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The most famous anarchists. Anarchists during the civil war Anarchist revolution

During the Civil War, “greens” were originally the name given to people who evaded military service and hid in the forests (hence the name). This phenomenon became widespread in the summer of 1918, when forced mobilization of the population was launched. Then this name was assigned to irregular armed formations, consisting mainly of peasants, who equally opposed both the Reds and the Whites, or could temporarily support one of the sides, waging a guerrilla war.

Some Greens fought under their own banners - green, black-green, red-green or black. The flag of Nestor Makhno’s anarchists was a black banner with a skull and crossbones and the slogan: “Freedom or death.”

Among the green detachments there could be peasants driven from their places by the Reds or Whites and evading mobilization, ordinary bandits, and anarchists. The leaders of the largest green association, the so-called Greens, adhered to anarchist ideology. Insurgent Army of Ukraine. And it was with anarchism that this movement was most closely connected.

By the time of the first (1905) Russian revolution, three main directions were clearly defined in anarchism: anarcho-communism, anarcho-syndicalism and anarcho-individualism, with each of them having smaller factions.

On the eve of the 1905 revolution, most anarchists were adherents of anarcho-communism. Their main organization was "Bread and Freedom" with headquarters in Geneva. The main ideologist of the Khlebovoltsy was P. A. Kropotkin. Their program highlighted the following points:

The goal of the anarchists was declared to be “social revolution,” i.e., the complete destruction of capitalism and the state and replacing them with anarchist communism.

The beginning of the revolution was supposed to be a “general strike of the dispossessed both in cities and in villages.”

The main methods of struggle in Russia were proclaimed to be “uprising and direct attack, both mass and personal, on the oppressors and exploiters.” The question of the use of personal terrorist attacks was to be decided only by local residents, depending on the specific situation.

The form of organization of anarchists was supposed to be “a voluntary agreement of individuals in groups and groups among themselves.

Anarchists rejected the possibility of their entry into any governing bodies (the State Duma or the Constituent Assembly), as well as the possibility of anarchists collaborating with other political parties or movements.

Essential for the Khlebovolites was the question of a future society created according to the model of anarcho-communism. Kropotkin's supporters imagined the future society as a union or federation of free communities, united by a free contract, where the individual, freed from the tutelage of the state, would receive unlimited opportunities for development. For the systematic development of the economy, Kropotkin proposed decentralizing industry. On the agrarian issue, Kropotkin and his comrades considered it necessary to transfer all the land seized as a result of the uprising to the people, to those who cultivate it themselves, but not into personal ownership, but into the community.

In the conditions of the revolution of 1905-07. Several more movements emerged in Russian anarcho-communism:

Beznachaltsy . This movement was based on the preaching of terror and robbery as methods of fighting the autocracy and the denial of all moral principles of society. They wanted to destroy the autocracy through “bloody popular reprisals” against those in power.

In the autumn of 1905 they took shape Black Banners (named after the color of the banners). In the revolution of 1905-07. this trend played one of the leading roles. The social base of the Black Banners consisted of individual representatives of the intelligentsia, part of the proletariat and artisan workers. They considered their main task to be the creation of a broad mass anarchist movement and the establishment of connections with all directions of anarchism. During the fighting at the end of 1905, the Black Banners split into “motiveless” terrorists and anarchist communists. The former considered the main goal to be the organization of “motiveless anti-bourgeois terror,” while the anarchist-communists advocated combining an anti-bourgeois war with a series of partial uprisings.

Anarcho-syndicalists . The syndicalists considered the main goal of their activities to be the complete, comprehensive liberation of labor from all forms of exploitation and the creation of free professional associations of workers as the main and highest form of their organization.

Of all types of struggle, syndicalists recognized only the direct struggle of workers with capital, as well as boycotts, strikes, destruction of property (sabotage) and violence against capitalists.

Following these ideals led the syndicalists to the idea of ​​a “non-party workers’ congress,” as well as to agitation for the creation of an all-Russian workers’ party of “proletarians, regardless of existing party divisions and views.” Some of these ideas were adopted by the Mensheviks from the syndicalists.

In Russia, at the beginning of the first Russian revolution, there also exists anarcho-individualism (individualist anarchism), which took as a basis absolute freedom of the individual “as the starting point and final ideal.”

Varieties of individualist anarchism also took shape:

Mystical Anarchism is a movement aimed not at social transformation, but at “a special kind of spirituality.” Mystic-anarchists were based on Gnostic teachings (or rather, on their own understanding of them), they rejected the institutions of the church, and preached a single path to God.

Association anarchism. He was represented in Russia in the person of Lev Chernov (pseudonym P. D. Turchaninov), who took as a basis the works of Stirner, Proudhon and the American anarchist V. R. Thacker. Turchaninov advocated the creation of a political association of producers. He considered systematic terror to be the main method of struggle.

Mahaevtsy (Makhaevists). The Mahaevites expressed a hostile attitude towards the intelligentsia, government and capital. The creator and theorist of the movement was the Polish revolutionary J. V. Makhaisky.

In the wake of the rising revolution, anarchists began to take more active action. Seeking to expand their influence on the masses, they organized printing houses and published brochures and leaflets. In an effort to tear the working class away from the Marxists, the anarchists made all sorts of attacks on the Bolsheviks. Denying the need for any power at all, the anarchists opposed the Bolshevik demands for the creation of a provisional revolutionary government.

On the pages of the anarchist press, the tactics of anarchism were characterized as a constant rebellion, a continuous uprising against the existing social and state system. Anarchists often called on the people to prepare for an armed uprising. Anarchist fighting squads carried out so-called “motiveless” terror. On December 17, 1905, anarchists in Odessa threw 5 bombs at Libman's cafe. Terrorist acts were committed by anarchists in Moscow, the Urals, and Central Asia. Ekaterinoslav anarchists were especially active (about 70 acts). During the years of the first Russian revolution, the anarchists' tactics of political and economic terror often resulted in robbery. Using them, some anarchist groups created so-called “battle funds”, from which part of the money was given to the workers. In 1905-07. Many criminal elements joined anarchism, trying to cover up their activities.

