From Trump’s Maga to Farage’s Reform, they’re all following Putin’s nationalism playbook | Rafael Behr

<p>Reform is promising a ‘patriotic school curriculum’ – but what does that mean? In the end it comes down to submission to the leader</p><p>In September 2022, seven months into an all-out war in Ukraine that was only supposed to last a few weeks, Russian schoolchildren started compulsory <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/01/russian-parents-and-teachers-urged-to-boycott-propaganda-classes">patriotism lessons</a>. Since then, Monday mornings have been set aside for “conversations about what is important” – a class on the glories of national history; western perfidy; the virtue of self-sacrifice for the Motherland; Vladimir Putin’s wise leadership.</p><p>Authoritarian regimes never trust people to love their country spontaneously. Organic national identity, the kind that grows without state cultivation, contains stories of dissent and cultural idiosyncrasy. Variety is subversive.</p><p>Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist</p><p><strong>Guardian Newsroom: Can Labour come back from the brink?<br></strong>On Monday 30 April, ahead of the May elections, join Gaby Hinsliff, Zoe Williams, Polly Toynbee and Rafael Behr as they discuss how much of a threat Labour is under from both the Green party and Reform and whether Keir Starmer can survive as leader of the party. Book tickets <em><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/guardian-live-events/2026/feb/03/guardian-newsroom-can-labour-come-back-from-the-brink">here</a></em></p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/25/donald-trump-maga-nigel-farage-reform-vladimir-putin-nationalism">Continue reading...</a>