Anarchism in Ukraine has its roots in the democratic and egalitarian organization of theZaporozhian Cossacks, who inhabited the region up until the 18th century.Philosophical anarchism first emerged from theradical movement during theUkrainian national revival, finding a literary expression in the works ofMykhailo Drahomanov, who was himself inspired by thelibertarian socialism ofPierre-Joseph Proudhon. The spread ofpopulist ideas by theNarodniks also lay the groundwork for the adoption of anarchism by Ukraine's working classes, gaining notable circulation in theJewish communities of thePale of Settlement.
By the outbreak of the1905 Revolution, a specifically anarchist movement had risen to prominence in Ukraine. The ideas ofanarcho-communism,anarcho-syndicalism andindividualist anarchism all took root in Ukrainian revolutionary circles, with syndicalism itself developing a notably strong hold inOdesa, while acts of anarchist terrorism by cells such as theBlack Banner became more commonplace. After the revolution was suppressed, Ukrainian anarchism began to reorganize itself, culminating in the outburst following theFebruary Revolution, whenNestor Makhno returned to the country and began to organize among the peasantry.
Ukraine became a stronghold of anarchism during therevolutionary period, acting as a counterweight toUkrainian nationalism,Russian imperialism andBolshevism. TheRevolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine (RIAU), led by Makhno, carved out ananarchist territory in thesouth-east of the country, centered in the former cossack lands ofZaporizhzhia. By 1921, the Ukrainian anarchist movement was defeated by theBolsheviks, who established theUkrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in its place.
Anarchism experienced a brief resurgence in Ukraine during the time of theNew Economic Policy, but was again defeated following the rise oftotalitarianism under the rule ofJoseph Stalin. Further expressions of anarchism existed in the breach of Soviet Ukrainian history, before finally reemerging onto the public sphere following thedissolution of the Soviet Union. In the 21st century, the Ukrainian anarchist movement has experienced a resurgence, itself coming into conflict with the risingfar-right followingEuromaidan.
At the western-most point of theEurasian Steppe, the lands today known as Ukraine came under the control of a number of nomadic societies from the 5th century BCE. First came theIndo-EuropeanScythians andSarmatians, then theTurkicKhazars,Pechenegs andCumans, before themigration ofSlavs to the region. By the 9th century CE, these Slavs became known as theRus and had formed aloose federation of principalities, withKyiv as its center. The Rus wereconverted toOrthodox Christianity over the following century, before beinginvaded by theMongol Empire, which brought about the collapse of Kyivan rule. While ruled by theGolden Horde, the northern states under the rule ofMoscow became known as "Russia", while the southern borderlands came to be known as "Ukraine". After the fall of the Horde, Ukraine became a battleground between the competingPolish,Russian andOttoman Empires,[1] which brought about the development of a distinctUkrainian culture.[2]
By this time, theCossacks had emerged from the conflict, establishing themselves along the banks of theDon andDniepr rivers, where they practiced a form ofparticipatory democracy inpopular assemblies (Krugs) and elected their own military leaders (Atamans).[3] While other cossacks would end up pledging their loyalty to one state or another, theZaporozhian Cossacks in Ukraine were able to maintain their independence.[4] The Zaporozhians were made up of a broad mix of peoples, including those who had fled fromserfdom, who as "free Ukrainians" held their own land and were mobilized as part of the Zaporozhian host. The Ukrainian cossacks fought against the Poles, Russians and Ottomans alike, organized into decentralisedregiments (polks) andsquadrons (sotnias).[5] TheZaporozhian Sich was itself organized alongdemocratic andegalitarian lines, where military and civilian officials were alldirectly elected for one-year terms and subject toinstant recall by the assemblies, while its land was distributed equally among the people.[6]
Dedicated to the preservation of "Cossack freedoms",Stenka Razin led theDon Cossacks in an uprising against theTsarist autocracy in Russia and laterYemelyan Pugachev led theUral Cossacks in apeasants' revolt againstserfdom, but both of these rebellions were defeated.[4] The Cossack hosts were subsequently dissolved and inducted into theImperial Russian Army, in which they became loyal soldiers of theRussian Empire, going on to play a vital role in defeating theNapoleonic invasion of 1812 and later becoming thede facto police force in Russia.[7] Likewise, the Zaporozhian Sich was broken up and its people were forced into either serfdom or exile, with Ukraine being brought definitively under Russian imperial rule. Nevertheless, the tradition of the "libertarian-minded warrior-peasants" persisted, setting the groundwork for thelibertarian communist movement in Ukraine.[8]
Radicalism spread throughUkraine in the wake of theWar of 1812, as the rise in calls forabolition of theTsarist autocracy andserfdom led to the establishment of theSouthern Society of the Decembrists in 1821. Ukrainian Decembrists were more radical than theirnorthern counterparts, calling for the overthrow of the monarchy and its replacement with arevolutionary republic.[9] Following the death ofAlexander I, the Southern Society inKyiv staged arevolt against theRussian Empire, but it was suppressed.[10]
Radicalism was raised further during theUkrainian national revival, asBrotherhoods began to advocate forUkrainian autonomy and the replacement of the Empire with apan-Slavicfederation organized alongliberal democratic lines, withTaras Shevchenko even displaying revolutionary sentiments.[11] The Ukrainian intellectualhromadas, inspired byRussian populism, began toengage with the peasantry - leading to the rise ofagrarian socialist tendencies in Ukrainian radical circles.
