The main force of the country, which organizes and controls vital changes in society, is state power. In an effort to increase the well-being of the state, the president and government are developing the economy, raising social standards of living of the population, increasing the country's defense capability and raising the image of the state in the world. But there are also political and public organizations that in society are usually called simply “5th column”. What is it, how are such associations born, and who is behind them? We'll tell you in this article.

Where did the term “5th Column” come from?

The fifth column is an organization or individual that seeks, through its actions or statements, to change the existing political system of the country in one way or another.

Exist three variants of the appearance of this term:

• General Mola. In 1936, civil war breaks out on the Iberian Peninsula. The reasons for the enmity are the dissatisfaction of part of the Spanish population with the king's reforms and the growth of the idea of ​​nationalism. The Republicans, led by a general, are laying siege to Madrid. In a radio message to the citizens of the capital, Emilio Mola threatens that in addition to a well-armed army consisting of four columns, he has his own “ fifth column, which at the most opportune moment will destabilize the situation and strike the king’s troops from the rear.”
• Table. By the power of imagination, the state system is presented in the form of a table that confidently stands on four massive legs - columns. The country is developing successfully and feels comfortable, but at a certain moment the situation is shaken with the help of radical associations: parties, organizations, etc. associations. In the design of the “table,” a fifth leg appears, that is, a column, which becomes redundant.
• Play. In 1938, Ernest Hemingway completes his play The Fifth Column, which describes the events of the Spanish Civil War.

5th column in Russia

The Russian Constitution states: none of the political ideologies existing in the world has the status of mandatory or national. Of the many currents of the political system, in our country there are de facto two directions:

• National patriotism. Right now this ideology dominates in the State Duma. The principles are simple: a large percentage of budget money is invested in domestic production and the development of science. Entrepreneurial activity is encouraged, but key economic sectors remain under state control.
• Liberalism. In this model, the state withdraws as much as possible from influencing the country’s economy and controls the protection of human rights and guarantees free enterprise.

It is behind some political parties or famous personalities who position themselves as liberals that hide the threat in the form of a fifth column:

• Parties and social movements. Traditionally, these are “Yabloko”, “Union of Right Forces”, “People’s Democratic Union”, “Other Russia”.
• Public figures. Irina Khakamada, Gennady Gudkov, Ilya Ponamarev, Mikhail Kasyanov, Alexey Navalny. You can also add famous cultural figures and former athletes to this list.

Fifth Column Goals

In any country that has real geopolitical significance in the world community, the so-called “fifth column” has been introduced. The goals of such associations:

• Change of power. We observed something similar in the countries of South America and Asia. People come to power who hand over the national interests of the state to a third party, and the promised economic transformations do not happen.
• Weakening economy. The weakening of situations occurs in order to weaken the economy of a particular state. While the government is engaged in protests and riots, the country that has caused a collapse in the competitor’s camp occupies a vacated economic niche in other countries.

The list may also include other goals: interethnic or religious hatred, degradation of society, attempts to dismember the country.

Financing and organization: who is behind the 5th column?

Who is behind the group of people who are playing a propaganda game on the territory of the state and shaking the situation in the country? Without going to extremes, there are two main sources:

• Intelligence services of another country. Everything is simple here. A separate state introduces its agents of influence into a certain country who engage in subversive activities: they organize television channels and newspapers, political parties that discriminate against the existing government.
• Former government. The situation is very confusing and dangerous: the political elite, which seeks to change the flow of cash flows in its favor, is engaged in sabotage in the corridors of power. Hence the failures in the country's development reforms. It is difficult to identify such werewolves, so time-tested patriots must be appointed to the most important government posts.

5th column and constructive opposition: main differences

Of course, not all liberal and national democratic movements can be called a fifth column. There are many forces in the country that strive to be useful to the country:

• Criticism. Representatives of the fifth column only criticize; the constructive opposition offers its own options for the country's development.
• Power. While agents representing the interests of another state strive for power, true patriots work together with the government.
• National interests. The opposition, even if its views on solving the problem differ from the options proposed by the authorities, always defend the national interests of the country.

Behind the destabilization of the situation in the state and the attempt to change power is the 5th column. What it is, you have now found out for yourself.

In any civilized country, which undoubtedly includes our country, the alternative to creating unrest on city streets is the procedure of democratic elections. This must always be remembered, and in order to maintain a healthy situation in society, one should not succumb to the provocative calls of representatives of the 5th column.

