Z Generation
A disturbing portrait of the fascist youth movements warping Russian society and politics.
How did Vladimir Putin win Russians’ support for his genocidal war in Ukraine and why are so many of them willing to embrace fascism? This vivid, bottom-up narrative reveals the dark realities of youth fascism in Russia—and the darker future awaiting the country if that hold cannot be broken.
Wartime Russia is drowning in fascist symbols. Zealous patriots attack journalists, opposition activists, and anyone suspected of betraying the motherland. Hordes of online trolls and sleek videos of angry young men urge citizens to join the cause. State television terrifies viewers with false tales of anti-Russian conspiracies and genocidal yearnings. Child soldiers proudly parade across Red Square. This is Russia in the 2020s: a land of performative rage and nationalist untruth, where pretence and broken promises are a way of life, and an apocalyptic mindset is seizing tomorrow’s Russians.
As compelling as it is chilling, Z Generation shows how Russia has ended up here, and where its young people may be headed: a fascist generation more violent and ideological than anything the country has seen before.
Ian Garner is Assistant Professor of Totalitarian Studies at the Pilecki Institute, Warsaw. His research focuses on Soviet and Russian war propaganda. The author of Stalingrad Lives: Stories of Combat and Survival, and a fellow of the Royal Historical Society, he holds a PhD from the University of Toronto.