Fanya Baron
Encyclopedia
Fanya Anisimovna Baron (? - September 1921) was a Russia
n anarchist revolutionary
who is rumoured to have assassinated the head of the Okhrana (tsarist secret police). She lived in America
from 1915 to 1917 when she returned to her homeland to build a post-revolutionary society. In 1921, she was executed by the Cheka
.
Ukrainian Anarchist Confederation (active 1919-1920) who published a paper also called Nabat ("The Alarm"). The Nabat confederation had links with the Makhno movement. Several Nabat members (among them Fanya's husband Aaron Baron, Voline and Peter Arshinov
) were active in the Cultural-Educational Section of the Makhno movement.
Voline and Aaron Baron were among anarchists who were arrested in a Cheka crackdown on anarchism at the end of 1920 (Avrich, 1973). It is likely that Fanya Baron was also arrested at this time.
prison
. She planned to help her husband Aaron Baron escape from prison in Moscow
. Aaron's brother, a Bolshevik
communist, offered to help with the plan, and then betrayed her. Fanya was arrested by the Cheka
later that same year.
prison without charges. In July 1921, they went on hunger strike
, attracting the attention of visiting French, Spanish and Russian syndicalists
who argued for their release. Leon Trotsky
remarked at the time "We do not imprison the real anarchists, but criminals and bandits who cover themselves by claiming to be anarchists".
Ten of the 13 anarchists were released and deported on 17 September 1921: Voline, Vorobiov, Mratchny, Michailov, Maximoff, Ioudine, Iartchouk, Gorelik, Feldman and Fedorov. Fanya Baron and the poet Lev Chernyi
were detained, to be executed later that month. Her execution was personally ordered by Lenin himself.
Fanya was shot by the Cheka
on 29 September, 1921, her death becoming symbolic of the barbarity of bolshevik
governance. Aaron Baron was spared execution until 1940, after spending 18 years in Taganka
.
wrote about the execution of Fanya Baron in My Further Disillusionment in Russia
:
n anarchist
bookshop, Jura Books
, has named their library collection The Fanya Baron Library in honour of her courage and sacrifice for anarchist revolution.
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n anarchist revolutionary
Revolutionary
A revolutionary is a person who either actively participates in, or advocates revolution. Also, when used as an adjective, the term revolutionary refers to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor.-Definition:...
who is rumoured to have assassinated the head of the Okhrana (tsarist secret police). She lived in America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
from 1915 to 1917 when she returned to her homeland to build a post-revolutionary society. In 1921, she was executed by the Cheka
Cheka
Cheka was the first of a succession of Soviet state security organizations. It was created by a decree issued on December 20, 1917, by Vladimir Lenin and subsequently led by aristocrat-turned-communist Felix Dzerzhinsky...
.
Nabat and the Makhno movement
Fanya was involved in the NabatNabat
The Nabat Confederation of Anarchist Organizations, better known simply as Nabat , was an anarchist organization that came to prominence in Ukraine during the years 1918 to 1920. The area where it held the most influence is sometimes referred to as the Free Territory, though Nabat had branches in...
Ukrainian Anarchist Confederation (active 1919-1920) who published a paper also called Nabat ("The Alarm"). The Nabat confederation had links with the Makhno movement. Several Nabat members (among them Fanya's husband Aaron Baron, Voline and Peter Arshinov
Peter Arshinov
Peter Andreyevich Arshinov, also P. Marin , was a metal worker from Ukraine who in 1904, joined the Bolshevik Party and began to edit the paper Molot . In 1906, to escape the attention of the police, he fled to Ekaterinoslav...
) were active in the Cultural-Educational Section of the Makhno movement.
Voline and Aaron Baron were among anarchists who were arrested in a Cheka crackdown on anarchism at the end of 1920 (Avrich, 1973). It is likely that Fanya Baron was also arrested at this time.
Escape from prison
In early July 1921, Fanya escaped from RyazanRyazan
Ryazan is a city and the administrative center of Ryazan Oblast, Russia. It is located on the Oka River southeast of Moscow. Population: The strategic bomber base Dyagilevo is just west of the city, and the air base of Alexandrovo is to the southeast as is the Ryazan Turlatovo Airport...
prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
. She planned to help her husband Aaron Baron escape from prison in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
. Aaron's brother, a Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
communist, offered to help with the plan, and then betrayed her. Fanya was arrested by the Cheka
Cheka
Cheka was the first of a succession of Soviet state security organizations. It was created by a decree issued on December 20, 1917, by Vladimir Lenin and subsequently led by aristocrat-turned-communist Felix Dzerzhinsky...
later that same year.
Capture and execution
Fanya Baron was among 13 anarchists held at TagankaTaganka
Tagansky District is a district of Central Administrative Okrug of Moscow, Russia, located between the Moskva River and the Yauza River near the mouth of the latter. Population:...
prison without charges. In July 1921, they went on hunger strike
Hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not...