Anarchist ideologists hoped that the expansion of the network of anarchist organizations in 1905-07. will accelerate the introduction into the consciousness of the masses (and primarily the working class) of the ideas of anarchism.

In 1914, the First World War broke out. It caused a split among anarchists into social patriots (led by Kropotkin) and internationalists. Kropotkin abandoned his views and founded a group of “anarcho-trenchers.” Anarchists who disagreed with him formed an international movement, but there were too few of them to have a serious influence on the masses. In the years between the two revolutions, syndicalists became more active, publishing leaflets and verbally calling on citizens to open struggle.

Anarcho-communists in the period 1905-1917. experienced several splits. The so-called anarcho-cooperators separated from the orthodox supporters of anarcho-communism. They considered it possible to transition from capitalism to communism immediately, bypassing any transitional stages.

The Moscow Federation of Anarchist Groups became the center for gathering forces of anarcho-communists. The most important thing during the revolution was the First Congress of Anarcho-Communists.

The anarcho-syndicalists acted more energetically than other trends. Unlike the anarcho-communists, the syndicalists constantly moved in the working environment and knew better the demands and needs of the working people. In their opinion, the day after the social revolution, state and political power should be destroyed and a new society created under the leadership of a federation of syndicates, responsible for organizing production and distribution.

In 1918, the so-called anarcho-federalists separated from the syndicalists. They considered themselves adherents of “pure syndicalism” and, in their opinion, social life after a social revolution should be organized by uniting individuals on the basis of a contract or agreement into communes.

In addition to those listed above, there were also many small, scattered groups of individualist anarchists.

Immediately after the February events (March 1, 1917), anarchists published a number of leaflets in which they expressed their opinions on the events that took place. Below are excerpts from the text of a leaflet of the United Organization of Petrograd Anarchists:

“Through the heroic efforts of soldiers and people, the power of Tsar Nicholas Romanov and his guardsmen was overthrown. The centuries-old shackles that tormented the soul and body of the people have been broken.

We, comrades, are faced with a great task: to create a new wonderful life on the principles of freedom and equality […].

We, anarchists and maximalists, say that the masses of the people, organizing themselves into unions, will be able to take the matter of production and distribution into their own hands and establish an order that ensures real freedom, that workers do not need any power, they do not need courts, prisons, or police.

But, indicating our goals, we, anarchists, in view of the exceptional conditions of the moment, ... will go together with the revolutionary government in its struggle against the old government until our enemy is crushed ...

Long live the social revolution."

Subsequently, anarchists began to sharply criticize the Provisional Government and other authorities.

The political activity of anarchists between the February and October revolutions mainly boiled down to an attempt to speed up the course of events - to carry out an immediate social revolution. This is what basically distinguished their program from the programs of other social democratic parties.

The anarchists launched their propaganda in Petrograd, Moscow, Kyiv, Rostov and other cities. Clubs were created that became centers of propaganda. Anarchist leaders gave lectures at industrial enterprises, in military units and on ships, recruiting sailors and soldiers into members of their organizations. Anarchists organized rallies on city streets. These groups were mostly small in number, but noticeable.

In March 1917, the anarchists of Petrograd held 3 meetings. It was decided to conduct active propaganda, but not take any action.

The second meeting of Petrograd anarchists took place on March 2. The following requirements were adopted:

"Anarchists say:

1. All adherents of the old government must be immediately removed from their places.

2. All orders of the new reactionary government that pose a danger to freedom are canceled.

3. Immediate reprisal against the ministers of the old government.

4. Exercise of valid freedom of speech and press.

5. Issuance of weapons and ammunition to all combat groups and organizations.

6. Material support for our comrades released from prison.”

At the third meeting, held on March 4, 1917, reports were heard on the activities of anarchist groups in Petrograd. Requirements adjusted and approved:

The right of representation from the anarchist organization in Petrograd in the Workers' Council and Soldiers' Deputies;

Freedom of the press for all anarchist publications;

Immediate support for those released from prison;

The right to carry and generally have all kinds of weapons.

On tactical issues, the anarchists after February were divided into two camps - anarcho-rebels (the majority of anarchists) and “peaceful” anarchists. The rebels proposed to immediately raise an armed uprising, overthrow the Provisional Government and immediately establish a powerless society. However, the people for the most part did not support them. “Peaceful” anarchists persuaded workers not to take up arms, proposing to leave the existing order for now. P. Kropotkin also joined them.

It is interesting that if practically no one supported the rebels, the views of the “peaceful” anarchists were shared by other political parties and movements. Even the Cadets Party quoted some of P. A. Kropotkin’s sayings in their leaflets.

Anarchists participated in all major rallies, and often served as their initiators. On April 20, Petrograd workers spontaneously took to the streets to protest against the imperialist policies of the Provisional Government. Rallies took place in all city squares. On Theater Square there was an anarchist tribune, decorated with black flags. The anarchists demanded the immediate overthrow of the Provisional Government.

Back in March 1917, anarchists began to take active steps to free their brothers from prison. But together with political prisoners they were released from prisons

so do criminals. The anarchist press did not ignore this:

“We see that the death penalty has been abolished for crowned and titled criminals: the king, ministers, generals, and criminals can be dealt with like mad dogs without any ceremony called a trial. … Real criminals, slaves of the old government, receive amnesties, are restored to their rights, take the oath to the new government and receive appointments […].

The most inveterate villain and criminal did not do even a hundredth part of the harm that the former arbiters of Russia’s destinies brought […].

We must come to the aid of criminals and fraternally extend a hand to them, as victims of social injustice.”

