Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine
Encyclopedia
The Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine (Ukrainian: "Революційна Повстанська Армія України"), popularly called Makhnovshchina, less correctly Makhnovchina, and also known as the Black Army, was an anarchist army formed largely of Ukrainian and Crimean peasants and workers under the command of the famous anarchist Nestor Makhno
during the Russian Civil War
.
. Some claimed to be loyal to the Ukrainian state, but others acknowledged no allegiance; all fought both Red and White Russians with equal ferocity in the opening stages of the Civil War. Of all the anarchist groups, the most famous and successful was that of the peasant anarchist leader Nestor Makhno, aka Batko ("Father"), who began operations in the southeastern Ukraine
against the Hetmanate
regime in July 1918. In September, he formed the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine, or Anarchist Black Army, with arms and equipment largely obtained from retreating Austro-Hungarian and German forces. During the Civil War, the Black Army numbered between 15,000 and 110,000 men and was organized on conventional lines, with infantry, cavalry, and artillery units; artillery batteries were attached to each infantry brigade. Makhno's cavalry incorporated both regular and irregular horse-mounted (guerrilla) forces, and was considered among the best-trained and most capable of any of the cavalry units deployed by any side in the Russian Civil War. The Bolshevik
government and Red Army
commanders often referred to the Black Army as "Makhnovist forces", because they pointedly declined to accord the Ukrainian anarchists the status of having an army or a legitimate political movement. Volin
described the Insurrectionary Black Army of the time (less its cavalry, which normally ranged far afield) as follows: The infantry, when it was not fighting, led the march of the army ... [The Black Army also used horse-drawn carts or] tachanka
s. Each of these vehicles, which were drawn by two horses, carried the driver on the front seat and two soldiers behind them. In some sections a machine-gun was installed on the seat between them. The artillery brought up the rear. A huge black flag floated over the first carriage. The slogans Liberty or Death and The Land to the Peasants, the Factories to the Workers were embroidered in silver on its two sides.
A main obstacle to the anarchist army, and one which it never overcame throughout its existence, was a lack of access to primary industrial manufacturing resources, specifically factories capable of producing large amounts of arms and ammunition. Denied large-scale arms shipments from the Bolshevik government in Moscow, and without arsenal manufacturing centers of its own, the Black Army was forced to rely on captures of munition depots and supplies from enemy forces, and to procure food and horses from the local civilian population.
successes in the south. The remaining Red Army troops who had remained in various parts of Ukraine were suspicious of their commanders, and angry at the withdrawals from Ukraine, which they considered a defection from the revolutionary cause. At the end of July, 1919, Red Army detachments numbering some 40,000 troops in the Crimea
mutinied and deposed their commanders; many set out to join Makhno's anarchist Black Army. The mutiny was organized by some of Makhno's anarchist comrades who had remained commanders in the ranks of the Red Army, including Kalashnikov, Dermendzhi, and Budanov; these men also planned the transfer of forces. Large numbers of Red Army soldiers advanced from Novi Bug to Pomoshchnaya in search of Makhno's Black Army, bringing with them, as captives, their former commanders: Kochergin, Dybets and others. The mutineers joined Black Army forces at Dobrovelichkovka in the municipality of Kherson
at the beginning of August 1919. For the Bolshevik government in Moscow, this defection was a major blow; since almost nothing remained of the Red Army in southern Ukraine and the Crimea, Bolshevik influence in the area vanished.
The Black Army, had been retreating to the west across Ukraine. But on the evening of September 25, 1919, it suddenly turned east, attacking the main forces of General Denikin's army. The first encounter took place late in the evening near the village of Kruten'koe, where the Black Army's First Infantry Brigade advanced towards White Army positions. Denikin's troops retreated to take up better positions. At first, Denikin believed the move was a feint or reconnaissance-in-force, and did not follow up, concluding that most of the anarchist army was still retiring to the west. However, in the middle of the night, all of Makhno's troops began an offensive to the east. The White Army's principal forces in the area were concentrated near the village of Peregonovka; the village itself was occupied by anarchist units. Intense fighting broke out, and the occupying anarchist forces began to lose ground, pressured by White Army reinforcements, including infantry regiments composed largely of young and fanatically anti-communist officers. Makhno's headquarters staff, as well as everyone in the village who could handle a rifle, armed themselves and joined in the fighting. On the approach of Makhno's cavalry forces, White Army troops retreated from Peregonovka. A fierce battle took place outside the town, including instances of hand-to-hand combat. A White regiment was forced to retreat, at first slowly and in an orderly way, but as the fighting moved near the Sinyukha river, it became a rout. The other regiments, seized by panic, followed them. Finally all of Denikin's troops in the area were routed; most escaped by swimming across the Sinyukha River, but hundreds died in the river and on its banks.