The most prominent of thehromadas was the one in Kyiv, founded in 1859 by populist students of theLavrovist tendency, who emphasised the education of the peasantry and rejected revolutionary agitation. It was banned by 1863 but renewed its educational activities in 1869, spearheaded by a new generation of students led byVolodymyr Antonovych,Pavlo Chubynsky andMykhailo Drahomanov.[12] Continuing thedemocratic-federalist tradition from the Decembrists and the Brotherhoods, Mykhailo Drahomanov blended together elements fromliberal democracy,agrarian socialism andUkrainian nationalism, envisioning the final goal of the democratic-federalist movement to be the achievement ofanarchy, as inspired by theworks ofPierre-Joseph Proudhon. Having coined the slogan "Cosmopolitanism in the ideas and the ends,nationality in the ground and the forms," Drahomanov rejectedseparatism due to hisphilosophical anarchist opposition tonation states. Viewing national liberation as "inseparable from social emancipation", he instead encouraged for theHromada to concentrate on building a bottom-up form of democracy of small communities organized on a federative basis.[13]
In 1874, the Narodniks' "Going to the People" campaign culminated in a number of Ukrainian revolutionary anarchists (buntars), led byYakov Stefanovich, organizing a peasant revolt inChyhyryn, before being suppressed by Russian authorities.[14]Alexander II subsequently issued theEms Ukaz which banned the use of theUkrainian language, resulting in the repression of thehromadas and Drahomanov's flight into exile inGeneva,[12] where he established the Geneva Circle, the first Ukrainian socialist organisation. Drahomanov's socialist tendencies brought him into conflict with more moderate members of theHromada, as well as the "chauvinist" and "dictatorial" Russian revolutionaries, leaving him isolated from many of his contemporaries by 1886.[13] InGalicia, which Drahomanov had placed at the center of the Ukrainian national struggle due to itsconstitutionalism, Drahomanov's discipleIvan Franko found himself persecuted by theAustrian authorities and ostracised by localreligious conservatives, due to his staunchanti-clericalism.[13]
Nonetheless, in 1890 Franko was able to found theUkrainian Radical Party (URP), which engaged in a number of activities including the convocation ofpopular assemblies, the establishment ofcooperatives and the education of the peasantry. In 1895, members of the URP were elected to theGalician Diet and theAustrian parliament, by which point its party congresses were beginning to call for Ukrainian independence and endorsed a number of strikes by agricultural workers. Drahomanov's death that same year accelerated a split in the organization, between orthodox radicals that stayed loyal to Drahomanov's platform, youngersocial democrats that had gravitated towardsMarxism andnationalists who were no longer comfortable with the party's socialist line. By losing the latter two factions, the URP took on a definitively agrarian socialist platform and grew to become the second-largest of the Ukrainian political parties in Galicia.[15]