In April, a declaration of anarchist groups was adopted in Moscow, which was published not only in Moscow, but also in print media in many Russian cities:

1. Anarchist socialism fights to replace the power of class rule with an international union of free and equal workers, with the aim of organizing world production.

2. In order to strengthen anarchist organizations and develop anarcho-socialist thought, continue the struggle for political freedoms.

3. Conducting anarchist propaganda and organizing the revolutionary masses.

4. Consider the world war as imperialist; anarchist socialism strives to end it through the labors of the proletariat.

5. Anarchist socialism calls on the masses to abstain from participation in non-proletarian organizations - trade unions, councils of workers' and soldiers' deputies.

6. Relying only on the revolutionary initiative of the masses, anarchist socialism puts forward a general strike of workers and a general strike of soldiers as a transitional stage to the direct seizure of the instruments and means of government by the organized proletariat.

7. Anarchist socialism calls on the masses to organize anarchist groups in industrial and transport enterprises in order to form an anarchist international […].

In May, anarchists staged two armed demonstrations. Their speakers called for terror and anarchy. Taking advantage of the workers' dissatisfaction with the policies of the Provisional Government, the anarchist leaders took military action to provoke armed uprisings.

In June 1917, anarchists seized all the premises of the newspaper “Russian Will” - the office, the editorial office, and the printing house. The Provisional Government sent a military detachment. After long negotiations, the anarchists surrendered. Most of them were subsequently found innocent and released.

On June 7, in response to the seizure of the printing house, the Minister of Justice of the Provisional Government N.P. Pereverzev gave the order to clear the Durnovo dacha, where, in addition to the anarchists, the Prosvet workers' club and the board of trade unions of the Vyborg side were located. A wave of indignation and protest arose. On the same day, four enterprises on the Vyborg side began strikes, and by June 8th their number increased to 28 factories. The provisional government retreated.

On June 9, at the Durnovo dacha, the anarchists convened a conference, which was attended by representatives of 95 factories and military units in Petrograd. At the initiative of the organizers, a “Provisional Revolutionary Committee” was created, which included representatives of some factories and military units. The anarchists decided on June 10 to seize several printing houses and premises. They were supported by separate groups of workers. But the Bolsheviks' cancellation of the demonstration scheduled for that day thwarted their plans.

But the anarchists still took part in the demonstration that took place on June 18. By one o'clock in the afternoon, the anarchists approached the Champ de Mars, carrying several black banners with anarchist slogans. During the demonstration, the anarchists raided the Kresty prison, where their like-minded people were imprisoned. A group of 50-75 people raided the prison. The raiders freed 7 people: anarchists Khaustov (former editor of the newspaper “Okopnaya Pravda”), Muller, Gusev, Strelchenko and several criminals. Along with the anarchists, the Bolshevik Party was also accused of the raid on the “Crosses”.

The situation around Durnovo's dacha has again deteriorated sharply. On June 19, a Cossack hundred and an infantry battalion with an armored vehicle, led by Minister of Justice P. Pereverzev, Prosecutor R. Karinsky and General P. Polovtsev, headed to the dacha, demanding the extradition of those released from prison. The anarchists at the dacha tried to resist. They threw a grenade, but it did not explode. As a result of a clash with troops, the anarchist Asin was killed (possibly committed suicide), and 59 people were arrested. To the greatest regret of the authorities, they did not find the Bolsheviks there. The news of the pogrom at Durnovo's dacha raised the entire Vyborg side to its feet. On the same day, workers at four factories went on strike. The meetings were quite stormy, but the workers soon calmed down.

As a sign of protest against the pogrom, the anarchists tried to bring the 1st machine gun regiment into the streets. But the soldiers refused the anarchists: “We do not share the views or actions of anarchists and are not inclined to support them, but at the same time we do not approve of the authorities’ reprisals against anarchists and are ready to defend freedom from an internal enemy.”.

In July 1917, the political situation in Petrograd became very tense. Messages arrived in Petrograd about the failure of the Russian army's offensive at the front. This caused a government crisis. All cadet ministers of the Provisional Government resigned.

The anarchists, assessing the current situation, decided to act. On July 2, at the Durnovo dacha, the leaders of the Petrograd Federation of Anarchist-Communists held a secret meeting at which they decided to mobilize their forces and call on the people to an armed uprising under the slogans: “Down with the Provisional Government!”, “Anarchy and self-organization!” Active propaganda among the population was launched.

The main support of the anarchists was the 1st Machine Gun Regiment. The regiment's barracks were located not far from Durnovo, and the anarchists there had great influence. On July 2, a rally was held at the People's House under the leadership of the Bolshevik G.I. Petrovsky. The anarchists sought to win over the soldiers to their side. On the afternoon of July 3, on the initiative of soldier Golovin, who was a supporter of the anarchists, a regimental meeting was opened against the will of the regimental committee. Blaichman spoke on behalf of the anarchists at the meeting. He called for “to go out today, July 3rd, into the streets with arms in hand for a demonstration to overthrow ten capitalist ministers.” Other anarchists also spoke, posing as representatives of the workers of the Putilov plant, Kronstadt sailors and soldiers from the front. They didn't have any specific plan. “The street will show the goal,” they said. The anarchists also said that other factories were already ready to take action. The Bolsheviks tried to stop the crowd, but the indignant soldiers did not listen to them. At the meeting, a decision was made: to immediately go out into the street with weapons in hand.

The machine gunners decided to involve the sailors of Kronstadt in the armed uprising and sent a delegation to them, which included the anarchist Pavlov. In the fortress, the delegation attended a meeting of the executive committee of the Council and asked for the support of the sailors in an armed uprising, but was refused. Then the delegates decided to appeal directly to the sailors, where at that time the anarchist E. Yarchuk was giving a lecture on war and peace in front of a small audience (about 50 people). Having arrived there, the anarchists called for an immediate uprising. “Blood is already shed there, and the Kronstadters are sitting and lecturing,” they said. These performances caused unrest among the sailors. Soon 8-10 thousand people gathered on Anchor Square. The anarchists reported that the goal of their uprising was to overthrow the Provisional Government. The excited crowd was eagerly awaiting the performance. The Bolsheviks tried to stop the sailors from sailing to Petrograd, but they only managed to delay it.