After this victory, Makhno's troops set out to attack Denikin's lines of supply. The fall of Aleksandrovsk to the Black Army was followed by Pologi, Gulyai-Polye, Berdyansk, Melitopol', and Mariupol'. In less than two weeks, all of southern Ukraine had been conquered by Black Army troops. Makhno's occupation of southern Ukraine, especially the regions bordering on the Sea of Azov
, soon posed a threat to Denikin's entire offensive, as the supply base of Denikin's army was located in the region between Mariupol' and Volnovakha. When Berdyansk and Mariupol' were taken, immense stores of munitions were captured by anarchist forces. Because all the railroads of the region were controlled by the Black Army, no war material could reach Denikin's forces on the northern front. White Army reserve regiments stationed throughout the region were ordered to break the blockade, but were instead routed.
After a failed attempt to dislodge Black Army forces, Denikin shifted his campaign from the north to the south. The White Army's best cavalry troops, commanded by General Mamontov and General Shkuro, were transferred from the northern front to the Gulyai-Polye region of Russia. Denikin's new strategy succeeded in driving out Makhno's forces from part of Ukraine, but at the cost of denuding forces opposing the Red Army. During October and November 1919, Denikin's troops were defeated in a series of battles by Red Army forces. His Caucasus regiments suffered the greatest losses, especially the Chechen cavalry and others, who died by the thousands. Toward the end of November, some of these troops mutinied, returning to their homes in the Caucasus. This in turn began a slow disintegration of Denikin's White Army. Some historians note that if the anarchist forces had not won a decisive victory at Peregonovka, blockading Denikin's lines of supply and denying the White Army supplies of food, ammunition, and artillery reinforcements, the White Army would probably have entered Moscow in December 1919. All through February, 1920 the Free Territory - Makhnovist region - was inundated with Red troops, including the 42nd Rifle Division and the Latvian
& Estonian Red Division
– in total at least 20,000 soldiers. After the souring and dissolution of Nestor Makhno's Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine with Bolsheviks the captured Red commanders and commissars were similarly summarily executed. However, Makhno usually preferred to release the disarmed enlisted men that were captured, as "proletarian brothers", with a choice of joining his army or returning home, after all commanding officers were executed. This happened to an Estonian Red Army unit that surrendered to Makhno in 1920. Viktor Belash
noted that even in the worst time for the revolutionary army, namely at the beginning of 1920, "In the majority of cases rank-and-file Red Army soldiers were set free". Of course Belash, as a colleague of Makhno's, was likely to idealize the punishment policies of the Batko. However, the facts bear witness that Makhno really did release "in all four directions" captured Red Army soldiers. This is what happened at the beginning of February 1920, when the insurgents disarmed the 10,000-strong Estonian Division in Huliajpole
. To this it must be added that the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine included a choir of Estonian musicians. The problem was further compounded by the alienation of the Estonians by Anton Denikin's inflexible Russian chauvinism
and their refusal to fight with Nikolai Yudenich.
sent two agents to assassinate Makhno - one recruited from Ukrainian naletchiki, another a double agent who had previously worked for Makhno. However, the latter disclosed his mission before it could be carried out, and both were executed. Meanwhile, Red Army forces, vastly superior in numbers and equipment, steadily reduced areas of Russia under anarchist control.
By 1920, Leon Trotsky
(as War Commissar of the Red Army) had resorted to terror tactics, ordering the assassination of thousands of Ukrainian villagers and peasants loyal to Makhno's Black Army. Trotsky also intentionally withdrew Red Army troops from their positions on the southern front, allowing Tsarist Cossack forces to overrun the southern Ukraine. At first, Makhno and the Black Army retreated, followed by a caravan of Ukrainian refugees. Attacking again, Makhno's forces surprised General Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel
's counterrevolutionary regiments in southern Ukraine, capturing 4,000 prisoners and stores of weapons and munitions, and preventing Wrangel from seizing that year's grain
harvest in Ukraine.
by the British Navy on November 14, 1920.
