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Free soviets were the basic form of organization in the Makhnovshchina. These soviets acted independently from any central authority, excluding all political parties from participation, and met to self-manage the activities of workers and peasants through participatory democracy. [1]
The soviets acted as the local organs of self-governance and federated together up to the regional and national levels, resulting in the relatively horizontal organization of the soviets. However, the conditions of the war meant that the Soviet model could only be implemented at scale during "periods of relative peace and territorial stability", as the populace was largely concerned with securing food or staying safe from the advancing armies. [2]
The Makhnovist capital of Huliaipole was at the center of the "free Soviet" experiment, as the town "lived without any political authorities" between November 1918 and June 1919. [3]
The idea of "free Soviets" became a point of lively debate during the Second Regional Congress, where one anarchist insurgent declared: "Whatever the cost, we must set up soviets which are beyond pressure from any and every party. Only non-party soviets of workers, freely elected are capable of affording us new liberties and rescuing the laboring people from enslavement and oppression. Long life to the freely elected, anti-authoritarian soviets!" [4]
The system drew support from a number of different factions, particularly from Left Socialist-Revolutionaries such as Dmitry Popov, [5] as well as Maximalists, non-partisans and even some dissident Bolsheviks. [6] But the system was opposed by a number of other factions, with delegates to the Fourth Regional Congress from the Mensheviks and Right Socialist-Revolutionaries (both supporters of the Constituent Assembly) speaking out against a resolution which had called for "the universal and speediest possible creation of free local social and economic organizations in coordination with one another." [7]
Following the victory of the Insurgent Army over the White movement in Ukraine, on 7 January 1920, they issued a declaration to Ukrainian workers and peasants, which proposed that they restart the construction of "free soviets" outside of political party control. [8] The Bolsheviks, who opposed any federation of "free soviets", responded the following day by launching an attack against the Makhnovshchina, liquidating insurgent positions around Huliaipole by the end of the month. [9] In subsequent addresses, the Insurgents denounced the "communist hangmen" for breaking up the "free soviets", which had themselves been reconstituted after insurgent victories against the Whites, and called for Ukrainian workers and peasants to rise up against the Bolsheviks and reestablish a "regime of free soviets". [10] The insurgents intensified their propaganda efforts in favor of "free soviets", even issuing a number of appeals to Red Army soldiers, in which they declared that their immediate goal was "to install a free soviet regime without the power of the Bolsheviks, without the predominance of any party." [11] The Makhnovists eventually called for a "Third Revolution" against the one-party state, in an attempt to rally all supporters of "free soviets" to their banner. [12]
In October 1920, a Military and Political Agreement between the Makhnovists and Bolsheviks was signed. However, the Fourth Clause of the Political Agreement was a point of contention, as it outlined that "[t]he local worker and peasant population, shall be free, in the area of operations of the Makhnovist Army, to organise free institutions of economic and political self-administration, as also their autonomous and federative links - by agreement with the State organs of the Soviet Republic." [13] In the wake of the agreement, the "free soviets" were briefly revived in areas controlled by the Makhnovists. Throughout November, seven popular assemblies were convened in Huliaipole to discuss the issue, eventually resulting in the re-establishment of the Huliaipole Soviet on 16 November and the publication of the Fundamental Theses of the Free Toilers' Soviet, which laid out guidelines for establishing "free soviets". [14] However, to the Bolsheviks, this system of "free soviets" presented a direct challenge to the "dictatorship of the proletariat". [15] By 26 November, the Bolsheviks had broken the agreement and attacked the Makhnovshchina, definitively liquidating the "free soviet" system.
With the White movement having been decisively defeated and the Bolsheviks again attacking the Makhnovists, a string of anti-Bolshevik uprisings broke out, unanimously declaring themselves for the restoration of "free soviets". [16] The Makhnovists also stepped up their propaganda efforts, circulating thousands of copies of their Draft Theoretical Declaration and the Statutes of the Free Soviets. [17] The idea of "free soviets" permeated into the Kronstadt rebellion, which included a call for non-party soviets in the first point of its Petropavlovsk Resolution . [18] However, these uprisings would all end in failure, with the Makhnovist insurgents themselves either being driven into exile, captured or killed.
Later anarchist analysis of the "free soviets" followed in the wake of Peter Arshinov's publication of his History of the Makhnovist Movement. Mark Mratchny regarded the role of "free soviets" in a "transitional period" as being closer to the ideology of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, who proposed a decentralized "informal State", than it was to anarchist theory. [19] Anarchist critics of the "free soviets" considered them to resemble a form of state, which could have given way to bureaucracy or authoritarianism. [20] These criticisms were rejected by Arshinov and Makhno, who claimed that the Makhnovshchina had "denied all statism" and ultimately "aspired to the building of a free society on the basis of the social independence, solidarity and self-direction of the toilers." [21] Arshinov insisted that the "free soviets" were not "legislative institutions", but were rather "a sort of platform gathering together the toilers on the basis of their vital needs." He described their goal as being to resolve issues, reach agreements and carry out tasks given to them by the workers and peasants of a certain locality. These could include "provisions, self-defense, liaison between countryside and town, and many others." [22]
Peter Andreyevich Arshinov, was a Russian anarchist revolutionary and intellectual who chronicled the history of the Makhnovshchina.