Video about the fifth column

In this video, Nikolai Starikov will tell you what the fifth column is and how it appeared in Spain:

The fifth column is secret, conspiratorial enemies, ready at any opportune moment to strike from the “rear” or, undermining the enemy’s forces, to do evil and harm on the sly
The origin of the expression is unclear. Wikipedia elevates its author to Mussolini, who, even during the First World War, allegedly asserted the existence of a certain “fifth army” of German adherents in the Entente countries.
Another creator of phraseology is the Spanish general Emilio Mola, who led Franco’s army during the Spanish Civil War. It seems that in 1936, during an attempt to capture Madrid, he declared that in addition to the “official” four military columns, he had at his disposal a fifth - in the city itself, which also had the ability to support the offensive.

Examples of the use of the concept “Fifth Column”

“Ekaterinburg, the capital of the Urals and the center of the fifth column in Russia, continues to delight us with news. Thus, in the stronghold of the white-ribbon opposition from science - the Ural Federal University, immediately after the anti-Russian speeches of Professor Inozemtsev, supported by the rector of URFU Koksharov, the adherent of the liberal traitors Venediktov spoke out"

“On March 18 of this year, on the day of signing the documents on the annexation of Crimea to Russia, President Putin countered the statements and reactions of Western politicians: “Some Western politicians are already threatening us not only with sanctions, but also with the prospect of worsening internal problems. I would like to know: what do they mean? Are the actions of some “fifth column”, various kinds of national traitors, or are they counting on being able to worsen the socio-economic situation in Russia and thereby provoke people’s discontent?!”

“Representatives of the so-called Russian “opposition” (or “fifth column”) today are waging a targeted and systematic campaign to discredit Russian foreign policy, the leaders of the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, and the values ​​of the Russian World. To this end, a whole series of new statements are constantly being thrown into the information space, which cannot be ignored.”

“If initially the “fifth column,” controlled by the West, was limited primarily to peacekeeping statements, then recently it has finally dropped its masks and actually opened a second, subversive front on the territory of the Russian Federation.
The participation of representatives of the “fifth column” in direct armed actions against the Russian government is not necessary. It is enough that the “fifth column”: firstly, largely controls the Russian information space; secondly, using the influence of media persons in her orbit, she influences public opinion.”

Spanish Civil War

Lasted from July 1936 to April 1939. The Republicans representing the “left” Popular Front and the “conservatives” of General Franco opposed each other. The former were supported by all world democratic forces, including the USSR, the latter by fascist Italy and Germany. The war, naturally, was accompanied by all sorts of atrocities committed by both sides. The Frankists shot about 75 thousand enemies, the Republicans - about 50,000. 200,000 soldiers died in battle. 25,000 civilians - from hunger. The war ended with the victory of Franco's army.

Let's start with a definition. The term “fifth column” was coined by the Spanish general Emilio Mola, who commanded the Francoist army during the civil war of the 30s of the last century in Spain. Advancing on Madrid, he broadcast on the radio in early October 1936 an appeal to his dear Spaniards, who had not yet been fooled by the Republican Communists: they say that in addition to the four army columns at his disposal, he also has a “fifth column”. In Madrid itself! This decisive force will strike from the rear at the right moment.

Methods of action? The “fifth column” of the Francoists sowed panic, engaged in sabotage, espionage and sabotage. But even such actions of hers then had an exaggerated, purely “propaganda” success, because Republican Madrid held out against the Franco-fascists for two and a half years.

Foreign observers who were in Madrid at that time easily “deciphered” the composition of the Fifth Column: there were opponents of the republican regime and criminal elements hiding in the city. Most of them were hiding on the territory of the German embassy, ​​which occupied an entire block. That is, they are the same fascists, only, like the Russian Maria Ivanovna, “from other doors.”

Something similar is happening now in Ukraine.

The process of forming our Fifth Column has already begun. According to our and foreign media reports, State Duma deputy, Supreme Ataman of the Union of Cossack Troops of Russia and Abroad, Viktor Vodolatsky, said: he is ready to send 15 thousand Cossacks to Ukraine! Well, of course, if a request for this comes “from the Ukrainian Cossacks.”

