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Nestor Makhno

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Nestor Makhno
BornOctober 26, 1888
Hulyai Pole, Ukraine
DiedJuly 25, 1934
Paris, France

Nestor Ivanovich Makhno (Ukrainian: Нестор Іванович Махно, October 26, 1888 – July 25, 1934) was an anarcho-communist Ukrainian revolutionary who refused to align with the Bolsheviks after the October Revolution. He is credited with organizing an enormous experiment in anarchist values and practice, one which was cut short by the consolidation of Bolshevik power.

Early life and Ukrainian Revolution

Nestor Makhno in 1909
Main article: Russian Civil War

Nestor Makhno was born into a poor peasant family in Hulyai Pole, Ukraine, the youngest of five children. Church files show a birthdate of October 27, 1888, but Nestor Makhno's parents registered his date of birth as 1889 (possibly in an attempt to postpone conscription, or a later attempt to avoid execution after his arrest in 1910 for belonging to the anarchist group and for robberies). He studied at a parochial school between ages of eight and twelve.

Soon after the Russian Revolution of 1905 Makhno joined a group of anarchists and was engaged in property expropriations and killings of gendarmes.[citation needed] He was arrested in 1906, tried, and acquitted. He was again arrested in 1907, but Makhno could not be incriminated, and the charges were dropped. The third arrest came in 1908, when an infiltrator was able to testify against Makhno. In 1910 Makhno was sentenced to death by hanging, but the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment and he was sent to Butyrskaya prison in Moscow instead. There he spent 6 years until he was released after the February Revolution in 1917. The time spent in prison allowed him to improve his education, aided by intellectual cellmates (notably Piotr Arshinov). After his release Makhno joined the revolutionary movement in Ukraine and helped organize expropriation of property from wealthy landlords and capitalists in the eastern Ukraine.

In early 1918, the new Bolshevik government in Russia signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk making peace with the Central Powers, but ceding large amounts of territory, including Ukraine, to them. The populace of Ukraine did not want to be ruled by the Central Powers, and rebelled. Partisan units were formed that waged guerrilla war against the German and Austro-Hungarian armies. In Yekaterinoslav province, this rebellion soon took an anarchist political tone. Nestor Makhno (along with Arshinov and Volin) was one of the main organizers of these partisan groups, eventually united into the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine (RIAU), also called the Black Army (because they fought under the anarchist black flag). The RIAU also battled against the Whites (counter-revolutionaries), Ukrainian nationalists, and anti-semitic pogromists. The anarchist movement in Ukraine came to be referred to as "Makhnovism" or pejoratively "Makhnovshchina."

In areas where the RIAU drove out opposing armies, villagers (and workers) sought to abolish capitalism and the state by organizing themselves into village assemblies, communes and free councils. The land and factories were expropriated and put under nominal peasant/worker control, but mayors and many officials were drawn directly from the ranks of Makhno's military, rather than local toilers. It is debatable whether Makhno's government or the RSFSR was more democratic in this period.

The Makhnovshchina (Anarchist Ukraine)

Main article: Free Territory (Ukraine)

Hetman Pavlo Skoropadsky, head of a criticized Ukrainian State — considered by some as a puppet Republic, had difficulty trying to occupy Ukraine as he was confronted by Makhno's Insurrectional Army. Thus, he was finally called back to Germany after the collapse of the German western front. In March 1918, the RIAU succeeded in defeating the Germans, Austrians, Ukrainian Nationalists of Symon Petlura, and multiple regiments of the White Army.

At this point, the military role Makhno had adopted in his early years shifted to an organizing one. The first congress of the Confederation of Anarchists Groups, under the name of Nabat ("the Bell"), issued five main points: rejection of all political parties, of all forms of dictatorships (in particular the Marxist dogma of "Dictatorship by Proletariat"), negation of any State concept, rejection of any "transitional period" that may necessitate some dictatorship, self-management of all workers through free workers' councils (soviets). While the Bolsheviks argued that their concept of "Dictatorship by Proletariat" meant precisely "rule by workers' councils," the Makhnovist platform opposed the "temporary" Bolshevik measure of "Party dictatorship."

From November 1918 to June 1919, the Makhnovists claimed to be creating an anarchist society in Ukraine in which the peasants and workers reigned democratically. "The agricultural most part of these villages was composed of peasants, someone understood at the same time peasants and workers. They were founded first of all on equality and solidarity of his members. All, men and women, worked together with a perfect conscience that they should work on fields or that they should be used in housework... Working program was established in meetings where all participated. They knew then exactly what they had to make." (Makhno, Russian Revolution in Ukraine).