Nestor Ivanovych Makhno, also known as Batko Makhno, was a Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary and the commander of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine during the Ukrainian War of Independence. He established the Makhnovshchina, a mass movement by the Ukrainian peasantry to establish anarchist communism in the country between 1918 and 1921. Initially centered around Makhno's home province of Katerynoslav and hometown of Huliaipole, it came to exert a strong influence over large areas of southern Ukraine, specifically in what is now the Zaporizhzhia Oblast of Ukraine.
Dmitry Ivanovich Popov was a Russian sailor and Left Socialist-Revolutionary that led the Left SR uprising against the Bolsheviks in July 1918. Following the suppression of the uprising, he joined the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine and became a leading member, spearheading the negotiations between the Makhnovists and the Bolsheviks until his arrest and execution by the Cheka.
The Makhnovshchina was a mass movement to establish anarchist communism in southern and eastern Ukraine during the Ukrainian War of Independence of 1917–1921. Named after Nestor Makhno, the commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine, its aim was to create a system of free soviets that would manage the transition towards a stateless and classless society.
Viktor Fedorovych Bilash was the Chief of Staff of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine (RIAU) under Nestor Makhno. A gifted military commander, Bilash himself planned many of the Insurgent Army's operations, later becoming its commander in chief after Makhno's flight into exile.
Semen Mykytovych Karetnyk was a Ukrainian anarchist and a commander of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine (RIAU). He often replaced Nestor Makhno as supreme commander of the Insurgent Army in 1920. Karetnyk gained a reputation for his central role in defeating the White Army in Crimea in November 1920.
The Nabat Confederation of Anarchist Organizations, better known simply as the Nabat, was a Ukrainian anarchist organization that came to prominence during the Ukrainian War of Independence. The organization, based in Kharkiv, had branches in all of Ukraine's major cities. Its constitution was designed to be appealing to each of the different anarchist schools of thought.
The Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine, also known as Makhnovtsi, named after their leader Nestor Makhno, was an anarchist army formed largely of Ukrainian peasants and workers during the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922. They protected the operation of "free soviets" and libertarian communes by the Makhnovshchina, an attempt to form a stateless anarcho-communist society from 1918 to 1921 during the Ukrainian War of Independence.
Agafya "Halyna" Andriivna Kuzmenko was a Ukrainian teacher and anarchist revolutionary. After moving to southern Ukraine, she became a prominent figure within the ranks of the Makhnovshchina, a mass movement to establish a libertarian communist society. Kuzmenko spearheaded the movement's educational activities, promoted Ukrainization and acted as an outspoken advocate of women's rights. Along with her husband, the anarchist military leader Nestor Makhno, in 1921 she fled into exile from the political repression in Ukraine. While imprisoned for subversive activities in Poland, she gave birth to her daughter Elena Mikhnenko, whom she brought with her to Paris. Following the death of her husband, the outbreak of World War II saw her deportation for forced labour, first by the Nazis and then by the Soviets. After her release, she spent her final days with her daughter in Kazakh SSR.
Mikhail Uralov was a Russian anarchist, the head of the "Black Guard" combat units of the Moscow Federation of Anarchists ,and a commander of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine.
The Union of Poor Peasants, also known as the Peasant Group of Anarcho-Communists or the Huliaipole Anarchist Group, was an underground anarchist organization, operating in the years 1905–1908 in the Huliaipole Raion in Ukraine.
The Military Revolutionary Council was the de facto executive of the Makhnovshchina, empowered to act during the interim between sittings of the Regional Congresses.
The Regional Congresses of Peasants, Workers and Insurgents represented the "highest form of democratic authority" within the political system of the Makhnovshchina. They brought together delegates from the region's peasantry, industrial workers and insurgent soldiers, which would discuss the issues at hand and take their decisions back with them to local popular assemblies.
The Draft Declaration was a theoretical document, drafted by the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine, which outlined the Makhnovshchina's program of free soviets as a foundation for its transition towards a stateless society of libertarian communism.
The flags of the Makhnovshchina consisted of a number of different black and red flags, each emblazoned with anarchist and socialist slogans.
The Polonsky conspiracy, also known as the Polonsky plot or Polonsky affair, was an attempt by Ukrainian Bolsheviks to overthrow the Makhnovshchina during the autumn of 1919.
Yosif Isaakovich Gotman, also known by his nom de plureYosif the Emigrant, was a Ukrainian anarchist and a leading member of the Nabat and the Makhnovshchina.
The Road to Freedom was the main newspaper of the Makhnovist movement, publishing 50 issues from May 1919 to November 1920.
The Starobilsk agreement was a 1920 political and military alliance between the Makhnovshchina, an anarchist mass movement led by Nestor Makhno's Insurgent Army, and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, which the Bolsheviks had established as the legitimate government of Ukraine.
The Bolshevik–Makhnovist conflict was a period of political and military conflict between the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Makhnovshchina, for control over southern Ukraine. The Bolsheviks aimed to eliminate the Makhnovshchina and neutralise its peasant base. In turn, the Makhnovists fought against the implementation of the Red Terror and the policy of war communism.