SECONDARY SCHOOL No. 24
ON THIS TOPIC:
"Nestor Ivanovich Makhno"
Completed: student 10 cells. "IN"
Seminichenko I.A.
Kemerovo 1999
NESTOR MAKHNO (1888-1934)
During the civil war, peasants were reluctant to leave their land to take up arms. Only in the ranks of the partisan "Green Army" did they fight voluntarily and with great willingness. In Ukraine, it was headed by the famous "Old Man Makhno".
Nestor Ivanovich Makhno was born on October 27, 1888 in a large village Gulyai-Polye under Yekaterinoslav(now Dnepropetrovsk). The youngest child in a large family, Nestor experienced want and hunger from childhood. As a seven-year-old boy, he went into the shepherds, then worked for hire.
18-year-old Nestor joined the "anarchist grain growers." In the struggle against the state, young anarchists did not hesitate to use the most decisive measures. In particular, they staged an attack on a mail coach in order to seize money for revolutionary purposes, while Makhno shot the bailiff. In 1908, the participants in the attack were arrested by the police, and the court sentenced them to hanging.
Makhno spent 52 days on death row awaiting execution. “Because of my minority,” he wrote (he was not yet 21 years old. - Note. ed. - I escaped the execution that the best of my friends experienced ”The hanging was replaced with indefinite hard labor. In conclusion in Butyrskaya In a hard labor prison he read a lot, replenished his education. How indefinitely, he was shackled in leg and hand shackles. He spent eight years and eight months in prison. His fellow prisoner anarchist P. Arshinov, he recalled: "Stubborn, unable to reconcile with the lack of rights of the individual, he always argued with his superiors and always sat in cold punishment cells, having made himself a lung disease."
The February Revolution freed the political prisoners. March 2, 1917 from the gate Butyrskaya Nestor Makhno was also released from prison. He was 28 years old. After a brief breath of the air of revolutionary Moscow, he went home to Walk-Pole. Here it's in st retili with great respect as a well-deserved political prisoner and revolutionary. Nestor Makhno was elected head of the local Soviet of Peasants' Deputies. As an opponent of any authority, he was a little embarrassed by such a position. He even sent, as he later said, a “naive” telegram about this to a prominent anarchist. But there was no time to think and hesitate.
Makhno, of course, indignantly rejected the idea of "waiting for the Constituent Assembly." Do not wait, but immediately transfer the land to the peasants! Under the influence of Makhno, in the summer and autumn of 1917, local peasants carried out a “black redistribution”. Then Makhno noticed that October did not add anything to their conquests - after all, they took the land earlier.
Until 1918, no one touched the unusual peasant "freemen". Only once did the government bother them. In September 1917, a commissar of the Provisional Government was sent to Gulyai-Pole. Makhno politely invited him to his place. However, the commissioner, apparently, decided that they would now commit lynching over him. “He tried to explain the purpose of his visit,” Makhno recalled, “but he couldn’t; his lips trembled, his teeth chattered, and he himself blushed, then turned pale, looking at the floor. I asked him to leave Gulyai-Pole at 20 minutes and the limits of his revolutionary territory at two o'clock, which he hastened to fulfill.
In the spring of 1918, Ukraine was occupied by German troops. Hearing that the Germans had entered Gulyai-Pole, Nestor Makhno burst into tears. In May, he went to Moscow to consult what to do next. Here he met with Vladimir Lenin, the ideological leader of anarchism, Peter Kropotkin, and many prominent anarchists. Soon Makhno decided to return to Ukraine.
Here he began the partisan struggle. "We are peasants," he proudly addressed his supporters, "we are humanity." The rebels fought against any authority that interfered in peasant life: and with Simon Petliura, and with Anton Denikin. In December 1918 N. Makhno decided on a desperately daring sortie. About three hundred partisans occupied Ekaterinoslav. Here they met the New Year, 1919. After that, the name Makhno st well known throughout Russia. True, the partisans held the city for several days, most of them died during the retreat. Starting small, in a year N. Makhno managed to create a whole peasant army. In the summer of 1919, about 55 thousand people were already subordinate to him. The partisans fought under black banners with the inscriptions: "Freedom or death !»,
The partisans opposed the White Guards together with the Red Army. Makhno began to sign his orders unusual title - "brigade commander father Makhno. For the capture in March 1919 . Mariupol Makhno was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.
At the same time, the Makhnovists firmly defended their independence, not wanting to be dissolved in the Red Army. st Yang Soviets, where the Bolsheviks were in the minority. Back in the autumn of 1919, Gulyai-Polye Socialist-Revolutionary, anarchist and other newspapers were freely printed. In addition, the Makhnovists did not allow food detachments to seize grain. In the views of the peasants, Gulyai-Pole became something like a new Zaporizhzhya Sich, a "free peasant kingdom." “The outrages that are taking place in the “kingdom” of Makhno must be put to an end,” wrote the Kharkov newspaper Izvestia in April, Lev Trotsky in the article "Makhnovshchina" called what was happening "anarcho-kulak debauchery." In early June, Makhno was outlawed. He declared Trotsky about his desire to resign "in view of the unbearably absurd situation that has arisen." The Bolsheviks arrested members Makhnovist headquarters, and on June 18 they were reported to have been shot as traitors. In response, Makhno delivered his first blows to the Reds.
However, the moment for the fight against Makhno turned out to be clearly unsuccessful. Just at that time, Denikin's White Guards launched a powerful offensive, pushing the Red Army out of Ukraine. Now the "whites" were opposed only by the "greens" - Makhno's army.
At the end of 1919, Makhno for the second time entered into an alliance with the Red Army. But it did not last long: in January 1920, Makhno was ordered to go to war with Poland. He refused: Poland is far away, but Gulyai-Polya leaving is dangerous. He offered to fight somewhere "closer". In response, he was again outlawed.
Makhno continued the partisan struggle - now against the Bolsheviks. He subordinated his army to firm discipline, established a strict order in it. Journalist 3. Arbatov described one of his operations of that time: “Having learned that in Pavlogra de the main field office of the Crimean group of red troops is located, Makhno put communist stars on hats for his entire detachment, ordered red flags to be sewn and moved to Pavlograd. Coming close to the outpost, the detachment sang in unison: “We will fan the world fire on the mountain to all bourgeois!” - and completely freely drove into the city, singing: “This will be the last and decisive battle !". We drove up to the house where the cash register was located. The sentries were tied up, all the cash in the cash register was placed in the pockets, and with the same cheerful songs, the detachment left the city, having disappeared in densely overgrown forests.
In October 1920, Makhno concluded his third - and after it - agreement with the Red Army. It was about joint actions against the Crimean army of Peter Wrangel. In exchange, Makhno was promised to discuss the "autonomy of the free region" of Gulyai-Pole.
But after defeating Wrangel Crimea has become a trap for the Makhnovists. They were ordered to surrender their weapons, and the commanders were arrested and shot. Makhno himself was surrounded in Gulyai-Pole, but by some miracle he managed to escape and continue the Patisan struggle. A year later, in February 1921, Lenin remarked: “Our military command failed disgracefully by releasing Makhno (despite the gigantic superiority of forces and strict orders to capture), and now it is even more shamefully failing, unable to crush a handful of bandits. Both bread and firewood, everything perishes because of gangs, and we have a million-strong army. However, the detachment of Makhno's fighters gradually melted away, the peasants were exhausted by the continuous war against the whole world. In addition, the peasant policy of the Soviet government by the summer of 1921 began to soften. In August 1921, Makhno was seriously wounded in the head. In total, in battles with whites and reds, he received 12 wounds. On August 23, the remaining handful of rebels crossed the border. Makhno recalled: "In Kyiv region I was dangerously wounded and, being unconscious from loss of blood, was sent by the rebels, frightened for my life and the common cause, to Romania. Here, the famous "rebel", of course, was imprisoned in the fortress. Then he also visited Polish and German prisons.
“After such wanderings,” Makhno wrote, “I am now in Paris, among a foreign people and among political enemies, with whom I fought so much ... About my feelings: they are unchanged. I still love my native people and long for work and meeting them.” Nestor Ivanovich lived in France poor, often sick from numerous wounds. Wrote memoirs. To earn a living, he made shoemakers and sewed slippers. So strange was the fate of the revolutionary ...
On July 6, 1934, Nestor Makhno died from a long-standing prison illness - tuberculosis. He was buried in the cemetery Pere Lachaise next to the executed Parisian Communards.
After the fall of the regime of Hetman Skoropatsky, three main, extremely different social forces began to operate in Ukraine - Petliurism, Bolshevism and Makhnovism. Each of them, over time, entered into an irreconcilably hostile relationship with the other two.
In October and November 1918, Makhno's detachments launched a widespread offensive against the hetman's counter-revolution. By this time, the Austro-German troops, under the influence of the political events that had taken place in their homeland, were sufficiently decomposed. Makhno took advantage of this. He entered into contractual, neutral relations with some of the guests, arming himself at their expense, ousting the rest from the area with fighting. There were no hetman's troops in the region. State warta at the sight of the extraordinary growth of the rebel army. But the hetman still held out in Kyiv. Then Makhno moved with his units to the north, took the junction stations of Chaplino, Grishino, Sinelnikovo, reached Pavlograd and then turned west towards Yekaterinoslav. In the area, but ran into the Petropavlovsk authorities.
The Petliurites, who seized power in a number of cities, considered themselves the true masters of the country. From a multitude of peasant detachments, they formed their own army, then announced a widespread mobilization in order to create a regular state army. Petliura hoped to draw the Makhnovist movement into the sphere of his influence and leadership. They sent Makhno a number of political questions: about how he views Petliurism and its government, how he imagines the political structure of Ukraine, whether he finds it desirable and useful to work together in the creation of an independent Ukraine. The answer of Makhno and his staff was brief. Petliurism, in their opinion, is a movement of the Ukrainian national bourgeoisie, with which they, the peasants, do not go along the way. Ukraine must be built on the principle of labor and the independence of peasants and workers from any political power. Not unification, but only struggle, can be the international movement of the Makhnovshchina and the bourgeois movement of the Petliurists.
Soon after this, Makhno went to Yekaterinoslav to expel the Petliura government from there. The latter had significant military forces there. In addition, protected by the Dnieper, the Petliurists could be invulnerable in this city. Detachments of Makhno stood in Nizhne-Dneprovsk. There was also the city committee of the Communist Bolsheviks, which had local armed forces. The personality of Makhno at this time is known throughout the district as the personality of an honored revolutionary and a talented military leader. The Committee of Communist-Bolsheviks invited him to take command of their workers and party detachments. Makhno accepted this offer.
“As often happened to them before and afterwards, he resorted to military cunning. Having loaded the train with his troops, he launched it, a subspecies of a working train, across the Dnepropetrovsk bridge straight into the city. The risk was huge. If the Petliurists had found out about this trick a few minutes before the train stopped, they could have destroyed it. The train drove straight into the city station, where the revolutionary troops unexpectedly unloaded, occupied the station and the nearest part of the city. A fierce battle took place in the city itself, which ended in the defeat of the Petliurists. However, a few days later, due to the insufficient vigilance of the Makhnovist garrison, the city had to be surrendered again to the Petliurists, who approached new forces from Zaporozhye. During the retreat, in Nizhne-Dneprovsk, an attempt was made on Makhno twice. Both times the bombs thrown did not explode. The Makhnovist army retreated to the Sinelnikov area. From that moment on, a front was created on the northwestern border of the Makhnovist region between the Makhnovists and the Petliurists. However, the Petliurist troops, which consisted mostly of insurgent peasants and forcibly mobilized, began to quickly decompose upon contact with the Makhnovists. And at some point the front was liquidated. Enormous spaces were liberated from all authorities and troops. 1
But the area was already approaching from the north - the army of the Bolsheviks, from the southeast - the army of General Denikin.
Denikin's men came first. Even during the period of the struggle between the Makhnovists and the hetman, and especially in the first days of his overthrow, separate detachments of General Shkuro leaked into the Ukraine from the Don and Kuban, and approached Pologi and Gulyai-Pol. Naturally, the Makhnovist rebel army turned in this direction. By this time it consisted of several regiments of infantry and cavalry, perfectly organized. The infantry in the Makhnovist army was an exceptional, peculiar phenomenon. All of them, like cavalry, moved on horseback, but not on horseback, but in light spring carriages called “carts” in the south of Ukraine. This infantry usually moved quickly at a trot along with the cavalry, making an average of 60-70 miles a day.
Denikin, counting on the confused Ukrainian situation, on the struggle of the Petliura directory with the Bolsheviks, hoped to occupy most of Ukraine without much difficulty. But he unexpectedly stumbled upon a stubborn, well-organized Makhnovist army. After several battles, Denikin's detachments began to retreat back in the direction of the Don and the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov. In a short time, the entire space from the Polog to the sea was freed from them. The Makhnovist units occupied a number of important junction stations and the cities of Berdyansk and Mariupol. Beginning in January 1919, the first anti-Denikin front was created here, a front on which the Makhnovist army held back Denikin for six months. It then stretched for more than a hundred versts, from Mariupol towards the east and northeast.
