Anarchism in Armenia emerged as part of theArmenian national liberation movement, with its roots in various heretical Christian sects that practiced in the region.[1] It took on an organized form with the establishment of theArmenian Revolutionary Federation in 1890, before being suppressed by the various empires and authoritarian regimes that ruled over Armenia during the 20th century. It eventually re-emerged in the 21st century, as part of the anti-establishment movement that spread throughout the country in the wake of its independence.
Until the 3rd century, Armenia was predominantlyZoroastrian, as the rulingArsacid dynasty had itself been founded by a Zoroastrian priest.[2]Christianity was first brought to Armenia by early Christians fleeing persecution. Monastic communities likeGeghard were established by these Christians, who found safe haven in the mountains. But these first Armenian Christians were also persecuted by the Arsacids. This was until 301, when theKingdom of Armenia became the first country to convert toChristianity, in a process spearheaded byGregory the Illuminator.[3]
The establishment of theArmenian Apostolic Church as the institutional arm of the newstate religion and the construction of the feudalNakharar system began to concentrate vast amounts of territory in the hands of the clergy and the nobility. As Armenian peasants were subjected to increasingly restricted conditions, there were a number of anti-feudal uprisings by dissident Christian movements in the country, particularly theBorborites,Messalians,Paulicianists andTondrakians.
With thepeace of Acilisene,Western Armenia was conquered by theByzantine Empire in 387.Eastern Armenia remained an independent kingdom until 428, when the localnobility overthrew kingArtaxias IV and theSasanian Empire installedVeh Mihr Shapur in his place asgovernor. Thenakharars saw their feudal power restricted in Western Armenia, leading to an insurrection against the Byzantine empire. In the East they mostly maintained their rights, untilPeroz I attempted to forcibly reconvert the country to Zoroastrianism. This ignited a guerilla war against Sassanid rule, led byVartan Mamikonian, resulting in the successful ratification of thetreaty of Nvarsak, which granted greater autonomy to thenakharar.[4]
Shortly after theMuslim conquest of Armenia,Constantine-Silvanus was inspired by thegospel andPauline epistles to found the Paulician movement,[5] anadoptionist Christian sect that rejected feudal land-ownership, social inequality and the superstitions ofthe church. From 660, workers, low clergy and smallholders throughout Armenia began to convert to Paulician Christianity.[6] But in 687, Silvanus was arrested by imperial authorities, tried for heresy andstoned to death.[5][7] The sect continued to grow in Armenian communities throughout the Byzantine Empire, but in the early 9th century they became subject to persecution by the empire.[8] By 843, over 100,000 Paulicians lost their lives and all of their property and lands were confiscated by the empire.[9] The Paulicians then fled to theEmirate of Armenia, where they built the cities ofAmara andTephrike, establishing an independent Paulician territory. However, their power was finally broken at theBattle of Bathys Ryax, where they experienced heavy casualties.[10] Many of the remaining Paulicians were resettled inThrace,[11] where their ideas spread across the Balkans and into Europe,[12] influencing the formation ofBogomilism andCatharism.[13][14] Others fled east toArminiya, where the movement evolved intoTondrakianism.[15]
In 884, theEmirate of Armenia was disestablished after a successful revolt byAshot I, who established the independent kingdom ofBagratid Armenia.[16] This allowed for the reinstitution of the feudalNakharar system and led to the founding of several other Armenian kingdoms and principalities, each with their own feudal hierarchies. Peasants (known asramiks) formed the lowest class in the economic stratum and largely busied themselves with raisinglivestock andfarming. Many of them did not own land, and lived as tenants and worked as hired hands or even slaves on the lands owned by wealthy feudal magnates. Peasants were forced to pay heavy taxes to the government and the Armenian Apostolic Church in addition to their feudal lords.[17]
These tensions ultimately culminated in a series of peasant revolts against these new feudal lords and landowners,[18] particularly inAyrarat andSyunik. These revolts were supported by theTondrakians, an anti-feudal, heretical Christian sect that had emerged fromPaulicianism. They advocated for the abolition of the Church and feudalism, instead supporting the property rights of peasants and equality between men and women. This attracted many of the Armenian lower classes to join the sect, forming their own communities along Tondrakian principles.