Delegations of machine gunners, sent to many plants and factories, as well as to military units in Petrograd, called for an armed uprising of workers and soldiers. The machine gun regiment began to erect barricades. The machine gunners were followed by the Grenadier, Moscow and other regiments. By 9 pm on July 3, seven regiments had already left the barracks. They all moved to the Kshesinskaya mansion, where the Central Committee and PC of the Bolshevik Party were located. Delegations from factories also flocked there. The Putilovites and workers from the Vyborg side came out.

The entire demonstration headed to the Tauride Palace. Among the slogans of the strikers were both Bolshevik slogans (“All power to the “Councils of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies””) on red banners, and anarchist ones (“Down with the Provisional Government,” “Long live anarchy!”). Nevsky Prospekt was filled with workers and revolutionary soldiers. Shooting rang out and lasted no more than 10 minutes.

On July 4, revolutionaries took to the streets again. At 12 noon they were joined by Kronstadt sailors. At least 500 thousand people took to the streets. They all rushed to the Tauride Palace. Government troops on Nevsky Prospekt opened fire. They also shot on Liteiny Prospekt, near the Tauride Palace and in other places. The dead and wounded began to appear. The demonstration began to wane.

The uprising of July 3-4, 17 ended in failure. Until October 1917, the anarchists fell silent, while continuing to conduct propaganda among the population.

On the eve of October 1917, the Bolsheviks did not fail to use the anarchists as a destructive force and provided them with assistance with weapons, food, and ammunition. Anarchists, plunging into their native element of destruction and struggle, participated in armed clashes in Petrograd, Moscow, Irkutsk and other cities.

After the October events, some anarchists partially changed their previous views and went over to the side of the Bolsheviks. Among them are such famous people as Chapaev, Anatoly Zheleznyakov, who dispersed the constituent assembly, Dmitry Furmanov and Grigory Kotovsky. Some anarchists were members of the main Bolshevik revolutionary organizations: the Petrograd Soviet, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the Soviets.

However, the Bolsheviks' rise to power was met with hostility by many anarchists. Literally from the first hours, the anarchists began to have disagreements with the Bolsheviks. Having previously advocated for the Soviets, the anarchists hastened to disassociate themselves from this organizational form of power. Others, recognizing Soviet power, were against the creation of a centralized government.

Anarchists still advocated the continuation of the revolution. They were not satisfied with the results of the October Revolution, which overthrew the power of the bourgeoisie, but established the dictatorship of the proletariat. In the view of anarchists, the transition from capitalism to communism, and then to anarchy should not be a long process, it only takes a few days. The transition was thought of as an “explosion,” one “big leap.” Based on this project, the anarchists proclaimed a course towards the transition to communism. “The struggle for the communist system must begin immediately,” wrote A. Ge.

Anarchists put forward the slogan of a “third revolution.” In their opinion, the following came out: the February Revolution overthrew the autocracy, the power of the landowners; Oktyabrskaya - Provisional Government, the power of the bourgeoisie; and the new, “third” must overthrow the Soviet government, the power of the working class and eliminate the state in general, that is, eliminate the state of the proletarian dictatorship.

Anarchists also opposed the ratification of the Brest Peace Treaty. They declared disagreement with the Bolsheviks, while in every possible way emphasizing the difference between their position and the Socialist-Revolutionary and Menshevik ones. The anarchists’ resolution proposed rejecting the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty “as an act of conciliation, and... practically and fundamentally incompatible with the dignity and interests of the Russian and world revolution.” Brest divided the anarchists even more deeply into supporters and opponents of the October Revolution. Some recognized the need for the measures taken by the Bolsheviks to save the revolution and took the path of cooperation with Soviet power. Others, on the contrary, were preparing to fight against Soviet power, creating detachments of the “Black Guard”.

In the winter of 1917-1918, the Federation of Anarchist Groups of Moscow seized several dozen merchant mansions, which turned into “Houses of Anarchy” - clubs, lecture halls, libraries, printing houses were set up there, and “Black Guard” detachments numbering three to four thousand fighters were based there. The Union of Anarchist Propaganda and rapidly growing youth anarchist organizations and unions launched extensive propaganda activities.

In the front-line cities of Kursk, Voronezh, and Yekaterinoslav, anarchists took up arms. Raids and expropriations of mansions have become more frequent in Moscow. Although the leaders of the anarchists repeatedly stated that “no actions against the Soviets would be allowed,” the threat of action by the “Black Guard” detachments was obvious.

Anarchists fought against the dictatorship of the proletariat for such revolutionary ideals as the transfer of land to peasants and factories to workers (and not to the state), the creation of free non-party Soviets (not hierarchical authorities, but based on the principle of delegation of bodies of people's self-government), universal arming of the people, etc. . Therefore, the anarchists very resolutely opposed the “white” counter-revolution.

Many criminals infiltrated the anarchist milieu with an extremely vulgar understanding of the ideas of anarchism. Spontaneous anarchism also arose, engulfing some of the soldiers and sailors of the decaying old army, who sometimes turned into ordinary bandit groups operating under the flag of anarchism.

Since mid-1918, the Russian anarchist movement has gone through a period of splits, interspersed with temporary unifications of individual groups.

