Ilya Ilyin.

This is coolbert:

To understand Vlad Putin at some level you must also understand this man?

ILYA ILYIN.

From the IRRUSSIANALITY Internet web site:

"PUTIN’S PHILOSOPHER"

"In his speech to the Russian parliament on 4 December [2014], Vladimir Putin quoted philosopher Ivan Ilyin, who died 60 years ago today. Putin supervised the repatriation and reburial of Ilyin’s body in 2005, and has laid flowers on Ilyin’s grave. He has quoted him several times before. Ilyin’s Our Tasks (Nashi Zadachi) was one of three books distributed by the Kremlin as recommended reading to regional governors and senior members of the United Russia party . . . If Putin has a favourite philosopher, Ilyin seems to be the man."

 "Ilyin became the unofficial ideologist of the White Army in exile, and much of his work thereafter was as much political as it was philosophical, and was aimed at a wider audience than other philosophers."

"Ivan Alexandrovich Ilyin (1883-1954) was a Russian religious and political philosopher, White emigre publicist, and an ideologue of the Russian All-Military Union ... Ivan Ilyin was a conservative Russian monarchist in the Slavophile tradition ... Ilyin was staunchly opposed to Nazism in his writings, particularly its xenophobic character ... In his 1949 article, Ilyin argued against both totalitarianism and "formal" democracy in favor of a 'third way' of building a state in Russia

"Ilyin’s work covered a large variety of subjects . . . three themes stand out: gosudarstvennost’ (statehood); pravosoznanie (legal consciousness); and natsionalizm (nationalism)."

* Gosudarstvennost’. Ilyin was a firm believer in a strong state.

* Pravosoznanie: A lawyer by training, Ilyin was a firm believer in the importance of law.

* Natsionalizm: Ilyin was a nationalist. Love of country was a central part of his philosophy.

From a comment to the article by colliemum:

"Thank you – and forgive my abysmal ignorance: I’ve never heard of Ivan Ilyin. So your post was highly educational."

Well, for me too. I also "never heard" of Ilyin. I figure most everyone else the same. Devoted readers to the blog are now also informed and so much the better for it as well!

coolbert.