However, the Bolshevik Communist government in Moscow initially refused to publish the Bolshevik-Makhnovist Treaty or acknowledge the existence of a formal alliance outside Ukraine. It also continued to denounce anarchism as an illegitimate political movement elsewhere in Russia, accelerating mass arrests and detentions of anarchists in all areas of the country under Bolshevik and Red Army control. After pressure by Makhno, the Central Committee in Moscow eventually published the military section of the Bolshevik-Makhnovist treaty, followed a week later by the political section. A fourth clause concerning the establishment of autonomous committees composed of workers and peasants for self-government of areas held by the Black Army was omitted.
n border into exile.
Argentine sociologist Christian Ferrer pointed out that components in exile from the Makhnovist army fought with the International Brigades
during the Spanish Civil War
. These Ukrainians were part of a company commanded by "Lieutenant Shevchenko" within the Battalion Mickiewicz -Palafox
of the XIII International Brigade
or the Dabrowski Brigade, which crossed the Pyrenees
after the fall of Catalonia, and who participated in the resistance against Nazism
.
According to the Franco-Bulgarian historian, Frank Mintz, even during the Second World War, the Makhnovist impact appeared as "Ukrainian guerrilla groups still brandish the black flag and fought against the Nazis and the Stalinists".
and 4 infantry
Brigade
s, a machine gun
regiment
with 5000 gun
s, and an artillery
detachment
. At its peak in December 1919, it had about 83,000 infantry, 20,135 cavalry, 1,435 machine guns, and 118 guns, as well as 7 armored trains and some armored cars. It was organized into 4 Corps and the strategic reserve. Each Corps had 1 infantry and 1 cavalry Brigade; each Brigade had 3-4 Regiments of the appropriate type.
The structure of the RIAU was not that of a traditional army. Instead, the RIAU was a democratic militia based on soldier committees and general assemblies. Officers in the ordinary sense were abolished; instead, all commanders were elected and recallable. In theory, the RIAU relied on voluntary enlistment instead of conscription, however in practice conscription was used. Regular mass assemblies were held to discuss policy. The army was based on self-discipline, and all of the army’s disciplinary rules were approved by soldier assemblies.
This organizational structure was later used in organizing militias created by anarchists in the Spanish revolution
and Spanish Civil War
.
Nestor Makhno
Nestor 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....
during the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The 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...
.
History
Nestor Makhno and the Insurrectionary Anarchist Army
Ukrainian anarchist guerrilla bands were active during the Russian Civil WarRussian Civil War
The 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...
. Some claimed to be loyal to the Ukrainian state, but others acknowledged no allegiance; all fought both Red and White Russians with equal ferocity in the opening stages of the Civil War. Of all the anarchist groups, the most famous and successful was that of the peasant anarchist leader Nestor Makhno, aka Batko ("Father"), who began operations in the southeastern Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
against the Hetmanate
Hetmanate
The Ukrainian State or The Hetmanate was a short-lived polity in Ukraine, installed by Ukrainian Cossacks and military organizations under the support of the Central Powers, after disbanding the Central Rada of the Ukrainian National Republic on 28 April 1918.-History:On April 29, 1918 the head...
regime in July 1918. In September, he formed the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine, or Anarchist Black Army, with arms and equipment largely obtained from retreating Austro-Hungarian and German forces. During the Civil War, the Black Army numbered between 15,000 and 110,000 men and was organized on conventional lines, with infantry, cavalry, and artillery units; artillery batteries were attached to each infantry brigade. Makhno's cavalry incorporated both regular and irregular horse-mounted (guerrilla) forces, and was considered among the best-trained and most capable of any of the cavalry units deployed by any side in the Russian Civil War. The 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....
government and Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
commanders often referred to the Black Army as "Makhnovist forces", because they pointedly declined to accord the Ukrainian anarchists the status of having an army or a legitimate political movement. Volin
Volin
Vsevolod Mikhailovich Eikhenbaum , known in later life as Volin or Voline , was a leading Russian anarchist who participated in the Russian and Ukrainian Revolutions before being forced into exile by the Bolshevik Party government...
