Over 100 years ago, Russia became core of USSR and the pioneer of international struggle for workers' liberation, poverty lifting, enlightenment, scientific progress and propagation of socialism and communism.
Now -- in my humble and maybe biased by liberal propaganda view -- Russia is one of the most reactionary, conservative, backward-looking, clerical country. Please excuse me posting some liberal, imperialist shit here, but seems that Kremlin officially admits going far-right: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/kremlin-finally-puts-together-ideology
Speaking locally, there seems to be evidence that Polish far-right party PiS (Law and Justice) is backed by Kremlin as well as the extremely influential priest, Tadeusz Rydzyk, founder and director of the ultra-catholic, conservative Radio Maryja station has/had ties with Polish and Russian security services before the end of People's Republic of Poland and USSR (sic!). I have some generally available videos, but in Polish, sadly.
Could you tell me how far this is true? If so, what purpose had the late communist states and today's Russia in spreading far-right propaganda? WTF went wrong?
I'm not aware how true this is for Russia, but Orthodox Christianity has been entrenched in Russia for centuries. 70 years of communism was not enough to dislodge it. This plays a major role in the way the political winds are blowing to the right, not just in Russia, but all across Eastern Europe. Orthodox Christian churches are very prone to fascist rhetoric and extremely conservative. From the medieval ages, Orthodox churches have managed to weave themselves together with national/cultural identity in their areas, to such a degree, that they are considered one and the same nowadays. In most Eastern European countries, you will find Orthodox high-ranking priests behind far right parties, conservative movements and racist/anti-immigrant actions.
There's a lot of diffusion of ideology happenning across all Orthodox churches, so I assume this due to what's going on where I leave.
Orthodoxy is also very prone to conspiracy theories, especially those coming from the right in the West. Such as Harry Potter is a real witch handbook, Pokemon are evil, hollow earth and lizardpeople conspiracies, etc. Anything that reinforces the belief that the devil is alive and actively seeking to control the world.
Catholicism had exact same role in the catholic socialist countries. Both churches served as capitalist 5th column in each and every socialist state, restitution of capitalism was in their interest.
This makes sense and I also learn something about the Orthodox churches. Thank you comrade. I think Polish catholic church is similar in extremism, racism, xenophobia, etc. and it is also very tightly tied with the far-right «PiS» party and ultra-right «Suwerenna Polska» small party. They all also believe in conspiracy theories -- such that the Smoleńsk Tu-154M catastrophe was actually an assassination, while this particular theory was legitimized by highest politicians of PiS, who ruled as long ago as last December...
It always seems to be religion at the end of the day. Same reason why queer people are basically illegal in some Afrikan countries.
Nothing fools people more as religion.
I would argue that this propensity for conspiracy theories extends beyond just Orthodox Christianity. At the very least it exists just as strong or even stronger in Evangelical circles, especially in the US, and i would not be surprised to find it in other very conservative religious denominations as well.
This is not surprising and it seems to be something inherent to (fundamentalist) religion that leaves you more vulnerable to other irrational beliefs. At the risk of sounding like a reddit atheist, i have often thought that it would not be inaccurate to characterize religion - or more specifically the belief in god(s) or the supernatural - as the world's oldest conspiracy theory.
Agreed. I'm not saying the contrary. Just that these conspiracy theories are really prevalent among Orthodox Christians to the extend where they become the norm. Where I'm from we have politicians who publish books about them that become best sellers.
Religious studies are a mandatory course in schools in my country for all years. The teachers/priests would often present such conspiracy theories (or anecdotes about possession and witchcraft) to us from a very early age. And of course with all this paranoia, they pepper racism, right-wing nationalism, antocommunism and jingoism. This attitude permeates other courses too, particularly language and literature. I've heard similar stories from Russians, Ukrainians and Serbs.
We have a big fascist problem currently, and it's largely people my age who perpetrate it, influenced by what they were taught at school, in church and, as a consequence, at home too.