Nestor Makhno is a partisan commander and the idol of Ukrainian peasants. Nestor Makhno (Old Man) - biography, life story: Prodigal Son of the Revolution

Notes

"..There were a lot of passengers. The trains filled up in the blink of an eye through the doors and through the windows of the cars. The roofs of the cars were also full. I was waiting for the chance that I would be able to get into the car through the door, and stayed at the boarding place until the night. True. , there were carriages of railway employees in which there was space, but the German authorities forbade them to take passengers. In addition, the railway employees of the hetman’s kingdom became such “Ukrainians” that they did not answer questions addressed to them in Russian at all.

For example, I wanted to find out from them whether this train was going further, from Belgorod. I had to approach a whole row of carriages, but not a single one of the railway workers answered my question. And only later, when I, exhausted, was walking back next to these carriages, one of them called me and warned me not to address anyone with the words “comrade”, but to say “mistress of kindness”, otherwise I would not I won’t get anything from anyone.

I was amazed at this demand, but there was nothing to do. And I, not knowing my native Ukrainian language, was forced to mutilate it in such a way in my addresses to those around me that I became ashamed...

I thought about this phenomenon a little; and, to tell the truth, it aroused some kind of painful anger in me, and here’s why.

I asked myself a question: on behalf of whom is such a tongue-lashing required of me when I don’t know it? I understood that this demand did not come from the Ukrainian working people. It is the demand of those fictitious “Ukrainians” who were born from under the rough boot of the German-Austro-Hungarian Junkers and tried to imitate the fashionable tone. I was convinced that such Ukrainians needed only the Ukrainian language, and not the full freedom of Ukraine and the working people inhabiting it. Despite the fact that they outwardly posed as friends of Ukrainian independence, internally they tenaciously clung, together with their hetman Skoropadsky, to Wilhelm the German and Charles of Austro-Hungary, for their policy against the revolution. 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 whom Ukraine is nothing..."

Nestor carried more than one fault through his entire life: through him and the Kaiser, the brothers of Karp and Omelyan, the squad of another brother Savely, were killed - in front of their children.

Let's continue the associative series: Makhno... Emelyan Pugachev...

Stenka Razin... Emiliano Zapata in Mexico... All those leaders of peasant movements who remained heroes in the memory of peoples. These people embodied the ideal of freedom - as it was understood in their time. Separating from power, organizing your place of residence, a place of defense, winning the right to live in accordance with your values, going your own way - you must agree, this is an attractive idea. Do not forget, the Makhnovists are geographically descendants of the Zaporozhye Cossacks. In those years, it was as if dormant genes woke up in them. Kamenev wrote: “The real Sich”!

Are there many descendants of the Makhnovists living in Gulyai-Polye now?

It's hard to say. The older generation was afraid to admit it. 70 percent of the city’s male population served in Makhno’s Civil Service—so count your great-grandchildren. The head of supply for the Makhnovist army, Grigory Seregin, is my great-grandfather’s brother. The head of reserve formation, Ivan Novikov, is my grandmother’s brother. I think many people have such a relationship, but not everyone admits it. If we talk about the descendants of Nestor Ivanovich himself... This spring his great-nephew Viktor Ivanovich Yalansky died. He worked all his life at our agricultural machinery plant, and in retirement he became a collector of the Makhnovist family - he wrote off, looked for... There are probably no closer relatives left. Makhno’s wife, Galina Kuzmenko, died in 1978 in Dzhambul (she lived in exile in France, then the Germans took her to Germany, and from there after the victory she took SMERSH). Galina corresponded with Yalansky and came to Gulyai-Polye in 1976. There, in Dzhambul, in 1991, her daughter, Elena Mikhnenko, also died. It seems that Elena still had her husband, but Yalansky, shortly before his death, complained that he did not answer letters, and probably also died. The descendants of Karetnik, one of the main Makhnovist commanders, are alive, but they are very distant relatives. The son of Lev Zinkovsky-Zadov lives in Gelendzhik.

A couple of quotes about how Makhno became a “father” and freed his people from death:

...On September 20, we united in the Dibrovsky forest. Our squad has grown to fifteen people. We stood quietly in the forest for about three days, expanded Shchusya’s dugout, and then decided to go for a ride to Gulyai-Polye. But due to the fact that there were many Austrians there pumping out bread, it was dangerous to stay there. Then we decided to go to the village of Shagarovo and pick up our guys there who were hiding from the Austrians.

Makhno did not show himself in any way at that time and was like everyone else, small and equal. Before this, Shchus, who had suffered raids, enjoyed military authority among us. However, he had no power over us, and if we had to go somewhere, everyone decided the issue together and, depending on the mood of the detachment, made one decision or another...

...There were thirty-six of us, and, being in the center of the forest, we did not know how to get out of the ring into the field. What to do? Should I stay here or play for a breakthrough? We hesitated.

Shchus, a supporter of dying in the forest, lost heart. The opposite of him was Makhno. He gave a speech and called on the Shchusevites to follow the Gulyai-Polye people, who were supporters of the breakthrough. The Shchusevites succumbed to his influence and said: “From now on, be our dad, lead us where you know.” And Makhno began to prepare a breakthrough. ..."

From the hopeless old man, Makhno trudged to the Kremlin, to Lenin. Yakov Sverdlov gave him a pass to the Kremlin. The conversation with the leader of the Bolsheviks was long and instructive. Lenin charmed Makhno. Makhno was offered to stay in Moscow, but he was eager to fight the Germans. On June 29, putting on a black hat and hiding his revolver, Makhno set out on a train crowded with bagmen to Ukraine, to Gulyai-Polye. At first, Makhno hid in the village of Turkenevka, with his uncle Isidor Perederia. There he learned about the brutal massacre of his brother Emelyan and his entire family by the Germans. Savva Makhno, a disabled Japanese war veteran, was in prison. The hut in Gulyai-Polye was burned down, the mother spends the night in other people's apartments.

On September 22, 1918, Makhno boarded a cart with a group of armed comrades. The famous guerrilla war began, which glorified him forever. As Babel wonderfully writes: “Wagons with hay, having formed in battle formation, take possession of the cities.” And - “an army of carts has an unheard-of maneuverability.” On September 29, at a general gathering of partisans, together with a detachment of sailor Fyodor Shchus, 29-year-old Makhno was proclaimed “Batko” (an ancient Cossack rank of elder).

He is not as scary as those who don’t know history think about him. Some simply prefer to ignore the facts, as part of the Ukrainian press is currently doing, trying to present the Makhnovist movement as a special case of Ukrainian national statehood. And no analysis of his activities, as a military man or a politician who had certain economic ideas, can show us the person.