, attracting the attention of visiting French, Spanish and Russian syndicalists
Syndicalism
Syndicalism is a type of economic system proposed as a replacement for capitalism and an alternative to state socialism, which uses federations of collectivised trade unions or industrial unions...
who argued for their release. Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
remarked at the time "We do not imprison the real anarchists, but criminals and bandits who cover themselves by claiming to be anarchists".
Ten of the 13 anarchists were released and deported on 17 September 1921: Voline, Vorobiov, Mratchny, Michailov, Maximoff, Ioudine, Iartchouk, Gorelik, Feldman and Fedorov. Fanya Baron and the poet Lev Chernyi
Lev Chernyi
Pável Dimítrievich Turchanínov , known by the pseudonym Lev Chernyi , was a Russian anarchist theorist, activist and poet, and a leading figure of the Third Russian Revolution. His early thought was individualist, rejecting anarcho-communism as a threat to individual liberty...
were detained, to be executed later that month. Her execution was personally ordered by Lenin himself.
Fanya was shot by the Cheka
Cheka
Cheka was the first of a succession of Soviet state security organizations. It was created by a decree issued on December 20, 1917, by Vladimir Lenin and subsequently led by aristocrat-turned-communist Felix Dzerzhinsky...
on 29 September, 1921, her death becoming symbolic of the barbarity of bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
governance. Aaron Baron was spared execution until 1940, after spending 18 years in Taganka
Taganka
Tagansky District is a district of Central Administrative Okrug of Moscow, Russia, located between the Moskva River and the Yauza River near the mouth of the latter. Population:...
.
Eulogy
Emma GoldmanEmma Goldman
Emma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century....
wrote about the execution of Fanya Baron in My Further Disillusionment in Russia
My Further Disillusionment in Russia
My Further Disillusionment in Russia is a 1924 non-fiction book by Emma Goldman, her continuation of My Disillusionment in Russia, the original publication of which the last twelve chapters were entirely missing, including the Afterword....
:
Fanya Baron in contemporary culture
An AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n anarchist
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
bookshop, Jura Books
Jura Books
Jura Books is an anarchist bookshop and infoshop located in Sydney, Australia. The shop was named after the Jura federation. It has operated since August 1977, first on King Street, Newtown, before moving to Petersham....
, has named their library collection The Fanya Baron Library in honour of her courage and sacrifice for anarchist revolution.
See also
- Peter ArshinovPeter ArshinovPeter Andreyevich Arshinov, also P. Marin , was a metal worker from Ukraine who in 1904, joined the Bolshevik Party and began to edit the paper Molot . In 1906, to escape the attention of the police, he fled to Ekaterinoslav...
- Alexander BerkmanAlexander BerkmanAlexander Berkman was an anarchist known for his political activism and writing. He was a leading member of the anarchist movement in the early 20th century....
- Emma GoldmanEmma GoldmanEmma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century....
- Nestor MakhnoNestor MakhnoNestor Ivanovych Makhno or simply Daddy Makhno was a Ukrainian anarcho-communist guerrilla leader turned army commander who led an independent anarchist army in Ukraine during the Russian Civil War....
- Okhrana
- Russian Revolution of 1917Russian Revolution of 1917The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
- Russian Civil WarRussian Civil WarThe Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
Sources
- Avrich, PaulPaul AvrichPaul Avrich was a professor and historian. He taught at Queens College, City University of New York, for most of his life and was vital in preserving the history of the anarchist movement in Russia and the United States....
(Editor), 1973, The Anarchists in the Russian Revolution - Berkman, AlexanderAlexander BerkmanAlexander Berkman was an anarchist known for his political activism and writing. He was a leading member of the anarchist movement in the early 20th century....
, 1922, The Bolshevik Myth - Goldman, EmmaEmma GoldmanEmma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century....
My Further Dissillusionment in Russia - Goldman, EmmaEmma GoldmanEmma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century....
Living my Life (Volume 2) - Serge, VictorVictor SergeVictor Serge , born Victor Lvovich Kibalchich , was a Russian revolutionary and writer. Originally an anarchist, he joined the Bolsheviks five months after arriving in Petrograd in January 1919 and later worked for the Comintern as a journalist, editor and translator...
, July, August 1920, The Anarchists and the Experience of the Russian Revolution - Voline, The Unknown Revolution, Black Rose Books 1974 (originally published 1947)
- Woodcock, GeorgeGeorge WoodcockGeorge Woodcock was a Canadian writer of political biography and history, an anarchist thinker, an essayist and literary critic. He was also a poet, and published several volumes of travel writing. He founded in 1959 the journal Canadian Literature, the first academic journal specifically...
, 1944, Socialism from Below: A History of Anarchism