New relationships and values were supposedly generated by this new social paradigm, which lead Makhnovists to formalize the policy of free communities as the highest form of social justice. Education was organised on Francisco Ferrer's principles, and the economy was based upon free exchange between rural and urban communities, from crop and cattle to manufactured products, according to the theories of Peter Kropotkin.[citation needed]

Skeptics on the Bolshevik side argue that the above description of Makhnovist Ukraine is a myth. They find it unrealistic that a war-ravaged, economically isolated, agricultural region like Ukraine (though eastern Ukraine included the largest coal and iron mines in the former Russian Empire and was relatively industrialized)[1] could be turned into an anarchist paradise in a few days or even months, simply by using correct anarchist ideology. Trotsky, in a series of articles, charged that the "anarchist republic" was a military dictatorship with few or sham elections, and all the important ministers chosen by Makhno and his lieutenants, who frequently exercised the power to conduct summary executions. The most infamous example is the charge that Makhno, during the course of a simple conversation in his tent, decided that one of his officers was a reactionary and shot him outright. There is no evidence that this shooting occurred, but neither is there that popular democracy ever existed in Makhnovist Ukraine.

There were many claims of extreme atrocities committed by Makhno's Army. Makhno reserved a particular hatred of monarchists and aristocrats, and they were exterminated mercilessly whenever they fell into Makhnovists' hands, as were White Army officers. After the souring and dissolution of Makhno's coalition with Bolsheviks the captured Red commanders and comissars were similarly summarily executed. However, Makhno usually preferred to release the disarmed enlisted men that were captured, as "proletarian brothers", with a choice of joining his army or returning home, after all commanding officers were executed. This happened to an Estonian Red Army brigade that surrendered to Makhno in 1919, and several other German, Nationalist and Red Army units. This clemency which Makhno applied to all enlisted men except the Whites, formed a part of Makhno's strategy. It proved to be extremely useful, and greatly increased his army's manpower, as many chose to join the anarchists.

Personal and domestic life

In 1919, Nestor Maknho married Agafya (aka Halyna) Kuzmenko, a former elementary schoolteacher (1892-1978), who became his aide. They had one daughter, Yelena.

Halyna Kuzmenko personally carried out a death sentence of ataman Nikifor Grigoriev, a subordinate commander who committed a series of anti-semitic pogroms (according to other versions, Grigoriev was killed by Chubenko, a member of Makhno's staff or Makhno himself).

Two of Makhno's brothers were his active supporters and aides. They were captured in battle by the German occupation forces and executed by firing squad.

There are many legends alleging extreme sexual promiscuity of Makhno, his entourage and troops, but they have never been proven. One Makhnovist proclamation forbidding mistreatment of "coachmen, actors and whores, because all of them serve People" is taken as evidence of anarchist immorality [citation needed].

A White and Red counter-strike

Makhno had resisted the White Army's attempts to invade Ukraine from the South-West for three months before the Bolshevik Red Army units joined the war effort of the Makhnovshchina. But even after joining forces with the Red Army, the anarchists maintained their main political structures and refused to hold soviet elections or accept Bolshevik-appointed political commissars. The Red Army temporarily accepted these conditions, but soon Bolsheviks ceased to provide the Makhnovists with basic supplies, such as cereals and coal. The Nabat paper was banned and the Third Congress (specifically Pavel Dybenko) declared the Makhnovschina outlaw and counter-revolutionary, in response to which the Anarchist congress publicly questioned, "[M]ight laws exist as made by few persons so-called revolutionaries, allowing these to declare the outlawing of an entire people which is more revolutionary than them?" (Archinoff, The Makhnovist Movement). The justifications provided by the Bolshevik press for their break with the Anarchists were that Makhno's "anarchist state" was a warlord regime with civilian posts appointed (not elected) by Makhno and other military leaders, that Makhno himself had refused to provide food for Soviet railwaymen and telegraph operators, the "special section" of the anarchist constitution provided for secret executions and torture, that Makhno's forces had raided Red Army convoys for supplies, stolen an armored car from Briansk when asked to repair it, and that Nabat was responsible for deadly acts of terrorism in Russian cities.

