> A Russian phenomenon
>
> Dmitry Mozheitov talks with Edward Limonov
>
> Everyone knows Edward Limonov, the 57-year-old writer and politician. Even
> those who have not read a single line of his outspoken 16 books, the most
> famous of which are the novels "This is Me, Edichka" and "Executioner."
> His political ideas both shock and frighten people away. Even when he was
> young, Limonov was well known for unorthodox behavior: He robbed a store,
> was subjected to numerous administrative reprimands, and was on police
> books. In 1966, the young hooligan left his hometown Kharkov, Ukraine, to
> conquer Moscow. He lived without a "propisk" registration, started writing
> prose and poetry, and survived by sewing trousers for a living. According
> to Limonov, he polished up the images of poet-bard Bulat Okudzhava and
> sculptor Ernest Neizvestny.
> In the spring of 1974 he moved to the United States where he mastered 13
> professions – from stonemason to servant. His involvement with the
> Trotskyist Social Workers Party and picketing The New York Times building
> to demand that his stories be published made him notorious.
> In 1980, his conceptual work, "This is Me, Edichka," which harshly
> criticized America, was published by the French Ramsay publishing house
> with the title "Russian Poet Prefers Big Negroes." The book was a success
> and was translated into 15 languages. In 1987, with the help of left-wing
> newspapers and despite the opposition of the French counterintelligence
> agency, DST, Limonov acquired French citizenship.
> In the early 1990s, Edward Limonov returned to Russia, got his Russian
> citizenship reinstated and went in for politics. Then he founded the
> National Bolshevik Party and launched his newspaper, "Limonka."Without
> doubt, Limonov is a phenomenon. That is why the only way to interview him
> was while he was signing copies of his new book, "Book of the Dead," in a
> bookstore the day before he left Moscow.
> Where are you going this time?
> I'm going to Krasnoyarsk to write
> a book about the "Siberian Al Capone" – the Krasnoyarsk businessman,
> Anatoly Bykov, who is accused of money laundering and complicity in a
> murder. I made the arrangement before his arrest. Whatever the truth may
> be,
> I don't intend to manufacture it. I love myths and the myth about Anatoly
> Bykov suits me.
> Who is your idol?
> I don't have just one idol. In my new book, "Book of the Dead," I describe
> heroic military leaders – the Serb Arkan and the Russian Kostenko.
> Kostenko, who commanded a battalion in the Trans-Dniester war, was no
> Lenin, obviously, but he was an interesting and noble character.
> What do you think of Josef Stalin?
> Increasing numbers of people in Russia today see Stalin as a role model.
> Even those who don't approve of his methods see him as another Caesar.
> This country has been so humiliated
> it's quite natural to turn to him; Josef Stalin was a great man. When he
> appeared in the Tehran conference hall, everyone stood up, even Churchill
> and Roosevelt. They didn't have to stand but they did. For my part, it's
> enough to know that Stalin was Russia's Caesar in the most difficult
> period of its history. Despite everything, we had a mighty state that gave
> orders to half the world. Now it's one endless chain
> of disasters and catastrophes.
> What is Russia's main problem?
> One problem is that the political class has outlived itself. It's
> absolutely archaic. Its way of life and way of ruling the country is
> outdated. Everywhere, even in the little towns and villages, there's the
> same bunch of people who, during the Soviet era, sat sweating in saunas
> and are still doing it today. To get rid of the monsters, you have to open
> the saunas and shake them out.
> Was this why you decided to set up your own party?
> It's difficult to trace what prompted me into the idea of founding a
> party. Most questions don't have simple answers. I've never thought about
> it. Actually, the National Bolshevik Party appeared because life in Russia
> had become more interesting, and it was possible to go in for politics.
> Were you motivated by the thirst for glory?
> What's glory? I've been famous.
> I was a very well known person when
> I returned to Russia. My vanity was satisfied. Newspapers round the world
> wrote about me.
> People accuse you of extremism.
> I have extreme opinions and fight in an extreme way. There's no sense in
> permitted methods, and those that are not permitted are punishable. Our
> guys spattered Nikita Mikhalkov with eggs and broke windows in the Latvian
> Embassy. This was not hooliganism but a political gesture because there is
> no other way to express protest.
> You are basically surrounded by the young. Is that because you prefer
> them?