The struggle on this front assumed a stubborn and fierce character. Denikin, imitating the Makhnovists, began to resort to a partisan method of action. Separate cavalry detachments broke into the deep rear of the area, delivered a series of blows, disappeared and unexpectedly reappeared in another place. Only the working population suffered from these raids. He was avenged for supporting the Makhnovist army, for not sympathizing with Denikin. The Jewish population also suffered from these raids. Jews, Denikin's detachments smashed at each of their raids, trying to artificially provoke an anti-Semitic movement that would create fertile ground for their invasion of Ukraine. In these raids, General Shkuro especially showed himself. However, for more than four months, Denikin's troops, despite the elite composition of the troops and the fierceness of the attacks, could not overpower the Makhnovists. Very often, General Shkuro had to fall under such blows from the rebel regiments that only a retreat of 80-120 miles to Taganrog and Rostov saved him from complete disaster. At that time, the Makhnovists were at the walls of Taganrog no more than five times. The bitterness and hatred of Denikin's officers towards the Makhnovists took incredible forms. "They subjected the captured Makhnovists to various tortures, tore them with shells, and there were cases when they burned them on sheets of red-hot iron." 2
The Bolsheviks came to the Makhnovshchina region much later than Denikin's. The Makhnovists had already driven Denikin out of their area by that time and had drawn a front line east of Mariupol. Only after that the first division of the Bolsheviks led by Dybenko came to Sinelnikovo. Makhno himself and the Makhnovshchina were unknown to the Bolsheviks. Prior to this, Makhno was described in the communist press as a brave revolutionary with a promising future. His struggle, first with the hetman Skoropadsky, then with Petliura and Denikin, placed the prominent leaders of Bolshevism in his favor in advance. In the spirit of these praises, the first meeting of the Bolshevik military command with Makhno took place in March 1919. He was immediately asked to enter the Red Army with his detachments in order to defeat Denikin with common forces.
Makhno and the headquarters of the insurgent army saw perfectly well that the coming of communist power to them brought with it a new threat to the free region; that this is a herald of civil war from the other end. But neither Makhno nor the army headquarters wanted this war. It was mainly taken into account that from the Don and the Kuban there was an organized open counter-revolution, with which there could be only one conversation - a conversation with weapons. The rebels had the hope that the fight against the Bolsheviks would be limited to ideological power. In this case, they were absolutely calm about their region, since the strength of revolutionary ideas, the revolutionary instinct and distrust of the peasants towards outsiders would be the best defenders of the region. The general opinion of the leaders of the Makhnovshchina was that all their forces should be directed against the monarchist counter-revolution, and after its liquidation, they should turn to ideological differences with the Bolsheviks. In this sense, the Makhnovist army united with the Red Army.
Since February 1919, the Makhnovist detachments have been merged into units of the Zadneprovskaya Soviet Division, later into Unit 2 of the Ukrainian Red Army as a separate brigade with an elected command and internal independence. The rebel army became part of the Red Army on the following grounds:
- a) its internal routine remains the same;
- b) it receives political commissars appointed by the communist authorities;
- c) it is subordinate to the high command of the Red Army only in operational terms;
- d) the army is not withdrawn from the anti-Denikin front;
- e) the army receives military equipment and maintenance on a par with units of the Red Army;
- f) the army continues to be called the Revolutionary Insurrectionary, retaining the black banners. 3
Soviet construction in the Ukrainian countryside proceeded in conditions of devastation and famine in the cities. In the countryside, the Council of People's Commissars of Ukraine and the leadership of the Communist Party (b) of Ukraine made a number of mistakes that determined the agrarian policy for a long time and undermined the foundations of the union of the working people of the city and the countryside. “Head of the Council of National Economy of the Ukrainian SSR E.I. Queering and People's Commissar for Agriculture V.N. Meshcheryakov evaded the implementation of the instructions on the land issue set out in the Manifesto of the Soviet Government of Ukraine on the confiscation and equal distribution of landowners' lands out of 14.5 million dess. confiscated land only 5 million dess. was transferred to the middle peasants and the poor, the rest passed to the collective farms and state farms. In the south of Ukraine, large commodity-grain landlord farms, which form the basis of bread production, were turned into collective farms and state farms. These measures restored against the Soviet power part of the peasantry, who did not receive the expected land. Despite the fact that V.I. Lenin repeatedly pointed out the inadmissibility of the forced alienation of land and the violation of the voluntariness of the creation of collective farms and demanded that mistakes be corrected, this was not done in Ukraine until February 1920. In addition, the People's Commissariat for Food of Ukraine established for its entire territory the same indicator for determining kulak farms, and these measures directed against the kulaks hurt the interests of the middle peasants, since in the south of Ukraine there were 7-10 acres of land per farm of the middle peasant, while in the north Ukraine - 4 acres. 4
On April 1, 1919, a surplus appraisal was introduced in Ukraine. It was carried out without taking into account the class structure of the village, the poor were not interested in assisting the food detachments. Serious mistakes were made in the organization of food policy. Often, the surplus was carried out uncontrollably, the seizure of bread exceeded the allowable norms. V.I. Mezhlauk in a telegram to V.I. Lenin categorically objected to the attempts of some food workers to consider "Ukraine as a promised country, from where you can draw a lot without taking into account."
In addition, by declaring at the Third Congress of the CP(b)U that all political agreements with democratic and socialist parties and groups are inadmissible, the Bolsheviks doomed themselves to loneliness in the struggle against reaction. In January 1919, L.D. Trotsky wrote that in Ukraine "... the heavy hand of revolutionary repressions immediately fell on the heads of anarchists, left-wing socialists and just criminal adventurers." He called on the leadership of the "iron broom" blows "to drive them into such cracks, from which it is better for them never to leave." 45
Under these conditions, in February 1919, at the Second Congress of the Makhnovists and delegates of the peasants of the region controlled by them, the Makhnovists demanded the autonomy of the region and their detachments in resolving internal issues, the independence of local "free councils", created on a non-party, classless basis. At the congress, the Military Revolutionary Council was organized, "combining the functions of parliament and an advisory body", determining the policy and ideology of the movement. The congress demanded that Chekist organizations and leaders - "appointees" from the central government not be admitted to the district, put forward conditions for the election of leadership by the local population. On behalf of the congress, a delegation was sent to Kharkov in order to seek the independence of the region from the government. At the same time, the congress approved a resolution on the need for the unity of all revolutionary forces and gave a rebuff to the supporters of a break with Soviet power.
In April 1919, the Third Congress of the Makhnovists and representatives of the peasantry from 72 volosts of southern Ukraine took place. The congress sharply criticized the land and food policy of the Soviet government in Ukraine. Resolutions were adopted against the Bolshevization of the Soviets, "commissar power", against the Extraordinary Commissions. Despite the extremist, anarchist slogans, this congress also spoke in favor of the policy of a "united front" with the Bolsheviks and pointed out that the overthrow of Soviet power or a rebellion against it would lead to the triumph of reaction.
The mistakes of the Bolsheviks in the agrarian and food policy, the confrontation with the petty-bourgeois democrats helped the elements hostile to Soviet power to provoke peasant revolts. In April 1919, in Ukraine, as a result of aggravated class contradictions, economic turmoil and leadership errors, they broke out in the countryside and among the soldiers of the Ukrainian Red Army, which mainly consisted of former partisan and rebel units. The rebellions of Atamanov Zeleny, Katsyura, Struk, Sokolovsky, Angel continued until August 1919, when Ukraine was captured by the White Guards and Petliurists. The general demand of the rebels of various political colors was a change in agrarian and food policy.
At the congresses of the Makhnovists, resolutions were adopted calling for the construction of an anarchist society on the basis of supra-class anarchist organizations - free Soviets, "workers' unions of peasant communities." The political struggle for central power was declared to be a deception of the people and an action incompatible with anarchism. Criticism of the mistakes of the Soviet government in the spring of 1919 was not aimed at preparing a rebellion, but was only a manifestation of the dissatisfaction of the peasant masses with the policy of "war communism" and the establishment of a command-administrative centralized control system. The old anarchist slogan "Go apart, fight together" is also characteristic of the attitude of the Makhnovists towards the proletarian party in the spring of 1919.
Nestor Makhno had to restrain the discontent and open hostility towards the communists, which was observed among individual rebels of his peasant army. He spoke out against hostility to the communists, restrained the most zealous anarchists from the Nabat Confederation of Anarchist Organizations of Ukraine. Makhno categorically refused to give money to the well-known anarchist Marusya Nikiforova to fight against the Bolsheviks.
At the same time, the "united front" policy advocated by the Makhnovists did not mean that they were ready to give up their interests. The Makhnovist movement, in search of “its own” path in the revolution, slipped into the position of a “third force”, declaring a temporary alliance with the “statesmen” - the Bolsheviks “for tactical reasons”, that discord in the revolutionary camp or not help the reaction.
The dual social nature of the petty bourgeoisie was expressed in the vacillation of the middle peasants, whose interests did not meet the policy of "war communism". In the conditions of the confrontation between reaction and revolution, the middle peasants, knowing about the danger of restoring landownership, restrained themselves from speaking out against Soviet power, however, under the weight of the surplus appropriation and various duties, “this petty-bourgeois force turned into an anarchist element, which expresses its demands in excitement.”
Some extremists from anarchist groups called for preparations for a "third" revolution (the revolution of 1905-1907 was not taken into account), which, in their opinion, would destroy the socialist state and lead to anarchy.
In the period 1918 - the first half of 1919, the Makhnovists, recognizing with reservations the Soviet power as the only force capable of crushing the reaction, expressed middle peasant sentiments and, depending on the strengthening or weakening of the pressure of the authorities, supported the proletariat, trying, without entering into a military conflict, to seek concessions from the authorities with with the help of the demands of congresses, gatherings, sending delegations with a demand to the center. This position distinguished the Makhnovists from the petty-bourgeois counter-revolution, which, in the person of ataman Grigoriev, called for the destruction of the communists and put their slogans into practice.
And although, as V.A. Antonov-Ovsienko, the Makhnovist movement was "serious and sharply pointed against the Petliurists and Denikinists and at first sought to limit the kulak influence in the countryside, it suffered from an insufficiently developed ideology and from an unawareness of its place in the events that led to its tragic denouement." 6
Since April 1919, in relations between Nestor Makhno and his headquarters, on the one hand, and with the command of the Red Army and the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic, on the other, an atmosphere of mutual distrust has been established, growing into enmity. This was caused not only by the resistance of the Makhnovists to the policy of “war communism”, but also by the further development and establishment of anarchist ideology in the Makhnovist movement Makhnovist newspapers; V. Volin (V. Eikhenbaum) in the second half of 1919 headed the Makhnovist Revolutionary Military Council. The leaders of the Nabat Confederation tried to unite various currents - anarchism-communism, anarchism-syndicalism and anarchism-individualism - on the basis of the denial of the transitional stage from capitalism to anarchist communism and demanded from their like-minded people to lay the foundations of anarchy, creating economic, syndicalist organizations not controlled by the state, cooperatives, factory committees, communes for the gradual capture of the means of production by them. They argued that in Ukraine, thanks to a broad insurrectionary movement, all the conditions were in place for the first anarchist revolution, which would start a worldwide anarchist revolution. Since April 1919, the “Nabatovites” refused any cooperation and “compromises” with the Soviet government, gradually slipped into anti-Bolshevik positions and pushed the Makhnovists towards them.
The central organs of Soviet power and the command received conflicting information about the state of affairs in the Makhnovist brigade, and Gulyai-Polsky district. The Bureau of the Ukrainian Soviet Press reported on the good discipline of the Makhnovists, that they had a lack of banditry, an unwillingness to retreat before volunteers, and a “friendly attitude” towards the population. The political committee and political instructor of the Zadneprovskaya division, reporting on the state of the Makhnovist units, notes that political workers are accepted into the Makhnovist units and work there, that the Makhnovists have “impulses to fight the enemy”, good discipline and disposition towards Soviet power. They noted that, thanks to the authority of "father" Makhno, "whose popularity is incredible," his detachments are rapidly growing at the expense of volunteers.