described the Insurrectionary Black Army of the time (less its cavalry, which normally ranged far afield) as follows: The infantry, when it was not fighting, led the march of the army ... [The Black Army also used horse-drawn carts or] tachanka
Tachanka
The tachanka was a horse-drawn machine gun platform, usually a cart or an open wagon with a heavy machine gun installed in the back. A tachanka could be pulled by two to four horses and required a crew of two or three...
s. Each of these vehicles, which were drawn by two horses, carried the driver on the front seat and two soldiers behind them. In some sections a machine-gun was installed on the seat between them. The artillery brought up the rear. A huge black flag floated over the first carriage. The slogans Liberty or Death and The Land to the Peasants, the Factories to the Workers were embroidered in silver on its two sides.
A main obstacle to the anarchist army, and one which it never overcame throughout its existence, was a lack of access to primary industrial manufacturing resources, specifically factories capable of producing large amounts of arms and ammunition. Denied large-scale arms shipments from the Bolshevik government in Moscow, and without arsenal manufacturing centers of its own, the Black Army was forced to rely on captures of munition depots and supplies from enemy forces, and to procure food and horses from the local civilian population.
Red Army mutinies in Ukraine
By early 1919, the Bolshevik government had withdrawn most Red Army forces from Ukraine after WhiteArmed Forces of South Russia
The Armed Forces of South Russia was formed on the 8th of January 1919, it incorporated many of the smaller formations of the White army in that area under them, including the Volunteer Army ....
successes in the south. The remaining Red Army troops who had remained in various parts of Ukraine were suspicious of their commanders, and angry at the withdrawals from Ukraine, which they considered a defection from the revolutionary cause. At the end of July, 1919, Red Army detachments numbering some 40,000 troops in the Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
mutinied and deposed their commanders; many set out to join Makhno's anarchist Black Army. The mutiny was organized by some of Makhno's anarchist comrades who had remained commanders in the ranks of the Red Army, including Kalashnikov, Dermendzhi, and Budanov; these men also planned the transfer of forces. Large numbers of Red Army soldiers advanced from Novi Bug to Pomoshchnaya in search of Makhno's Black Army, bringing with them, as captives, their former commanders: Kochergin, Dybets and others. The mutineers joined Black Army forces at Dobrovelichkovka in the municipality of Kherson
Kherson
Kherson is a city in southern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Kherson Oblast , and is designated as its own separate raion within the oblast. Kherson is an important port on the Black Sea and Dnieper River, and the home of a major ship-building industry...
at the beginning of August 1919. For the Bolshevik government in Moscow, this defection was a major blow; since almost nothing remained of the Red Army in southern Ukraine and the Crimea, Bolshevik influence in the area vanished.
Campaign against Denikin and the White Army
Makhno and the Ukrainian anarchist Black Army, at first declared 'bandits' and 'outlaws' by the Moscow's Bolshevik government, were welcomed after General Denikin threatened to overrun Moscow in a drive towards the city in 1919. After concluding an agreement with the Bolshevik government, Makhno and his subordinate commanders made plans to turn the Black Army east and attack Denikin's White Army and its lines of supply, hoping to break through his lines.The Black Army, had been retreating to the west across Ukraine. But on the evening of September 25, 1919, it suddenly turned east, attacking the main forces of General Denikin's army. The first encounter took place late in the evening near the village of Kruten'koe, where the Black Army's First Infantry Brigade advanced towards White Army positions. Denikin's troops retreated to take up better positions. At first, Denikin believed the move was a feint or reconnaissance-in-force, and did not follow up, concluding that most of the anarchist army was still retiring to the west. However, in the middle of the night, all of Makhno's troops began an offensive to the east. The White Army's principal forces in the area were concentrated near the village of Peregonovka; the village itself was occupied by anarchist units. Intense fighting broke out, and the occupying anarchist forces began to lose ground, pressured by White Army reinforcements, including infantry regiments composed largely of young and fanatically anti-communist officers. Makhno's headquarters staff, as well as everyone in the village who could handle a rifle, armed themselves and joined in the fighting. On the approach of Makhno's cavalry forces, White Army troops retreated from Peregonovka. A fierce battle took place outside the town, including instances of hand-to-hand combat. A White regiment was forced to retreat, at first slowly and in an orderly way, but as the fighting moved near the Sinyukha river, it became a rout. The other regiments, seized by panic, followed them. Finally all of Denikin's troops in the area were routed; most escaped by swimming across the Sinyukha River, but hundreds died in the river and on its banks.