Exactly a person! Ecce homo! Behold the man! The secret of Makhno’s charisma, most likely, lies in the word with which his beloved peasants of the South of Ukraine, both in 1918 and (believe it or not?) and in 2005, called him. Saint.

Think about it. Even the word "batko", having the literal meanings of "father" and "leader", also implies a spiritual beginning, in the same sense in which many Christian churches They call their priests “father.”

But why did they perceive Makhno in this way? Why him? Why elevate to the rank of saint a man who viewed even the slightest manifestation of religion with disgust? The answer is perhaps found in the words of St. Peter, who explained in one phrase what Jesus Christ did in his earthly life: “He went everywhere doing good.”

Makhno may have been an anarchist communist, but for the Ukrainian peasant in 1918, if all good things could find human flesh, it would manifest itself as the chairman of the Gulyai-Polye Soviet. For he brought justice and self-respect to the toiling masses. Just six months after returning from the Tsarist prison, where he was serving a life sentence (and what the peasants saw as a resurrection from the dead), in September 1917 Makhno handed over the land to the working people. He did this long before the Bolshevik decree and in clear contradiction with the policy of the existing Provisional Government. And this was done without bloodshed.

He took this step to the detriment of his personal beliefs, because after all, he was a communist-anarchist, and his ideal was a kibbutz-style community, but not private property. But his conviction that the struggle of ideas should not turn into a struggle of people sharply contrasted with the opinion of the Bolsheviks, although ideologically similar to him, they believed that communism, as an idea, was worth immediate imposition, even by force. Makhno's principled refusal to allow any political gain to compromise his moral position placed him above any political personality of the time, especially the Ukrainian socialists, who, in their desire to create a nation-state at any cost, turned a blind eye to the dark waters of anti-Semitism that were flooding the country.

Makhno is a man, Makhno is a saint, Makhno is a prophet. And isn't it strange that a group that has exercised collective leadership, perhaps more than any other force in history, should find itself known and judged by one name? That at a time when Lenin and Trotsky, Petliura and Denikin, Wrangel and Pilsudki really were, so to speak, the “cream” of their parties, Nestor Makhno was not the best either as a leader, or an organizer, or a military commander, or an administrator, or even good speaker. Physically, he was also not impressive, he was small and thin. It was said of him that he looked and sounded like a woman or a boy. All this was known and recognized by his comrades, who never hesitated to criticize him or simply laugh at him when he made mistakes. And he, of course, made a mess, and how! And yet, they certainly saw him as a leader, sacrificing their lives for the ideals of the Makhnovist movement.

Makhno is among them. Ukrainian peasants saw a man who brought new hope, if not to the whole world, then at least to them. A saint who argued that only they themselves can manage their lives. A prophet who punishes those who try to oppress others.

Moreover, Kuzmenko-Gaevaya told me in detail about the death of Makhno:

Didn't he die a natural death? According to official death, Batko died of tuberculosis. There is nothing about Makhno’s death (and specifically about violent death) in the primary sources regarding his life and work. Although the military exploits of the outstanding anarchist commander are covered in the literature in quite detail and objectively...

Nestor Makhno died in the bed of a Paris hospital, not on the battlefield - that’s true! And this allows biographers to claim that Makhno was not killed. But he actually died from a traumatic brain injury, which he received in a fight with a drunken Russian White emigrant. This was not an action planned by the KGB. It was just an accident. Nestor Ivanovich’s wife told me about him with pain. The hero of the civil war, and at that fatal moment an ordinary Ukrainian emigrant, was walking with his family in one of the Parisian squares. A drunk company passed by. Makhno was recognized. First, Nestor Ivanovich heard a swear word, then his fists were used, then a beer mug... So the legendary ataman died tragically and uselessly, under whom six (!) horses were killed during hostilities, who himself was never afraid of death and drove tens of thousands to death.

Makhno is buried in Paris at the Père Lachaise cemetery near famous Wall Kommunarov. There is an inscription on the gravestone:<Батьке Махно от украинцев>(in Ukrainian). This is how one of the most consistent and most honest exponents of the Ukrainian peasant dream ended his earthly journey. Dreams of land, of freedom...

Makhno Nestor Ivanovich (1888-1934), Ukrainian military and politician, one of the leaders of the anarchist movement in the years Civil War. Born October 27 (November 8), 1888 in the village. Gulyaypole, Aleksandrovsky district, Ekaterinoslav 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 work as a shepherd for rich farmers; later he worked as a laborer for landowners and German colonists. From 1904 he worked as a laborer at an iron foundry in Gulyai-Polye; played in the factory theater group.

In the fall of 1906 he joined the anarchists and joined the youth branch of the Ukrainian group of anarchist-communists (grain volunteers). Participant in several gang attacks and terrorist attacks; was arrested twice. Accused of the murder of an official of the local military government, he was sentenced in 1910 to death by hanging, commuted to hard labor due to his minority at the time of the crime (1908). While in the Butyrka convict prison, he was engaged in self-education; regularly came into conflict 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 whom Ukraine is nothing...
(May 1918)

Makhno Nestor Ivanovich

(15) March 1917, after February Revolution, was released and left for Gulyai-Polye. Participated in the re-establishment of the Peasant Union; in April 1917 he was unanimously elected chairman of his local committee. He advocated ending the war and transferring land for use to peasants without 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 commissar of the Gulyai-Polye region. Delegate to the Ekaterinoslav Congress of Soviets of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Deputies (August 1917); supported his decision to reorganize all branches of the Peasant Union into peasant councils.

He strongly condemned the anti-government rebellion of General L.G. Kornilov and headed the local Committee for the Defense of the Revolution. He opposed the Provisional Government and rejected the idea of convening a Constituent Assembly. In August-October, he carried out the confiscation of landowners' lands in the Aleksandrovsky district, which were transferred to the jurisdiction of land committees; transferred control over enterprises into the hands of workers.

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 economies and landowners' estates, dealt with the occupiers and hetman officers, and 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 power of the Ukrainian Directory. When its armed forces under the command of S.V. Petliura occupied Yekaterinoslav and dispersed the provincial council, it entered into an agreement with the Red Army on joint actions against the Directory. At the end of December 1918, he defeated the seven-thousand-strong 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 Gulyai-Polye area.