However, along with positive reviews, there were many reports of anti-Bolshevik sentiments and "hooliganism" that prevailed in the ranks of the Makhnovists. The Higher Military Inspectorate of the Red Army, headed by its chairman N.I. The Podvoiskys were advised to reorganize the Makhnovist brigade, remove Makhno from office and hand him and his commanders over to court. Member of the Revolutionary Military Council G.Ya. Sokolnikov in a telegram to V.I. Lenin and H.G. Rakovsky (Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR) reported that "... Makhno is waging a resolute, open struggle against the communists", robbing the population, and suggested, taking advantage of the military failures of the Makhnovists, "remove Makhno." 7
It is difficult now to determine the accuracy of certain statements, however, there are facts indicating that in the spring of 1919 the Makhnovists were not going to revolt. Thus, neither in the Makhnovist newspapers, nor in the proclamations of the spring of 1919, are there calls for an immediate revolt and armed struggle against the Soviet power; on the contrary, they affirm the need for a military alliance of the “leftist forces”. The relationship between Makhno and the center worsened due to the fact that in 1919-1920. in Ukraine, the issue of abuses by the Cheka was acute. In all the peasant uprisings of that time, there was a slogan of defeating the Cheka. In June 1919 V.I. Lenin wrote to M.I. Lackis (Chairman of the All-Ukrainian Cheka): “Kamenev says - and declares that several of the most prominent Chekists confirm that in Ukraine the Cheka brought darkness of evil, being created too early and letting in a lot of clinging. It is necessary to check the composition more strictly, - I hope Dzerzhinsky will help you with this from here. It is necessary to pull up, by all means, the Chekists, and drive out those who have stuck. At a convenient opportunity, tell me more about the purge of the Cheka in Ukraine, about the results of the work. 9
There were many statements in the Makhnovist press against the emergency commissions in the Ukraine and calls for their liquidation. The Makhnovists moved from words to deeds. They abolished the Mariupol and Berdyansk district Chekas, and sent a detachment of the Berdyansk Cheka to the front. 9
In April 1919 A.E. Skachko (commander of the 2nd Ukrainian Red Army, which included the Makhnovist brigade) in a telegram to the commander of the Ukrainian Front reported that "... local Chekas are conducting a reinforced campaign against the Makhnovists"; while the Makhnovists are fighting at the front, they are persecuted in the rear for belonging to the Makhnovist movement alone. Skachko emphasized that "... with stupid, stupid antics, petty Chekas definitely provoke the Makhnovist troops and the population to revolt against Soviet power." 10 The political commissar of the Zadneprovskaya division also reported on unnecessary work in the "area of emergency situations". The Bolshevik newspaper Zvezda (Ekaterinoslav) in May 1919 pointed out that the local, southern Ukrainian Cheka "... are far from perfection and ideal" and "do not stand up to criticism from the point of view of revolutionary legal consciousness and socialism." The newspaper pointed to the "comprehensive competence" and "endless rights" of the Cheka, in particular the right to extrajudicial reprisals, and proposed to reorganize the Cheka and subordinate them to revolutionary tribunals. eleven
From the end of April 1919, accusations began to appear in the Soviet press against N.I. Makhno. The Izvestiya newspaper (Kharkov) published an article that spoke of the anti-Soviet nature of the Makhnovist movement and called for putting an end to it. Similar articles appeared in other publications. V.A. Antonov-Ovsienko, realizing that a confrontation with the Makhnovists could lead to dire consequences, in a telegram to the government of the Ukrainian SSR demands "...immediately stop the newspaper persecution of the Makhnovists, which is of a provocative nature." 12
The tangle of contradictions that had accumulated by June 1919 threatened to turn into a tragedy. An accusation was made against Makhno that his detachments detained trains with coal and bread going from the Donbass to the center of Russia. Indeed it took place. In May 1919, due to the aggravation of relations with the Makhnovists and the central military command, the Makhnovist brigade, after being transferred from subordination to the Ukrainian Front to subordination to the Southern Front, actually ceased to receive provisions, ammunition, and ammunition from the command. Supply sabotage put the Makhnovists in a very difficult position. Although, according to the military alliance between the Red Army and the Makhnovists, the command undertook to supply the Makhnovist brigade with everything necessary, from May 1919 this was not done. The Makhnovists tried, by delaying some echelons and demanding the establishment of an exchange of goods, to "knock out" ammunition and ammunition from the command.
However, the figures for train delays were sharply inflated. It should also be taken into account that in February 1919, the Makhnovists donated 90 wagons of trophy flour as a gift from Moscow and Petrograd. In the future, many echelons freely passed to the center of Russia through the Makhnovo region.
Later L.D. Trotsky, in his order to defeat the Makhnovists, motivating their betrayal, gave out the secrets of supplying the Makhnovist brigade. So, Trotsky accuses the Makhnovists of seizing "... food, uniforms, ammunition ... anywhere ...", completely forgetting that the command is responsible for supplying the Red Army units. In the same order, Trotsky accuses the Makhnovists of "...refusing to release coal and grain except in exchange for various supplies." 13 It follows from everything that the supply blockade of the Makhnovist brigade, which held an important sector of the front, undermined the combat capability of the Makhnovist units and created economic difficulties for the Soviet rear.
Trotsky, in a report dated May 22, 1919 to Moscow and Kharkov, proposed using a large detachment of Chekists, Baltic sailors and workers to defeat the Makhnovists and take grain and coal out of the region, arguing that only by eliminating the Makhnovshchina, it is possible to carry out an offensive against Rostov, although the Makhnovist the brigade riveted significant forces of the White Guards to itself, fighting with them. IN AND. Lenin, in a telegram to the Council of People's Commissars of Ukraine, warning of hasty and cruel measures against the Makhnovists, pointed out that relations with the Makhnovists regarding the export of coal and grain from Mariupol should be decided not by force, but by establishing an exchange of goods.
The arrival of Antonov-Ovsienko and Kamenev in Gulyai-Pole can be regarded as a thorough reconnaissance of the Bolsheviks before their attack on the area. At this time, several attempts were made to kill Makhno. In a word, every new day said that the Bolsheviks would solve the dispute about ideological influence in the Ukrainian revolution not today, but tomorrow with weapons. Grigoriev's rebellion unexpectedly forced them outwardly and for some time to change their attitude towards the Makhnovshchina. 14
In early May 1919, the commander of the 6th division of the 3rd Red Ukrainian Army N.A. Grigoriev raised an anti-Soviet rebellion. The suddenness of the speech allowed the rebels to capture Central Ukraine with the cities of Yekaterinoslav, Elisavetgrad, Cherkassy, Kremenchug, Nikolaev, Kherson. In the “Universal” (appeal) issued by the rebels, the slogans of anti-Semitism and Ukrainian nationalism were side by side with the demands for the abolition of food reconnaissance, the liquidation of collective farms, and freedom of trade. Grigorievtsev was supported by some other Soviet military units - a sailor crew in Nikolaev, the Black Sea regiment in Yekaterinoslav.
During the Grigoriev rebellion, the Soviet command had concerns about the possibility of supporting the Grigorievites by the Makhnovists. On May 12, 1919, Makhno was presented with an ultimatum demanding that he immediately issue an appeal against the rebels and report the location of his units. Failure to comply with this order threatened to declare Makhno outside the law. The Makhnovist headquarters complies with these demands and issues a proclamation "Who is Grigoriev", which declares Ataman Grigoriev an enemy of the revolution. The proclamation spoke of the need to hold the front against the Whites and that the rebels did not need to pay attention "... to Grigoriev's feuds with the Bolsheviks for political power." Subsequently, the Makhnovist Crimean Regiment was sent against the rebels.
Trotsky and his supporters hastened to take advantage of the opportunity to accuse and crush the Makhnovist movement. In a telegram to Rakovsky, Trotsky proposes "... after the crushing of the main Grigoriev forces" to liquidate the Makhnovist movement. “The task boils down to this,” he argued, “to use the effect of Grigoriev's banditry, pulling up sufficiently reliable parts to split Makhno. In order to eliminate the top, pull up at the bottom. 15 This task was to be carried out by a group of troops under the command of K.E. Voroshilov.
Grigoriev is a former tsarist officer. On the eve of the overthrow of the hetman, he was in the ranks of the Petliurists. In the days of the collapse of the Petliura army, Grigoriev, with all his units, went over to the side of the Bolsheviks. In the Kherson province, he played a significant role in the liquidation of Petliura's power. Occupied Odessa. Then, until recently, he held the front in the direction of Bessarabia. In May 1919, Grigoriev opened the front. The Makhnovists had to take the most vigorous measures to preserve the front. Grigoriev's adventure very quickly began to decline. Grigoriev remained with a detachment of several thousand people, having strengthened himself in the Alexandria district of the Kherson province. As soon as the danger from Grigoriev had passed, the old agitation of the Bolsheviks against the Makhnovshchina began. The delivery of ammunition and the necessary equipment, which are consumed daily at the front, has completely stopped. And this at a time when Denikin's troops were incredibly reinforced at the front by regiments of Kuban shepherds and Caucasian formations.
At a time when the rebel troops were dying under the pressure of Cossack avalanches, the Bolsheviks invaded the rebel villages in several regiments, seized and executed individual rebel workers on the spot, and destroyed the communes of the region or similar organizations. Trotsky played a decisive role in this campaign. He, who threatened all anarchism in Russia with an "iron broom", issues a whole series of orders directed against the Makhnovshchina. Trotsky's policy towards the Makhnovshchina was expressed by him approximately in the following form: it is better to give the whole Ukraine to Denikin than to allow the further development of the Makhnovshchina. The Bolsheviks withdrew several of their regiments from the Grishinsky sector of the front, which opened up free passage for Denikin's troops to the Gulyai-Polsky district. Denikin's troops broke into the area not from the side of the insurgent front, but from the left flank, where the Red Army units were stationed. As a result, the Makhnovist army, which held the line Mariupol - Kuteynikovo - Taganrog, was bypassed by Denikin.
On June 6, Denikin's troops occupied Gulyaipole, destroying the regiment formed by the peasants of the village. Makhno, with the army headquarters and a small detachment with one battery, retreated to the Gulyaipole railway station, drove Denikin out of it and occupied the village. However, the approaching new forces of the Cossacks forced him to leave the village again.
The Bolsheviks, who issued a number of orders against the Makhnovists, were outwardly loyal to the Makhnovists for the first few days. This was a tactic designed to capture the leaders of the Makhnovshchina. On June 7th they sent an armored train at Makhno's disposal. On June 8, several echelons of Red troops arrived at the Gyaichur station; military commissar Mezhlauk, Voroshilov and others arrived. Contact was established between the red and the rebel command. Mezhlauk, Voroshilov were on the same armored train with Makhno, jointly leading military operations. But at the same time, Voroshilov had an order from Trotsky to seize Makhno, all the responsible leaders of the Makhnovshchina, and disarm the rebel units that resisted being shot. Makhno was warned in time and figured out what to do. He considered his resignation from the post of commander of the rebel front to be the most healthy way out.
Meanwhile, the rebel units that were outside Mariupol were retreating to Pologa and Aleksandrovsk. Makhno unexpectedly rushed to them, breaking out of the Bolshevik plot. The chief of staff of the Makhnovist army, Ozerov, members of the staff of Mikhalev-Pavlenko, Burobycha, and several people from the Soviet were subsequently captured and executed. The situation for Makhno was extremely difficult. He had to either completely leave his units, or call them to fight the Bolsheviks. But the latter, in view of Denikin's decisive offensive, seemed to him impossible. Makhno turned to the rebel troops with a broad appeal, in which he highlighted the situation that had arisen, announced his resignation from the command post and asked the rebels to hold the front against Denikin, despite the fact that they would temporarily be under the command of the Bolshevik headquarters. After that, Makhno disappeared with a small cavalry detachment. The rebel regiments, renamed red, under the command of their former commanders - Kalashnikov, Kurylenko, Klein, Dermendzhi and others - continued to fight with Denikin, delaying their advance on Aleksandrovsk and Yekaterinoslav.
Yekaterinoslav fell at the end of June. Then Kharkov fell. The Bolsheviks did not engage in offensive or even defense, but exclusively in evacuation. And then, when it became clear everywhere that the Bolsheviks were abandoning Ukraine, trying only to take out of it as much of the male population and railway rolling stock as possible. Makhno considered the moment opportune to take the initiative in the struggle against the counter-revolution into his own hands. And act as an independent revolutionary force against both Denikin and the Bolsheviks. The password was given to the ranks of the rebels, who temporarily remained under the Red command, to overthrow the Red commanders and group under the general command of Makhno. The coup was organized by the former Makhnovist commanders in the Red Army - Kalashnikov, Dermendzhi and Budapov. The connection took place behind the Pomoshnaya station, in the town of Dobrovelichkove, Kherson province, in early August 1919. The region of Pomoshnaya, Elisavetrograd and Voznesensk was the first stronghold where Makhno stopped and began to put in order the combat units that flocked to him from different directions. Four brigades of infantry and cavalry troops, a separate artillery battalion and a machine-gun regiment were formed here - a total of about 15,000 fighters. A separate cavalry hundred of 150-200 sabers, which was always with Makhno, was not included in this number of troops. With these forces, the Makhnovists launched an offensive against Denikin. The clash became violent. Several times Denikin's troops were driven back 50-80 versts back to the east. In battles, they gave three armored trains to the Makhnovists, among whom was a huge one - "Invincible". But reinforced by fresh forces, they again pushed the Makhnovists to the west. On their side was a significant numerical superiority and superiority in weapons. Meanwhile, there were almost no cartridges in the Makhnovist army. Of the three attacks on Denikin, two had to be done solely with the aim of recapturing their cartridges. In addition, the Makhnovists had to act against the Bolshevik group, which was retreating from Odessa to the North. Therefore, they had to abandon the Elisavetgrad - Pomoshchnaya - Voznesensk region and retreat further.