The Moscow Federation of Anarchist Groups was dissolved in April 1918. On its basis, the Union of Anarchist-Syndicalist Communists, the Union of Moscow Anarchists and the so-called First Central Sociotechnical School arose. The anarchists' program of activity, regardless of their shades, increasingly took on anti-Bolshevik content and forms. The main criticism was directed against the construction of the Soviet state. Some anarchists, having recognized the idea of ​​a transition period in the form of a Republic of Soviets, put stateless content into it. “The Free Voice of Labor,” an organ of anarchist-syndicalists, defined the task as follows: “...The Republic of Soviets, that is, the dispersion of power among local Soviets, communities (urban and rural communes), the organization of free Soviet cities and villages, their federation through the Soviets - that’s the task of the anarcho-syndicalists in the coming communal revolution." Anarchists considered the organization of management generally necessary: ​​with this they associated the electoral principle, but not in the form of representation, which they considered a bourgeois creation, but in the form of delegation - “free councils”, which establish connections on the principles of federation, without any centralizing principle .

The slogan of the “third revolution” - against the “party of stagnation and reaction” (as they dubbed the Bolshevik Party) - increasingly captured members of anarchist organizations. Like the Left Socialist Revolutionaries, they accused the Bolsheviks of “dividing the working people into two hostile camps” and “inciting the workers to a crusade in the countryside.”

Anarchist-communists took an active part in developing the economic transformation of society. What they had in common was the thesis about the economic insolvency of the Bolsheviks due to their adherence to methods of political violence and the exclusion of workers from production management. Anarchist-communists substantiated their own concept of an “economic labor revolution” as opposed to the workers’ control of the Bolsheviks, the concept of socialization instead of Bolshevik nationalization.

At the same time, not all anarchist leaders had such an unambiguous attitude towards the Bolshevik policies.

At the V All-Russian Congress of Soviets, anarchist representatives assessed the food policy of the Council of People's Commissars as an attempt to “get closer to the peasant poor... to awaken their independence and organize them.” This group of “Soviet anarchists” began to help the Bolsheviks in building a socialist society. The dictatorship of the proletariat was supported by some anarchist-syndicalists.

Throughout 1918 – 1919. Anarchists sought to organize their forces and expand their social base. They tried to achieve this by diametrically opposed means. On the one hand, cooperation, albeit inconsistent, with the Bolsheviks. On the other hand, in March 1919, they, together with the Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries, tried to provoke worker strikes. At the end of March 1919, the Central Committee of the RCP(b) decided on measures to combat such activities: a number of anarchist publications were closed, and some of their leaders were arrested. On June 13, at a meeting of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), it was decided to allow the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee to personally release those arrested in some cases. Anarchist leaders were also released on bail. Most of the anarchists switched to positions of “active terror” and armed struggle against Soviet power.

The most striking episode of the civil war in Russia associated with the anarchist movement, of course, was the activity of the Insurgent Army led by N.I. Makhno. The peasant movement in Ukraine was broader than anarchism itself, although the leaders of the movement used anarchist ideology.

The roots of Makhnovshchina lie in the insurrectionary movement of the Ukrainian people against the German occupation and the hetmanate. It originated in the spring of 1918 in the form of partisan detachments fighting the Germans, Austrians and the hetman’s “sovereign war.” Makhno was also a member of one of these detachments in the Gulyai-Polye region of the Yekaterinoslav province.

Nestor Ivanovich Makhno (Mikhnenko) was born into a family of peasants in the Ukrainian village of Gulyai-Polye, Zaporozhye region, in 1888. He graduated from Gulyai-Polye primary school (1897). From 1903 he worked at the M. Kerner iron foundry in Gulyai-Polye. From the end of August to the beginning of September 1906, he was a member of the “Youth Circle of the Ukrainian Group of Anarchist-Communist Grain Growers,” which operated in Gulyai-Polye. Participated in several robberies on behalf of anarchist communists. He was arrested several times, spent time in prison, and in 1908 he was sentenced to death, which was later replaced by indefinite hard labor. The following year he was transferred to the convict department of Butyrka prison in Moscow. In his cell, Makhno met the famous anarchist activist, former Bolshevik Pyotr Arshinov, who in the future would become a significant figure in the history of the Makhnovshchina. Arshinov took up the ideological preparation of Makhno.

After the February Revolution, Makhno, like many other prisoners, both political and criminal, was released early from prison and returned to Gulyai-Polye. There he was elected fellow chairman of the volost zemstvo. Soon he created the Black Guard group, and with its help established a personal dictatorship in the village. Makhno considered dictatorship a necessary form of government for the final victory of the revolution and stated that “if possible, we need to throw out the bourgeoisie and take up positions with our people”.

In March 1917, Makhno became chairman of the Gulyai-Polye Peasant Union. He advocated immediate radical revolutionary changes before the convening of the Constituent Assembly. In June 1917, on Makhno’s initiative, workers’ control was established at the enterprises of the village; in July, with the support of Makhno’s supporters, he dispersed the previous composition of the zemstvo, held new elections, became the chairman of the zemstvo and at the same time declared himself commissar of the Gulyai-Polye region. In August 1917, on Makhno’s initiative, a committee of farm laborers was created under the Gulyai-Polye Council of Workers’ and Peasants’ Deputies, whose activities were directed against local landowners; in the same month he was elected as a delegate to the provincial congress of the Peasant Union in Yekaterinoslav.

In the summer of 1917, Makhno headed the “committee to save the revolution” and disarmed the landowners and bourgeoisie in the region. At the regional congress of Soviets (mid-August 1917), he was elected chairman and, together with other anarchists, called on the peasants to ignore the orders of the Provisional Government and the Central Rada, proposed “immediately take away church and landowner land and organize a free agricultural commune on the estates, if possible with the participation of the landowners and kulaks themselves in these communes”.