Ukrainian Jews in thePale of Settlement had been extended a number of rights during the reign ofAlexander II, but following hisassassination byPeople's Will, a wave ofpogroms broke out and the new government ofAlexander III implemented theMay Laws, which persecuted Jews living in the Pale.[16] In 1903, a strike inOdesa rapidly escalated into a nationwide Ukrainiangeneral strike, with the heavy industry centers ofKyiv,Kharkiv,Mykolaiv andKaterynoslav all experiencing mass industrial action.[17] TheMinister of InteriorVyacheslav von Plehve responded to the strike wave by propagating a number ofantisemitic andanti-communistconspiracy theories about the labour movement, which resulted in another wave ofpogroms breaking out in Ukraine.[18] The living conditions of Pale nourished the growth of the Ukrainian anarchist movement, which grew particularly strong in Jewish towns, where workers' circles began to educate themselves on a number of radical ideas. Dissatisfied with the existing socialist parties, activists of theGeneral Jewish Labour Bund,Socialist Revolutionary Party andRevolutionary Ukrainian Party all deserted party politics for anarchism.[19] TheBread and Freedom group inLondon organized the distribution of anarchist literature, including theYiddish language journalsArbeter Fraynd andGerminal, throughout much of the Pale, reaching as far as the anarchist groups in Odesa andNizhyn.[20]
Popular discontent with theTsarist autocracy eventually culminated in the1905 Revolution, during which much of the country rebelled against theRussian Empire, with ageneral strike in October successfully securingcivil liberties and theconstitution of theState Duma. But workers and peasants throughout the country, having not had any of their economic demands met, continued to openly revolt against the government.[21] During the suppression of the revolution in December, workers' uprisings broke out in Odesa, Kharkiv and Katerynoslav, but they were unsuccessful and the revolution was brought to an end.[22]
Juda Grossman described the rise of anarchist groups in the wake of the revolution as though they "sprang up like mushrooms after a rain".[23] Jewish anarchist groups sprouted up throughout many of the small towns in the Pale, while in the cities of Ukraine, the anarchist movement that had first appeared in Odesa and Katerynoslav had spread to Kyiv and Kharkiv.[24] InHuliaipole, theUnion of Poor Peasants was formed to carry outexpropriations against the rich, with a youngNestor Makhno joining the group and later being arrested and imprisoned for killing a police officer.[25] TheBlack Banner, a terrorist organization inspired by theinsurrectionary anarchism ofMikhail Bakunin, grew to include a large membership of Russians, Ukrainians and Jews.[26] In Katerynoslav, Odesa andSevastopol, the Black banner organized a number of detachments that carried out bombings on buildings, murdered and robbed rich people, and fought with the police in the streets. Even the merchant vessels that docked in Odesa's port became the target of expropriations.[27] At his trial, a member of the Odesa branch of the Black Banner explained their method of "motiveless terror":[28]
We recognize isolated expropriations only to acquire money for our revolutionary deeds. If we get the money, we do not kill the person we are expropriating. But this does not mean that he, the property owner, has bought us off. No! We will find him in the various cafes, restaurants, theaters, balls, concerts, and the like. Death to the bourgeois! Always, wherever he may be, he will be overtaken by an anarchist's bomb or bullet.