The retreat proceeded with continuous fighting. The Denikin group that pursued Makhno was distinguished by extreme stubbornness and perseverance. It included officer regiments: the First Simferopol and the Second Labinsky. From mid-August 1919, this group began to strongly press Makhno, trying to envelop him from several sides. In the second half of August, this group of Denikinites, who pressed Makhno from the east, was joined by a second group, marching from Odessa and Voznesensk. Then the rebel army abandoned the railway area, having previously blown up all their armored trains. The retreat was by country roads. This is a retreat followed by daily battles. lasted more than a month, until the Makhnovist army approached the city of Uman, occupied by the Petliurists. At this time, the Makhnovist army had 8,000 wounded fighters, who made up a huge convoy, which hampered its movement and military operations. After a comprehensive discussion of the issue, it was decided to offer the Petliurites military neutrality. In the meantime, a Petliura delegation arrived from Uman to the Makhnovist camp. The Petliurists, being at war with Denikin, did not want to have a second front and wanted to avoid military clashes with the Makhnovists. Both sides pledged to maintain strict military neutrality with respect to each other, regardless of the political direction of each side. The Petliurists, in addition, undertook to receive and place in hospitals all the wounded Makhnovists.
Of course, both Makhno and everyone else in the army saw that neutrality was a fiction: that not today or tomorrow we could expect an alliance between the Petliurists and Denikinists and their joint attack on the Makhnovists. But for Makhno it was important to win one or two weeks of time. In fact, the attitude of the Makhnovists towards the Petliurists remained the same. 16
The suspicions of the Makhnovists were soon confirmed. By agreement with the Petliurists, the Makhnovist army could occupy an area of 10 square versts in the area of the village of Tekuche, near Uman. From the north and west were the Petliurists; from the east and south were Denikin's. A few days later information was received. that the Petliurites are negotiating with Denikin's command about the conditions for the encirclement and defeat of Makhno by joint forces. At the same time - September 24-25 - in the rear of the Makhnovists, on the western side, there were about 4-5 Denikin regiments. They could get there only by going through the area occupied by the Petliurists. On the evening of September 25, the Makhnovists found themselves surrounded by Denikin's regiments on all sides. Uman was just as busy with them. The fate of the entire army of Makhnovist rebels was being decided.
From September 25 to 26, the Makhnovist units, which had been heading west all the time, suddenly turned all their forces to the east and attacked the main forces of the Denikin group. On September 25, in the evening, near the village of Krutenkoye, the battle of the first brigade of the Makhnovist army with units of Denikin took place. The latter retreated, trying to gain a stronger position and lure the enemy, but the Makhnovists did not pursue them. This deceived the vigilance of Denikin. Meanwhile, at night, all the units of the Makhnovists who were stationed in several villages withdrew and moved to the east - to the enemy, who was stationed with the main forces near the village of Peregonovka, occupied by the Makhnovists.
Between three and four o'clock in the morning a battle ensued. It went on unceasingly, developing and strengthening. By eight o'clock in the morning it had reached its highest tension. Makhno himself with his hundred went around the enemy. By nine o'clock in the morning the Makhnovists began to retreat. The battle was already on the outskirts of the village. Denikin's men from different places brought up the rest of their forces and pressed the Makhnovists. Members of the headquarters of the rebel army went into the chain. The critical moment came when it seemed that the battle was lost, which means it was all over. The outcome of the battle was decided by the sudden appearance of Makhno. Already at that moment, when the Makhnovists began to retreat in a wave and the battle was going on on the outskirts of the village, Makhno with his hundred crashed into the rear of the enemy. A fierce hand-to-hand fight ensued, and the First Simferopol Officer Regiment was not steadfast, but it was shot down and put to flight. Behind this regiment, other regiments rushed. And, finally, all Denikin's units fled to the Sinyukha River, trying to cross it and gain a foothold on the other side.
The pursuit lasted 12-15 miles. At the most important moment, when Denikin's troops reached the river, they were overtaken by the Makhnovist cavalry. Several hundred of them died in the river. Most of them managed to cross, but were intercepted by Makhno. Denikin's headquarters, which stood on the other side of the river, and the reserve regiment were also captured. Of all the units managed to escape a few. The first officer's Simferopol regiment and other regiments were cut down completely. This event was only an inevitable consequence of the single combats of the Denikin army with the Makhnovists. Had there been the slightest mistake on the part of Makhno, the same fate would have befallen the revolutionary insurgent army.
The movement of the army back to the Dnieper was very fast. The next day, after the defeat of Denikin's forces, near Peregonovka, Makhno was more than a hundred miles from the battlefield. And a day later, the Makhnovists occupied Dolinekuya, Krivoy Rog and approached Nikopol. And on September 29, the Kichkassky bridge across the Dnieper was captured and the city of Aleksandrovsk was occupied. Aleksandrovsk was followed by Pologi, Gulyai Pole, Berdyansk, Melitopol and Mariupol. In a week and a half, the entire south of Ukraine was cleared of Denikin's troops and authorities.
The liberation by the Makhnovists of the south of Ukraine, mainly the Azov region, endangered the entire Denikin company. The fact is that in the area of Mariupol-Volnovakha there was the main supply base for the Denikn army. During the capture of Berdyansk and Mariupol, there turned out to be a huge number of shells. There were entire tiers of shells in Volnovakha. And although it had not yet been taken, it could no longer serve Denikin's armies, since the railway line of the entire region was in the hands of the Makhnovists. The rear units serving the area were destroyed. Thus, this entire gigantic artillery base fell into the circle of the Makhnovists, and, starting from that time, it could no longer send a single shell either to the northern or to any other front. 17
Denikin's troops hastily sent against Makhno the units that were in reserve near Taganrog; but these parts were also broken. The Makhnovists rushed into the depths of the Donets basin, took Yekaterinoslav. Then Denikin's men realized that the center of the struggle had shifted from the north to the south, that the fate of their cause would be decided in the south.
In connection with this state of affairs, Denikin's troops withdrew their best cavalry units, Mamontov and Shkuro, from the northern front. thanks to fresh forces and many armored cars, Denikin's troops began to oust the Makhnovist units from certain places: Berdyansk, Mariupol and Gulyai-Pole. But this only meant that Makhno occupied Sinelnokovo, Pavlograd, Yekaterinoslav and a number of other places. During October-November, the struggle again took on a fierce character, and in it Denikin's units again suffered several huge defeats. Most went to the Caucasian units. And at the end of November, they arbitrarily abandon Denikin's army and return to their place in the Caucasus. Thus began the general disintegration of Denikin's army.
In the struggle against the Makhnovshchina in the south of Russia, Denikin suffered a complete defeat, and this sealed the outcome of their entire campaign against the Russian revolution.
Had it not been for the Uman breakthrough and the ensuing and subsequent defeat of the rear, the artillery base and all the equipment of Denikin, the latter would probably have entered Moscow around December 1919. The battle of the Reds with Denikin near Orel was of little importance. Basically, the retreat of Denikin's troops to the south began already earlier - precisely in connection with the defeat of the rear. All their subsequent military operations were aimed at carrying out, if possible, a painless retreat and taking out property.
The destruction of Denikin's counter-revolution in the autumn of 1919 was one of the main tasks of the Makhnovshchina in the Russian revolution. The Makhnovists fulfilled this task in full. But this task did not exhaust the entire historical mission entrusted to the Makhnovists by the Russian revolution in that period. The country liberated from Denikin needed immediate protection throughout the territory. Without this protection, the country and the revolutionary possibilities that opened up before it with the destruction of Denikinism could be crushed every day by the state armies of the Bolsheviks, who hastily rushed to the Ukraine after the retreating Denikin.
The banners of the Makhnovshchina were raised throughout Ukraine. The necessary organizational steps were not enough to merge the entire numerous combat force dispersed in different places in Ukraine into one powerful revolutionary people's army. which would become a reliable guard on the approaches to revolutionary territory.
However, the enthusiasm for victory and a share of carelessness prevented the Makhnovists from creating such a force in time. Therefore, from the very first days of the arrival of the Red Army in Ukraine, the Makhnovists were forced to concentrate in the cramped Gulyai-Polsky region.
In December, several divisions of the Red troops came to the area of \u200b\u200bEkaterinoslav and Aleksandrovsk. A little later, the order of the Revolutionary Military Council of the 14th Red Army came to the name of the commander of the Makhnovist army, ordering to send the rebel army to the Polish front. The Revolutionary Military Council of the Makhnovist Army replied that it found the order of the 14th Army inappropriate and provocative.
In mid-January 1920, Makhno and the soldiers of his army were again outlawed in the name of the All-Ukrainian Revolutionary Committee, as they refused to go to the Polish front. A bitter struggle broke out between the Makhnovists and the communist authorities. In order to avoid fraternization between the Red Army and the Makhnovists, they sent a Latvian rifle division and a group of Chinese against the Makhnovists - units that were the least versed in the Russian revolution and blindly obeyed the authorities.
Despite the large number of Red troops, Makhno and his units were always out of reach. The actions of the Bolsheviks against the Makhnovists bore all the signs of terror. Mass executions of peasants proceeded without hindrance.
During the spring and summer of 1920, the Makhnovists had to fight not with individual Red units, but in fact with the entire state apparatus of the Bolsheviks. For this reason, the army more than once had to evade the enemy, break away from its area and make thousand-mile raids. She was forced to retreat, then to the Donetsk region, then to the Kharkov and Poltava provinces. These raids were widely used for propaganda purposes.
During the summer of 1920, the Makhnovists launched a campaign against Wrangel several times. Twice they entered into battle with his units, but both times they were hit in the rear by the red troops. All over Ukraine, Soviet newspapers wrote about Makhno's alliance with Wrangel.
Wrangel did send an envoy to Makhno, but he was publicly executed, and this case itself was consecrated by the Makhnovists in their press. And at a meeting of the Council of Revolutionary Insurgents and the Army Headquarters, it was decided to propose to the Communists, in order to jointly defeat Wrangel, to stop the mutual struggle. On behalf of the council of the insurgent army, as early as July and August 1920, telegrams of the appropriate content were sent to Kharkov and Moscow. There was no answer. The communists waged the same war with the Makhnovists. But in September, when Ekaterinoslav was evacuated, when Wrangel occupied Berdyansk, Alexandrovsk, Gulyai Pole, Sinelnikovo, in Starobelsk, where the Makhnovists were stationed, a delegation from the Central Committee of the Communist Party, headed by Ivanov, arrived to negotiate joint actions against Wrangel. negotiations took place in the same place in Starobelsk, where the preliminary terms of the military-political agreement with the Soviet authorities were chosen.
For a long time, the Soviet government, under various pretexts, delayed the publication of this agreement. But the Makhnovists put the question sharply: until the agreement is published, the Makhnovist army cannot act on the basis of this agreement. And only after such pressure from the Makhnovists did the Soviet government publish the text of the agreement, but not all at once, but in parts: first the second part, on a political issue. In this regard, the meaning of the agreement was obscured and correctly understood by very few. As for the fourth point of the political agreement, the Bolsheviks did not publish it, declaring that it required special discussion and consultation with Moscow.
After that, from October 15, the Makhnovist army went to Wrangel. Its combat participant was the area - Sinelnikovo, Aleksandrovsk, Pologi, Berdyansk, and the direction - Perekop. During the very first battles in the Pologi-Orekhov area, a large group of Wrangel soldiers, led by General Drozdov, was defeated, and about 4 thousand Wrangel soldiers were taken prisoner. Three weeks later, this area was completely liberated from Wrangel's troops. In early November, the Makhnovists, together with the Red troops, were already near Perekop.
The role of the Makhnovists in the cleansing of the Crimea from the Wrangelites was as follows. At a time when red units were standing right near Perekop, the Makhnovists, according to an operational order, took 25-30 versts to the left of Perekop and began to cross the Sivash. First went the cavalry under the leadership of Marchenko - Walk the Polish peasant - an anarchist, then - the machine-gun regiment under the leadership of Kozhin. The crossing was under heavy fire from the enemy and cost great sacrifices. Among many others, commander Foma Kozhin was seriously wounded in the first battle. However, the stubbornness and courage of the attackers put the Wrangel troops to flight. Then, Semyon Karetnik, the commander of the Crimean army of the Makhnovists, sent all units directly to Simferopol, which was taken by them. At the same time, Perekop was occupied by the red units. Undoubtedly, the Makhnovists, who went through the Sivash into the depths of the Crimea, contributed to its attack, forcing the Wrangelites to rush into the rear of the peninsula so as not to be squeezed from all sides in the Perekop gorges.
No one among the Makhnovists believed in the duration and strength of the agreement with the Bolsheviks. Based on the past, everyone expected that they would certainly come up with a pretext for a new campaign against the Makhnovshchina. But in view of the political situation, it was believed that this agreement would last three to four months. And this would be of greater importance for broad propaganda work in the region.
In the defeat of Wrangel, the Makhnovists saw the beginning of the end of the agreement. On November 26, the Bolsheviks treacherously attacked the Makhnovist command and Makhnovist troops in the Crimea, on Gulyai Pole, seized the Makhnovist government in Kharkov, defeated and arrested all the anarchists there, as well as anarchists and anarchist organizations throughout Ukraine.
The Soviet authorities were not slow to explain their actions: the Makhnovists and anarchists were allegedly preparing an uprising against the Soviet regime. The slogan of this uprising was supposed to be the fourth point of the political agreement between the Soviet government and the Makhnovists, which looked like this: “... the insurgent army of the Makhnovists puts forward the fourth point of the political agreement, namely: the organization in the area of operations of the Makhnovist army by the local worker and peasant population of free bodies of economic and political self-government, their autonomy and federal (contractual) connection with the state bodies of the Soviet republics. 18 In addition, Makhno was charged with a number of "counter-revolutionary" actions.