By that time, this territory had turned into a kind of “enclave of freedom”, where Makhno tried to implement the anarcho-communist idea of society as a “free federation” of self-governing communes, not knowing any class or national differences. Pursuing the exploiters (landowners, factory owners, bankers, speculators) and their accomplices (officials, officers), he at the same time 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, and theatrical performances were organized.

"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 a leader 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, at 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” - anarchist-communists, participated in raids and propaganda of the principles of anarchy. In July-August 1908, the group was discovered, Makhno was arrested and in 1910, together with his accomplices, was sentenced to death by a military court. However, many years before this, Makhno’s parents changed his date of birth by 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 studied self-education and met Pyotr Arshinov, who was more “savvy” in anarchist teaching, who would later become one of the ideologists of the Makhnovist movement. In prison, Makhno fell ill with tuberculosis and had his lung removed.

The February Revolution of 1917 opened the doors of prison for Makhno, and in March he returned to Gulyai-Polye. Makhno gained popularity as a fighter against autocracy and a speaker at public gatherings, and was elected to the local government body - the Public Committee. He became the leader of the Gulyai-Polye group of anarcho-communists, which subordinated the Public Committee to its influence and established control over the network of public structures in the region, which included the Peasant 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 start of Kornilov’s speech, Makhno and his supporters created the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution under the Soviet and confiscated weapons from 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 implementing 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 trades, 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 of the largest local armed political group, forced entrepreneurs to fulfill the demands of the workers. On October 25, the union board decided: “Workers who are not members of the union are required to immediately enroll as members of the Union, otherwise they risk losing the support of the Union.” A course was set for the universal introduction of an eight-hour working day. In December 1917, Makhno, busy with other matters, transferred the chairmanship of the trade union to his deputy A. Mishchenko.

Makhno was already faced with new tasks - a struggle for power began to boil between supporters and opponents of the Soviets. Makhno stood for Soviet power. Together with a detachment of Gulyai-Polye men, 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-Polye. In December, on Makhno’s initiative, the Second Congress of Soviets of the Gulyai-Polye region met, which adopted the resolution “Death to the Central Rada.” The Makhnovsky district was not going to submit to either the Ukrainian, 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 Brest Peace Treaty in March 1918, German troops began advancing into Ukraine. Residents of Gulyai-Polye formed a “free battalion” of about 200 fighters, and now Makhno himself took command. He went to the Red Guard headquarters 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 Gulyai-Polye anarchists in Taganrog, it was decided to return to the area 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 very cruelly crushed the revolution “under themselves”, creating a new one, their own power, and not the power of the Soviets.
In June 1918, Makhno met with anarchist leaders, including P.A. Kropotkin, was among the visitors of V.I. Lenin and Ya.M. Sverdlova. 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 Ukrainian countryside were more influential than communists. Lenin made a strong impression on Makhno, the Bolsheviks helped the anarchist leader cross to occupied Ukraine.

In July 1918, Makhno returned to the vicinity of Gulyai-Polye, then created a small partisan detachment, which began combat operations, attacking estates, German colonies, occupiers 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, earning Makhno the honorary nickname “father”. In the Dibrivok area, Makhno’s detachment united with F. Shchus’s detachment. Then other local detachments began to join Makhno. The successful partisans began to receive the support of the peasants. Makhno emphasized the anti-landowner and anti-kulak nature 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 evacuated, detachments coordinated by Makhno's headquarters began to take control of the area around Gulyai-Polye. On November 27, 1918, Makhno’s forces occupied Gulyai-Polye and never left it. The rebels drove the occupiers out of 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 Old Man Makhno.” In the south of the region there were clashes with the troops of Ataman Krasnov and Volunteer Army.
In mid-December, fighting began between the Makhnovists and UPR supporters. Makhno entered into an agreement on joint actions with the Ekaterinoslav Bolsheviks and was appointed gubernatorial committee and Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Revolutionary Workers' and Peasants' Army of the Ekaterinoslav region. On December 27-31, 1918, Makhno, in alliance with a detachment of Bolsheviks, recaptured Ekaterinoslav 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 his detachment, Makhno returned to the left bank of the Dnieper.

Makhno considered himself a military commander, and not a leader of the population of the occupied territory. The principles of organizing political power were determined by the congresses of front-line soldiers and Soviets. The First Congress took place on January 23, 1919, without Makhno’s participation, and began preparations for the 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, Makhnovist troops entered the 1st Trans-Dnieper 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 in the award lists, although this does not mean anything).

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 commanders, the commanders discussed 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: “Building a true Soviet system, in which the Soviets, elected by the working people, would be servants of the people, implementers of those laws, those orders that the working people themselves will write at the All-Ukrainian Labor Congress...”

“Our working community will have full power within 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 sense.”

Speaking on February 14, 1919 at the II Gulyai-Polye district congress of front-line soldiers, Soviets and sub-departments, Makhno stated: “I call on you to unity, because unity is the guarantee of the victory of the revolution over those who sought to strangle it. If comrade Bolsheviks come from Great Russia to Ukraine to help us in the difficult struggle against counter-revolution, we must say to them: “Welcome, dear friends!” But if they come here with the goal of monopolizing Ukraine, we will tell them: “Hands off!” We ourselves know how to raise the liberation of the working peasantry to a height, we ourselves will be able to arrange a new life for ourselves - where there will be no lords, slaves, oppressed 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 dissenters to be counter-revolutionaries... We call on the comrades of workers and peasants not to entrust the liberation of the working people to any party, to any central power: liberation of the working people is the work of the working people themselves.”

At the congress, the political body of the movement, the Military Revolutionary Council (VRC), was elected. The party composition of the VRS was left-socialist - 7 anarchists, 3 left Socialist Revolutionaries and 2 Bolsheviks and one sympathizer. Makhno was elected an honorary member of the VRS. Thus, on the territory controlled by the Makhnovists, a independent system Soviet power, autonomous from the central government of the Ukrainian SSR. This caused mutual distrust between Makhno and the Soviet command.

Makhno invited brigades of anarchists to the area of operation to promote anarchist views and cultural and educational work. Among the visiting anarchists, the old comrade P.A. had an influence on Makhno. Arshinov. In the area where the Makhnovists operated, political freedom existed for leftist movements - the Bolsheviks, left Socialist Revolutionaries and anarchists. Makhno received the chief of staff sent by the division commander Dybenko, the left Socialist Revolutionary Ya.V. Ozerov and communist commissars. They engaged in propaganda, but had no political power.