Although the terrorists within the Black Banner had been energised by their attacks in Odesa, a dissentingCommunard group had also emerged that called for the organization of a mass uprising, rather than individual acts ofpropaganda of the deed.[29] Anarchists in major cities began to shift their activities towards the distribution of propaganda, with the Kyiv Group of Anarchist-Communists pursuing a more moderate course, inspired by the works ofPeter Kropotkin.[30] Inspired by theirNarodnik predecessors, anarcho-communists from Odesa, Katerynoslav, Kyiv and Chernihiv "went to the people", distributing radical propaganda among the peasantry.[31] Their leafletHow the Peasants Succeed Without Authority depicted a communal village that lived without government and distributed its resources "from each according to their ability, to each according to their needs".[32] Members of Bread and Freedom denounced the "robber bands" of Odesa, comparing them to theItalian mafia and claiming that their terror campaign demoralized and discredited the movement. Nevertheless, the anarcho-communists continued to advocate for propaganda of the deed, even approving "defensive terror" against the police andBlack Hundreds, with a report from Odesa printed inBread and Freedom declaring that "only the enemies of the people can be enemies of terror!"[33]
Alongsideanarcho-communism, Ukrainian cities also saw the emergence of other anarchist tendencies, such asanarcho-syndicalism in Odesa andindividualist anarchism in Kyiv.[34] The anarcho-syndicalists of Odesa declared themselves in opposition to the terrorist tactics of the time, having experienced a number of them first-hand, instead advocating for the construction oflabor unions capable of radicalindustrial action.[35] However, the Odesa Anarcho-Syndicalists soon found themselves establishing their own "battle detachments" to carry out expropriations, using the stolen money to buy more weapons and fund the printing and distribution of their literature, even going on to establish a bomb laboratory.[36] The anarcho-syndicalist leaderDaniil Novomirskii justified this use of terrorism as having acted to benefit the movement "as a whole", which he distinguished from the unplanned "motiveless terror" of theNechayevshchina.[37] The Odesa Anarcho-Syndicalists had adopted the FrenchGeneral Confederation of Labour (CGT) as a model for anarcho-syndicalism in Ukraine, centringtrade unions as the means for class struggle, winning short-term gains while building towards asocial revolution, in which the unions could themselves seize themeans of production.[38] Like their western counterparts, the Odesa syndicalists rejectedvanguardism and tasked themselves with combatting socialistentryism in the unions, going on to form the Revolutionary All-Russian Union of Labor as their own version of theindustrial union. The Union quickly spread throughout Ukraine, at one point claiming 5,000 members, creating a union presence particularly among the factory and dock workers of Odesa and the bakers and tailors of Katerynoslav. On the rise of the Ukrainian anarcho-syndicalist movement,Juda Grossman remarked: "I am convinced that God, if he existed, must be a syndicalist—otherwise Novomirskii would not have enjoyed such great success."[39]
Theanti-intellectualism of the Polish revolutionaryJan Wacław Machajski, inspired by Bakunin's insurrectionary anarchism,[40] also made an impression among Ukrainian anarchists, with the Black Banner membersOlha Taratuta and Vladimir Striga organizing alongside Makhaevists in a secret society known as the Intransigents.[41] Even the Odesa Anarcho-Syndicalists were influenced by Machajski's anti-intellectualism, with their denunciations of social democracy being rooted in their opposition to the creation of a new intellectual elite, declaring that "the liberation of the workers must be the task of the working class itself".[42]
Despite the best efforts of the syndicalists, their extremist counterparts attracted far more attention from the press and the government.[43]Pyotr Stolypin instituted pacification measures against the terrorist movement, placing the Russian Empire under astate of emergency and unleashing a wave of punishment against the Black Banner and other radical organisations, with a number of militants committing suicide after their capture.[44] The concept ofmartyrdom entered the anarchist zeitgeist as hundreds of young anarchists were executed in the repression, including the Ukrainian individualist Matrena Prisiazhniuk, who was sentenced to death for raiding a sugar factory, murdering a priest and attempting to murder a police officer. Following her sentence, she remarked:[45]
I am an Anarchist-Individualist [...] My ideal is the free development of the individual personality in the broadest sense of the word, and the overthrow of slavery in all its forms. [...] Proudly and bravely we shall mount the scaffold, casting a look of defiance at you. Our death, like a hot flame, will ignite many hearts. We are dying as victors. Forward, then! Our death is our triumph!
Contempt of court was common among anarchist defendants, with one terrorist from Odesa, Lev Aleshker, attacking the judges: "You yourselves should be sitting on the bench of the accused! [...] Down with all of you! Villainous hangmen! Long live anarchy!" In Aleshker's last testament, he predicted the coming of an anarchist future:[46]
Slavery, poverty, weakness, and ignorance—the eternal fetters of man—will be broken. Man will be at the center of nature. The earth and its products will serve everyone dutifully. Weapons will cease to be a measure of strength and gold a measure of wealth; the strong will be those who are bold and daring in the conquest of nature, and riches will be the things that are useful. Such a world is called "Anarchy." It will have no castles, no place for masters and slaves. Life will be open to all. Everyone will take what he needs—this is the anarchist ideal. And when it comes about, men will live wisely and well. The masses must take part in the construction of this paradise on earth.