In the Crimea, all members of the Makhnovist field headquarters and the commander of the Crimean Makhnovist army, Semyon Karetnik, were captured and killed. The commander of the cavalry Marchenko, who was surrounded by units of the 4th Red Army, made his way through a series of barriers and barriers at the dig, and by December 7, moving day and night, he reached the Makhno group. But instead of a mighty cavalry of 1,500 men, a small detachment of 250 men returned, all that was left of the Makhnovist army in the Crimea. The connection took place in the Greek town of Kremenchik. And at that time Frunze was deploying units of three armies against Makhno, including two cavalry ones. Almost the entire southern front collapsed on the rebels. But a small detachment of Makhnovists along the way was overgrown with partisan units that had lost contact with each other. The Red Army soldiers of the units defeated by the Makhnovists also joined. In early December, Makhno already had 2,500 thousand fighters.
After several unsuccessful attempts to encircle Makhno, a huge mass of red armies pressed him to the end to the Azov coast in the Andreevka area. However, Frunze did not take into account the completely unique capabilities of the Makhnovist army. N. Efimov writes: “A Makhnovist ... during the partisan struggle, and perhaps also due to his social conditions, he developed individual properties in himself, a Makhnovist feels independent everywhere. Even in battle, his favorite formation is lava, where the maximum independence is presented to an individual fighter. The development in the Makhnovist of the properties of an individual fighter gives him the opportunity not to lose his head in dangerous moments ... ”19 Makhno could, having explained the task, disband his army on all four sides in full confidence that it would gather at a specified point behind enemy lines and strike at him. In addition, the entire Makhnovist army could move on horses and carts, reaching speeds of up to 80 miles per day.
All this helped the Makhnovists get out of the trap prepared by Frunze: “Small groups of Makhnovists already at that time, during the battle, bypassed our units and slipped to the northeast ... The Makhnovists approached the village, opened random fire in the dark, which made a successful panic among the Red Army units and made them run away. 20
Having plunged into carts, the Makhnovists entered the operational space, destroying the oncoming red units, which could not imagine that the enemy would be able to break out. At the same time, the Red Army infantry fought reluctantly. The Makhnovist army again grew to 10-15 thousand people.
It was not the ability to defeat the Makhnovists by military means that pushed the Bolsheviks to build up terror. On December 5, the armies of the Southern Front were ordered to carry out general searches, shoot peasants who did not surrender their weapons, and impose indemnities on villages within which attacks on red units were carried out. In order not to expose his fellow villagers to unnecessary danger, Makhno crosses the Dnieper in December and deepens into the right-bank Ukraine.
The transition to the right bank seriously weakened the Makhnovists - they were not known here, the area was unfamiliar, the sympathies of the peasantry leaned towards the Petliurists, with whom the Makhnovists had cool relations. At the same time, units of cavalry divisions advanced against the Makhnovists. Bloody battles ensued in the area of the Gorny Tikich River. The Makhnovists moved so rapidly that they managed to surprise the commander of one of the divisions, L. Parkhomenko - he was killed on the spot. But the Makhnovists could not resist the onslaught of superior enemy forces on foreign territory. Having suffered heavy losses at Gorny Tikich, the Makhnovists leave to the north and force the Dnieper near Kanev. This is followed by a raid through the Poltava Chernigov province and further to Belovodsk. In mid-February, Makhno turns back to his native places. He now has a new idea - to spread the movement in breadth, gradually involving more and more new lands, creating support bases everywhere. This was the only way to break the ring of red armies around his army on wheels. The first attempt to send detachments in different directions was not crowned with success. But at the beginning of March, Makhno sent columns to the Don, Voronezh, Kharkov. He himself, with a small mobile group, traveled around numerous centers of the uprising, appearing either on the Don or in the Poltava region. The peasantry of a wider zone than the native Makhnovist region got used to the father and supported him more and more.
It was at this time that the power of the Bolsheviks hung in the balance. Peasant uprisings swept the whole country, the workers of St. Petersburg were on strike, and Kronstadt revolted. And everyone demanded the elimination of the regime, later known as "war communism", and the elimination along with the one-party dictatorship of the Bolsheviks. The demands for the termination of the surplus appraisal, freedom of trade, and the elimination of komzams were deeply realistic, which showed the near future. In March 1921, the Bolsheviks made serious concessions to the peasantry for the sake of the main thing - to maintain their monopoly on power. The process of introducing a new ex-political policy dragged on through the spring and summer of 1921. Considering all this, it can be said that the Makhnovists and other peasant armies had at that time a chance of success.
But it was precisely at this moment that Makhno was unable to restructure his strategy. Having scattered his forces to create new insurgent zones, he was unable to concentrate large forces in time for a decisive offensive. The failure in the decisive clash on March 13, 1921, led the Makhnovists to strengthen the insurgent centers in the north and east throughout April, but did not launch a large-scale offensive. By May, Makhno went and concentrated about 2,000 fighters in the Poltava region under the command of Kozhin and Kurylenko. It was decided to go to Kharkov. For this, such modest forces, of course, were not enough. The insurgent movement expanded its area of operations, but could not concentrate for decisive blows. The new partisan detachments of the Poltava and Chernihiv regions had little connection with Makhno, although they rebelled under his slogans. They had not yet accepted the Makhnovist discipline and fully corresponded to the generally accepted idea of the amorphousness of the peasant movement. Of the old Makhnovist cadres, most of them sent out to organize new centers, only these 2,000 remained.
Despite frequent successes in battles with the First Cavalry Army, the Makhnovists failed to break through to Kharkov. His strike group was stuck in the Poltava region. At this time, it became clear to the peasants that the NEP was serious and for a long time. The ranks of the Makhnovist detachments were melting away. At the end of June, in the battles on Sula, Frunze inflicted a serious defeat on the Makhnovist shock group. By this time, almost three thousand Makhnovists had voluntarily surrendered to the Reds. The movement melted before my eyes.
But Makhno was not going to surrender. With a small detachment of several dozen people, he breaks through the whole of Ukraine to the Romanian border. Several cavalry divisions are trying to find this detachment, but on August 28, 1921, he crossed the Dniester to Bessarabia. The civil war was over.
Thus, one of the forces that fought against both the Reds and the Whites was the revolutionary peasant movement led by Nestor Makhno, which he declared the third force in the civil war. The anarchist ideas propagated by Nestor Makhno and his associates among the peasant masses fell on favorable ground and resonated with the peasantry. In this way, he managed to win over to his side significant masses of the peasantry and create a Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army.
The army of Nestor Makhno at the first stage entered into an alliance with the Bolsheviks. Together with the Red Army, she fought against the troops of Denikin, liberated Ukraine from the Whites.
But the distrust and negative attitude of the Bolsheviks to the ideological views of Makhno pushed him away from the red movement, he broke with the Bolsheviks and entered into confrontation with them on the fronts of the civil war. Just as anarchism itself is contradictory, Nestor Makhno turned out to be so contradictory. Adhering to Kropotkin's idea that anarchist communism could be put into practice immediately after the destruction of the old order, Makhno more than once undertook hasty, unbalanced and contradictory actions.
In August 1920, he again returned to the Bolsheviks, concluded an agreement with the command of the Red Army. With the Reds he smashed Wrangel's army. Helped the Red Army to liberate Crimea.
However, Nestor Makhno failed to play the role of a "buffer" between the red and white movements. He rolled to one side and then to the other. The reason for this was his ideological views and fluctuations between the reds and whites of the country's middle peasantry. Nestor Makhno could not merge with the Bolsheviks, since they did not recognize the anarchist idea: without statehood, the denial of the dictatorship of the proletariat, and as for the white movement, they did not recognize socialist ideas at all and such a choice of state structure.
The Makhnovist anarchist movement embodied the protest of the population of areas gravitating to the west against the cruel autocratic state, the attractiveness of Nestor Makhno's idea of freedom, equality and fraternity provided him with the support of the peasantry.
During the Civil War in Russia, not only Reds and Whites fought for power, but also anarchists. Their leader was Nestor Makhno, who decided on an unimaginable historical experiment - the creation of an anarchist community in the southern expanses of the collapsed Russian Empire.
Convinced anarchist
The narrative must begin with an acquaintance with Nestor Makhno himself. Makhno was born into an ordinary peasant family from Gulyaipol, which is located on the territory of the modern Zaporozhye region. From a young age, he caught fire with revolutionary ideas and joined the "Peasant Group of Anarcho-Communists", where he was engaged in robberies and terrorist attacks. He was sentenced to death, but was pardoned in exchange for life imprisonment. In a hard labor cell, Makhno found himself a spiritual mentor in the person of Pyotr Arshinov, who shared anarchist ideas with him. After the February Revolution of 1917, Makhno returned to his native Gulyaipole under an amnesty, after which he fell headlong into the maelstrom of history.
Nestor Makhno
Convict cellmate Pyotr Arshinov initiated Nestor Makhno into the ideas of anarchism
In Gulyai-Pole, our hero was known as an ardent opponent of the Provisional Government. Possessing charm and leadership qualities, Nestor Makhno, together with like-minded people, hunted by robbing landowners and killing officers. After the coup d'état on October 25, 1917, Makhno sided with the Bolsheviks, heading the Gulyai-Polye Revolutionary Committee. He also became the main in the fight against the German occupation forces, fought with the soldiers of Simon Petlyura. In addition, Makhno, having gained authority among his fellow countrymen and comrades, held real power in Gulyaipole. His patrimony was in an incomprehensible relationship with the central Soviet government: the Makhnovists not only resisted the surplus appropriation, but were guided by the principle of "equal land use based on their own labor." Nestor signed his decrees and directives as “father Makhno”, and this “father” managed to turn Gulyaipole into a close-knit confederation of anarchist communes in opposition to the Soviet regime.
Companions and comrades of Nestor Makhno
Nestor Makhno signed some of his directives as "Father Makhno"
Non-state within the state
From the autumn of 1918 to July 1919, the Makhnovists began to build an anarchist community, which would later be called the Free Territory. The existence of Gulyai-Pole fundamentally contradicted the Bolsheviks, because the anarchists were staunch opponents of the dictatorship and the state. The Makhnovshchina, with a population of approximately seven million, stretched from present-day Dnepropetrovsk to Berdyansk and Mariupol. Gulyaipole lived by its own rules throughout its short existence. The Makhnovists rebuilt society according to the principles of Francisco Ferrera and Peter Kropotkin. Within the Free Territory, the economy was based on free exchange between rural and urban communities. Nestor Makhno also put into practice Kropotkin's idea of "free communes". The necessary resources were obtained through raids: when the village was taken, food indemnity was imposed on the inhabitants. Even in Gulyaipole they could pay with captured gold and Soviet money. First of all, the interests of the peasantry came to the fore, and therefore terror was used against its opponents and oppressors - the death sentence was passed by rural gatherings, and the rebels only carried it out. Because "Old Man Makhno" was very popular among peasants and workers.
A white skull and bones on a black cloth was one of the symbols of the Makhnovists.
Nevertheless, courses for the elimination of illiteracy worked in Gulyaipole, schools and hospitals were built, a field theater flourished, for which two plays were specially written: The Life of the Makhnovists and The Way of the Makhnovist. In general, the life of the Free Territory until a certain time seemed quiet and calm.
Army of Gulyaipole
The armed forces of the Free Territory deserve a separate and detailed description. Even when Makhno, after being released from prison, returned to Gulyaipole, he created the "Black Guard" of 60 people. By January 1918, it had grown to three hundred fighters, among whom were mostly youth and peasants. Nestor Makhno actively recruited experienced officers of the First World War into his ranks. Soon this detachment turned from a guard into a whole army: in April 1919, about 20,000 soldiers were assigned to the gun. According to rough estimates, there were 70,000 people in the reserve, and another ten to fifteen thousand regularly took part in hostilities.
The Makhnovists were in an interesting position, because they fought against everyone: with the Kaiser troops, and with the Petliurists, and with the White Guards, and with the communists. With the latter, the Makhnovists more than once entered into an alliance in order to defeat their common enemy - the White General Denikin. The Makhnovists made a decisive contribution to the defeat of Anton Denikin: they waged an exhausting guerrilla war in the rear of the Whites and cut off supplies throughout the south. Nestor Makhno led skillful tactics of warfare: the soldiers sneaked up to the target imperceptibly, attacked unexpectedly and just as suddenly disappeared. Often they used dressing tricks, disguising themselves as the form of the enemy or ordinary workers. With this deceit, the Makhnovists were able to take Yekaterinoslav - the current Dnepropetrovsk.
The Makhnovists made a decisive contribution to the victory over the white army of Denikin
Often, Gulyaipole was called a "republic on carts", because the Makhnovists used carts with machine guns wherever they could, which made their detachments fast and mobile. The largest military victory of the Makhnovists dates back to September 26, 1919, when a White Guard group of more than 10,000 people was destroyed near the village of Peregonovka. The Whites planned to finish off the enemy in the encirclement, but the cavalry, led by Makhno himself, was able to break through the flanks and enter the rear of the enemy regiments.