After this victory, Makhno's troops set out to attack Denikin's lines of supply. The fall of Aleksandrovsk to the Black Army was followed by Pologi, Gulyai-Polye, Berdyansk, Melitopol', and Mariupol'. In less than two weeks, all of southern Ukraine had been conquered by Black Army troops. Makhno's occupation of southern Ukraine, especially the regions bordering on the Sea of Azov
Sea of Azov
The Sea of Azov , known in Classical Antiquity as Lake Maeotis, is a sea on the south of Eastern Europe. It is linked by the narrow Strait of Kerch to the Black Sea to the south and is bounded on the north by Ukraine mainland, on the east by Russia, and on the west by the Ukraine's Crimean...
, soon posed a threat to Denikin's entire offensive, as the supply base of Denikin's army was located in the region between Mariupol' and Volnovakha. When Berdyansk and Mariupol' were taken, immense stores of munitions were captured by anarchist forces. Because all the railroads of the region were controlled by the Black Army, no war material could reach Denikin's forces on the northern front. White Army reserve regiments stationed throughout the region were ordered to break the blockade, but were instead routed.
After a failed attempt to dislodge Black Army forces, Denikin shifted his campaign from the north to the south. The White Army's best cavalry troops, commanded by General Mamontov and General Shkuro, were transferred from the northern front to the Gulyai-Polye region of Russia. Denikin's new strategy succeeded in driving out Makhno's forces from part of Ukraine, but at the cost of denuding forces opposing the Red Army. During October and November 1919, Denikin's troops were defeated in a series of battles by Red Army forces. His Caucasus regiments suffered the greatest losses, especially the Chechen cavalry and others, who died by the thousands. Toward the end of November, some of these troops mutinied, returning to their homes in the Caucasus. This in turn began a slow disintegration of Denikin's White Army. Some historians note that if the anarchist forces had not won a decisive victory at Peregonovka, blockading Denikin's lines of supply and denying the White Army supplies of food, ammunition, and artillery reinforcements, the White Army would probably have entered Moscow in December 1919. All through February, 1920 the Free Territory - Makhnovist region - was inundated with Red troops, including the 42nd Rifle Division and the Latvian
Latvian Riflemen
This article is about Latvian military formations in World War I and Russian Civil War. For Red Army military formations in World War II see Latvian Riflemen Soviet Divisions....
& Estonian Red Division
Estonian Red Riflemen
Estonian Riflemen, Estonian Red Riflemen, Estonian Red Army, Estonian Red Guards were military formations assembled starting 1917 in the Soviet Russia.- Formation :...
– in total at least 20,000 soldiers. After the souring and dissolution of Nestor Makhno's Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine with Bolsheviks the captured Red commanders and commissars were similarly summarily executed. However, Makhno usually preferred to release the disarmed enlisted men that were captured, as "proletarian brothers", with a choice of joining his army or returning home, after all commanding officers were executed. This happened to an Estonian Red Army unit that surrendered to Makhno in 1920. Viktor Belash
Viktor Belash
Viktor Fedorovich Belash was the Chief of Staff of the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine under Nestor Makhno. Belash's Memoirs are an important source for the history of this insurrection....
noted that even in the worst time for the revolutionary army, namely at the beginning of 1920, "In the majority of cases rank-and-file Red Army soldiers were set free". Of course Belash, as a colleague of Makhno's, was likely to idealize the punishment policies of the Batko. However, the facts bear witness that Makhno really did release "in all four directions" captured Red Army soldiers. This is what happened at the beginning of February 1920, when the insurgents disarmed the 10,000-strong Estonian Division in Huliajpole
Huliaipole
Huliaipole is a city in Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine. Population is 17 000 .It is known as a birthplace of Nestor Makhno. The name of the city means a walk-about field. Prior to the annexation of the Crimean Khanate by the Russian Empire the area was mostly settled by Cossacks and the nomad people...