On September 25, 1917, Makhno signed a decree of the district council on the nationalization of land and its division among peasants. From December 1 to December 5, 1917 in Yekaterinoslav, Makhno took part in the work of the provincial congress of Soviets of workers, peasants and soldiers' deputies, as a delegate from the Gulyai-Polye Soviet; supported the demand of the majority of delegates to convene the All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets; elected to the judicial commission of the Aleksandrovsky Revolutionary Committee to consider cases of persons arrested by the Soviet government. Soon after the arrests of the Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries, he began to express dissatisfaction with the actions of the judicial commission and proposed blowing up the city prison and releasing those arrested. He had a negative attitude towards the elections to the Constituent Assembly and called the emerging situation a “card game”: “The parties will not serve the people, but the people will serve the parties. Already now... in the affairs of the people only their name is mentioned, and the affairs of the party are decided.”. Having received no support from the Revolutionary Committee, he resigned from its membership. After the capture of Yekaterinoslav by the forces of the Central Rada (December 1917), he initiated an emergency congress of Soviets of the Gulyai-Polye region, which passed a resolution demanding the “death of the Central Rada” and spoke out for the organization of forces opposing it. On January 4, 1918, he resigned from the post of Chairman of the Council and decided to take an active position in the fight against opponents of the revolution. He welcomed the victory of the revolutionary forces in Yekaterinoslav. Soon he headed the Gulyai-Polye Revolutionary Committee, created from representatives of anarchists, left Socialist Revolutionaries and Ukrainian socialist revolutionaries.

The anarchist influence on Makhno's rebel movement increased significantly due to the appearance of visiting anarchists of various directions among the rebels. The highest command positions in Makhno's rebel army were occupied by the most prominent anarchists. V.M. Volin headed the RVS, P.A. Arshinov headed the cultural and educational department and edited the Makhnovist newspapers. V.M. Volin, one might say, was the main theoretician, and Arshinov was the political leader of the Makhnovshchina. Influencing Makhno's views, they determined the goals and objectives of the insurgency. Nestor Makhno himself, more than other anarchists, was susceptible to the idea of ​​anarchy and never deviated from it. They viewed an alliance with the Bolsheviks as a tactical necessity. The agreement concluded with the Bolsheviks of Yekaterinoslav on a joint fight against the Petliurists in December 1918 was carried out very inconsistently. Having driven the Petliurites out of the city, the Makhnovist army showed itself in all its anarchist “brilliance”. Prominent anarchists in Makhno’s army did not hesitate to use their “official” position for the purpose of personal enrichment.

In July 1918, Makhno met with Lenin and Sverdlov. To the latter, Makhno introduced himself as an anarchist-communist of the Bakunin-Kropotkin persuasion. Makhno later recalled that Lenin, pointing out the fanaticism and short-sightedness of the anarchists, noted at the same time that he considered Makhno himself “a man of reality and ebullience of the day” and if there were at least one third of such anarchist-communists in Russia, then the communists are ready to work together with them. According to Makhno, Lenin tried to convince him that the Bolshevik attitude towards the anarchists was not so hostile and was largely due to the behavior of the anarchists themselves. “I felt that I was beginning to revere Lenin, whom I had recently confidently considered to be the culprit of the destruction of anarchist organizations in Moscow,” writes Makhno. In the end, both came to the conclusion that it was impossible to fight the enemies of the revolution without sufficient organization of the masses and firm discipline.

However, immediately after this conversation, Makhno called on his comrades in Gulyai-Polye to “destroy the slave system,” to live freely and “independently of the state and its officials, even the Red ones.” Thus, in case of any hesitation, Makhno, as a rule, sided with anarchism. Makhno came close to the Bolsheviks and was ready to completely merge with them, but the influence of anarchism on his worldview and psychology remained predominant.

In January-February 1919, Makhno organized a series of pogroms against German colonists in the Gulyai-Polye region and interfered with the measures of the Soviet government aimed at creating a class split in the countryside (“committees of the poor”, surplus appropriation); called on the peasants to put into practice the idea of ​​“equal land use based on their own labor.”

In February 1919, Makhno convened the 2nd District Congress of Soviets of Gulyai-Polye. The resolution of the congress assessed the White Guards, imperialists, Soviet power, Petliurists and Bolsheviks, accused of compromising with imperialism, equally.

The Makhnovist detachments united heterogeneous elements, including a small percentage of workers. Under the influence, first of all, of anarchism, the Makhnovshchina was a politically loose movement. Essentially, it was a movement of peasant revolutionism. The Makhnovists’ position on the land issue was quite definite: the 2nd District Congress of Soviets spoke out against state farms decreed by the Ukrainian Soviet government and demanded the transfer of land to peasants on an egalitarian basis. Nestor Makhno called himself a peasant leader.

In the context of the offensive of the troops of General A.I. Denikin in Ukraine in mid-February 1919, Makhno entered into a military agreement with the command of the Red Army and on February 21, 1919, became the commander of the 3rd brigade of the 1st Trans-Dnieper division, which fought against Denikin’s troops on the Mariupol line. Volnovakha.

For the raid on Mariupol on March 27, 1919, which slowed down the White advance on Moscow, brigade commander Makhno was awarded the Order of the Red Banner number 4.

Nestor Ivanovich repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction with the emergency policy of Soviet power in the liberated areas. On April 10, 1919, at the 3rd regional congress of Soviets of the Gulyai-Polye region, he was elected honorary chairman; in his speech he stated that the Soviet government had betrayed the “October principles”, and the Communist Party legitimized power and “protected itself with extraordinary events.” Makhno signed a resolution of the congress, which expressed disapproval of the decisions of the 3rd All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets (March 1919) on the land issue (on the nationalization of land), a protest against the Cheka and the policies of the Bolsheviks, and a demand for the removal of all persons appointed by the Bolsheviks from military and civilian posts; at the same time, the Makhnovists demanded the “socialization” of land, factories and factories; food policy changes; freedom of speech, press and assembly to all left-wing parties and groups; personal integrity; rejection of the dictatorship of the Communist Party; freedom of elections to the Soviets of working peasants and workers.

From April 15, 1919, Makhno led a brigade as part of the 1st Ukrainian Soviet Army. After the start of the mutiny of the Red Army commander N.A. Grigoriev (May 7), Makhno took a wait-and-see attitude, then took the side of the Red Army and personally shot Grigoriev. In May 1919, at a meeting of rebel commanders in Mariupol, Makhno supported the initiative to create a separate rebel army.