The peasant struggle eventually evolved into outright insurrection. When the feudalTatev Monastery took possession of its surrounding land and villages, the local peasants protested against it, leading to an open revolt against the feudal clergy. In 990, the revolt was put down by the King of Syunik, who razed the peasants' villages and dispersed its population throughout the country. After the suppression of the revolts, the Tondrakians suffered a brief decline, before experiencing a resurgence at the beginning of the 11th century. Tondrakian communities spread throughout Armenia, worrying the various rulers of the country. They experienced another brief resurgence following the fall of the Bagratid state, but were eventually eliminated by the Byzantines.
Armenia was subsequently ruled by a series of foreign powers, eventually leading to another partition of the country. In the 16th century,Western Armenia fell under the rule of theOttoman Empire andEastern Armenia became part of theSafavid Empire.
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In the late 17th century, theAge of Enlightenment took hold inEastern Armenia, with intellectuals spreading anti-feudal, democratic and revolutionary ideologies throughout the country. The most notable of these figures wasShahamir Shahamirian, a philosopher who rejected the monarchical order, considering obedience to rulers to be an insult to human intelligence. Instead he wanted to create a seculardemocratic system in Armenia, where all official posts (including the judiciary) were freely elected by popular vote. He wrote about his ideas of an independent Armenian nation in the bookSnare of Glory:
Every human being, whether Armenian or of some other race, whether man or woman, born in Armenia or brought there from another country, shall live in equality and shall be free in all their occupations. Nobody shall have the right to enslave another person and workers should be paid like in any other kind of job, as is laid down in Armenian legislation.[19]
After the Qajar defeat in theRusso-Persian War,Eastern Armenia was annexed into theRussian Empire and the Armenian national liberation movement began to forge ties with the nascent Russian Revolutionary movement. An influential figure during this period wasMikayel Nalbandian, an advocate of secularism and avocal critic of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Nalbandian became known for his efforts to create national literature, written in the modernArmenian language, which would reflect the social aspirations of the Armenian people.[20][21] He was also a staunch advocate ofland reform, arguing that "only the equal distribution of land could bring prosperity and happiness to the people."[22] His work also indirectly inspired anuprising in Western Armenia, which successfully forced Ottoman forces to withdraw from the region ofZeitun.[23] During his travels throughout Europe, he became an associate of the Russian anarchistMikhail Bakunin, the anti-serfdom activistNikolay Ogarev and the "father of Russian socialism"Alexander Herzen, with whom he participated in the foundation of the revolutionary organizationLand and Liberty and organized the distribution of theKolokol.[24] In 1862, Nalbandian returned toPetrograd, where he participated in the activities of Land and Liberty, before being arrested for incitinganti-Tsarist sentiment with his literature.[25] He was subsequently exiled toKamyshin,[26] where he died fromtuberculosis.[27]
Inspired by Nalbandian,[28] the Armenian anarchistChristapor Mikaelian took part in the foundation of theArmenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), a political organization made up of a broad coalition of anarchists, socialists and nationalists. The organization itself was decentralized, allowing local branches in the various partitions of Armenia to act independently in accordance with the needs of their locality. Its goal was the establishment of a libertarian socialist society in Armenia, one based on the principles offreedom of assembly,freedom of speech,freedom of religion andagrarian reform. Mikaelian himself was a former supporter of Bakunin and defended the ideas ofdirect action andself-government, encouraging the ARF to put these principles into practice in their activities.[29]
The ARF became a major political force in Armenian life. It was especially active in the Ottoman Empire, where it organized or participated in many revolutionary activities. The influence of the ARF led to the widespread adoption of anarchist ideals among Armenians in the empire, with roughly 70% of Ottoman state surveillance reports on the anarchist movement concentrating on the Armenians.[30] In 1894, the ARF took part in theSasun Resistance, supplying arms to the local population to help the people of Sasun defend themselves against the Hamidian purges.[31] It was around this time that the Armenian anarcho-communistAlexander Atabekian formed ties with the organization, publishing articles about the ARF's resistance to Ottoman persecution in the Armenian language anarchist periodicalHamayankh.[32]
To raise awareness of themassacres of 1895–96, members of the ARF led byPapken Siuni,occupied the Ottoman Bank on 26 August 1896.[33] The purpose of the raid was to dictate the ARF's demands of reform in the Armenian populated areas of the Ottoman Empire and to attract European attention to their cause since the Europeans had many assets in the bank. The operation caught European attention but at the cost of more massacres by SultanAbdul Hamid II.[34] For his part, Alexander Atabekian attempted to raise awareness of the massacres by sending a declaration to theSocialist International, arguing that European states were directly participating in the crimes of the Sultan, and that the Armenian libertarians were declaring "the dawn of the social revolution" in response.[35]