The end of the epic
The free territory has always been and remained a sworn enemy for the Bolsheviks. The Soviet government, after the final victory over the whites on the southern front, began to oust the Makhnovists as well. Large forces were sent to destroy Gulyai-Pole: five armies, more than 350,000 soldiers, armored cars, artillery and aviation. And for this, Makhno desperately took revenge on the communists with repressions and fierce battles. For almost a year, the Makhnovists evaded persecution, making raids in southeastern Ukraine and the southern part of the RSFSR. However, they suffered defeat over and over again, and by the end of the summer of 1921, they ceased to exist as a single organized force. Nestor Makhno himself escaped death and made his way to Bessarabia, from where he was able to penetrate into Romania. Makhno then emigrated abroad with his family and a few friends.
"Old Man", Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Revolutionary Workers' and Peasants' Army of the Yekaterinoslav region, commander of the Red Army brigade, commander of the 1st insurgent division, commander of the "Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine".
Makhno himself considered himself a military commander, and not the head of the population of the occupied territory.
Nestor Ivanovich Makhno was born on October 26, 1888 in the village of Gulyai-Polye, Yekaterinoslav Province, into a peasant family. It was a large village, in which there were even factories, in one of which he worked as a foundry worker.
The revolution of 1905 captivated the young worker, he joined the Social Democrats, and in 1906 he joined the group of "free grain growers" - communist anarchists, participated in raids and propaganda of the principles of anarchy. In July-August 1908, the group was uncovered, Makhno was arrested and in 1910, together with his accomplices, was sentenced to death by a military court. However, many years before that, Makhno's parents changed his date of birth for a year, and he was considered a minor. In this regard, the execution was replaced by indefinite hard labor.
In 1911, Makhno ended up in Moscow Butyrki. Here he was engaged in self-education and met Pyotr Arshinov, who was more “savvy” in anarchist teachings, who would later become one of the ideologists of the Makhnovist movement. In prison, Makhno fell ill with tuberculosis, and his lung was removed.
The February Revolution of 1917 opened the prison doors for Makhno, and in March he returned to Gulyai-Polye. Makhno gained popularity as a fighter against the autocracy and a speaker at public gatherings, was elected to the local government - the Public Committee. He became the leader of the Gulyai-Polye anarcho-communist group, which subordinated the Public Committee to its influence and established control over a network of public structures in the area, including the Peasants' Union (since August - the Council), the Council of Workers' Deputies and the trade union. Makhno headed the volost executive committee of the Peasant Union, which actually became the authority in the region.
After the beginning of the Kornilov speech, Makhno and his supporters created the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution under the Soviet and confiscated weapons from the landowners, kulaks and German colonists in favor of their detachment. In September, the Volost Congress of Soviets and Peasant Organizations in Gulyai-Polye, convened by the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution, proclaimed the confiscation of landowners' lands, which were transferred to peasant farms and communes. So Makhno was ahead of Lenin in the implementation of the slogan "Land to the peasants!"
On October 4, 1917, Makhno was elected chairman of the board of the trade union of metalworkers, woodworkers and other professions, which united virtually all the workers of Gulyai-Polye and a number of surrounding enterprises (including mills). Makhno, who combined leadership of the trade union with leadership in the largest local armed political group, forced entrepreneurs to comply with the demands of the workers. On October 25, the board of the union decided: "Workers who are not members of the union must be required to immediately enroll in the Union, otherwise they risk losing the support of the Union." A course was taken for the universal introduction of an eight-hour working day. In December 1917, Makhno, busy with other matters, handed over the chairmanship of the trade union to his deputy A. Mishchenko.
Makhno was already faced with new tasks - a struggle for power between supporters and opponents of the Soviets began to boil around. Makhno stood for the power of the Soviets. Together with a detachment of Gulyai Poles, commanded by his brother Savva, Nestor disarmed the Cossacks, then took part in the work of the Alexander Revolutionary Committee, and headed the Revolutionary Committee in Gulyai-Pole. In December, at the initiative of Makhno, the II Congress of Soviets of the Gulyai-Pole District met, which adopted a resolution "Death to the Central Rada." The Makhnovsky district was not going to submit to either the Ukrainian, or the red, or white authorities.
At the end of 1917, Makhno had a daughter from Anna Vasetskaya. Makhno lost contact with this family in the military whirlpool of the spring of 1918. After the conclusion of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918, the advance of German troops into Ukraine began. The inhabitants of Gulyai-Pole formed a "free battalion" of about 200 fighters, and now Makhno himself took command. He went to the headquarters of the Red Guard to get weapons. In his absence, on the night of April 15-16, a coup was carried out in Gulyai-Polye in favor of Ukrainian nationalists. At the same time, a detachment of nationalists suddenly attacked the "free battalion" and disarmed it.
These events took Makhno by surprise. He was forced to retreat to Russia. At the end of April 1918, at a meeting of the Gulyai-Polye anarchists in Taganrog, it was decided to return to the region in a few months. In April-June 1918, Makhno traveled around Russia, visiting Rostov-on-Don, Saratov, Tsaritsyn, Astrakhan and Moscow. Revolutionary Russia evokes complex feelings in him. On the one hand, he saw the Bolsheviks as allies in the revolutionary struggle. On the other hand, they were very cruelly crushing the revolution "for themselves", creating a new, already their own power, and not the power of the Soviets.
In June 1918, Makhno met with the leaders of the anarchists, including P.A. Kropotkin, was among the visitors of V.I. Lenin and Ya.M. Sverdlov. In a conversation with Lenin, Makhno, on behalf of the peasantry, outlined to him his vision of the principles of Soviet power as self-government, and argued that anarchists in the countryside of Ukraine are more influential than communists. Lenin made a strong impression on Makhno, the Bolsheviks helped the anarchist leader to cross over to the occupied Ukraine.
In July 1918, Makhno returned to the vicinity of Gulyai-Polye, then created a small partisan detachment, which began military operations in September, attacking estates, German colonies, invaders and employees of Hetman Skoropadsky. The first major battle with the Austro-Hungarian troops and supporters of the Ukrainian state in the village of Dibrivki (B. Mikhailovka) turned out to be successful for the partisans, bringing Makhno the honorary nickname "father". In the Dibrivok area, Makhno's detachment united with the detachment of F. Shchus. Then other local detachments began to join Makhno. Successful partisans began to receive the support of the peasants. Makhno emphasized the anti-landowner and anti-kulak character of his actions.
The collapse of the occupation regime after the November Revolution in Germany caused a surge in the insurgency and the collapse of the regime of hetman Skoropadsky. As the Austro-German troops were evacuated, detachments coordinated by Makhno's headquarters began to take control of the territory around Gulyai-Polye. On November 27, 1918, Makhno's forces occupied Gulyai-Polye and never left it. The rebels ousted the occupiers from their area, destroyed the resisting farms and estates, and established ties with local governments. Makhno fought against unauthorized extortions and robberies. Local rebels were subordinate to the main headquarters of the rebel troops "named after Batka Makhno." In the south of the region there were skirmishes with the troops of Ataman Krasnov and the Volunteer Army.
In mid-December, hostilities began between the Makhnovists and supporters of the UNR. Makhno concluded an agreement on joint actions with the Yekaterinoslav Bolsheviks and was appointed commander-in-chief of the Soviet Revolutionary Workers 'and Peasants' Army of the Yekaterinoslav region by the provincial committee. On December 27-31, 1918, Makhno, in alliance with a detachment of Bolsheviks, recaptured Yekaterinoslav from the Petliurists. But the Petliurists launched a counterattack and recaptured the city, Makhno and the communists blamed each other for the defeat. Having lost half of the detachment, Makhno returned to the left bank of the Dnieper.
Makhno considered himself a military commander, and not the head of the population of the occupied territory. The principles of organizing political power were determined by congresses of front-line soldiers and Soviets. The First Congress was held on January 23, 1919 without Makhno's participation and began preparations for a more representative Second Congress.
In January 1919, units of the Volunteer Army launched an offensive on Gulyai-Polye. The Makhnovists suffered from a shortage of ammunition and weapons, which forced them to enter into an alliance with the Bolsheviks on January 26, 1919. On February 19, the Makhnovist detachments entered the 1st Zadneprovskaya division of the Red Army under the command of P.E. Dybenko as the 3rd brigade under the command of Makhno.
With the Order of the Red Banner for No. 4 (perhaps this is a legend, no one can say for sure, it is not on the award lists, although this does not mean anything yet).
Having received ammunition from the Reds, on February 4, Makhno went on the offensive and took Bamut, Volnovakha, Berdyansk and Mariupol, defeating the White group. The peasants, submitting to "voluntary mobilization", sent their sons to the Makhnovist regiments. The villages patronized their regiments, the soldiers chose their commanders, the commanders discussed the upcoming operations with the soldiers, each soldier knew his task well. This "military democracy" gave the Makhnovists a unique fighting ability. The growth of Makhno's army was limited only by the ability to arm new recruits. For 15-20 thousand armed fighters, there were over 30 thousand unarmed reserves.
On February 8, 1919, in his appeal, Makhno put forward the following task: “The construction of a true Soviet system, in which the Soviets, elected by the working people, would be the servants of the people, the executors of those laws, those orders that the working people themselves would write at the All-Ukrainian Labor Congress ...”
“Our working community will have full power in itself and will carry out its will, its economic and other plans and considerations through its bodies, which it itself creates, but which it does not endow with any power, but only with certain instructions,” - wrote Makhno and Arshinov in May 1919.
Subsequently, Makhno called his views anarcho-communism of the "Bakunin-Kropotkin persuasion."
Speaking on February 14, 1919 at the II Gulyai-Polye District Congress of Front-line Soldiers, Soviets and Subdivisions, Makhno declared: “I call on you to unity, for unity is the key to the victory of the revolution over those who sought to strangle it. If the Bolshevik comrades are coming from Great Russia to the Ukraine to help us in the hard struggle against the counter-revolution, we must say to them: "Welcome, dear friends!" But if they come here with the aim of monopolizing Ukraine, we will tell them: “Hands off!” We ourselves know how to raise the emancipation of the working peasantry to a height, we ourselves will be able to arrange a new life for ourselves - where there will be no pans, slaves, oppressors and oppressors.
Hiding behind the slogan of the "dictatorship of the proletariat", the Bolshevik communists declared a monopoly on the revolution for their party, considering all those who think differently as counter-revolutionaries... of the working people is the business of the working people themselves.
The political body of the movement, the Military Revolutionary Council (VRC), was elected at the congress. The party composition of the VRS was left-socialist - 7 anarchists, 3 left SRs and 2 Bolsheviks and one sympathizer. Makhno was elected an honorary member of the VRS. Thus, an independent system of Soviet power arose on the territory controlled by the Makhnovists, autonomous from the central government of the Ukrainian SSR. This caused mutual distrust between Makhno and the Soviet command.
Makhno invited anarchist brigade to the area of action to promote anarchist views and cultural and educational work. Of the visiting anarchists, the old comrade P.A. had influence on Makhno. Arshinov. In the area of action of the Makhnovists, political freedom existed for the left currents - the Bolsheviks, the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries and the anarchists. Makhno received the Chief of Staff, the Left Social Revolutionary Ya.V., sent by the Chief Division Dybenko. Ozerov and communist commissars. They were engaged in propaganda, but they had no political power.
The commander of the Ukrainian Front, V. Antonov-Ovseenko, who visited the region in May 1919, reported: “Children's communes, schools are being established, - Gulyai-Pole is one of the most cultural centers of Novorossia - there are three secondary schools, etc. Through the efforts of Makhno, ten hospitals for the wounded were opened, a workshop was organized for repairing guns, and locks for guns were being made.
The Communists tolerated the openly anti-Bolshevik character of the Makhnovists' actions as long as the Makhnovists were advancing. But in April the front stabilized, the struggle against Denikin went on with varying success. The Bolsheviks took a course towards the elimination of the special position of the Makhnovo region. Heavy fighting and interruptions in supplies exhausted the Makhnovists more and more.
On April 10, the III District Congress of Peasants, Workers and Insurgents in Gulyai-Polye adopted decisions directed against the military-communist policy of the RCP (b). The division chief Dybenko replied by telegram: “Any congresses convened on behalf of the military revolutionary headquarters dissolved according to my order are considered clearly counter-revolutionary, and the organizers of such congresses will be subjected to the most repressive measures, up to and including outlawing.” The congress responded to the divisional commander with a sharp rebuke, which further discredited Makhno in the eyes of the command.
On April 15, 1919, a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Southern Front G.Ya. Sokolnikov, with the consent of part of the members of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Ukrfront, put L.D. Trotsky the question of removing Makhno from command.
On April 25, Kharkov Izvestia published an article “Down with the Makhnovshchina,” which stated: “The insurrectionary movement of the peasantry accidentally fell under the leadership of Makhno and his “Military Revolutionary Headquarters”, in which both recklessly anarchist and White-Left SR, and other remnants of the "former" revolutionary parties that have decayed. Having fallen under the leadership of such elements, the movement has significantly lost its strength, the successes associated with its rise could not be secured by the anarchy of actions ... The outrages that occur in Makhno's "kingdom" must be put to an end. This article outraged Makhno and raised fears that it was a prelude to an attack by the Bolsheviks. On April 29, he ordered the detention of part of the commissars, deciding that the Bolsheviks were preparing an attack on the Makhnovists: “Let the Bolsheviks sit with us as our Cheka sit in the casemates.”