Lenin soon sent Lev Kamenev to Ukraine, who conducted a cordial interview with Makhno. After Kamenev's departure, Makhno intercepted two Bolshevik messages, the first an order to the Red Army to attack the Makhnovists, the second ordering Makhno's assassination. Soon after the Fourth Congress, Trotsky sent the clear order to arrest every congress member, then supposedly declared that "it's better to cede the entire Ukraine to Denikin (White Army) than to allow an expansion of Makhnovism" (quoted by Arshinov in his History of the The Makhnovist Movement).[citation needed] It is questionable that Trotsky would have preferred another White force to a non-aligned peasant army on the Ukrainian front, as the Reds were dealing with White and foreign invasions from all directions. Makhno's answer to the Red assault was to escape with his closest associates. Trotsky's forces were thereafter beaten by Denikin and so forced to withdraw from Ukraine. Makhno reformed his forces and pushed back Denikin's weakened White forces, saving the RIAU.

Makhno's group

Having become powerful and popular, the Makhnovshchina turned again to the self-organization of the country, and pursued anarchist principles by destroying prisons and guardhouses and by granting freedom of speech, conscience, association, and the press.[citation needed] When nearly half[citation needed] of Makhno's troops were struck by a typhus epidemic, Trotsky resumed hostilities.

There was a new truce between Makhnovist forces and the Red Army in October 1920 when both forces came close to the territories held by Wrangel's White army. The Makhnovshchina still agreed to help the Red Army, but when the Whites were decisively eliminated in the Crimea, the communists turned on Makhno again. Makhno intercepted three messages from Lenin to Christian Rakovsky, the head of the Bolshevik government of Ukraine. Lenin's orders were to arrest all members of Makhno's organization and to try them as common criminals.

Exile

In August 1921, an exhausted Makhno was finally driven by the Bolsheviks into exile, fleeing to Romania, then Poland, Danzig, Berlin and finally to Paris. In 1926, joining other Russian exiles in Paris as part of the Group of Russian Anarchists Abroad (Группа Русских Анархистов Заграницей) who produced the monthly journal "Delo Truda" (Дело Труда, The Сause of Labour), Makhno co-wrote and co-published the Organizational Platform of the General Union of Anarchists (often referred to as the Organizational Platform of the Libertarian Communists), which put forward ideas on how anarchists should organize, based on the experiences of revolutionary Ukraine and the defeat at the hand of the Bolsheviks. The document was initially rejected by many anarchists, but today has a wide following. It remains controversial to this day, continuing to inspire some anarchists because of the clarity and functionality of the structures it proposes, while drawing criticism from others (including, at the time of publication, Volin and Malatesta) who view its implications as too rigid and hierarchical. (See Platformism)

At the end of his life Makhno lived in Paris and worked as a carpenter and stage-hand at the Paris Opera and film-studios, as well as at the Renault factory.

Makhno died in Paris in 1934 from tuberculosis. He was cremated three days after his death, with five hundred people attending his funeral at the famous cimetière du Père-Lachaise in Paris.

Makhno's widow and daughter, Yelena, were deported to Germany for forced labor at the end of the WW2. After the end of the war they were arrested by the NKVD and taken to Kiev for trial in 1946 and sentenced to eight years of hard labor. They lived in Kazakhstan after their release in 1953.

Makhno is featured as a fictional character in Michael Moorcock's Jerry Cornelius series of novels. For example, at the outset of The Entropy Tango, Makhno's 'insurgent army' takes over parts of Canada.[2]

Russian anarchist punk-rock band Mongol Shuudan (Монгол Шуудан) draws much of its inspiration from the events and the legend of Makhno's life.[3]


A 12-part miniseries was made in Russia about Nestor Makhno called "The 9 Lives of Nestor Makhno".

See also

Further reading

  • Nestor Makhno, The Struggle Against the State & Other Essays (AK Press).
  • Alexandre Skirda, Nestor Makhno—Anarchy's Cossack: The Struggle for Free Soviets in the Ukraine 1917-1921 (AK Press).
  • Peter Arshinov, History of the Makhnovist Movement (1918-1921), 1923.
  • G.A. Kuz'menko's Diary; Makhno's Memoir (ISBN 5-300-00585-1).
  • S.N. Semanov, Nestor Makhno: Vozhak Anarkhistov. Novoye prochteniye po novym materyalam; Nestor Makhno: Anarchist Chieftain. A New Reading Based on New Material (Veche, Moscow, 2005).
  • S.N. Semanov, Makhno. Podlinnaya Istoriya; Makhno. An Authentic History (AST-PRESS | 2001).

References and notes

  1. ^ Gatrell, Peter, Government, Industry, and Rearmament in Russia, 1900-1914, pp. 46-48 on iron and industry.
  2. ^ Benjamin S. Beck (2006). "Anarchism and science fiction". Retrieved 2007-04-06.
  3. ^ Mongol Shuudan (2005). "News Archive, October 2005". Retrieved 2007-04-06.
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