On 30 March 1904, the ARF played a major role in theSecond Sasun Uprising. The ARF sent arms andfedayi to defend the region for the second time.[31] Among the 500 fedayees participating in the resistance were famed figures such asKevork Chavush,Sepasdatsi Murad andHrayr Djoghk. Although they managed to hold off the Ottoman army for several months, despite their lack of fighters and firepower, Ottoman forces captured Sasun and massacred thousands of Armenians.[31]
In 1905, Christapor Mikaelian and other members of the ARF planned anassassination attempt against SultanAbdul Hamid II, in an act ofpropaganda of the deed.[36] Mikaelian himself was killed in an explosion during the planning stages, and the attempt itself failed after the explosive missed its target.[37] The Belgian anarchistEdward Joris was among those arrested and convicted for their part in the plot.[38]
Though theRussian Empire was initially sympathetic towards theArmenian Revolutionary Federation,[39] a Tsarist edict that brought all property of the Armenian Apostolic Church under imperial ownership saw resistance from the ARF, which dispatched militias and held mass demonstrations against the edict.[40] This led the federation to entirely break ties with the Tsarist authorities, engaging in acts of terrorism against the state and establishing separate institutions in Russian Armenia.[41]
In 1905, workers' strikes andpeasant uprisings began to break out across the empire. During this period, anarcho-communist ideas spread throughout theCaucasus. Caucasian anarchists organized armed workers' detachments, expropriating land and property from the wealthy classes, while they also established agricultural communes, self-managed workers' collectives and the country's firsttrade unions. In November 1905, a general strike was called inAlaverdi, becoming the largest strike in the history of the Caucasus and managing to force the bosses into conceding to their workers' demands. Armenian rail workers also went on strike, seizing control of the country's entire rail network and forming armed battalions for self-defense. TheImperial Russian Army eventually intervened, putting down theMoscow uprising, which led to the collapse of the workers' movement in Armenia.
When theArmenian-Tatar massacres broke out, the ARF held the Russian authorities responsible. On 11 May 1905, the Dashnak revolutionaryDrastamat Kanayan assassinated Russian governor generalMikhail Nakashidze, who was considered by the Armenian population as the main instigator of hate and confrontation between the Armenians and the Tatars.
The actions of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation had gone on to inspire theYoung Turks, who ignited arevolution that overthrew the absolutist regime of Abdul Hamid II, re-establishing the empire as aconstitutional monarchy. This act legalized the ARF, which gained seats in the new parliament, but greater Armenian autonomy was not achieved. In 1909, anOttoman counter-coup attempted to restore absolutist rule, carrying out amassacre inAdana[42] which resulted in the deaths of over 20,000 Armenians.[43][44] In the aftermath, the ARF cut ties with the Young Turks,[45] leading to further division between the Turks and Armenians of the empire.[46]
When aconstitutionalist revolt broke out against the absolutist rule of theQajar dynasty overIran, the Iranian branch of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation elected to participate. The ARF contributed to the military aspect of the struggle, sendingmilitias into Iran, led byYeprem Khan,Arshak Gavafian andKhetcho.[47] After thebombardment of the Majlis, the ARF militias rallied together with the Persian revolutionaries, eventually managing todeposeMohammad Ali Shah Qajar and re-establish theconstitution.[48]
In 1914, theOttoman Empire joined theCentral Powers, formallyentering intoWorld War I with asurprise attack on Russian positions in theBlack Sea. During its invasion into Russian and Iranian territories, the Ottomans carried out massacres on the local Armenian populations, escalating the violence into agenocide that ultimately resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1 million Armenians. Many of the leading figures in the Armenian Revolutionary Federation were among those that weredeported and murdered by the Ottoman authorities on April 24, 1915.[49] This led the ARF to coordinate theArmenian resistance, which had its epicenter in the city ofVan, where tens of thousands of Armenians successfullyresisted the genocidal ambitions of the local Ottoman authorities.[50] When the war drew to a close, many members of the Young Turks movement were assassinated by the ARF duringOperation Nemesis.[51][52]
After the disintegration of the Russian Empire during World War I and the subsequentrise to power of theBolsheviks, thetreaty of Brest-Litovsk permitted the reoccupation ofWestern Armenia by Ottoman forces, which began to encroach on Eastern Armenian territory. The Armenian Revolutionary Federation coordinated an armed resistance to the Ottomans,[53] which halted their advances atSardarabad,[54]Abaran andKarakilisa, thus securing theindependence of Armenia. TheDemocratic Republic of Armenia was subsequently established by the ARF, which began a period of reconstruction in the country.[53]
But this independence was short lived, as theRussian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic formed an alliance with the newly establishedRepublic of Turkey, with the intention of partitioning and occupying Armenia.[55] The ensuingTurkish–Armenian War devastated the Armenian Republic, forcing it to cede Western Armenia to Turkey.[56] Days after the signing of theTreaty of Alexandropol, the weakened republic in Eastern Armenia wasinvaded and occupied by the11th Soviet Red Army, which established theArmenian Soviet Socialist Republic in its place. The Armenian Revolutionary Federation was banned by the new Bolshevik authorities, which transformed Armenia into a one-party state and brought the country under theRed Terror.