The number of the 5th column of “help for Ukrainians” from the Cossack formations of Russia seems considerable. It is believed that the registered Cossacks, who, for example, are led by the chairman of the Council for Cossack Affairs, a certain Alexander Belov, are “only” 760 thousand people. These guys are eager to support the current government and, of course, oppose the Kyiv Maidan. They have already shown what they are capable of in dispersing demonstrators in Lugansk, Donetsk and Zaporozhye.

Behind all this is some more organized force than the still operetta “Cossack Army”. In fact, this is the FSB and a significant part, alas, of the same Ukrainian special services. Both of these state intelligence services are the legal successors of the legendary KGB and operate using the same methods (remember the history of the “export of socialist revolutions” to third countries) and pursue the same goals. That is, the strengthening of totalitarianism and the restoration of the empire, its former power.

When I worked in Ukraine, in Poltava, for many years, I had to meet quite often and obtain information “for the public” from the press service of the local SBU department. The impression I got from this “office” was twofold. On the one hand, I don’t remember a case in these twenty-odd years of Independence of our state when Poltava SSB officers caught and put in a prison cell some venerable spy, saboteur, or, as they used to say, a “pest” of the national economy. Even if not a venerable one, but some low-life agent... On the other hand, these people, many of whom came to serve in the SBU after 1991, expressed patriotic sentiments and swore allegiance and devotion to the “cause of Independence.”

The actions of the SBU (as well as similar special-purpose organizations) must be assessed not by words, but by deeds. The affairs of our “knights of cloak and dagger” have always been quite secret. And the Poltava public, for example, learned about their exploits only from their own laconic newsletters and rare public appearances.

But based on indirect signs, it was possible to draw... um... rather unusual, paradoxical conclusions about the “patriotically oriented” activities of the secret agency.

Just take even the external surroundings. Red stars, a symbol of the Bolshevik evil empire, have been “hovering proudly” over the Poltava SBU headquarters for decades now! This is no less strange than the numerous Lenin monuments that decorate the squares of our cities - and as if they do not oblige anyone to anything or any special worship.

God be with them, with the monuments for now (or rather, to hell with them)!

But regarding the pentagram signs on all four turrets of our SBU, I even personally addressed one of the heads of this regional department. The answer was this. They say that for this - for the liquidation of the symbols of the totalitarian regime - the SSB men have no money, they say, they are a poor organization, budget-funded...

Then I waited for the moment when the roof of the SBU building finally began to be repaired. Have you finally found the money to even replace the façade? And I called the boss again. His answer was evasive. The stars remained on the towers.

According to some indirect answers from unofficial persons (I also have informants in this office), these stars, they say, if historical authenticity is to be restored (and before the revolution, the KGB-SBU building belonged to the Peasant Bank), they should be replaced with... cockerels! Our special services, of course, didn’t want to walk under the “cockerels”! And yet this whole plot seems symptomatic to me. And in this context, rumors and conversations about the ongoing close cooperation of former KGB agents of both post-Soviet republics seem non-random and natural. And it’s clear: SBU agents are unlikely to play for their own, for the Ukrainian “gates”; most likely, they carry out special orders from their “big brothers”...

From recent media reports...

Russians in Cossack uniforms managed to take part, together with the so-called “titushki,” in a raid on the local Euromaidan on January 27, the day before the above statement by the Ataman of the Russian Cossack troops. Their arrival is also expected in Sevastopol, where a group of representatives of the Russian biker club “Night Wolves” is already stationed. This public group is, in fact, one of the pro-Putin organizations. “Night Wolves” are ready to die on the Ukrainian barricades,” the club’s website reports. These militants from the Fifth Ukrainian Column have their own camp near Sevastopol. “We will do everything possible to prevent aggressive protest movements in Crimea,” the Wolves say.

A few days before these events, almost simultaneously, a propaganda campaign began in all Russian media, designed to justify such an invasion of Ukraine. One after another, materials began to appear that said: Ukrainians and Russians are one people. Like, Russia... well, it’s simply obliged to provide assistance to the Ukrainians in repelling the attempts of the “Bandera fascists” to seize power. And so on...

The news keeps talking about some kind of “fifth column”. I would like to know what this term means?

Answer

The phrase “fifth column” is widely used in political phraseology and journalism to refer to various types of internal enemy. In other words, the fifth column is people who cause alarm in the country and hide their foreign connections from the public. These could be saboteurs, saboteurs, internal enemies.