. To this it must be added that the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine included a choir of Estonian musicians. The problem was further compounded by the alienation of the Estonians by Anton Denikin's inflexible Russian chauvinism
Chauvinism
Chauvinism, in its original and primary meaning, is an exaggerated, bellicose patriotism and a belief in national superiority and glory. It is an eponym of a possibly fictional French soldier Nicolas Chauvin who was credited with many superhuman feats in the Napoleonic wars.By extension it has come...
and their refusal to fight with Nikolai Yudenich.
First repudiation of the alliance
After the victories over the White Army, the Bolshevik government repudiated its alliance with Makhno and the Ukrainian anarchist movement, repeatedly attacking concentrations of Black Army troops, as well as ordering Chekist and Red Army reprisals against those believed sympathetic to the anarchists. In June 1920 the ChekaCheka
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...
sent two agents to assassinate Makhno - one recruited from Ukrainian naletchiki, another a double agent who had previously worked for Makhno. However, the latter disclosed his mission before it could be carried out, and both were executed. Meanwhile, Red Army forces, vastly superior in numbers and equipment, steadily reduced areas of Russia under anarchist control.
By 1920, 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....
(as War Commissar of the Red Army) had resorted to terror tactics, ordering the assassination of thousands of Ukrainian villagers and peasants loyal to Makhno's Black Army. Trotsky also intentionally withdrew Red Army troops from their positions on the southern front, allowing Tsarist Cossack forces to overrun the southern Ukraine. At first, Makhno and the Black Army retreated, followed by a caravan of Ukrainian refugees. Attacking again, Makhno's forces surprised General Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel
Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel
Baron Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel or Vrangel was an officer in the Imperial Russian army and later commanding general of the anti-Bolshevik White Army in Southern Russia in the later stages of the Russian Civil War.-Life:Wrangel was born in Mukuliai, Kovno Governorate in the Russian Empire...
's counterrevolutionary regiments in southern Ukraine, capturing 4,000 prisoners and stores of weapons and munitions, and preventing Wrangel from seizing that year's grain
GRAIN
GRAIN is a small international non-profit organisation that works to support small farmers and social movements in their struggles for community-controlled and biodiversity-based food systems. Our support takes the form of independent research and analysis, networking at local, regional and...
harvest in Ukraine.
Bolshevik-Makhnovist Treaty of Political and Military Alliance
Trotsky once again offered an alliance, sending a plenipotentiary delegation from the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Communist Party, headed by Comrade Ivanov to propose a military and political treaty of alliance; Makhno agreed, subject to a pardon of all Anarchist prisoners throughout Russia. The treaty was drawn up and signed on October 15, 1920 at Starobel'sk by anarchist military and political representatives and the Bolshevik Communist delegation. The treaty, along with a Makhnovist delegation then traveled to the Bolshevik-held city of Kharkov for official ratification and to plan a common military strategy. Using the arms and munitions previously captured from General Wrangel's infantry brigades in the southern Ukraine, Makhno and the Black Army went on to clear much of Crimea of Cossack cavalry, and helped force a retreat of Wrangel's remaining infantry brigades. After an unsuccessful northern offensive against the Red Army, Wrangel and the last of his forces were evacuated from SevastopolSevastopol
Sevastopol is a city on rights of administrative division of Ukraine, located on the Black Sea coast of the Crimea peninsula. It has a population of 342,451 . Sevastopol is the second largest port in Ukraine, after the Port of Odessa....
by the British Navy on November 14, 1920.
However, the Bolshevik Communist government in Moscow initially refused to publish the Bolshevik-Makhnovist Treaty or acknowledge the existence of a formal alliance outside Ukraine. It also continued to denounce anarchism as an illegitimate political movement elsewhere in Russia, accelerating mass arrests and detentions of anarchists in all areas of the country under Bolshevik and Red Army control. After pressure by Makhno, the Central Committee in Moscow eventually published the military section of the Bolshevik-Makhnovist treaty, followed a week later by the political section. A fourth clause concerning the establishment of autonomous committees composed of workers and peasants for self-government of areas held by the Black Army was omitted.
