Makhno Nestor Ivanovich - Nestor Makhno in the Russian Civil War

Michael Malet 1982

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without permission

First published 1982 by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD

London and Basingstoke

Companies and representatives

throughout the world

ISBN 0 333 25969 6

Typeset in Great Britain by

The Bourne Press, Bournemouth

and printed in Hong Kong

To my children Iain, Saffron, and Jonquil

Contents

Acknowledgements viii

Preface ix

Chronology xi

Introduction xvii

Glossary xxv

PART 1 MILITARY HISTORY 1917-21

1 Relative Peace, 1917-18 3

2 The Rise of the Batko, July 1918-February 1919 13

3 The Year 1919 29

4 Stalemate, January-October 1920 54

5 The End, October 1920-August 1921 64

PART 2 MAKHNOVSCHYNA - ORGANISATION

6 Makhno's Military Organisation and Capabilities 83

7 Civilian Organisation 107

PART 3 IDEOLOGY

8 Peasants and Workers 117

9 Makhno and the Bolsheviks 126

10 Other Enemies and Rivals 138

11 Anarchism and the Anarchists 157

12 Anti-Semitism 168

13 Some Ideological Questions 175

PART 4 EXILE

14 The Bitter End 183 References 193 Bibliography 198 Index 213

Acknowledgements

My first thanks are due to three university lecturers who have helped and encouraged me over the years: John Erickson and Z. A. B. Zeman inspired my initial interest in Russian and Soviet history, and directed me towards the particular area of study which has led to this book; Professor L. B. Schapiro not only directed my research, but was of personal help and encouragement.

This book could not have been written without the help of numerous friends. I would ask their forgiveness for not indicating the special help each has given, for this would be invidious. They include: Professor Jean Maitron; Yury Boshyk; Dr John Bradley; Alexandre Skirda; Agustin Souchy; Albert Meltzer; Peter Newell; Professor Paul Avrich; Dr Victor Swoboda; Terry Liddle; Leah Feldman-Downes; Ida Mett-Lazarevich; Giovanni Baldelli; Georges Balkanski; Arthur Mendes-George; William Fishman; Mick Costello; Keith Nathan; Laurens Otter and Soteru Higuchi. Would any people omitted please accept my apologies and consider themselves included.

Last, but not least, I should like to thank the staffs of: the Bibliotheque de Documentation Internationale Contemporaine, Paris; the British Museum; the Centre Internationale de Recherches sur l'Anarchisme, Geneva; the Foreign Office Library; Harvard University Library; the Hoover Library at Stanford University, California; the Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis, Amsterdam; the Library of Congress, Washington; the New York Public Library and the Public Record Office. All those concerned have been both courteous and helpful.

Vlll

Preface

Until the appearance of Michael Palij's book in 1976, the role of Nestor Makhno in the events of the Russian civil war was almost unknown. His ideas and activities are still anathema in the Soviet Union, the work on him in his own country in the 1920s known only to a few specialists; his ideology has but a small following in Western Europe and the United States; his main area of operations, the Ukraine, is virtually unknown in the West among the general public; and the history of his times has been largely written in terms of the winners rather than the losers, even where the latter helped decide the outcome.

This book has three main aims: to place Makhno, and the movement he led, historically where they belong - in the context of a civil war and a conflict of ideas, neither of which is finished. With this in "mind, the book has been divided schematically, so that the many questions only indirectly connected with military events can be adequately discussed and easily referred to. In this, the work is complementary to that of Palij, which seeks primarily to place Makhno and the Makhno movement in their Ukrainian context. It is very much the author's hope that his work will be of interest outwith academic and left-wing political circles.

It will be clear from the book that the author has some sympathy with Makhno and his ideals, but he trusts that this has not led to gross distortion or untruth.

23 February 1979 M.M.

Chronology

(1) EVENTS DIRECTLY CONCERNING NESTOR MAKHNO

14/27.10.1889

1896-1902

1906

August 1908

1910

2/15.3.1917

24.3/6.4.1917

29.3/11.4.1917

Early June 1917 11/24-16/29.6.1917

August 1917

28.8/10.9.1917

2/15-4/17.12.1917

27.12.1917/9.1.1918

1/14.1.1918

15.4.1918 End April 1918

4.5.1918

2 or 3.6.1918

29.6.1918

4.7.1918

July 1918 28.9.1918

Birth of Nestor Makhno. Nestor at school.

