Political youth organisations, music and national identity in contemporary Russia

Abstract

This article analyses the relationship between political youth organisations, music and national identity in contemporary Russia. It focuses on four of the most representative political youth groups present in the city of St. Petersburg – the Young Guard, the National Bolsheviks, the Movement Against Illegal Immigration (DPNI), and Oborona [Defence] – and describes their conceptualisation of post-Soviet Russianness, as captured through an analysis of their lyrics. The main contribution of this empirical study is the detection of convergences and divergences with regard to the national identity issue characterising youth organisations that position themselves differently in the Russian political spectrum.