Second repudiation
It soon became clear why Moscow had resisted the publicizing of the Bolshevik-Makhnovist treaty. On November 26, 1920, less than two weeks after completing their successful offensive against General Wrangel's White Army in the Crimea, Makhno's headquarters staff and several Black Army subordinate commanders arrived at Red Army Southern Front headquarters to participate in a joint planning conference with Red Army commanders. Upon arrival, they were arrested and executed on the spot by a Red Army firing squad; the Makhnovist treaty delegation, still in Kharkov, was also arrested and liquidated. Makhno continued to fight on, but the peasants of Ukraine, dispirited by three years of war, food seizures, reprisals, and outright genocide, no longer flocked to join the Black Army in numbers. Makhno's final Black Army forces were defeated and dispersed in August 1921; with a small number of men, he managed to slip across the RomaniaRomania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n border into exile.
Argentine sociologist Christian Ferrer pointed out that components in exile from the Makhnovist army fought with the International Brigades
International Brigades
The International Brigades were military units made up of volunteers from different countries, who traveled to Spain to defend the Second Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War between 1936 and 1939....
during the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
. These Ukrainians were part of a company commanded by "Lieutenant Shevchenko" within the Battalion Mickiewicz -Palafox
Mickiewicz Battalion
The Mickiewicz Battalion was a volunteer battalion of the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War. It formed part of the XIII International Brigade from 27 October 1937 until 23 September 1938, when the International Brigades were disbanded....
of the XIII International Brigade
XIII International Brigade
This article is about the 13th International Brigade - often known as the XIII Dabrowski Brigade - which fought for the Spanish Second Republic in the Spanish Civil War in the International Brigades. The brigade was dissolved and then reformed on four occasions.-1st Formation :The brigade was first...
or the Dabrowski Brigade, which crossed the Pyrenees
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...
after the fall of Catalonia, and who participated in the resistance against Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
.
According to the Franco-Bulgarian historian, Frank Mintz, even during the Second World War, the Makhnovist impact appeared as "Ukrainian guerrilla groups still brandish the black flag and fought against the Nazis and the Stalinists".
Organisation
In mid-1919, the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine had a strength of some 15,000 men, organised into 1 cavalryCavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
and 4 infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
Brigade
Brigade
A brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of two to five battalions, plus supporting elements depending on the era and nationality of a given army and could be perceived as an enlarged/reinforced regiment...
s, a machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
regiment
Regiment
A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...
with 5000 gun
Gun
A gun is a muzzle or breech-loaded projectile-firing weapon. There are various definitions depending on the nation and branch of service. A "gun" may be distinguished from other firearms in being a crew-served weapon such as a howitzer or mortar, as opposed to a small arm like a rifle or pistol,...
s, and an artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
detachment
Detachment (military)
A detachment is a military unit. It can either be detached from a larger unit for a specific function or be a permanent unit smaller than a battalion. The term is often used to refer to a unit that is assigned to a different base from the parent unit...
. At its peak in December 1919, it had about 83,000 infantry, 20,135 cavalry, 1,435 machine guns, and 118 guns, as well as 7 armored trains and some armored cars. It was organized into 4 Corps and the strategic reserve. Each Corps had 1 infantry and 1 cavalry Brigade; each Brigade had 3-4 Regiments of the appropriate type.
The structure of the RIAU was not that of a traditional army. Instead, the RIAU was a democratic militia based on soldier committees and general assemblies. Officers in the ordinary sense were abolished; instead, all commanders were elected and recallable. In theory, the RIAU relied on voluntary enlistment instead of conscription, however in practice conscription was used. Regular mass assemblies were held to discuss policy. The army was based on self-discipline, and all of the army’s disciplinary rules were approved by soldier assemblies.
This organizational structure was later used in organizing militias created by anarchists in the Spanish revolution
Spanish Revolution
The Spanish Revolution was a workers' social revolution that began during the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 and resulted in the widespread implementation of anarchist and more broadly libertarian socialist organizational principles throughout various portions of the country for two to...
and Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
.
Commanders
- Nestor 'Batko' 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....
