di Ivan Il’in

In recent times, the Russian philosopher Ivan Ilyin (1883–1954) has enjoyed renewed prominence, thanks to interpretations of his life and work developed by circles within Russian nationalism, as well as by analysts, political scientists, and historians. The fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin has cited him in several official speeches has led to this thinker being variously described as “Putin’s philosopher,” the “prophet of Russian fascism,” the “guru of Putinist ideology,” the “inspirer of Kremlin policy,” and so on. In particular, the thesis that Ilyin is the Russian president’s fascist guide belongs to the American historian Timothy Snyder. This essay represents an attempt to understand the complex relationship between Ilyin and fascism, by tracing the sources of his thought and taking into account the context in which he developed his discourse on fascism and nationalism—concepts closely intertwined in his work. It emerges that Ilyin viewed fascism as an authentically nationalist movement that aroused his admiration; a position not particularly original, but common to a large portion of Russian émigrés. The distinctive feature of Ilyin’s philosophical and intellectual thought lay rather in the elaboration of the “White Idea,” which, while linked to fascist ideology, was original in that it embodied a religious dimension rooted in Orthodoxy and the history of Rus’.