The population supported Makhno because he fought for things that were understandable to every peasant: for land and freedom, for people's self-government based on a federation of non-party Soviets.

Makhno did not allow Jewish pogroms on his territory (which were then common in territories controlled by the Petliurites or Grigorievites), brutally punished looters and, relying on the bulk of the peasantry, was harsh with the landowners and kulaks. The Makhnovsky district was a relatively free place: political agitation of all socialist parties and groups was allowed in it: from the Bolsheviks to the socialist revolutionaries. The Makhnovsky district was perhaps the most “free economic zone”, where there were various forms of land use (of course, except for landowners) - communes, cooperatives, and private peasant farms (without the use of farm laborers).

In the literature one can find vivid characteristics of anarchist leaders. Before us appear very colorful figures of prominent anarchists.

For example, as A. Vetlugin describes, A. L. Gordin - “a little lame man... surpassed both Martov and Bukharin, the first in ugliness, the second in anger.” A.A. said something deadly apt about him. Borovoy: “Gordin, of course, is a Russian Marat, but he is not afraid of Charlotte Corday, because he never takes a bath!..” He spat on everyone and everything. Kropotkin and Lenin, Longuet and Brusilov, allied ambassadors and Swiss socialists, owners of printing houses and General Mannerheim. Money was needed - and Gordin, without hesitating for a minute, organized raids on private apartments...

The most impromptu, the most conscious, internally justified, perhaps, ennobled was the anarchism of Lev Cherny. In his younger years, he was close to the Marxists... Disillusioned with the socialist idea, Cherny did not believe in the goodness of any power, but anarchy did not deceive him in its idealism. Sometimes it seemed that first of all he wanted to persuade himself... Gordin is the commander-in-chief; Barmash - tribune; Leo Black - conscience. Wisdom and erudition were represented by the pupil of the old world, Alexei Solonovich, at the age of twenty - a novice of the Svyatogorsk Monastery, at twenty-six - a private assistant professor at Moscow University in the department of mathematics.”

Thus, during the Civil War, anarchism experienced a painful process of demarcation and, as a consequence, organizational splits, which led to a change in political orientation: a transition to pro-Bolshevik positions or departure to the camp of anti-Bolshevik forces with all the ensuing consequences.

Anarchists in the Great Russian Revolution of 1917-1921

In the Russian Revolution of 1917-1921. the anarchists were unable to act as one of the leading social forces - both due to their small numbers and ideological and organizational fragmentation - and found themselves between the rock and the anvil of the White and Red movements, between the Bolshevik dictatorship with its emergency funds, surplus appropriations and the “commissar state” and the “whites” » regimes with their inherent restorationist-authoritarian tendencies. Some anarchists eventually joined the Bolsheviks, seeing them as their comrades in the revolution (including such famous people as Chapaev, Anatoly Zheleznyakov, who dispersed the constituent assembly, Dmitry Furmanov and Grigory Kotovsky). Nevertheless, the anarchists wrote several bright pages into the grandiose canvas of the Russian Revolution, which must at least be recalled here.

The centers of the anarchist movement during the Revolution were first St. Petersburg and Kronstadt, and then Moscow and Ukraine (where the Confederation of Anarchists of Ukraine “Alarm”, closely associated with the rebel army of N.I. Makhno, operated); finally, a strong anarchist partisan movement existed in Siberia. Several anarchist publishing houses emerged; a whole galaxy of talented and original anarchist theorists were active, among whom it is necessary to name A. Borovoy, D. Novomirsky, V. Volin, G. Maksimov etc.

It was the anarchists who in July 1917 initiated mass demonstrations in Petrograd, which almost led to the fall of the Provisional Government. In Moscow, Petrograd, Kronstadt and other cities there were numerous groups and federations of anarchists, their daily newspapers were published in thousands of copies; Anarcho-syndicalists enjoyed great influence in a number of trade unions. In the winter of 1917-1918, the Federation of Anarchist Groups of Moscow seized several dozen merchant mansions, which turned into “Houses of Anarchy” - clubs, lecture halls, libraries, printing houses were set up there, and “Black Guard” detachments numbering three to four thousand fighters were based there. Launched extensive campaigning activities Union of Anarchist Propaganda and rapidly growing anarchist youth organizations and unions. The Bolsheviks, who had previously looked down on the anarchists as temporary and misguided “fellow travelers,” felt the threat posed by the anarchist movement, which was increasingly taking hold of the masses, and decided to move from the union to repression of the anarchists. It is not difficult to find a reason for this - since in the whirlpool of the civil war, along with ideological anarchists, many semi-criminal elements came to their organizations, only hiding behind the black banners of freedom.

Under the pretext of fighting criminals in April 1918, security officers and “red” Latvian riflemen suddenly carried out an attack on Houses of Anarchy, made mass arrests among anarchists, closed most of the anarchist press. Taking advantage of the spontaneous anarchic moods of the masses, the Bolsheviks now, having seized power, moved further and further away from their former allies towards recreating in a new “pseudo-revolutionary” guise the same old Russian autocratic-state Leviathan - with the omnipotence of officials and police, lack of individual rights, super-exploitation of workers , conscription and imperial national and foreign policy. In relation to anarchists, the new government proclaimed a demagogic position: a small number of the most obedient and loyal, so-called “Soviet” anarchists, were for the time being allowed to eke out a semi-legal existence, have their representatives in the Soviets and trade unions, and open clubs; while the majority of anarchists expected executions and dungeons of the Cheka. Fighting against the Bolshevik dictatorship for the original ideals of the Revolution: the transfer of land to the peasants, and factories to the workers (and not to the state), the creation of free non-party Soviets (not hierarchical authorities, but based on the principle of delegation of bodies of people's self-government), universal arming of the people, etc. ., - the anarchists opposed the “white” counter-revolution even more decisively. The most striking episode of the Russian Civil War associated with the anarchist movement, of course, was the activities of the Insurgent Army led by Nestor Ivanovich Makhno. Under the control of this army in 1918-21. turned out to be a significant part of the territory of Ukraine. However, this territory was alternately attacked by the German Kaiser’s troops, then by the Bolsheviks, then by Denikin’s troops, then by Wrangel’s troops, then again by the Bolsheviks. And the Makhnovists had to wage a fierce struggle with all of them.