(HuliaipoleHuliaipoleHuliaipole is a city in Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine. Population is 17 000 .It is known as a birthplace of Nestor Makhno. The name of the city means a walk-about field. Prior to the annexation of the Crimean Khanate by the Russian Empire the area was mostly settled by Cossacks and the nomad people...
(Гуляйполе); anarchist-communistAnarchist communismAnarchist communism is a theory of anarchism which advocates the abolition of the state, markets, money, private property, and capitalism in favor of common ownership of the means of production, direct democracy and a horizontal network of voluntary associations and workers' councils with...
) - Simon KaretnikSimon KaretnikSimon Karetnik was one of the poorest peasants of Hulyai-Polye and was an anarchist since 1907. He was Commander of the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine, and often replaced Nestor Makhno as supreme commander of the "Black Army" in 1920...
(Huliaipole; anarchist-communist) - MarchenkoMarchenkoMarchenko is a Ukrainian surname of the following people:* Anatoly Marchenko, Russian writer and dissident* Grigori Marchenko, Kazakh economist* Vladimir Marchenko, Ukrainian mathematician* Illya Marchenko, Ukrainian tennis player...
(Huliaipole; anarchist-communist (1907)) - Grigory Vasilevsky (Huliaipole)
- Boris Veretelnikov (Huliaipole; SRSocialist-Revolutionary Partythumb|right|200px|Socialist-Revolutionary election poster, 1917. The caption in red reads "партия соц-рев" , short for Party of the Socialist Revolutionaries...
; anarchist-communist (1918)) - Peter Gavrilenko (Huliaipole; anarchist-communist (1905))
- Vasily Kurilenko (Novospassovka)
- Viktor BelashViktor BelashViktor Fedorovich Belash was the Chief of Staff of the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine under Nestor Makhno. Belash's Memoirs are an important source for the history of this insurrection....
(Novospassovka; anarchist) - Kalašnikov (Huliaipole; anarchist)
- Mikhalev-Pavlenko (deminerDeminingDemining or mine clearance is the process of removing either land mines, or naval mines, from an area, while minesweeping describes the act of detecting of mines. There are two distinct types of mine detection and removal: military and humanitarian.Minesweepers use many tools in order to accomplish...
) - Fedir ShchusFedir ShchusFedir Shchus, also Fyodor Shuss, Feodosiy Shchus was a commander in the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine of Nestor Makhno. Originally separate and independent of Makhno, Shchus eventually swore his loyalty to Makhno and became one of his ablest officers...
(Bolšaja Mihailovka) - Ivan Lepetchenko (Huliaipole; anarchist)
- Aleksandr Lepetchenko (Huliaipole; anarchist)
- Dmitry Ivanovich PopovDmitry Ivanovich PopovDmitry Ivanovich Popov was a Left SR and anarchist revolutionary of Russia, the leader of the Left SR uprising.Later he was a member of the staff of the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine commanded by Batko Makhno....
(Moscow; left SRLeft Socialist-RevolutionariesIn 1917, Russia the Socialist-Revolutionary Party split between those who supported the Provisional Government, established after the February Revolution, and those who supported the Bolsheviks who favoured a communist insurrection....
) - Lev Zadov
- Voldemar Antoni (April 4, 1886 Hulyaipole - May 15, 1974 Nikopol) (Czech-German, anarchist ideologist)
See also
- Black GuardsBlack GuardsBlack Guards were armed groups of workers formed after the Russian Revolution and before the Third Russian Revolution. They were the main strike force of the anarchists...
- Battle of Peregonovka (1919)Battle of Peregonovka (1919)In the Battle of Peregonovka in September 1919, part of the Russian Civil War, the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine routed elements of the Volunteer Army...
- Kronstadt rebellionKronstadt rebellionThe Kronstadt rebellion was one of many major unsuccessful left-wing uprisings against the Bolsheviks in the aftermath of the Russian Civil War...
- Tambov rebellionTambov RebellionThe Tambov Rebellion which occurred between 1920 and 1921 was one of the largest and best-organized peasant rebellions challenging the Bolshevik regime during the Russian Civil War. The uprising took place in the territories of the modern Tambov Oblast and part of the Voronezh Oblast, less than...
External links
- Makhnovist movement articles from the Kate Sharpley Library
- Chronological biography of Voldemar Antoni
- hrono.ru "Махно и махновцы"