The Party of the Dead () is a Russian art activist project created in 2017 by members of the { rodina} art group and artist Maxim Evstropov.
Background
Several similar art projects can be noted in the post-Soviet space, bearing a similar name and having common elements of an artistic concept. Namely, the “Party of the Dead of Latvia”, the “Party of the Dead” of Eduard Limonov and National Bolshevik Party and the “Party of the Dead” of the Moscow artist Lena Hades. So, in one of the interviews, the artist Maxim Evstropov noted that the idea of his “Party of the Dead” is partly “also a parody of the nazbols”.
"Party of the Dead of Latvia" It was founded by Riga art activists from the association "Red Orchestra" in 1998. Due to the closeness of the activists to the National Bolshevik Party, the "Party of the Dead of Latvia" is sometimes erroneously called an NBP art project. Theodor Nette was called "the locomotive of the Party of the Dead", and one of the tasks of the party was to nominate him for the presidency of Latvia in the next elections.
"Party of the Dead of Latvia" and the NBP
Subsequently, the Party of the Dead of Latvia showed active solidarity and complicity with the actions of the National Bolshevik Party. So, in the city of Daugavpils, local activists distributed election leaflets “Party of the Dead. List No. Zero”, which announced the intentions of the party to run for the Daugavpils City Council. The party's announced candidates included Boris Savinkov, Roman Ungern, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Vasily Chapaev, Sergei Eisenstein, Tommaso Marinetti, Ernesto Che Guevara, Andreas Baader, Yasser Arafat, Yuri Gagarin, Aleister Crowley, Benito Mussolini, Nestor Makhno, Yakov Blumkin and Lee Harvey Oswald. According to the activists, each of the party members has already demonstrated "his competence in word and deed" and compares favorably with the current deputies, "that they fool naive townsfolk in order to get coveted mandates».
"Party of the Dead" of Eduard Limonov
Later, the founder of the National Bolshevik Party and writer Eduard Limonov published several books under the general subtitle "The Book of the Dead". In these books, the concept of the “Party of the Dead” also appeared, similar to that which was founded by the activists of the “Red Orchestra”. In these books, Limonov published essays on the figures of the past, which inspire his respect.
The term "party of the dead" in the NBP referred to the list of dead party members, which included, for example, Yuriy Chervochkin, Andrei Suhorada and many others. Obituaries were published in the Limonka newspaper under the heading “Memento mori. Party of the Dead".
"Party of the Dead" of Lena Hades
The "Party of the Dead" by Moscow artist Lena Hades was founded in 2010. The main information resource of the party was the artist's blog in LiveJournal, and the manifesto "VERITAS Genre in Fine Arts", written by the artist in 1995, became the basis of the "political program".. The activity of the party is mainly virtual, and the objects of activity are works of art, mainly fine art, created by the artist herself. Although the party of Hades showed the greatest activity only in 2020, having recorded several videos about the history of the "Party of the Dead". The latest statements about the activity of the "Party" refer to 2020.
The artist is very jealous of the authorship of the idea of the "Party of the Dead" and has repeatedly stated publicly that it was she who inspired the members of the NBP to create their art project, and the artist Maxim Evstropov stole the idea of the party from her.
"Party of the Dead" of Maxim Evstropov
History
The project appeared in 2017. It was created by members of the art group { rodina}, who became interested in the political situation in Russia and wanted to hold political events. According to the representative of the project, the "Party of the Dead" was created as a result of reflection on the action "Immortal Regiment", in which people participate with portraits of the dead - relatives who died during World War II. The representative sees this as "an attempt to appropriate the dead by the state and a militaristic ideology".