The conflict was resolved during negotiations between Makhno and the commander of the Ukrainian Front, V.A. Antonova-Ovseenko. Makhno even condemned the harshest provisions of the resolutions of the Congress of Soviets of the district, promised to prevent the election of the command staff, which (apparently due to the contagiousness of the example) was so feared in the neighboring parts of the Red Army. Moreover, the commanders had already been chosen, and no one was going to change them at that time.
But, having made some concessions, the father put forward a new, fundamentally important idea that could try on two strategies of the revolution: “Before a decisive victory over the Whites, a revolutionary front must be established, and he (Makhno. - A.Sh.) seeks to prevent civil strife between the various elements of this revolutionary front."
On May 1, the brigade was withdrawn from the subordination of the division P.E. Dybenko and is subordinate to the emerging 7th division of the 2nd Ukrainian army, which never became a real formation. In fact, not only the 7th division, but the entire 2nd army consisted of the Makhno brigade and several regiments, which were significantly inferior to it in numbers.
A new reason for the growth of mutual distrust was given by Ataman N.A. Grigoriev, who raised a rebellion on the right-bank Ukraine on May 6. On May 12, under the chairmanship of Makhno, a “military congress” convened, that is, a conference of commanding staff, representatives of units and the political leadership of the Makhnovist movement. Makhno and the congress condemned N.A. Grigoriev, but also criticized the Bolsheviks, who provoked the uprising with their policies. The "Military Congress" proclaimed the reorganization of the 3rd brigade into the 1st rebel division under the command of Makhno.
The reason for a new aggravation of relations with the communists was the deployment of the 3rd brigade into a division. The paradoxical situation, when the brigade made up the bulk of the army, interfered with the appropriate supply, and the interaction of the command with the huge "brigade", and the management of its units. The Soviet command at first agreed to reorganization, and then refused to create a division under the command of an obstinate opposition commander. On May 22, Trotsky, who arrived in Ukraine, called such plans “preparation for a new Grigorievshchina.” On May 25, at a meeting of the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense of Ukraine, chaired by H. Rakovsky, the issue of "Makhnovshchina and its liquidation" was discussed. It was decided to "liquidate Makhno" with the forces of the regiment.
Having learned about the intentions of the command, on May 28, 1919, Makhno announced that he was ready to resign, as he “never aspired to high ranks” and “will do more in the future among the lower ranks of the people for the revolution.” But on May 29, 1919, the headquarters of the Makhnovist division decided: “1) to urgently invite Comrade Makhno to remain in his duties and powers, which Comrade Makhno was trying to resign; 2) transform all the forces of the Makhnovists into an independent insurgent army, entrusting the leadership of this army to Comrade Makhno. The army is operationally subordinate to the Southern Front, since the latter's operational orders will proceed from the living needs of the revolutionary front. In response to this step, the Revolutionary Military Council of the Southern Front on May 29, 1919, decided to arrest Makhno and give him to the court of the Revolutionary Tribunal. Makhno did not accept the title of commander and continued to consider himself a commander.
This was announced when the Southern Front itself began to fall apart under the blows of Denikin. The headquarters of the Makhnovists called for the restoration of unity: “We need solidarity, unity. Only with a common effort and consciousness, with a common understanding of our struggle and our common interests for which we are fighting, will we save the revolution ... Drop, comrades, all sorts of party differences, they will ruin you.
On May 31, the VRS announced the convening of the IV Congress of the district councils. The Center regarded the decision to convene a new "unauthorized" congress as preparation for an anti-Soviet uprising. On June 3, the commander of the Southern Front, V. Gittis, ordered the beginning of the liquidation of the "Makhnovshchina" and the arrest of Makhno.
On June 6, Makhno sent a telegram to V.I. Lenin, L.D. Trotsky, L.B. Kamenev and K.E. Voroshilov, in which he proposed "to send a good military leader who, having familiarized himself with the case on the spot, could take command of the division from me."
On June 9, Makhno sent a telegram to V.I. Lenin, L.D. Kamenev, G.E. Zinoviev, L.D. Trotsky, K.E. Voroshilov, in which he summed up his relationship with the communist regime: “The hostile and lately offensive behavior of the central government towards insurrection, which I have noted, leads with fatal inevitability to the creation of a special internal front, on both sides of which there will be a working mass that believes in revolution. I consider this the greatest, never forgiven crime against the working people and I consider myself obligated to do everything possible to prevent this crime ... I consider my resignation from my post as the surest means of preventing an impending crime on the part of the authorities.
Meanwhile, the Whites invaded the Gulyai-Polye area. For some time, with a small detachment, Makhno still fought side by side with the red units, but on June 15 he left the front with a small detachment. Its units continued to fight in the ranks of the Red Army. On the night of June 16, seven members of the Makhnovist headquarters were shot by the decision of the Revolutionary Tribunal of Donbass. Chief of Staff Ozerov continued to fight with the Whites, but on August 2 he was shot by the VUCHK. Makhno issued funds to groups of anarchists who traveled to prepare terrorist attacks against the Whites (M.G. Nikiforova and others) and the Bolsheviks (K. Kovalevich and others). On June 21, 1919, Makhno's detachment crossed to the right bank of the Dnieper.
In July, Makhno married Galina Kuzmenko, who became his fighting girlfriend for many years.
Makhno tried to stay away from the front rear, so as not to contribute to the success of the Whites. On July 10, 1919, Makhno's detachment attacked Yelisavetgrad. On July 11, 1919, the Makhnovists united with the detachment of the nationalist ataman N.A. Grigoriev. In accordance with the agreement of the two leaders, Grigoriev was declared commander, and Makhno - chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Insurgent Army. Makhno's brother Grigory became the chief of staff. Differences arose between the Makhnovists and the Grigorievites in connection with the anti-Semitism of N.A. Grigoriev and his unwillingness to fight against the Whites. July 27 N.A. Grigoriev was killed by the Makhnovists. Makhno sent a telegram on the air: “To everyone, to everyone, to everyone. Copy - Moscow, Kremlin. We killed the famous ataman Grigoriev. Signature - Makhno.
Under pressure from Denikin, the Red Army was forced to retreat from Ukraine. The former Makhnovists, who in June found themselves under the command of the Bolsheviks, did not want to leave for Russia.
Most of the Makhnovist units operating as part of the Red Army, as well as part of the 58th Red Division, went over to Makhno's side. September 1, 1919 at a meeting of the army command staff in the village. In Dobrovelichkovka, the "Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine (Makhnovists)" was proclaimed, a new Revolutionary Military Council and army headquarters headed by Army Commander Makhno were elected.
The superior forces of the whites pushed the Makhnovists under Uman. Here the Makhnovists entered into an "alliance" with the Petliurists, to whom they handed over their convoy with the wounded.
In July-August 1919, the White Army advanced across Russia and Ukraine towards Moscow and Kyiv. The officers peered at the horizon. A few more victorious battles, and Moscow will greet its liberators with a ringing of bells. On the flank of Denikin's campaign against Moscow, it was necessary to solve a "simple" task - to finish off the remnants of the Southern Group of Reds, the Makhno gang and, if possible, the Ukrainian nationalist Petliura, who was tangled under the feet of Russian statehood. After the Whites kicked the Reds out of Yekaterinoslav with a dashing raid and thus overcame the barrier of the Dnieper, the cleansing of Ukraine seemed to be a done deal. But, when in early September the Whites entered the area where Makhno had gathered his forces, difficulties arose. On September 6, the Makhnovists launched a counterattack near Pomoshchnaya. They moved from all sides, and the disorganized crowd turned into a tight formation just before the attack. The Whites fought back, but it turned out that Makhno had bypassed their positions at that time and captured the ammunition convoy. They were what the "father" needed.
On September 22, 1919, General Slashchev gave the order to put an end to Makhno in the Uman region. How much time can you waste on this gang! Of course, the Makhnovists are numerous, but they are rabble, and the disciplined forces of the Volunteer Army are superior to the bandits in their combat effectiveness. After all, they are chasing the Reds! Parts of Slashchev dispersed in different directions to drive the beast. The Simferopol White Regiment occupied Peregonovka. The trap closed. The detachment of General Sklyarov entered Uman and began to wait for the “game” to be driven to him.
"Game" in the meantime, she drove the hunters. On September 26, there was a terrible roar - the Makhnovists blew up their stock of mines, which it was still hard to drag with them. It was both a signal and a "psychic attack". The mass of cavalry and infantry rushed at the whites, supported by many machine guns on carts. Denikin's men could not stand it and began to seek salvation on the heights, thus opening the way for the Makhnovists to key crossings and forks in the road. At night, the Makhnovists were already everywhere, the cavalry pursued those retreating and fleeing. On the morning of September 27, the Makhnovist cavalry mass crushed the orders of the Lithuanian battalion and chopped down those who did not have time to scatter. This formidable force moved on, destroying the whites that got in the way. Having rolled up their guns, the Makhnovists began to shoot the battle formations pressed to the river. Their commander, Captain Hattenberger, realizing that defeat was inevitable, shot himself. Having killed the remaining whites, the Makhnovists moved to Uman and drove Sklyarov's forces out of there. Slashchev's regiments were broken in parts, Denikin's front was broken through on the flank.
The Makhnovist army, embarking on carts, moved along the deep rear of Denikin. Looking at this breakthrough, one of the surviving officers sadly said: "At this moment, great Russia lost the war." He was not so far from the truth. Denikin's rear was disorganized, in the center of the white "Dobrovoliya" a hole was formed "Makhnovia". And then the news came - the same force struck at the Bolsheviks almost in the very heart of their regime - on September 25, the Moscow City Committee of the Communist Party took off into the air. The anarchists took revenge on the communists for Makhno's comrades who had been shot by the Revolutionary Tribunal. It was the third force of the Civil War, obeying its own will and its own logic.
Makhno's army broke into operational space behind Denikin's lines. Makhno, commanding the central column of the rebels, occupied Alexandrovsk and Gulyai-Polye in early October. In the area of Gulyai-Polye, Aleksandrovsk and Yekaterinoslav, a vast insurgent zone arose, pulling back part of the White forces during Denikin's offensive against Moscow.
In the Makhnovo region, on October 27 - November 2, a congress of peasants, workers and rebels was held in Aleksandrovsk. In his speech, Makhno stated that “the best volunteer regiments of Gen. Denikin were utterly smashed against the insurgent detachments, ”but also criticized the communists, who “sent punitive detachments to“ suppress the counter-revolution ”and this interfered with the free insurrection in the fight against Denikin.” Makhno called for joining the army "to destroy all violent power and counter-revolution." After the speech of the Menshevik worker delegates, Makhno again took the floor, and sharply spoke out against the "underground agitation by the Mensheviks", whom, like the Socialist-Revolutionaries, he called "political charlatans", urged "give no mercy" to them and "drive out". After that, some of the workers' delegates left the congress. Makhno replied that he did not "stigmatize" all the workers, but only "charlatans". On November 1, he appeared in the newspaper Path to Freedom with the article “It can’t be otherwise”: “Is it permissible that the workers of the city of Aleksandrovsk and its environs, in the person of their delegates - Mensheviks and Right Social Revolutionaries, - on a free business worker-peasant and the insurrectionary congress held the opposition to the Denikin Constituent Assembly?
October 28 - December 19 (with a break of 4 days) the Makhnovists held the large city of Yekaterinoslav. Enterprises were handed over to those who work for them. On October 15, 1919, Makhno addressed the railway workers: “In order to restore normal railway traffic in the area we have liberated as soon as possible, and also on the basis of the principle of arranging a free life by the workers and peasant organizations themselves and their associations, I suggest that comrades railway workers and employees vigorously organize and establish the movement itself, setting a sufficient payment for its work from passengers and cargo, except for military ones, organizing its cash desk on a comradely and fair basis and entering into the closest relations with workers' organizations, peasant societies and rebel units.
In November 1919, a group of communists led by regimental commander M. Polonsky was arrested by counterintelligence on charges of preparing a conspiracy and poisoning Makhno. On December 2, 1919, the defendants were shot. In December 1919, the Makhnovist army was disorganized by a typhus epidemic, and then Makhno also fell ill.
Retreating from Yekaterinoslav under the onslaught of the Whites, Makhno retreated to Aleksandrovsk with the main forces of the army. On January 5, 1920, units of the 45th division of the Red Army also arrived here. In negotiations with representatives of the Red Command, Makhno and representatives of his headquarters demanded that they be given a section of the front to fight the Whites and that they retain control over their area. Makhno and his staff insisted on a formal agreement with the Soviet leadership. January 6, 1920 Commander 14 I.P. Uborevich ordered Makhno to advance to the Polish front. Without waiting for an answer, on January 9, 1920, the All-Ukrainian Revolutionary Committee outlawed Makhno under the pretext of not fulfilling his order to go to the Polish front. The Reds attacked Makhno's headquarters in Aleksandrovsk, but on January 10, 1920, he managed to escape to Gulyai-Pole.
