Makhnovism

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Makhnovism refers to various related political and economic theories elaborated by anarchist revolutionary leader Nestor Makhno, and by other theorists (Peter Arshinov etc.) who claim to be carrying on Makhno's work. Makhnovism builds upon and elaborates the ideas of Peter Kropotkin, and serves as the philosophical basis for Anarchist Communism. 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 to them, including Ukraine. The people living in Ukraine did not want to be ruled by the Central Powers, and so rebelled. Partisan units were formed that waged guerilla war against the Germans and Austrians. This rebellion turned into an anarchist revolution. Nestor Makhno was one of the main organizers of these partisan groups, who united into the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine (RIAU), also called the Black Army (because they fought under the anarchist black flag), "Makhnovists" or "Makhnovshchina". The RIAU also battled against the Whites and anti-semitic pogromists. In areas where the RIAU drove out opposing armies, villagers (and workers) sought to abolish capitalism and the state through organizing themselves into village assemblies, communes and councils. The land and factories were expropriated and workers self-management implemented. The economy the Makhnovists in Ukraine implemented was based on free exchange between rural and urban communities

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Triumph and defeat

By November 1918 the Central Powers had been decisively beaten by the Allied Nations and could by no means hold onto Ukraine in the face of the fierce partisan warfare being waged against them by Nestor Makhno and almost every worker and peasant in the Donetz Basin. Thus, the Austro-Hungarians and Germans left the Ukraine and the dictatorship of Hetman Skorapadskiy collapsed without them. But almost immediately after these events, a new government, led by Ukrainian Nationalist Symon Petlura, installed itself in Kiev. Petliura had completely misjudged what the Ukrainian people wanted. His regime was easily vanquished by the invading Bolsheviks. But these various Palace Revolutions went unnoticed by the mostly Anarchist peasants of the South-Central region of the Ukraine where Makhno and Kropotkin were far more popular than Lenin or Marx. This state of affairs did not last in the face of an invasion of the Free Territory by Anton Denikin's White Army. The Makhnovists were driven out of their home region and were forced to retreat along the Left Bank of the Dniepr river all the way to the small town of Peregonovka. There they reassembled their troops and prepared for a last battle of the Ukrainian Revolution.

Peregonovka and after

At Peregonovka the Makhnovists fought a battle with a regiment of the White Army. The fighting was intense from the beginning and the Makhnovists were heavily outnumbered by the Whites. Nestor Makhno himself charged into the Whites rear guard, along with a company of his bravest soldiers, the Black Sotnia. The exhausted Makhnovists found new hope at the sight of their guerilla hero in the enemy rear. The battle took on even savager proportions as the fighting grew ever more brutal and the battle turned into nothing more than a veritable orgy of bloody death as the rifles were tossed away and the sabres were pulled out. Overwhelmed, the White forces fled. The Makhnovists pursued the retreating Whites.

Betrayal and death

Throughout all this drama the Bolsheviks had persecuted Makhnovists outside the Free Territory and surrendered the Front to Denikins Whites. As soon as Ukraine had been liberated from the Denikinists by the Makhnovists, the Bolsheviks set about destroying them. Their attacks against the Makhnovists were accompanied by reprisals against the civilian population of Ukraine and over a million Ukrainians died as a direct result of the Bolsheviks forced wheat "requisitioning". But the Bolsheviks had spent too much time destroying the true Peoples Revolution and too long ignoring the Counter-Revolution led by General Peter von Wrangel in the Crimea. This new White Revolt soon exploded all over the Southern Ukraine. The Bolsheviks were completely incompetent and thus were easily pushed back by Wrangel. The Makhnovists had the benefit of outstanding military tactics, strategy, courage and dedication but were also suffering from the repeated Bolshevik attacks against them and a severe lack of arms. So the decision was made to sign a treaty with the Bolsheviks in order to fight off the Counter-Revolution better. The fight against Wrangel was fierce and unforgiving but eventually, thanks almost entirely to the courage of the Makhnovists, the Crimea was taken by November 1920. During this time the Revolutionary base of the Makhnovists (the small town of Gulyai-Polye, the centre of Revolutionary activity in South-Central Ukraine since 1905 and Makhnos birthplace) had organised a highly developed Anarchist School for illiterate and semi-literate peasants on the basis laid out by the Anarchist educationist Francisco Ferrer. Plays and musicals were also written and staged by local peasants at the Gulyai-Polye Theater. However, the Makhnovists were soon crushed by the Bolsheviks.

As soon as Wrangel was defeated the Bolsheviks set about waging an unrestrained warfare against the Makhnovists. All the Makhnovist units of the Red Army were swiftly culled in their barracks by the Bolshevik Commisars and all Makhnovist Communes were destroyed. The actions resulted in a period of guerrilla warfare against the Red troops. Reluctantly, Makhno was forced to leave the Ukraine and seek refuge in Romania. On his way there he sustained the worst injury of his life when a Bolshevik bullet hit him in the neck, travelled through his entire left cheek, and eventuallt left via the side of his mouth. Despite the constant attacks he faced on his way, Makhno survived and lived the rest of his life in exile with his longtime lover, Galina Kuzmenko, and daughter Lucie Makhno, in Paris among other Makhnovist exiles.

For some time after Makhno escaped, the Makhnovist insurgency carried on fighting the Leninist regime in Ukraine, even carrying on throughout World War II when many Ukrainian partisans fought against Nazis and Stalinists alike and after Stalin died in 1953 there was a mass insurrection in a Ukrainian gulag which flew the Anarchist Black Flag and carried Makhno in its name. But the insurgency never reached the State-destroying levels it had once attained. The Ukrainian Revolution had been quelled by the Bolsheviks.

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