The experience of the Makhnovist movement showed that a territorial army, based on the arming of the population, the election of commanders and conscious, rather than stick discipline, is much more effective (in defense, of course, and not in attack!) than regular, forcibly put together “whites” and “reds” » parts. (By the way, it was the Makhnovists, and not the Budyonnovists, as Soviet historians claimed, who invented the famous cart). Many times the territory of the Gulyai-Polye region was occupied by invaders, many times different commanders reported to the top that Makhno was finished - but again the rebels emerged from the forests - the earth burned under the feet of the Bolsheviks and White Guards. And “father” Makhno, wounded eleven times, betrayed several times by his “allies” the Bolsheviks, who either awarded him - one of the first - the Order of the Red Banner of Battle, or shot his headquarters and treacherously destroyed his cavalry, who fought with them in 1920 against Wrangel and the first to cross the Sivash and break into the Crimea, “father” Makhno again left the trap and raised the black banner of uprising. And the population supported Makhno, since he fought not for the “dictatorship of the proletariat,” not for the restoration of autocracy, not for the power of any party or nation over others, but for what seemed natural to people then: for land and freedom, for people’s self-government , based on a federation of non-party Soviets. And (contrary to the subsequent slander of writers and film directors), Makhno did not allow Jewish pogroms on his territory (which were then commonplace in territories controlled by Petliurists or Grigorievites), brutally punished looters and, relying on the bulk of the peasantry, was harsh with the landowners and with fists (did he know that later the Makhnovshchina would be called the “movement of kulak counter-revolution”?). Amid the nightmare of the civil war, the Makhnovist region was a relatively free place: political agitation of all socialist parties and groups was allowed in it: from the Bolsheviks to the socialist revolutionaries. (Anarchists from the Confederation of Anarchists of Ukraine “Nabat” were actively engaged in educational, publishing and propaganda activities). The Makhnovsky district was perhaps the most “free economic zone”, where there were various forms of land use (of course, except for landowners): communes, cooperatives, and private peasant farms (without the use of farm laborers). No one was forced into a state farm, a collective farm, or, conversely, into farmers. In conditions of complete economic confusion and a state monopoly on all products - both from the “whites” and from the “reds” - the Makhnovists tried (and not without success) to establish direct trade with the cities of central Russia: bypassing the cordons of barrage detachments, they repeatedly sent their agricultural products to the workers , and they, in turn, paid with industrial goods. The Gulyai-Polye region not only fought off advancing opponents, but also lived and built its own system of self-government - not invented by armchair theorists, but born of life itself, the creativity of people. The Soviet system showed here that it can - even in emergency, military conditions - work normally and not be a screen for party committees, if only it does not break away from its places, does not form a single bureaucratic monolith, but functions in its original form: as meetings of delegates making decisions in accordance with the instructions given by the population. Of course, this non-party, free, dispersed, Soviet power was still Power, and not Anarchy, but this was already a huge step towards Anarchy, self-government. The Makhnovist movement, which reached its greatest extent in 1919-1920, gradually declined after the announcement of the NEP. The social base of the movement began to narrow sharply after the Bolsheviks abolished the surplus appropriation system and allowed peasants to sell surplus grain on the market. The remnants of the rebel army were crushed by the Budyonnovsky cavalry in 1921. Makhno with a detachment of fighters broke into Romania, where he was immediately arrested as... a Bolshevik agent. Then came wanderings through Romanian, Polish, German prisons and camps, half-starved life in Paris, discussions with comrades in attempts to comprehend the experience of struggle. Nestor Ivanovich died in 1934 and was buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery next to the Parisian communards.

Associated with the Makhnovist insurgent movement was the Organization of Underground Anarchists, which operated in the summer and autumn of 1919 in Moscow. They published leaflets and the newspaper Anarchy. But most of all, this group became famous for the famous explosion of the Moscow city committee of the Bolshevik Party in Leontyevsky Lane on September 25, 1919, when many prominent Bolshevik figures were killed and injured. However, soon the underground anarchists were tracked down by security officers and destroyed (surrounded at their base at a dacha in the town of Kraskovo near Moscow, they blew up the dacha along with them into the air).

The strong influence of anarchist ideas and sentiments can be traced in many popular protests of the last stage of the civil war. This is most noticeable in the example of the Kronstadt uprising in March 1921. The rebel sailors put forward the slogan of a “third revolution” (after the February and October), the liquidation of the Cheka, the creation of a Soviet government free from party influences, and freedom of political agitation for socialists and anarchists. Their slogans: “Power to the Soviets, not parties!”, “Soviets without the Council of People’s Commissars” and others, are largely anarchic in nature. However, the Kronstadt uprising was the last tragic chord of the fading Great Revolution and was drowned in blood on March 18, 1921 - on the 50th anniversary of the Paris Commune.

In the 20s, the activity of anarchists in the USSR gradually faded away: some of them joined the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), others were repressed. Until the end of the 20s, there was an anarcho-syndicalist publishing house “Voice of Labor”, which published a large amount of anarchist literature. The last center of legal anarchism in the USSR was the Kropotkin Museum and the public Kropotkin Committee operating under it; however, in the mid-30s, the Kropotkin Museum was closed, and the anarchist movement in Russia was destroyed for half a century. Only in the mid-1980s, in the wake of “perestroika,” would its slow revival begin again.