Five young anarchists were brought to trial for the bombing of the Cafe Libman in Odesa, all of them being sentenced to the death penalty. One of the defendants, Moisei Mets, denied any criminal guilt while also confessing to the bombing, declaring to the court that they demanded nothing less than "the final annihilation of eternal slavery and exploitation". Before his execution, Mets declared: "Death and destruction to the whole bourgeois order! Hail the revolutionary class struggle of the oppressed! Long live anarchism and communism!"[47]
In Odesa alone, 167 anarchists were tried in the wake of the revolution, including 12 anarcho-syndicalists, 94 members of the Black Banner, 51 sympathisers, 5 members of theSR Combat Organization and 5 members of theAnarchist Red Cross. They were mostly young people of mixed Russian, Ukrainian and Jewish backgrounds, of whom 28 received the death penalty and 5 escaped prison.[48] One of those that escaped was Olha Taratuta, who fled toGeneva and joined thebuntars before returning to Katerynoslav and joining an anarcho-communist "battle detachment", which saw her arrested again and this time sentenced to hard labor.[49] Vladimir Ushakov had also fled capture inSaint Petersburg, hiding out inLviv before joining the Katerynoslav battle detachment and going on to expropriate a bank inYalta. He was caught in the act and taken to prison inSevastopol, where he committed suicide during a failed escape attempt.[50] The leaders of the anarcho-syndicalist movement in Odesa and the anarcho-communist movement in Kyiv were all sentenced to long terms of hard labor.[51]
The mass imprisonment of anarchist agitators affected each of them differently, with some taking the time to educate themselves and write of their experiences.[52] In theButyrka prison,Nestor Makhno metPeter Arshinov, who educated the young peasant on the anarcho-communist theories of Bakunin and Kropotkin, up until their release following theFebruary Revolution.[53] Makhno subsequently returned to Ukraine, where he began organizing an agricultural workers' union and was later elected chairman of the Huliaipole Soviet, from which he ordered the armed expropriation of land by the peasantry.[54]
DuringWorld War I, the URP took part in the establishment of theUkrainian Sich Riflemen and, following the war, collaborated in the constitution of theWest Ukrainian People's Republic, with a number of its members subsequently joining theCentral Council of theUkrainian People's Republic.[15] The federalist orientation of the Central Council was inspired in part by Drahomanov platform, and Drahomanov's influence further inspired theSocialist-Federalists and theSocialist-Revolutionaries.[13]
The outbreak of theFebruary Revolution brought with it a resurgence in anarchist activity in Ukraine.[55] Within the month,anarcho-syndicalist circles had been organized in the factories of Ukraine's largest industrial cities and miners inDonbas had adopted the preamble to theIndustrial Workers of the World's constitution.[56] In May 1917, the adoption ofworkers' control as Bolshevik policy was welcomed by many Ukrainian anarcho-syndicalists, with one proclaiming that "since the time of the revolution, the [Bolsheviks] have decisively broken withSocial Democracy, and have been endeavoring to apply Anarcho-syndicalist methods of struggle."[57] By this time, anarcho-syndicalists in Donbas had begun to reject traditionaltrade unions in favor of the newly establishedfactory committees, which they considered to be more in line with revolutionary syndicalism.[58]
In July, attempts were made to unify the revolutionary anarchist movement, with an anarchist conference in Kharkiv discussing the revolutionary role of factory committees versus trade unions and how they could convert the world war into aworld revolution. They also established an "Anarchist Information Bureau" to organize a national conference and gauge the movement's strength throughout the country.[59] It was around this time that the Ukrainian revolutionary anarchistNestor Makhno returned to his nativeHuliaipole, where he became involved as a union organizer among the local peasants. By August 1917, Makhno had been elected as the Chairman of the localSoviet, a position from which he organized an armed peasant band to expropriate the large privately held estates and redistribute those lands equally to the whole peasantry.[60]
As the year went on, more anarchist political prisoners were released from prison and returned from exile, which brought a number of intellectuals into the movement.[56] By the turn of 1918, further anarchist conferences had been held in Donbas, Kharkiv and Katerynoslav, resulting in the foundation of the newspaperGolos Anarkhista and the election of a Donbas Anarchist Bureau. The Bureau then organized a series of political lectures in Ukraine, inviting anarchist intellectuals such asJuda Grossman,Nikolai Rogdaev andPeter Arshinov.[61] It was at this time thatVolin returned to Ukraine and began work for thePeople's Commissariat for Education in Kharkiv, even getting so far as to turn down an appointment that would have made him the Ukrainian Commissar for Education.[62]
