The Russian Revolution: Nestor Ivanovich Makhno and the Makhnovschyna

Résumé du document

Nestor Makhno, who led the libertarian rising in southeastern Ukraine, was one of the most fascinating and heroic figures of the Russian Civil War. His movement was the only peasant uprising of the 20th century which succeeded to create a libertarian society when the tsarist one was dying. But, in the stormy years of 1917-20, the political oppositions and the clashes of power got the better of the Anarcho-peasant fight for land and freedom. At the same time, he and his partisans, the Makhnovists, tried to apply Anarchist ideas, and fought against many enemies, opposing Reds as well as Whites, Austrian invaders and Ukrainian nationalists. The role of Makhno was central in this movement called Makhnovschyna, all his life was connected with the political struggles of the ex-tsarist empire in the early 20th century.


Makhno was born in October 27th 1888 in the South of Ukraine, at Gulyai-Polye, a village situated between the Dnieper River and the Sea of Azov. He was the fifth son of a family of poor peasants, and his father died when he was a baby. Until he was 10 years old, he went to school during the winter, but very early in his life, he worked in order to help his family to survive. Then he was an agricultural worker and worked in a factory. Soon, because of his living-conditions, he became very hateful against the landlords who owned the lands where the peasants worked. As we can see, his roots were totally rural and poor, he was so very representative of the population of Ukraine. It was one of the reasons of the total adhesion by the Ukrainian people on his activities. He was a leader who was one of them, they called him "batko", an affectionate word that means little father.

Extraits

[...] One of the main differences between the Makhnovist soldiers and the others, was the convinction. The Makhnovists really believed in what they fought for, whereas in the Red Army, and in the Whites', the desertions were very numerous and they were not very tough in the fights. The attitude towards the prisoners differed as well; Makhno asked them if they wanted to join them, if they refused they could go back unarmed in their villages. Only the main officers were killed, whereas the sumary executions were frequent when the Reds and the Whites won the battle. [...]

[...] The propaganda was entirely applicable, and generally worked against the Makhnovschyna. The Bolsheviks, especially Trotsky spread many gossips and wrong news about the movement. Makhno was accused to practice pogroms against the Jews; we know now it was false because of the presence of many Jews in the Makhnovist command. We know as well that Makhno punished very severely all the attacks against them. Jews were often chosen as target, anti-semitism was present in all the armies, but it was not forbidden in the White Army, it was even encouraged sometimes in order to favour nationalism. [...]

[...] This group was formed by young peasants and workers, the oldest was only 25 years old. The main character, and the founder member was Alexander Semeniuta, a courageous and fanatic activist who dedicated his life for the cause of Anarchy. He had a huge influence on Makhno who was the youngest person of the group. They adopted a new project called “black terror” against tsarism, and became terrorists (bombings, bank attacks, burning the lands of the rich owners . In these years, the political struggle was very violent, summary executions, hangings, bloody vengeances. [...]

[...] Then, it was the beginning of the Anarchist peasant movement called Makhnovschyna. Makhno became the leader of the local Soviet of workers and peasants. Then with a band of armed peasants, he expropriated the landlords and the kulaks to give the lands to the peasants and established self-managed communes around Gulyai-Polye; the provisional government of Ukraine was not strong enough to prevent this movement. But after the treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918, the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires invaded a part of Ukraine. [...]

[...] Several regional congresses of peasants and workers were organised. The creation of free soviets were supporting; but these ones were not as the “Bolshevik's” which were in fact ruled by the Party to support the Party's policies, there, the councils of workers, soldiers and peasants had elected delegates. Full political rights, freedom of association and press freedom were established in the safe Makhnovist areas. One of the main topics of the Makhnovist and the Anarchist thought was the idea of self-management, so they have encouraged the people to organize their lives as they want, and destroyed organizations that tried to impose political authority. [...]