The commander of the Ukrainian Front, V. Antonov-Ovseenko, who visited the area in May 1919, reported: “children’s communes and schools are being established - Gulyai-Polye is one of the most cultural centers of Novorossia - there are three secondary educational institutions, etc. Through Makhno’s efforts, ten hospitals for the wounded were opened, a workshop was organized to repair guns and locks for guns were made.”

The communists tolerated the openly anti-Bolshevik nature of the Makhnovists' speeches as long as the Makhnovists advanced. But in April the front stabilized, the fight against Denikin’s forces continued with varying degrees of success. The Bolsheviks set a course to eliminate the special situation of the Makhnovist region. Heavy fighting and supply shortages increasingly exhausted the Makhnovists.

On April 10, the III regional congress of peasants, workers and rebels in Gulyai-Polye adopted decisions directed against the military-communist policy of the RCP (b). Chief Dybenko responded with a 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 will be subjected to the most repressive measures, up to and including outlawing.” The congress responded to the division commander with a sharp rebuke, which further compromised Makhno in the eyes of the command.

April 15, 1919 member of the RVS of the Southern Front G.Ya. Sokolnikov, with the consent of some members of the RVS of the Ukrfront, brought before the Chairman of the RVS of the Republic L.D. Trotsky questioned the removal of Makhno from command.
On April 25, the Kharkov Izvestia published an article “Down with Makhnovshchina,” which said: “The insurgent movement of the peasantry accidentally fell under the leadership of Makhno and his “Military Revolutionary Headquarters,” in which both the reckless anarchists and the White-Left Socialist Revolutionaries found refuge. and other remnants of “former” revolutionary parties that disintegrated. Having fallen under the leadership of such elements, the movement significantly lost strength; the successes associated with its rise could not be consolidated by the anarchic nature of its actions... The outrages that are happening 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 some of the commissars, deciding that the Bolsheviks were preparing an attack on the Makhnovists: “Let the Bolsheviks sit with us, just as our Cheka sits in the Cheka’s dungeons.”

The conflict was resolved during negotiations between Makhno and the commander of the Ukrainian Front V.A. Antonova-Ovseenko. Makhno even condemned the most harsh provisions of the resolutions of the Congress of Soviets of the region and promised to prevent the election of command personnel, which (apparently due to the contagiousness of the example) was so feared in 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 old man 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.) strives to prevent civil strife between the various elements of this revolutionary front."

On May 1, the brigade was withdrawn from the subordination of the P.E. division. Dybenko and subordinated 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 Makhno’s brigade and several regiments that were significantly inferior to it in numbers.

Ataman N.A. provided a new reason for increasing mutual distrust. Grigoriev, who started a rebellion on the right bank of Ukraine on May 6. On May 12, under the chairmanship of Makhno, a “military congress” convened, that is, a meeting of the command staff, representatives of units and the political leadership of the Makhnovist movement. Makhno and the congress condemned N.A.’s speech. Grigoriev, but also expressed criticism towards the Bolsheviks, who provoked the uprising with their policies. The “Military Congress” proclaimed the reorganization of the 3rd Brigade into the 1st Insurgent Division under the command of Makhno.
The reason for a new aggravation of relations with the communists was the deployment of the 3rd brigade to the division. The paradoxical situation, when the brigade made up the majority 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 first agreed to the 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 of a new Grigorievshchina.” On May 25, at a meeting of the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense of Ukraine, chaired by Kh. Rakovsky, the issue of “Makhnovshchina and its liquidation” was discussed. It was decided to “liquidate Makhno” with the help of the regiment.

Having learned about the intentions of the command, Makhno announced on May 28, 1919 that he was ready to resign his powers, since “he never aspired to high ranks” and “will do more in the future among the grassroots of the people for the revolution.” But on May 29, 1919, the headquarters of the Makhnov division decided: “1) urgently invite Comrade Makhno to remain in his duties and powers, which Comrade Makhno tried to relinquish; 2) transform all Makhnovist forces into an independent rebel 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 decided on May 29, 1919 to arrest Makhno and bring him before the Revolutionary Tribunal. Makhno did not accept the title of army commander and continued to consider himself a division commander.

This was announced when the Southern Front itself began to fall apart under the blows of Denikin. The Makhnovist headquarters called for the restoration of unity: “There is a need for cohesion, unity. Only with a common effort and consciousness, with a common understanding of our struggle and our common interests, for which we are fighting, we will save the revolution... Give up, comrades, all sorts of party differences, they will destroy you.”

On May 31, the VRS announced the convening of the IV Congress of 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, gave the order to begin 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 offered to “send a good military leader who, having familiarized himself with the matter on the spot with me, 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: “What I noted was hostile, but lately the offensive behavior of the central government towards insurrection leads with fatal inevitability to the creation of a special internal front, on both sides of which there will be a working mass who believes in the revolution. I consider this the greatest, never forgivable crime against the working people and I consider myself obligated to do everything possible to prevent this crime... Most the right remedy preventing the crime impending on the part of the authorities, I consider my resignation from my post.”
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, with a small detachment, he left the front. 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 verdict of the Donbass revolutionary tribunal. The chief of staff of Ozerov continued to fight with the whites, but on August 2, according to the verdict of the VUCHK, he was shot. Makhno gave out cash 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 friend for many years.

Makhno tried to stay away from the front rear so as not to contribute to the successes of the Whites. Makhno's detachment attacked Elisavetgrad on July 10, 1919. On July 11, 1919, the Makhnovists united with the detachment of the nationalist ataman N.A. Grigorieva. 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. Disagreements arose between the Makhnovists and the Grigorievites in connection with N.A.’s anti-Semitism. Grigoriev and his reluctance to fight against the Whites. July 27 N.A. Grigoriev was killed by the Makhnovists. Makhno sent a telegram on air: “Everyone, everyone, everyone. Copy - Moscow, Kremlin. We killed the famous ataman Grigoriev. Signed - Makhno."

Under pressure from Denikin, the Red Army was forced to retreat from Ukraine. The former Makhnovists, who found themselves under the command of the Bolsheviks in June, did not want to go to 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. On September 1, 1919, at a meeting of army command staff in the village. The “Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine (Makhnovists)” was proclaimed in Dobrovelichkovka, a new Revolutionary Military Council and army headquarters headed by Army Commander Makhno were elected.
The superior forces of the Whites pushed the Makhnovists back near 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 white army advanced across the vast expanses of Russia and Ukraine towards Moscow and Kyiv. The officers peered into the horizon. A few more victorious battles, and Moscow will greet its liberators with the 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, Makhno’s gang and, if possible, the Ukrainian nationalist Petlyura, who was getting under the feet of Russian statehood. After the Whites drove the Reds out of Yekaterinoslav with a dashing raid and thereby overcame the Dnieper barrier, the cleansing of Ukraine seemed a done deal. But when the Whites entered the area where Makhno had gathered his forces in early September, difficulties arose. On September 6, the Makhnovists launched a counterattack near Pomoschnaya. They moved from all sides, and the discordant crowd just before the attack turned into a dense formation. The Whites fought back, but it turned out that Makhno at that time bypassed their positions and captured a convoy with ammunition. 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 a 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! Slashchev's units dispersed in different directions to drive the beast. The Simferopol White Regiment occupied Peregonovka. The trap slammed shut. General Sklyarov’s detachment entered Uman and began to wait for the “game” to be brought to him.