But following theOctober Revolution, the anarchist movement came into conflict with the Bolsheviks. The Kharkiv Anarchist-Communist Association described the newsoviet state as a "commissarocracy, the ulcer of our time", due to the centralization of power under theCouncil of People's Commissars, the direction of economics by theSupreme Soviet of the National Economy and the repression of dissident elements by theAll-Russian Extraordinary Commission.[63] In Katerynoslav, anarcho-communists called on the masses to overthrow the Bolshevik dictatorship and establish alibertarian socialist society in its place.[64] Left-wing opposition to the Bolsheviks intensified after the ratification of theTreaty of Brest-Litovsk, which ceded the entirety ofUkraine to theCentral Powers.[65]
Ukrainian anarchists responded with the formation of armed detachments known as theBlack Guards, which would undertake a campaign ofguerilla warfare against the invadingGerman Empire.[66] Armed anarchist contingents quickly spread throughout Ukraine, with the Anarcho-Futurists of Kharkiv proclaiming "death to world civilization!" and anarchists in Katerynoslav breaking into the city's prisons and freeing the prisoners.[67] Inspired by the earlier armed struggle during the 1905 Revolution, Ukrainian anarchists dedicated themselves to the destruction of "would-becounterrevolutionaries", which included theWhites, Bolsheviks,nationalists and German imperialists alike. Partisan detachments in Simferopol and Katerynoslav sang songs of the incoming "era of dynamite", which they believed would bring aboutlibertarian communism.[68] Ukrainian anarchist detachments subsequently carried out a wave of attacks and expropriations, eventually establishing ties with other underground anarchists in Moscow.[69]
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Fleeing from the repression in Petrograd and Moscow, Russian anarchists sought asylum in the "wild fields" of Ukraine, where the anarchist movement was still strong. By late 1918, theNabat Confederation of Anarchist Organizations had been founded in Kharkiv and established branches in all of Ukraine's major cities.[70] Among the Nabat's most prominent leaders wereVolin,Aron Baron andPeter Arshinov,[71] with its youth wing led bySenya Fleshin andMark Mratchny.[72] At its first conference inKursk, the Nabat recognized the importance of building a nationwide anarchist federation at all levels of Ukrainian society, encouraging anarchists to participate in non-partisansoviets, factory committees and peasant councils,[73] However, the Nabat's subsequent congress would end up discussing how the trade unions had absorbed the factory committees and how the Bolsheviks had taken over the soviets and transformed them into instruments of the state.[74]
While the Nabat were critical of the Bolshevik dictatorship, it reserved most of its hostility for the White movement,[73] which it considered to present the biggest threat to the Revolution. As the Nabat boycotted the Red Army, due to its authoritarian and militarist style of organization, it instead called for the formation of an independent and spontaneously organized "partisan army" to fight the Whites.[75] A call that was taken up by the peasant leader Nestor Makhno.[76] When theGerman Empire invaded Ukraine, Nestor Makhno's small peasant band hadn't been strong enough to fight it, with the detachment disbanding and Makhno himself fleeing to Moscow.[77] Here he met withPeter Kropotkin and held an interview withVladimir Lenin, during which he debated the differences between authoritarian and libertarian communism, eventually enlisting Bolshevik support for the anarchists that were holding back the counterrevolutionary advance in Ukraine.[78] Alienated by the "paper revolution" of the Bolsheviks in Moscow, in July 1918 Makhno returned to Huliapole, where he found the village occupied by both theAustro-Hungarian Army and the Ukrainian troops ofHetmanPavlo Skoropadskyi.[79] He quickly rallied a partisan detachment under theblack flag and launched raids against both the counterrevolutionary forces and the local nobility. Moving quickly across the steppe on horseback with weaponizedtachanka, theMakhnovtsy quickly grew into a small army, as previously isolated guerrilla cells placed themselves under Makhno's command. Supported by the peasantry, they were able to carry outlightning warfare against their adversaries, using guerilla tactics to disperse and regroup their forces when needed.[80]
