Everything about Nestor Makhno totally explained
Nestor Ivanovich Makhno October 26,
1888 –
July 25,
1934) was an
anarcho-communist revolutionary who refused to join the
Bolsheviks after the
October Revolution.
A commander of the peasant
Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine, Makhno led a
guerrilla campaign during the
Russian Civil War. He supported the Bolsheviks, the
Ukrainian Directory, the Bolsheviks again, and then turned to organizing the
Free Territory of Ukraine, an
anarchist society, committed to resisting state authority, whether
capitalist or
state Communist. This project was cut short by the consolidation of Bolshevik power. Makhno was described by anarchist theorist
Emma Goldman as "an extraordinary figure" leading a revolutionary peasants' movement. He is also credited as the inventor of the
Tachanka.
Early life
Nestor Makhno was born into a poor peasant family in
Hulyai Pole, Yekaterioslav Governorate in
Novorossiya region of
Russia (now
Zaporizhia Oblast,
Ukraine). He was 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).
His father died when he was ten months old. Due to extreme poverty, he'd to work as a shepherd at the age of seven. He was released from prison after the
February Revolution in 1917. Peasant bands under various self-appointed
otamany which had been counted on the rolls of the UNR's army now attacked the Germans, later going over to the Directory in summer 1918 or the Bolsheviks in late 1918–19, or home to protect local interests, in many cases changing allegiances, plundering so-called class enemies, and venting age-old resentments. They finally dominated the countryside in mid 1919, the largest portion would follow either Socialist Revolutionary
Matviy Hryhoriyiv or the anarchist flag of Nestor Makhno.
In Yekaterinoslav province, this rebellion soon took on anarchist political overtones. Nestor Makhno joined one of such groups (headed by sailor-deserter
Fedor Shuss) and eventually became a head of it. Due to impressive personality and charisma of Makhno, all gangs of armed peasents in the region was then known as "makhnovists" .
In areas where they 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.
The Makhnovshchina
Hetman Pavlo Skoropadsky, head of a criticized
Ukrainian State—considered by some a
puppet Republic—lost support of the Central Powers in the collapse of the German western front, saw his best forces evaporate, and was driven out of Kyiv by the Directory. In March 1918, the RIAU had successes against the Germans, Austrians, Ukrainian Nationalists of
Symon Petlura, and multiple regiments of the
White Army. The brilliant victory over a much larger Austrian force established Makhno's reputation as a military tactician and he became known as "Batko" (father) to his people. In practice, the
Makhnoists formed an overall government over the
area they controlled, used forced conscription and summary executions(121), banned all opposition parties) The Bolsheviks considered allowing an independent area for Makhno's libertarian experiment and state that he's often considered by some as "inhuman monster" whose path is "literally drenched with blood." On the other hand Makhno is characterized as a legendary leader of the peasant uprising and is described as a "colourful personality".
Like the
White army, the
Ukrainian National Republic and forces loyal to the
Bolsheviks, Makhno's forces are also accused of conducting
pogroms against Jews in Ukraine during the civil war. But this claim is disputed.
Paul Avrich writes, "Maknno's alleged anti-Semitism...Charges of Jew-baiting and of anti-Jewish pogroms have come from every quarter, left, right, and center. Without exception, however, they're based on hearsay, rumor, or intentional slander, and remain undocumented and unproved."
During the height of Makhno's power in 1919, his bands attacked many German villages in the Katerynoslav oblast who supposdely represented "foreign capitalists", killing the inhabitants or forcing many to flee, eventually to Germany and North America. The larger rural landholdings of pacifist
Mennonites were prominent targets. The combination of Tsarist resettlement of Germans in WWI and peasant attacks during the civil war reduced the German population from 750,000 in 1914 to 514,000 in 1926.
National issues
While the bulk of Makhno's forces consisted of ethnically
Ukrainian peasants, his attitude to Ukrainian nationalism was explicitly negative.
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 claimed to have 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). 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.
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. When nearly half 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 "
Dielo 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 (notably the
platformism tendency) 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.
At the end of his life Makhno lived in Paris and worked as a
carpenter and stage-hand at the Paris Opera, at film-studios, and at the Renault factory. He 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.
Personal 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). Anarchists are opposed to anti-semitism, or any sort of hate crime. It is arguable whether she did that out of love for her husband, or out of her own conviction.
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.
Makhno was a thoroughgoing anarchist and down-to-earth peasant.
Russian anarchist punk-rock band
Mongol Shuudan (Монгол Шуудан) draws much of its inspiration from the events and the legend of Makhno's life.
A 12-part miniseries was made in Russia about Nestor Makhno called "The 9 Lives of Nestor Makhno".
Russian national patriotic pop group
Lubeh (Любэ) has a song about Makhno called Bat'ka Makhno.
Further Information
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