At a meeting of the commanders in Gulyai-Pole on January 11, 1920, it was decided to give the rebels a month's vacation. Makhno announced his readiness to "go hand in hand" with the Red Army, while maintaining independence. At this time, more than two divisions of the Reds attacked, disarmed and partially shot the Makhnovists, including the sick. Makhno's brother Grigory was captured and shot, and in February another brother Savva, who was engaged in supplies in the Makhnovist army, was captured and shot. Makhno went into hiding for the duration of his illness.
After Makhno's recovery in February 1920, the Makhnovists resumed hostilities against the Reds. In winter and spring, an exhausting partisan war unfolded, the Makhnovists attacked small detachments, workers of the Bolshevik apparatus, warehouses, distributing grain supplies to the peasants. In the area of Makhno's actions, the Bolsheviks were forced to go underground, and openly spoke only when accompanied by large military units. In May 1920, the Council of Revolutionary Insurgents of Ukraine (Makhnovists) was created, headed by Makhno, which included the chief of staff V.F. Belash, commanders Kalashnikov, Kurylenko and Karetnikov. The name of the SRPU emphasized that this was not about the RVS, which was usual for a civil war, but about the “wandering” authority of the Makhnovist Republic.
Wrangel's attempts to establish an alliance with Makhno ended with the execution of the White emissary by decision of the SRPU and the headquarters of the Makhnovists on July 9, 1920.
In March-May 1920, detachments under the command of Makhno fought with units of the 1st Cavalry Army, VOKhR and other forces of the Red Army. In the summer of 1920, the army under the general command of Makhno numbered more than 10 thousand fighters. On July 11, 1920, Makhno's army launched a raid outside its area, during which it took the cities of Izyum, Zenkov, Mirgorod, Starobelsk, Millerovo. On August 29, 1920, Makhno was seriously wounded in the leg (in total, Makhno had more than 10 wounds).
Under the conditions of the Wrangel offensive, when the Whites occupied Gulyai-Pole, Makhno and his SRPU were not against entering into a new alliance with the Reds if they were ready to recognize the equality of the Makhnovists and the Bolsheviks. At the end of September, consultations about the union began. On October 1, after a preliminary agreement on the cessation of hostilities with the Reds, Makhno, in an address to the rebels operating in Ukraine, urged them to stop hostilities against the Bolsheviks: “Remaining indifferent spectators, the Ukrainian rebels would help the accession in Ukraine either of the historical enemy - the Polish pan, or again imperial power, headed by a German baron. On October 2, an agreement was signed between the government of the Ukrainian SSR and the SRPU (Makhnovists). In accordance with the agreement between the Makhnovists and the Red Army, hostilities were stopped, an amnesty was declared in Ukraine for the anarchists and Makhnovists, they received the right to propagate their ideas without calling for the violent overthrow of the Soviet government, to participate in the soviets and in the elections to the Fifth Congress of Soviets scheduled for December. The parties mutually undertook not to accept deserters. The Makhnovist army passed into operational subordination to the Soviet command on the condition that it "retains within itself the previously established routine."
Acting together with the Red Army, on October 26, 1920, the Makhnovists liberated Gulyai-Pole, where Makhno was stationed, from the Whites. The best forces of the Makhnovists (2400 sabers, 1900 bayonets, 450 machine guns and 32 guns) under the command of S. Karetnikov were sent to the front against Wrangel (Makhno himself, wounded in the leg, remained in Gulyai-Pole) and participated in the crossing of Sivash.
After the victory over the Whites on November 26, 1920, the Reds suddenly attacked the Makhnovists. Having taken command of the army, Makhno managed to escape from the blow inflicted on his forces in Gulyai-Pole. The southern front of the Red Army under the command of M.V. Frunze, relying on multiple superiority in strength, managed to surround Makhno in Andreevka near the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov, but on December 14-18 Makhno broke into operational space. However, he had to go to the Right Bank of the Dnieper, where the Makhnovists did not have sufficient support from the population. During heavy fighting in January-February 1921, the Makhnovists broke through to their native places. March 13, 1921 Makhno was again seriously wounded in the leg.
On May 22, 1921, Makhno set off on a new raid to the north. Despite the fact that the headquarters of the united army was restored, the forces of the Makhnovists were dispersed, Makhno was able to concentrate only 1,300 fighters for operations in the Poltava region. In late June - early July, M.V. Frunze inflicted a severe defeat on the Makhnovist strike group in the region of the Sulla and Psel rivers. After the announcement of the NEP, support for the rebels from the peasants weakened. On July 16, 1921, Makhno, at a meeting in Isaevka near Taganrog, suggested that his army break into Galicia in order to raise an uprising there. But disagreements arose over further actions, and only a minority of fighters followed Makhno.
Makhno with a small detachment broke through the whole of Ukraine to the Romanian border and on August 28, 1921 crossed the Dniester to Bessarabia.
Wrangel tanks.
Once in Romania, the Makhnovists were disarmed by the authorities, in 1922 they moved to Poland and were placed in an internment camp. April 12, 1922 VUTsIK announced a political amnesty, which did not apply to 7 "hardened criminals", including Makhno. The Soviet authorities demanded the extradition of Makhno as a "bandit". In 1923, Makhno, his wife and two associates, were arrested and charged with preparing an uprising in Eastern Galicia. On October 30, 1923, a daughter, Elena, was born to Makhno and Kuzmenko in a Warsaw prison. Makhno and his associates were acquitted by the court. In 1924, Makhno moved to Danzig, where he was again arrested in connection with the murders of Germans during the civil war. Having fled from Danzig to Berlin, Makhno arrived in Paris in April 1925 and from 1926 settled in the suburb of Vincennes. Here Makhno worked as a turner, carpenter, painter and shoemaker. Participated in public discussions about the Makhnovist movement and anarchism.
In 1923-1933. Makhno published articles and pamphlets on the history of the Makhnovist movement, the theory and practice of anarchism and the labor movement, and criticism of the communist regime. In November 1925, Makhno wrote about anarchism: "the lack of an organization capable of opposing its manpower to the enemies of the Revolution made him a helpless organizer." Therefore, it is necessary to create a "Union of Anarchists, built on the principle of common discipline and common leadership of all anarchist forces."
In June 1926, Arshinov and Makhno put forward the draft "Organizational Platform of the General Union of Anarchists", which proposed to unite the anarchists of the world on the basis of discipline, combining the anarchist principles of self-government with institutions where "leading positions of the economic and social life of the country" are preserved. Supporters of the "Platform" held a conference in March 1927, which began the creation of the International Anarcho-Communist Federation. Makhno entered the secretariat to convene her congress. But soon the leading theorists of anarchism criticized the Platform project as too authoritarian, contrary to the principles of the anarchist movement. Desperate to reach an agreement with the anarchists, in 1931 Arshinov switched to Bolshevik positions, and the idea of "platformism" failed. Makhno did not forgive his old comrade for this defection.
Makhno's original political testament was his 1931 letter to the Spanish anarchists J. Carbo and A. Pestanha, in which he warned them against allying with the communists during the revolution that had begun in Spain. Makhno warns the Spanish comrades: "Feeling relative freedom, the anarchists, like the townsfolk, were carried away by free speech."
Makhno with his daughter.
Since 1929, Makhno's tuberculosis worsened, he less and less took part in social activities, but continued to work on his memoirs. The first volume was published in 1929, the other two - posthumously. There he outlined his views on the future anarchist system as follows: “I thought of such a system only in the form of a free Soviet system, in which the whole country is covered with local, completely free and independent social and public self-governments of workers.”
At the beginning of 1934, Makhno's tuberculosis became aggravated, and he ended up in the hospital. In July he died.
Makhno's ashes were buried in the Pere Lachaise cemetery next to the graves of the Parisian Communards. Two years after his death, the black banner of anarchy, which fell from Makhno's hands, will again develop alongside the red and republican banners in revolutionary Spain - contrary to the warnings of the father and in accordance with the experience of the Makhnovist movement, in accordance with the very logic of the struggle against oppression and exploitation.
Makhno Nestor Ivanovich (1888-1934), Ukrainian military and political figure, one of the leaders of the anarchist movement during the Civil War. Born October 27 (November 8), 1888 in the village. Gulyaipole, Aleksandrovsky district, Yekaterinoslav province, in a poor peasant family; father, I.R. Makhno was a coachman. He graduated from the parochial school (1900). From the age of seven he was forced to go to the shepherds of rich farmers; later worked as a laborer for landowners and German colonists. From 1904 he worked as a laborer at an iron foundry in Gulyaipole; played in the factory theater circle.
In the autumn of 1906, he joined the anarchists, joined the youth branch of the Ukrainian group of communist anarchists (farmers). Participant in several gang attacks and terrorist attacks; arrested twice. Accused of murdering an official of the local military council, he was sentenced in 1910 to death by hanging, replaced by hard labor due to his minority at the time of the crime (1908). While in the Butyrka hard labor prison, he was engaged in self-education; regularly clashed with the prison administration.
These "Ukrainians" did not understand one simple truth: that the freedom and independence of Ukraine are compatible only with the freedom and independence of the working people inhabiting it, without which Ukraine is nothing...
(May 1918)
Makhno Nestor Ivanovich
(15) March 1917, after the February Revolution, he was released and left for Gulyaipole. Participated in the reconstruction of the Peasants' Union; in April 1917 he was unanimously elected chairman of his local committee. He advocated an end to the war and the transfer of land for use by peasants without a ransom. In order to acquire funds for the purchase of weapons, he resorted to the favorite method of anarchists - expropriations. In July, he proclaimed himself the commissar of the Gulyai-Polye region. Delegate of the Yekaterinoslav Congress of Soviets of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Deputies (August 1917); supported his decision to reorganize all branches of the Peasants' Union into Peasants' Soviets.
He strongly condemned the anti-government rebellion of General L.G. Kornilov, headed the local Committee for the Defense of the Revolution. He opposed the Provisional Government, rejected the idea of convening a Constituent Assembly. In August-October, he carried out the confiscation of landed estates in the Aleksandrovsky district, which were transferred to the jurisdiction of land committees; handed over control of the factories to the workers.
He took the October Revolution ambiguously: on the one hand, he welcomed the demolition of the old state system, on the other, he considered the power of the Bolsheviks to be anti-people (anti-peasant). At the same time, he called for a fight against Ukrainian nationalists and the Ukrainian People's Republic created by them. Supported the Brest peace. After the German occupation of Ukraine, in April 1918, in the Gulyai-Polye region, he created an insurgent detachment (free Gulyai-Polye battalion), which waged a guerrilla war against the German and Ukrainian government units; in retaliation, the authorities massacred his older brother and burned down his mother's house. At the end of April 1918 he was forced to retreat to Taganrog and disband the detachment. In May 1918 he arrived in Moscow; held negotiations with the leaders of the anarchists and the Bolshevik leaders (V.I. Lenin and Ya.M. Sverdlov).
In August, he returned to Ukraine, where he again organized several partisan formations to fight the Germans and the regime of Hetman P.P. Skoropadsky. By the end of November, the number of these formations had increased to six thousand people. He made daring raids on rich German economy and landowners' estates, cracked down on the invaders and hetman's officers, at the same time forbade robbing peasants and organizing Jewish pogroms.
After the Germans left Ukraine (November 1918) and the fall of Skoropadsky (December 1919), he refused to recognize the authority of the Ukrainian Directory. When its armed formations under the command of S.V. Petlyura occupied Yekaterinoslav and dispersed the provincial council, he concluded an agreement with the Red Army on joint actions against the Directory. At the end of December 1918, he defeated the seven thousandth Petliura garrison of Yekaterinoslav. A few days later, the troops of the Directory again captured the city; however, the Makhnovists retreated and fortified themselves in the Gulyaipole area.
By that time, this territory had turned into a kind of "enclave of freedom", where Makhno tried to realize the anarcho-communist idea of society as a "free federation" of self-governing communes, not knowing any class and national differences. While persecuting the exploiters (landlords, manufacturers, bankers, speculators) and their accomplices (officials, officers), at the same time he made efforts to establish a normal life for the working people (workers and peasants); on his initiative, children's communes were created, schools, hospitals, workshops were opened, theatrical performances were organized.
The invasion of Denikin's troops into the territory of Ukraine in January-February 1919 created a direct threat to Gulyai-Pole, which forced Makhno to agree to the operational subordination of his units to the Red Army as the 3rd separate brigade of the Zadneprovskaya division. In the spring of 1919 he fought with the Whites in the Mariupol-Volnovakha sector. In April, his relations with the Bolsheviks deteriorated due to their anti-Makhnovist propaganda campaign. On May 19, he was defeated by Denikin and fled with the remnants of his brigade to Gulyaipole. On May 29, in response to the decision of the Council of Workers 'and Peasants' Defense of Ukraine to liquidate the "Makhnovshchina", he broke off the alliance with the Bolsheviks. In June, when the Whites, despite the heroic defense, captured Gulyai-Pole, he took refuge in the surrounding forests. In July, he teamed up with N.A. Grigoriev, a red commander who raised a rebellion against Soviet power in May; July 27 shot him and his entire staff; part of the Grigorievites remained with the Makhnovists.