Meanwhile, the “game” itself drove the hunters. On September 26, a terrible roar was heard - the Makhnovists blew up their stock of mines, which were still difficult to carry with them. It was both a signal and a “psychic attack.” The cavalry and infantry rushed towards the whites, supported by many machine guns on carts. Denikin’s troops could not stand it and began to seek salvation on the heights, thereby opening the way for the Makhnovists to key crossings and forks in the roads. 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 ranks of the Lithuanian battalion and cut down those who did not have time to flee. This formidable force moved on, destroying the whites who got in their way. Having brought up their guns, the Makhnovists began to shoot the battle formations pressed against 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, loaded onto carts, moved deep into the rear of Denikin. Looking at this breakthrough, one of the surviving officers sadly said: “At that moment, great Russia lost the war.” He was not so far from the truth. Denikin’s rear was disorganized, and a Makhnovia hole formed in the center of the white “Dobrovoliya”. And then the news came - the same force struck the Bolsheviks almost at the very heart of their regime - on September 25, the Moscow City Committee was blown up communist party. The anarchists took revenge on the communists for Makhno’s comrades shot by the revolutionary tribunal. This was the third force of the Civil War, obeying its own will and its own logic.
Makhno's army burst into operational space behind Denikin's rear. Makhno, commanding the central column of rebels, occupied Aleksandrovsk and Gulyai-Polye in early October. In the area of Gulyai-Polye, Aleksandrovsk and Yekaterinoslav, a vast rebel zone arose, which absorbed part of the White forces during Denikin’s attack on Moscow.

In the Makhnovist 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 was completely defeated by rebel detachments,” but also criticized the communists, who “sent punitive detachments to “suppress the counter-revolution” and thereby 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 on the part of the Mensheviks,” whom, like the Socialist Revolutionaries, he called “political charlatans” and called for “no mercy” for them and “drive them out.” After this, some of the working delegates left the congress. Makhno responded by saying that he did not “brand” all workers, but only “charlatans.” On November 1, he appeared in the newspaper “Path to Freedom” with the article “It cannot be otherwise”: “Is it acceptable that the workers of the city of Aleksandrovsk and its surroundings, in the person of their delegates - the Mensheviks and right Socialist Revolutionaries - on a free business worker-peasant and At the rebel congress they held opposition to the Denikin founders?

October 28 - December 19 (with a break of 4 days) the Makhnovists held large city Ekaterinoslav. Enterprises were transferred into the hands of those who work for them. On October 15, 1919, Makhno addressed the railway workers: “In order to quickly restore normal railway traffic in the area we liberated, as well as based on the principle of establishing a free life by the workers and peasant organizations themselves and their associations, I propose that comrades railway workers and employees energetically organize and establish the movement itself, setting a sufficient payment for passengers and cargo, except for military personnel, as a reward for its work, 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 regiment commander M. Polonsky was arrested by counterintelligence on charges of preparing a conspiracy and poisoning of Makhno. On December 2, 1919, the accused were shot. In December 1919, the Makhnovist army was disorganized by a typhus epidemic, then Makhno also fell ill.

Having retreated from Yekaterinoslav under the onslaught of the Whites, Makhno with the main forces of the army retreated to Aleksandrovsk. On January 5, 1920, units of the 45th division of the Red Army arrived here. At negotiations with representatives of the red command, Makhno and representatives of his headquarters demanded that they be allocated a section of the front to fight the whites and maintain control over their area. Makhno and his staff insisted on concluding a formal agreement with the Soviet leadership. January 6, 1920 Commander of the 14th I.P. Uborevich ordered Makhno to advance to the Polish front. Without waiting for an answer, the All-Ukrainian Revolutionary Committee declared Makhno outlawed on January 9, 1920, under the pretext of his failure to comply with the order to go to the Polish front. The Reds attacked Makhno's headquarters in Aleksandrovsk, but he managed to escape to Gulyai-Polye on January 10, 1920.
At a meeting of command staff in Gulyai-Polye on January 11, 1920, it was decided to grant the rebels a month's leave. Makhno declared his readiness to “go hand in hand” with the Red Army while maintaining independence. At this time, more than two Red divisions 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 involved in supplies in the Makhnovist army, was captured. Makhno went into hiding during his illness.

After Makhno's recovery in February 1920, the Makhnovists resumed hostilities against the Reds. In winter and spring, a grueling guerrilla 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 spoke openly 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 Chief of Staff V.F. Belash, commanders Kalashnikov, Kurylenko and Karetnikov. The name SRPU emphasized that we are not talking about the RVS, usual for a civil war, but about a “nomadic” government body of the Makhnovist republic.

Wrangel’s attempts to establish an alliance with Makhno ended in the execution of the White emissary by decision of the SRPU and the Makhnovist headquarters 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 overall command of Makhno numbered more than 10 thousand soldiers. On July 11, 1920, Makhno’s army began a raid outside its region, 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).

In the conditions of Wrangel’s offensive, when the Whites occupied Gulyai-Polye, Makhno and his Socialist Party of Ukraine were not against concluding 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, called on them to stop hostilities against the Bolsheviks: “by remaining indifferent spectators, the Ukrainian rebels would help the reign in Ukraine of either the historical enemy - the Polish lord, or again royal power headed by a German baron." On October 2, an agreement was signed between the government of the Ukrainian SSR and the Socialist Party of Ukraine (Makhnovists). In accordance with the agreement between the Makhnovists and the Red Army, hostilities ceased, an amnesty was declared in Ukraine for anarchists and Makhnovists, they received the right to propagate their ideas without calling for the violent overthrow of the Soviet government, to participate in councils and in elections to the V Congress of Councils scheduled for December. The parties mutually agreed not to accept deserters. The Makhnovist army came under operational subordination to the Soviet command with the condition that it “preserved the previously established routine within itself.”
Acting together with the Red Army, on October 26, 1920, the Makhnovists liberated Gulyai-Polye, where Makhno was stationed, from the Whites. The best forces of the Makhnovists (2,400 sabers, 1,900 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-Polye) 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 dealt to his forces in Gulyai-Polye. Southern Front of the Red Army under the command of M.V. Frunze, relying on his multiple superiority in forces, managed to encircle Makhno in Andreevka near the Sea of Azov, 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. On March 13, 1921, Makhno was again seriously wounded in the leg.