In response to thestate terrorism perpetrated by theCheka, on February 13, 1921, the ARF led anuprising against Bolshevik rule. The rebel forces managed to liberate large swathes of the country, including the capital ofYerevan, and freed many Armenian revolutionaries from prison.[57] Battles continued to take place with the Red Army forces, which vastly outnumbered the ARF, eventually ending on April 2 with the recapture of Yerevan.[58] The ARF retreated into the mountains ofSyunik, where they proclaimed the independence of theRepublic of Mountainous Armenia, at a congress held on April 26 inTatev Monastery.[59] The Red Army responded by conducting a massive military operation into the mountains,[60] forcing the republic to capitulate and its leaders to flee intoIran on July 15.[61] In exile, the last remnants of the ARF lost any trace of their anarchist and socialist ideology, moving towards an explicitly nationalist andanti-communist party line.[62]
Due to the alienation that these heavy-handed repressions had caused in Armenia, theCouncil of People's Commissars appointed the Armenian BolshevikAlexander Miasnikian asChairman of the new Armenian Soviet government, under orders to moderate government policies andslow down the transition to socialism. One of Miasnikian's first decrees as chairman was to declareMountainous Karabakh to be a part of the Armenian SSR.[61] Despite initially promising to integrateNagorno-Karabakh into Armenia, theKavbiuro reversed its promise within days, establishing the territory as anautonomous oblast of theAzerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic.[63] This decision was ratified by thePeople's Commissariat for Nationalities underJoseph Stalin, later also transferring theNakhichevan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic to Azerbaijan.[64] TheArmenian Communist Party appealed this decision, as the two regions had been promised to the Armenian SSR during the Red Army invasion, but they were unsuccessful.[63] In 1925, Miasnikian died in a plane crash under suspicious circumstances.[65]
The Armenian SSR was thereafter brought into theTranscaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, one of the fourfounding republics that formed theSoviet Union. Throughout the 1920s, Armenia suffered through ananti-religious campaign during which church property was confiscated by the state and priests were harassed, briefly subsiding in order to ease relations with theArmenian diaspora.[66] In 1928, anew phase of religious persecution accelerated again, following the consolidation of power by Stalin.[67] This period ofideological repression in Armenia eventually evolved into targetedpolitical repression.
Just as the Armenian SSR was reinstated by theStalinist constitution, the country fell under theGreat Purge, during which thousands of Armenians were killed.[68][69]Armenian victims of the Great Purge included leaders of the clergy, prominent Bolshevik party officials (many accused ofTrotskyism) and former members of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, such as the anarchistAlexander Atabekian.