He joins local anarchist-communist group. Arrest of Makhno and others. Their trial by court martial, Katerynoslav. Makhno and Arshinov released in Moscow. Makhno back in Hulyai Pole. Foundations of Hulyai Pole Peasant Union laid.

Makhno leads successful strike, Hulyai Pole. 1st Provincial Peasant Congress, Katerynoslav.

Hulyai Pole group letter to Kropotkin. Regiment disarmed at Orikhiv. Provincial Congress of Workers', Peasants', and Soldiers' Deputies, Katerynoslav. Sixteen Cossack trains try to break through at Olexandrivske.

Makhno helps to restore Soviet power, Olexandrivske.

Hulyai Pole betrayed to Central Powers. Taganrog conference of Hulyai Pole anarchists.

Makhno leaves Rostov for Tsaritsyn. Makhno leaves Saratov for Moscow. Makhno leaves Moscow for the Ukraine. Makhno makes first contacts with peasants, from Rozhdestvenka. Schus takes refuge in forest after defeat. First brief occupation of Hulyai Pole.

XI

Xll

Nestor Makhno in the Russian Civil War

5.10.1918 12-16.11.1918 27.11.1918 26.12.1918

29.12.1918 3.1.1919 23.1.1919 26.1.1919

12.2.1919 5.4.1919

2-7.4.1919

10.4.1919

29.4.1919

April 1919

April 1919

7.5.1919

12.5.1919

14.5.1919

17.5.1919

19.5.1919

4.6.1919 5.6.1919 6.6.1919 9.6.1919

17.6.1919

Early July 1919

12.7.1919

27.7.1919

13-15.8.1919

August 1919

2-7.9.1919

About 20.9.1919 26.9.1919

Battle of Dibrivki.

Founding Conference of Nabat, Kursk. Permanent occupation of Hulyai Pole. Bolshevik and insurgent forces under Makhno attack Katerynoslav. Nationalists retake Katerynoslav. Front unit delegate congress, Polohy. 1st regional congress, Velyka Mykhailivka. Chubenko-Dybenko agreement, Nyzhnyod-niprovske.

2nd regional congress, Hulyai Pole. Makhno advance to Kuteinykove: Shkuro counter-attack.

Nabat congress, Yelyzavethrad. 3rd regional congress, Hulyai Pole. Antonov-Ovseyenko at Hulyai Pole. Arshinov arrives at Hulyai Pole. Rosa Luxemburg commune starts again. Kamenev at Hulyai Pole. Gorkaya incident.

Renewed Makhnovist and Soviet attacks. First number of 'Road to Freedom' published.

Shkuro counter-attack at junction of Makhno brigade and 9th division of 13th Army. Trotski's Order 1824 forbids 4th congress. Battle of Svyatodukhivka. Whites take Hulyai Pole. Makhno resigns his command, Haichur station.

Makhnovist staff shot under Order 1824, Kharkiv.

Makhno-Hryhoriyiv agreement. Makhno attack on Yelyzavethrad. Sentove denouement. Novy Buh revolt.

Arrival of Volin: made chairman of RVS. Insurgent fighting against Whites in Pomi-schna-Novoukrainka area. Makhno-Petliura agreement, Uman. Battle of Perehonivka.

Introduction

In the complicated history of the Russian Revolutions from 1917 to 1921, much of what has been written has concentrated on the events in the twin capitals, Petrograd and Moscow. There is also a considerable literature on the general course of the civil war throughout the territories of the former Russian Empire, but, in contrast to the detailed works on important movements in the capitals, little has been written on significant events outside them. There are two main reasons for this: firstly, attention has tended to be lavished on the politics and policies of the triumphant Bolsheviks. Secondly, the constituent parts of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union have never been well known abroad-the everyday description, still, of the Soviet Union as Russia shows that this habit persists.