On May 22, 1921, Makhno moved to a new raid to the north. Despite the fact that the headquarters of the unified 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. At the end of June - beginning of July M.V. Frunze inflicted a sensitive defeat on the Makhnovist strike group in the area of the Sulla and Psel rivers. After the announcement of the NEP, peasant support for the rebels weakened. On July 16, 1921, Makhno, at a meeting in Isaevka near Taganrog, proposed that his army make its way to Galicia to raise an uprising there. But disagreements arose over what to do next, and only a minority of fighters followed Makhno.

Makhno with a small detachment broke through all of Ukraine to the Romanian border and on August 28, 1921 crossed the Dniester into 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. On April 12, 1922, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee declared 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 accused of 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 comrades were acquitted by the court. In 1924, Makhno moved to Danzig, where he was again arrested in connection with the killings 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 brochures devoted to 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 absence of his own organization capable of opposing its living forces 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 a draft “Organizational Platform of the General Union of Anarchists,” which proposed to unite the anarchists of the world on the basis of discipline, combining anarchist principles of self-government with institutions where “leading positions in the economic and social life of the country” are preserved. Supporters of the "Platform" held a conference in March 1927, which began to create the International Anarcho-Communist Federation. Makhno entered the secretariat to convene its congress. But soon leading anarchist theorists criticized the Platform project as too authoritarian and contrary to the principles of the anarchist movement. Desperate to come to an agreement with the anarchists, in 1931 Arshinov switched to the position of Bolshevism, and the idea of “platformism” failed. Makhno did not forgive his old comrade for this renegade.
Peculiar political testament Makhno became his 1931 letter to the Spanish anarchists J. Carbo and A. Pestaña, in which he warned them against an alliance with the communists during the revolution that had begun in Spain. Makhno warns his Spanish comrades: “Having experienced relative freedom, the anarchists, like ordinary people, became carried away by free speech.”

Makhno with his daughter.

Since 1929, Makhno’s tuberculosis worsened; he took part in public activities less and less, but continued to work on his memoirs. The first volume was published in 1929, the other two were published posthumously. There he outlined his views on the future anarchist system: “I thought of such a system only in the form of a free Soviet system, in which the entire country is covered by local, completely free and independent social self-government of workers.”

At the beginning of 1934, Makhno’s tuberculosis worsened and he was admitted to the hospital. He died in July.

Makhno's ashes were buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery next to the graves of the Parisian communards. Two years after his death, the black banner of anarchy, which had fallen from Makhno’s hands, would again develop next to 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.

On November 7 (October 26), 1888, 130 years ago, Nestor Ivanovich Makhno was born - one of the most controversial and controversial figures during the Civil War. For some, a ruthless bandit, for others, a fearless peasant leader, Nestor Makhno most fully personified that terrible era.

Today Gulyaipole is a small town in the Zaporozhye region of Ukraine, but at that time, which will be discussed below, it was still a village, albeit a large one. Founded in the 1770s to defend against attacks by the Crimean Khanate, Gulyaypole developed rapidly. Inhabited Gulyaypole different people- Little Russians, Poles, Jews, Greeks. The father of the future leader of the anarchists, Ivan Rodionovich Makhno, came from enslaved Cossacks and worked as a shepherd for different owners. Ivan Makhno and his wife Evdokia Matveevna, nee Perederiy, had six children - daughter Elena and sons Polikarp, Savely, Emelyan, Grigory and Nestor. The family lived very poorly, and next year after the birth of Nestor, in 1889, Ivan Makhno died.

Nestor Makhno's childhood and adolescence were spent in deep poverty, if not destitution. Since they fell during the heyday of revolutionary sentiment in Russia, revolutionary propaganda was based on natural dissatisfaction with one’s social situation and the established order of things.

In Gulyai-Polye, like in many other settlements of Little Russia, its own circle of anarchists appeared. It was headed by two people - Voldemar Anthony, a Czech by birth, and Alexander Semenyuta. Both of them were slightly older than Nestor - Anthony was born in 1886, and Semenyuta in 1883. The life experience of both “founding fathers” of Gulyai-Polye anarchism was then better than that of young Makhno. Anthony managed to work in the factories of Yekaterinoslav, and Semenyuta managed to desert from the army. They created the Union of Poor Grain Growers in Gulyai-Polye, an underground group that proclaimed themselves anarchist-communists. The group eventually included about 50 people, among whom was the unremarkable peasant boy Nestor Makhno.
The activities of the Union of Poor Grain Growers - Gulyai-Polye peasant group of anarchist-communists occurred in 1906-1908. These were the “peak” years for Russian anarchism. Gulyai-Polye anarchists followed the example of other similar groups - they were engaged not only in propaganda among peasant and artisan youth, but also in expropriations. This activity brought Makhno, as they would say now, “under investigation.”

At the end of 1906, he was arrested for the first time - for illegal possession of weapons, and on October 5, 1907, he was detained again - this time for a serious crime - an attempt on the life of village guards Bykov and Zakharov. After spending some time in the Aleksandrovsk district prison, Nestor was released. However, on August 26, 1908, Nestor Makhno was arrested for the third time. He was accused of murdering an official of the military administration and on March 22, 1910, Nestor Makhno was sentenced to death by the Odessa military court.

If Nestor had been a little older at the time of the crime, he could have been executed. But since Makhno committed a crime while a minor, his death penalty was replaced with indefinite hard labor and in 1911 he was transferred to the convict department of Butyrka prison in Moscow.
The years spent on the “krytka” became real for Makhno life university.

It was in prison that Nestor began to seriously engage in self-education under the guidance of his cellmate, the famous anarchist Pyotr Arshinov. This moment is shown in the famous series “The Nine Lives of Nestor Makhno,” but only there Arshinov is depicted as an elderly man. In fact, Pyotr Arshinov was almost the same age as Nestor Makhno - he was born in 1886, but despite his working-class origin, he knew literacy, history, and the theory of anarchism well. However, while studying, Makhno did not forget about the protests - he regularly clashed with the prison administration, ended up in a punishment cell, where he contracted pulmonary tuberculosis. This illness tormented him for the rest of his life.