> I must say, I have never sought the company of young people – they come to
> me. Most people don't know much about me. If they look around, they'll see
> that my ideas of five years ago are part of the government's armory now.
> For example, in 1994 we said foreign goods should be boycotted and
> domestic production supported.
> Who do you consider yourself today – a writer or a politician?
> I've not considered myself a writer for a long time. I'm exclusively
> involved in radical politics. If books of mine are published, they're in
> the diary genre, which doesn't try to be literature. I think it's
> interesting to read history together with my memoirs. But literary art as
> such doesn't interest me.
> You're not only a writer, politician and a journalist, but you've been
> through "fire, water and brimstone," having been in a number of hot spots
> like Serbia, Abkhazia and Trans-Dniester. What made you go and fight in
> wars?
> I've said and written a lot about that in reports and in "Murder of a
> Sentry" and "Anatomy of a Hero." What I will say is that is what I wanted
> to do.
> Do you take part in social events?
> High society is a philistine spectacle in which basically pederasts and
> old ladies go partying. In actual fact, I like rallies and demonstrations,
> though I sometimes choose the least vulgar presentations and show up
> there.
> What do women mean for you?
> I've never loved women, only adolescent girls. They are rare, but I love
> them and hate them. It's called lust. I've had four wives, and with each
> of them I was happy for a while. Sadly, it's impossible to stay happy with
> just one. I will be happy again!
>
> Your books are quite explicit. Do you think there are limits beyond which
> a writer can't go?
> I have been outspoken about 85 percent of the time in my books. I regret
> that it wasn't more. Only outspoken books have the right to exist –
> they're the only ones that excite the readers.
> In "Book of the Dead," you recall people you used to know, but who are now
> dead. The title is a bit morbid. Don't you think that even without you
> there's enough gloom in Russia today?
> On the contrary. I think it's light and happy reading. I admit, I don't
> feel any particular emotion when I see corpses. When we look at their
> faces, we always pity ourselves because we're afraid of Death staring at
> us. Actually, Death is an inevitable human disease, which we contract at
> birth. People generally feel they shouldn't speak ill of the dead. I have
> tried to think of them as if they were here beside me.
> At any rate, I've tried to write in a happy way. I thanked the poet Joseph
> Brodsky for sending me a large-arsed wench, a famous American writer's
> daughter. Of course, I shagged her on the very first night!
> Will your book be translated and published abroad?
> I personally don't deal with that side of things. That's a job for
> publishers and agents. My publisher has just returned from the Frankfurt
> book fair. Maybe he knows.
> How do you see Russia in the future?
> What banal questions you ask!
> I want the young generation to find the courage to rise up against the
> present decay. Russia needs a modern political elite. What can the young
> expect today? Nothing. Colleges don't give you anything, and those who are
> in business get strangled by taxes. People need freedom. There shouldn't
> be so many lies and closed doors,
> and there shouldn't be so much that's disgusting, nor should the state
> constantly exercise control over everything.
>
>
Heidi Hollinger in focus
Post Glasnost Russia has seen its share of controversial expats: spies,
missionaries and even criminals on the run from the law back home. But Heidi
Hollinger is the first and only of a kind. Born in 1970 to a Finnish mother
and stockbroker father (a nationality in itself), Heidi came to Moscow in
1991 to study the language. In 1993, already fluent in Russian, she found
herself taking pictures at a loud Communist Party meeting. For many years,
she was the talk of town – a kind of the Rosa Luxembourg of '90s. As a young
Canadian expat moving in extreme nationalist and communist circles, she was
certainly a novelty.
----
Did you have any political beliefs. We know you were close to Victor
Anpilov. Are you still political?
I never stated my political beliefs to the politicians, but they all thought
that I was on their side. For five years, I photographed Communist street
demonstrations. Sometimes a babushka would see my big Canon camera and
Western attire and start shoving me and curse me for being an imperialist.
Then another babushka would recognize me and say: "Hands off, 'eto nasha'
(she's one of us)." Every year on May Day, Victor Anpilov invites me for
shashlik with his family. It has become a tradition. He calls me his
faithful comrade. His political ideas may be way off, but he is one of the
most committed and passionate people I have ever met. His kindness and
intelligence contrast sharply with the regular press depiction of a violent
looney. I share political beliefs with reformers such as [Boris] Nemtsov,
[Irina] Khakamada and others who seek the right blend of a market economy
and social justice.