Ida Mett | |
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אידא מאַט | |
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| Born | Ida Markovna Gilman 20 July [O.S. 7 July] 1901 |
| Died | 27 June 1973(1973-06-27) (aged 71) Paris, France |
| Other names | Ida Lazarévitch |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1924–1968 |
| Known for | Platformism |
| Movement | Anarcho-syndicalism |
| Spouse | Nicolas Lazarévitch |
| Children | 1 |
| Part ofa series on |
| Platformism |
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Ida Mett (1901–1973) was a Belarusiananarcho-syndicalist, physician and writer. Following her experiences in theRussian Revolution, she fled into exile in France, where she collaborated with other exiled revolutionary anarchists on theDelo Truda magazine and the constitution ofplatformism. She then went on to participate in the anarcho-syndicalist movements in Belgium, Spain and France, before repression by the fascist Vichy regime forced her to cease her activities. She spent the final decades of her life working as a nurse and publishing history books.
On 20 July [O.S. 7 July] 1901,[1] Ida Markovna Gilman was born into a family of cloth merchants,[2] in the predominantlyJewish town ofSmarhon, where she was exposed toradical ideas from a young age.[3] In the wake of theRussian Revolution, she moved to the Russian capital ofMoscow to study medicine[1] and became an active participant in theRussian anarchist movement.[3] In 1924, she was arrested on charges ofanti-Soviet agitation and deported fromRussia.[1]
She fled first toPoland and then toParis,[2] where she took the pen-name "Ida Mett" and co-edited the Russian anarchist magazineDelo Truda.[4] Through the magazine, she began to closely collaborate with the Ukrainian anarchistsPeter Arshinov andNestor Makhno, with whom she penned theOrganisational Platform of the General Union of Anarchists,[5] the founding document of the anarchist tendency known asplatformism.[6] Mett reported on the meetings in whichThe Platform was discussed, noting the objections ofFrench andChinese anarchists.[7] Mett herself defended the provisions inThe Platform for the "ideological direction of the masses", arguing it to be necessary for anarchists to make their ideas predominate within the workers' movement and distinguishing the tactic fromparty political aspirations to takestate power.[8] She was quickly struck by Makhno's oratory talents at these meetings,[9] and for three years, she helped edit his memoirs,[10] but would end up falling out with him over the process.[11] In 1928, she was expelled fromDelo Truda for herJewish religious practices, after she lit ayahrzeit candle for her recently deceased father.[2]
During this time, she had met the Belgian libertarianNicolas Lazarévitch, who became her husband.[12] Together they organised a series of anti-Bolshevik campaigns,[13] for which they were eventually expelled fromFrance and moved toBelgium.[14] It was at this time that she metBuenaventura Durruti andFrancisco Ascaso,[3] who invited her toCatalonia following theproclamation of theSpanish Republic.[14] Her son Marc was born that same year.[2]
Mett and her husband then returned clandestinely to France,[1] where she worked as the secretary of a gas workers' union. She also worked as a correspondent for theInternational Institute of Social History and returned to writing for the syndicalist newspaperLa Revolutión Proletarianne, although she eventually broke with the latter after it published an antisemitic article.[2]
Following theBattle of France in 1940, theFrench State interned Mett and her young son in theRieucros Camp, where they were detained for a year, until their release was secured by the French TrotskyistBoris Souvarine. They were subsequently reunited with Lazarevitch and moved toLa Garde-Freinet, near the southern coast of France. After the end ofWorld War II, Mett returned to work as a translator and also worked as a nurse at a Jewish children's hospital inBrunoy. However, she was never able to practise as a doctor, as her qualifications went unrecognised by the newFrench Republic.[1]
As theCold War began, Mett published a series of historical works about theSoviet Union, including: a book on the history of theKronstadt rebellion; a study of the Russianpeasantry before and after the revolution; a look at the developments ofcommunism following thedeath of Stalin; and a history of theSoviet education system. She also wrote a book on theSoviet healthcare system, in which she outlined the rise ofantisemitism in the Soviet Union.[2]
Mett also served as a key primary source for biographies on Nestor Makhno by Michael Malet,[15] Victor Peters,[16] andAlexandre Skirda.[17] In her own memoirs about Nestor Makhno, Mett described the exiled Ukrainian anarchist as incredulous and diffident towards many of his own friends, depicting within him ananti-intellectual streak andjealous temperament.[18] While she was sceptical of Makhno'sagrarian calls for "land and freedom", she declared "his social goodwill was sincere and above question", praising the political and strategic mind of who she called a "popular avenger".[19]
In her letters to the historian Victor Peters, Mett rejected the allegations that Makhno had been an antisemite.[20] She also disputedVolin's characterisation of Makhno as an alcoholic,[21] although Peters noted that Volin knew Makhno better than she did.[22] She put Volin's depiction of Makhno down to their political disagreements in exile, declaring that he "criticized Makhno when he had emigrated, whereas in Ukraine he would not have dared to open his mouth to express an opinion, if he had one."[23] Mett was also critical of Volin's history bookThe Unknown Revolution, which she maligned for having lifted much of its content from Arshinov's history of the Makhnovshchina while neglecting to include anything from Makhno's own memoirs, noting its lack of footnotes and dismissing the author's claims toimpartiality.[24]
Meanwhile, Mett depicted Makhno's widowHalyna Kuzmenko in a very negative light.[25] She alleged that Kuzmenko had attempted to kill her late husband, had an affair with Volin and that they together stole Makhno's diary while he was dying.[26] Mett also fabricated a story about Kuzmenko marrying a Nazi officer[27] and getting killed in an allied air raid on Berlin.[28] When pressed on these allegations by Makhno's biographerAlexandre Skirda, Mett failed to provide further details, leading him to dismiss them ashearsay.[29] Skirda was fiercely critical of Mett's memoirs on Makhno, which he described as amounting toslander, concluding that she "deserves to be assessed on other, more pertinent of her writings."[30] Despite her accusations, Mett would later uphold Kuzmenko as a "defender of women", due to her executions of rapists during theRussian Civil War.[31]
Mett and her husband later participated in the events ofMay 68, passing down the stories of their experiences to the next generation. Ida Mett died in Paris on 27 June 1973, at the age of 71.[3]
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