Nestor Makhno spent six years in Butyrka prison before being released due to the general amnesty of political prisoners that followed the February Revolution of 1917. Actually, the February Revolution opened the path to all-Russian glory for Nestor Makhno. Three weeks after his release, he returned to his native Gulyai-Polye, from where the gendarmes took him away as a 20-year-old boy, already an adult man with a nine-year prison sentence behind him. The poor greeted Nestor warmly - he was one of the few surviving members of the Union of Poor Grain Growers. Already on March 29, Nestor Makhno headed the steering committee of the Gulyai-Polye Peasant Union, and then became chairman of the Council of Peasants and Soldiers' Deputies.

Quite quickly, Nestor managed to create a combat-ready detachment of young anarchists, who began expropriating the property of wealthy fellow villagers. In September 1917, Makhno carried out the confiscation and nationalization of landowners' lands. However, on January 27 (February 9), 1918, in Brest-Litovsk, the delegation of the Ukrainian Central Rada signed a separate peace with Germany and Austria-Hungary, after which it turned to them for help in the fight against the revolution. Soon, German and Austro-Hungarian troops appeared on the territory of the Yekaterinoslav region.

Realizing that the anarchists from the Gulyai-Polye detachment would not be able to resist the regular armies, Makhno retreated to the territory of the modern Rostov region - to Taganrog. Here he disbanded his detachment, and he himself went on a trip around Russia, visiting Rostov-on-Don, Saratov, Tambov and Moscow. In the capital, Makhno held several meetings with prominent anarchist ideologists - Alexei Borov, Lev Cherny, Judas Grossman, and also met, which was even more important for him, with government leaders Soviet Russia– Yakov Sverdlov, Leon Trotsky and Vladimir Lenin himself. Apparently, even then the Bolshevik leadership understood that Makhno was far from being as simple as he seemed. Otherwise, Yakov Sverdlov would not have organized his meeting with Lenin.

It was with the assistance of the Bolsheviks that Nestor Makhno returned to Ukraine, where he began organizing partisan resistance to the Austro-German interventionists and the Central Rada regime they supported. Quite quickly, Nestor Makhno from the leader of a small partisan detachment turned into the commander of an entire rebel army. Makhno’s formation was joined by detachments of other anarchist field commanders, including the detachment of Feodosius Shchus, an equally popular anarchist “father” at that time, a former naval sailor, and the detachment of Viktor Belash, a professional revolutionary, leader of the Novospasovskaya group of anarchist-communists.

At first, the Makhnovists acted using partisan methods. They attacked Austrian patrols, small detachments of the Hetman Warta, and plundered landowners' estates. By November 1918, the size of Makhno's rebel army had already reached 6 thousand people, which allowed the anarchists to act more decisively. In addition, in November 1918, the monarchy fell in Germany, and the withdrawal of occupation troops from the territory of Ukraine began. In turn, the regime of Hetman Skoropadsky, which relied on Austrian and German bayonets, was in a state of complete decline. Having lost external support, the members of the Central Rada did not know what to do. Nestor Makhno took advantage of this and established control over the Gulyai-Polye district.

The size of the rebel army by the beginning of 1919 was already about 50 thousand people. The Bolsheviks hastened to conclude an agreement with the Makhnovists, who needed such a powerful ally in the context of the activation of the troops of General A.I. Denikin on the Don and the Petliurists’ offensive in Ukraine. In mid-February 1919, Makhno signed an agreement with the Bolsheviks, according to which, from February 21, 1919, the rebel army became part of the 1st Trans-Dnieper Ukrainian Soviet Division of the Ukrainian Front in the status of the 3rd Trans-Dnieper Brigade. At the same time, the Makhnovist army retained internal autonomy - this was one of the main conditions for cooperation with the Bolsheviks.

However, Makhno’s relationship with the Reds did not work out. When the Whites broke through the defenses and invaded the Donbass in May 1919, Leon Trotsky declared Makhno an “outlaw.” This decision put an end to the alliance of the Bolsheviks and Gulyai-Polye anarchists. In mid-July 1919, Makhno headed the Revolutionary Military Council of the united Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine (RPAU), and when his competitor and opponent Ataman Grigoriev was killed, he took over the post of commander-in-chief of the RPAU.

Throughout 1919, Makhno’s army fought against both the Whites and the Petliurists. On September 1, 1919, Makhno proclaimed the creation of the “Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine (Makhnovists),” and when Ekaterinoslav was occupied with it, Makhno began building an anarchist republic. Of course, it is unlikely that Father Makhno’s experiment can be called successful from a socio-economic point of view - in the conditions of the Civil War, continuous hostilities against several opponents, it was very difficult to resolve any economic issues.

But nevertheless, social experiment Makhnovists became one of the few attempts to “materialize” the anarchist idea of a powerless society. In fact, of course there was power in Gulyai-Polye. And this power was no less harsh than the tsarist or Bolshevik - in fact, Nestor Makhno was a dictator who had extraordinary powers and was free to do as he wanted at a particular moment. Probably, it was impossible to do otherwise under those conditions. Makhno tried his best. maintain discipline - he harshly punished his subordinates for both looting and anti-Semitism, although in some cases he could easily hand over estates to be plundered by his soldiers.

The Bolsheviks managed to take advantage of the Makhnovists once again - during the liberation of the Crimean Peninsula from the Whites. By agreement with the Reds, Makhno sent up to 2.5 thousand of his soldiers under the command of Semyon Karetnik, one of his closest associates, to storm Perekop. But as soon as the Makhnovists helped the Reds break into Crimea, the Bolshevik leadership quickly decided to get rid of their dangerous allies. Machine gun fire was opened on Karetnik’s detachment, only 250 soldiers managed to survive, who returned to Gulyai-Polye and told the old man about everything. Soon the command of the Red Army demanded that Makhno redeploy his army to South Caucasus, but the old man did not obey this order and began a retreat from Gulyai-Polye.

On August 28, 1921, Nestor Makhno, accompanied by a detachment of 78 people, crossed the border with Romania in the Yampol region. All Makhnovists were immediately disarmed by the Romanian authorities and placed in a special camp. The Soviet leadership at this time unsuccessfully demanded that Bucharest hand over Makhno and his associates. While the Romanians were negotiating with Moscow, Makhno, along with his wife Galina and 17 comrades, managed to escape to neighboring Poland. Here they also ended up in an internment camp and met with a very unfriendly attitude from the Polish leadership. Only in 1924, thanks to the connections of Russian anarchists living abroad at that time, Nestor Makhno and his wife received permission to travel to neighboring Germany.