DuringWorld War II, the Soviet Union initiated a policy ofpopulation transfer of ethnic minorities. Tens of thousands of Armenians were deported to Siberia in the process,[70] followed by the further deportation of Armenians andHamshenis toCentral Asia.[71] Meanwhile, an estimated 300–500,000 Armenians were sent to fight on theEastern Front, almost half of whom did not return.[72] To revitalize the country's population, members of the Armenian diaspora were invited to repatriate the Armenian SSR, resulting in the resettlement of hundreds of thousands of Armenian immigrants throughout the country.[73][74] These immigrants soon fell victim to discrimination by the native population as well as the Soviet government, which targeted many for deportation to Siberia and Central Asia.[75] This went on until theKhrushchev Thaw, following thedeath of Stalin, during which the Armenian national identity was reaffirmed and the country went through a period ofde-Stalinization. On April 24, 1965,demonstrations in Yerevan marked the 50th anniversary since the beginning of the Armenian genocide, beginning the first steps in therecognition of the Armenian genocide. The Armenian soviet government responded with the construction of a memorial complex on the hill ofTsitsernakaberd.
Following the introduction ofglasnost andperestroika, many Hamshenis in Central Asia petitioned the government to allow their resettlement in Armenia, which the Soviet government rejected.[71] On February 20, 1988, the Supreme Soviet of theNagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast voted to unify with Armenia,[76] a decision that led to the beginning of theFirst Nagorno-Karabakh War. Escalating tensions between the Armenian SSR and the Soviet authorities culminated in adeclaration of State Sovereignty by the Armenian Supreme Soviet, followed by the1991 Armenian independence referendum, in which Armenians voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence.[77][78]
Following thedissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of theFirst Nagorno-Karabakh War, the right-wingRepublican Party of Armenia began to consolidate power as the country's ruling political party. When the republican-supportedRobert Kocharyan waselected asPresident of Armenia, he legalized the formerly bannedArmenian Revolutionary Federation,[79] which went on to form a coalition government with the republicans following the1999 parliamentary election. On October 27, 1999, theArmenian parliament shooting took place, in which the prime ministerVazgen Sargsyan and the speakerKaren Demirchyan were both killed in a terrorist attack led by the former ARF memberNairi Hunanyan.[80] This event led to a rise authoritarian rule by Kocharyan and the republican party.
In the 2000s, the anarchist movement re-emerged in Armenia, rising up in reaction to the restoration of the rites of thenobility and the Apostolic Church, as well as the resurgence of authoritarian governance. In 2003, a branch ofAutonomous Action was established in Armenia,[81] followed by the establishment of the Armenian Libertarian-Socialist Movement in 2007.[82] The rise of anti-establishment sentiment culminated in the2008 protest, in which people rose up against alleged electoral fraud after theelection of Kocharyan's successorSerzh Sargsyan as president. The demonstrations were violently dispersed and astate of emergency was invoked by the republican government, banning freedom of assembly and censoring the media, accelerating the violence which resulted in the deaths of 10 protesters.[83] Political repression in the country became so intense that many of the newly established anarchist groups were forced to dissolve themselves, including the Armenian branch of Autonomous Action, which fled into exile in Europe.[84] Furtherprotests in 2011 eventually provoked a number of reforms, including the reinstitution of freedom of assembly[85] and an amnesty for political prisoners.[86]
The anarchist movement subsequently re-organized itself, attendingMay Day protests as part of the "Left Alternative" organization,[87] as well as establishingautonomous social centers such as the DIY Club in Yerevan.[88] Animal rights activists staged "shut 'em down" events in cities throughout the country, during which meat and fur shops were closed down with glue and locks.[89] Anarchists participated in the2015 protests against a price hike on electricity rates,[90] they were violently repressed by police, but nevertheless managed to achieve the reversal of the price increase and the sale of the monopolistic electricity distributor.[91]
Anarcha-feminists responded to the2016 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict by denouncing the nationalism which drove the conflict, arguing that the conflict was used as a distraction by the authoritarian regimes in Armenia and Azerbaijan to justify the continued oppression of their own people. They claimed that the only way to achieve peace was through the destruction of the patriarchal and militarist systems that perpetuate war, by means of non-violent methods of collectivedirect action.[92] Furthermore, anarchists criticized the subsequentYerevan hostage crisis as a product of nationalism, misogyny and statism, seeing no point in participating in the solidarity protests, instead hoping for anti-government protests to develop a distinct element ofclass struggle.[93] Anarchists also described theVelvet revolution as mere "regime change", which changed little materially about the Armenian state. They analyzed how it would affect the country's alliance with Russia, as well as the potential for future clashes in Nagorno-Karabakh.[94]
With the outbreak of the2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, many anarchists from Armenia, Azerbaijan and other countries unequivocally condemned the war, adopting an anti-militarist stance and calling for peace.[95]
