Tsar and people: That's the formula of our time. About N. E. Markov's views in the 1930s

This article highlights some little-known episodes from the emigration years of a prominent Russian right-wing politician, the former leader of the Union of Russian People, Nikolai Yevgenyevich Markov (1866-1945). Based upon documents (specifically, personal letters) from the Markov collection at the Bakhmeteff Archive, Columbia University (New York, USA), most of which are introduced into scholarly circulation for the first time, the article contributes substantially to our knowledge and understanding of Markov's views between 1930-1939 on Russia, the Soviet Union, communism, the internal party struggle in the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, fascism, and monarchy. Having correctly identified a transformation of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union and having witnessed the triumph of fascist regimes in Europe, this right-wing politician made hasty and erroneous predictions about an imminent replacement of European dictatorships with monarchies and the collapse of the Soviet system and the overthrow of its political system-something that he believed would be accelerated by the coming war. If Markov had been able to sense the beginning of the evolution of the Bolshevik regime, he failed to understand the true sentiments of the Russian people. His anti-Semitism and fear of Masons, which was typical for the former leader of the Black Hundreds, eventually led the monarchist politician to cooperate with the Nazis, despite his claims that fascism was not suitable for Russia.