In April 1925, they settled in Paris, in the apartment of the artist Jean (Ivan) Lebedev, a Russian emigrant and active participant in the Russian and French anarchist movement. While living with Lebedev, Makhno mastered the simple craft of weaving slippers and began to make a living from it. Yesterday's rebel commander, who kept all of Little Russia and Novorossia in fear, lived practically in poverty, barely earning a living. Nestor continued to be tormented by a serious illness - tuberculosis. Numerous wounds received during the Civil War also made themselves felt.

But, despite his state of health, Nestor Makhno continued to maintain connections with local anarchists and regularly participated in the events of French anarchist organizations, including May Day demonstrations. It is known that when the anarchist movement intensified in Spain in the early 1930s, Spanish revolutionaries called Makhno to come and become one of the leaders. But his health no longer allowed the Gulyai-Polye dad to take up arms again.

On July 6 (according to other sources - July 25), 1934, Nestor Makhno died in a Paris hospital from bone tuberculosis. On July 28, 1934, his body was cremated, and the urn with his ashes was walled up in the wall of the columbarium of the Père Lachaise cemetery. His wife Galina and daughter Elena subsequently returned to Soviet Union, lived in Dzhambul, Kazakh SSR. Nestor Makhno's daughter Elena Mikhnenko died in 1992.

MAKHNO, NESTOR IVANOVYCH(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. Gulyaypole, Aleksandrovsky district, Ekaterinoslav 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 work as a shepherd for rich farmers; later he worked as a laborer for landowners and German colonists. From 1904 he worked as a laborer at an iron foundry in Gulyai-Polye; played in the factory theater group. In the fall of 1906 he joined the anarchists and joined the youth branch of the Ukrainian group of anarchist-communists (grain volunteers). Participant in several gang attacks and terrorist attacks; was arrested twice. Accused of the murder of an official of the local military government, he was sentenced in 1910 to death by hanging, commuted to hard labor due to his minority at the time of the crime (1908). While in the Butyrka convict prison, he was engaged in self-education; regularly came into conflict with the prison administration.

(15) March 1917, after the February Revolution, he was released and left for Gulyai-Polye. Participated in the re-establishment of the Peasant Union; in April 1917 he was unanimously elected chairman of his local committee. He advocated ending the war and transferring land for use to peasants without 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 commissar of the Gulyai-Polye region. Delegate to the Ekaterinoslav Congress of Soviets of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Deputies (August 1917); supported his decision to reorganize all branches of the Peasant Union into peasant councils. He strongly condemned the anti-government rebellion of General L.G. Kornilov and headed the local Committee for the Defense of the Revolution. He opposed the Provisional Government and rejected the idea of convening a Constituent Assembly. In August-October, he carried out the confiscation of landowners' lands in the Aleksandrovsky district, which were transferred to the jurisdiction of land committees; transferred control over enterprises into the hands of workers.

He accepted the October Revolution ambiguously: on the one hand, he welcomed the destruction 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 Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. After the German occupation of Ukraine, in April 1918 he created a rebel detachment (free Gulyai-Polye battalion) in the Gulyai-Polye region, which waged a guerrilla war with German and Ukrainian government units; In retaliation, the authorities killed his older brother and burned 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 anarchist leaders and 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 economies and landowners' estates, dealt with the occupiers and hetman officers, and at the same time forbade robbing peasants and organizing Jewish pogroms.

The invasion of Denikin’s troops into the territory of Ukraine in January-February 1919 created an immediate threat to Gulyai-Polye, which forced Makhno to agree to the operational subordination of his units to the Red Army as the 3rd separate brigade of the Trans-Dnieper 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’s troops and fled with the remnants of his brigade to Gulyai-Polye. On May 29, in response to the decision of the Workers' and Peasants' Defense Council of Ukraine to liquidate the Makhnovshchina, he broke the alliance with the Bolsheviks. In June, when the Whites, despite heroic defense, captured Gulyai-Polye, he took refuge in the surrounding forests. In July he teamed up with N.A. Grigoriev, a red commander who in May launched a rebellion against Soviet power; On July 27, he and his entire staff were shot; Some of the Grigorievites remained with the Makhnovists. In July-December 1919, at the head of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine (about 35 thousand people) he created, he waged a guerrilla war against Denikin’s followers. In September he again entered into an agreement with the Bolsheviks. On September 26, he broke through the White front and passed through the rear of the Volunteer Army, capturing Gulyaypole, Berdyansk, Nikopol, Melitopol and Yekaterinoslav; in the occupied territories he organized communes, trade unions, a system of assistance to those in need, and tried to restore production and trade. Your actions helped a lot Soviet troops at the height of Denikin’s offensive on Moscow (for which he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner): the White command, trying to eliminate the threat to its rear, was forced to transfer the 2nd Army Corps from the Moscow direction to the south, which only managed to drive the Makhnovists out of Yekaterinoslav in December 1919.

After the Bolsheviks occupied southern Ukraine in January 1920, he entered into conflict with them, refusing to fight against the Poles. In January-September he fought against the Red Army, but in July he rejected Wrangel’s proposal for joint action. When the White troops captured the main areas under his control at the end of September 1920, he again reconciled with the Soviets, signing an agreement on military cooperation with the command of the Southern Front in October. His troops took part in the defeat of the Whites in Northern Tavria at the end of October - beginning of November 1920, in the crossing of Sivash and the assault on Perekop on November 7–12, 1920.

At the end of the Crimean campaign, he rejected the demand of the Soviet military command to include the Makhnovists in the Red Army. In response, at the end of November - beginning of December 1919, the Bolsheviks carried out military operations to eliminate his formations in the Crimea and in the Gulyai-Polye region. However, N.I. Makhno managed to form a new army (up to 15 thousand). In January-August 1920 he waged a partisan war with the Reds; made a deep raid throughout Ukraine. At the end of August, his troops, having suffered heavy losses, were pressed against the Dniester near Yampol; Makhno himself, at the head of fifty horsemen, crossed to the Romanian coast on August 26.

In 1922 he left for Poland, where he was arrested on suspicion of anti-Polish activities. In 1923 he was able to move to France. He worked in a printing house, a film studio, and a shoe shop. He continued to promote anarchist ideas in the press and in public speeches. He was often and seriously ill. Died of tuberculosis in Paris on July 6, 1934; buried in Père Lachaise cemetery.

Ivan Krivushin