The term “fifth column” itself appeared in the 30s of the 20th century during the Spanish Civil War. At some point, rumors began to spread in Madrid about traitors operating in the country. The Republican government arrested thousands of actual supporters of General Franco, who led the anti-republican forces, and people who simply came under suspicion. Every morning, dozens of corpses were found on the streets of Madrid. There were rumors of the impending doom of the Republic's cause. Therefore, perhaps the accidentally dropped phrase fell on fertile soil.

It is believed that this term was first used by the famous Brigadier General Emilio Mola, commander of the nationalist troops. Speaking on the radio, he painted a picture of the fighting in four columns advancing on Madrid, and mentioned the presence of a fifth column that was already in the city and would begin the offensive. After this, the rebel army came very close to Madrid, but due to the limited number of soldiers and ammunition, they did not dare to storm. Therefore, whether Mola told the truth about the presence of a fifth column is still unknown.

The activities that came to be known as fifth column during the Spanish Civil War took place in a variety of countries during different historical periods. However, one of the most studied and famous is still the German fifth column of the Second World War. We are talking about Nazi agents in other states, which contributed to their capture by German troops.

Nowadays, the fifth columns of China and Russia are operating. And many Russian politicians say that a US fifth column operates in their country.

In Ukraine, the concept of a fifth column has been widely used since the mid-2000s. As a rule, it is used to refer to pro-Russian movements. In independent Ukraine, the fifth column is a number of political parties that support the foreign policy of the neighboring state. A striking example of their activities can be called the Severodonetsk congress, the main goal of which was the creation of a south-eastern autonomous republic.

During the Russian-Ukrainian conflict of 2014-2015, the term “fifth column” became even more widespread. President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko repeatedly uses it in his public speeches and addresses.

The concept of the “fifth column” is also reflected in art. In 1938, Ernest Hemingway, who was stationed in Madrid as an American war correspondent during the Civil War, wrote a play about Republican counterintelligence called The Fifth Column. In 1960, the play's script was made into a film starring Richard Burton.

“The fifth column” is the name given to the internal enemies of the state, who, on orders from outside, are ready to try to strike at the most unprotected place, or to gradually undermine society from within.

The history of the concept of "Fifth Column"

According to Wikipedia, during the reign of the odious dictator Mussolini, when the First World War was going on, he claimed to have a “fifth army” of German supporters in countries allied with the Entente.
Some researchers allegedly name the creator of this expression, Emilio Mola, a Spanish general who commanded Franco's entire army during the most difficult Spanish Civil War in the entire history of the state.
According to unverified sources, during the capture of Madrid in 1936 year, he shared that in addition to four military columns, he also has a fifth column located in the city itself, which has the ability to effectively support the advancing troops.

Examples of using the expression "Fifth Column"

IN 2014 year 18 On March 1st, when the documents on the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula to the Russian Federation were signed, President Putin noted in his speech: " Some Western politicians are trying to intimidate us not only with serious sanctions, but also with the emergence of big problems within the country. I would like to understand what they mean? Some kind of actions of national traitors, the “Fifth Column”, or maybe they are counting on the fact that with the deterioration of the economic situation of the state, the people will begin to show their discontent?"

"Representatives of the liberal opposition, or as they are rightly called the “Fifth Column,” are currently waging a systematic and targeted campaign to discredit the foreign policy of the Russian Federation, the Lugansk and Donetsk people’s republics and the values ​​of the entire Russian world. For this reason, there are regular injections into the information a space to which we need to react harshly."

"If at first the Fifth Column preferred to speak out in a peaceful manner, today it has revealed its true face to us and has actually begun to conduct subversive activities without hiding. There is no need for the Fifth Column to participate in direct armed conflicts against the Russian state. The fact that the enemies control almost all media".

Spanish Civil War

The fighting took place from 1936 year and ended in April 1939 year. The war was between the Conservatives, led by General Franco, and the Republicans, who represented the “left” Popular Front. If the former were supported only by fascist Germany and Italy, but the latter were supported by the entire progressive world community, including the USSR.

During this war, Franco's soldiers shot approximately 75 thousand of their enemies, and the Republicans executed about fifty thousand people. In the battles, according to researchers, about two hundred thousand soldiers died and 25 thousands of non-combatants died of starvation. General Franco was able to win this war.

What is the Fifth Column video