Following theArmistice of 11 November 1918, the Central Powers withdrew from Ukraine, leaving behind a large amount of military equipment for the Makhnovists to seize.[81] TheUkrainian State, unable to sustain itself without the support of either the central powers or the Ukrainian people, was overthrown by theDirectorate, which established theUkrainian People's Republic in its place.[82] TheUkrainian Radical Party subsequently joined theCentral Council,[15] the democratic-federalist orientation of which was inspired in part by Drahomanov's platform, with Drahomanov's influence further inspiring theSocialist-Federalists and theSocialist-Revolutionaries.[13] But the Ukrainian nationalists and their leaderSymon Petliura quickly fell victim to anarchist attacks, with the Makhnovists ousting the forces of the People's Republic fromKaterynoslav in a guerrilla attack. The city would later change hands between several different sides of the conflict.[83]
The region ofZaporizhzhia, with Huliaipole at its center, was transformed into a libertarian society, free of any political authority. By the turn of 1919, the Makhnovists were holding Regional Congresses of Peasants, Workers, and Insurgents, which discussed the economic, political and military issues affecting theMakhnovshchina.[84] Focus was paid particularly to the issue of defense, calling for a "voluntary mobilization" of people into theInsurgent Army and electing a Regional Military-Revolutionary Council to oversee the election of non-partisan "free soviets" and the establishment of anarchist communes. Each commune had alittle over 100 members and were organized along egalitarian lines with mutual aid as an organizing principle. The distribution of resources to the communes was overseen by the regional congresses, which organized the allotment of livestock, farming tools and land to each commune based on their individual abilities and needs.[85] Makhno had himself assumed authority over the Insurgent Army, introducing the military discipline of theZaporizhian Cossacks and appointing his own key officers, although the majority of the army's officers were elected by their own insurgent detachments.[86] The Nabat, for its part, established a Cultural-Educational Commission for the purpose of providing free democratic education to Ukrainians, inspired by theFerrer movement.[87] Ukrainian Jews held a number of important positions in the Makhnovschina, with the majority fighting in the Insurgent Army, often in specifically Jewish detachments. Antisemitism was punished severely by the Makhnovists, with one insurgent commander being shot for raiding a Jewish town and another executed for displaying an antisemitic poster.[88]
The Makhnovists remained on good terms with the Bolsheviks at this time. When famine threatened Petrograd and Moscow, Huliaipole's Ukrainian peasants exported large amounts of grain to the Russian cities, while Makhno himself was cast as a "courageous partisan" by the Soviet press. By March 1919, the Insurgent Army had even been absorbed into theRed Army, becoming the7th Ukrainian Soviet Division, subject to the orders of theRevolutionary Military Council.[89] TheUkrainian Front of theRed Army, although commanded byVladimir Antonov-Ovseenko, was largely made up of Ukrainian peasants led by theatamansNestor Makhno andNykyfor Hryhoriv. Considering themselves inheritors of theZaporozhian Host, the peasantry were less committed toBolshevism than they were to their liberation from "all those they considered their oppressors".[90]
Hostilities within the Front grew over time, as the Bolshevik leadership developed a distaste for the peasant base and began to reign in the autonomy of the "free soviets".[91] After Makhnovists accused the Bolsheviks of monopolizing the Revolution,Pavel Dybenko declared the Ukrainian anarchists to be "counterrevolutionary" and attempted to ban their congresses, which they held anyway. The Soviet press subsequently turned on the anarchists, decrying them as "kulaks" and "bandits". TheCheka also attempted to assassinate Nestor Makhno, but the two agents sent were caught and killed. When the anarchists held another congress, this time even inviting soldiers of the Red Army, theMilitary CommissarLeon Trotsky responded with another ban and declared Makhno to be anoutlaw. Huliaipole's libertarian experiment was attacked first by Red Army, which forcibly dissolved the town's communes, and again byAnton Denikin'sArmed Forces of South Russia, which liquidated its soviets.[92] With peasants increasingly being brought into opposition against the Bolsheviks, by May 1919, both Makhno and Hryhoriv had deserted the Ukrainian Soviet Army.[90]
When Denikin's forces began an offensive against Moscow, the Makhnovists were initially forced into a retreat toWestern Ukraine. But in September 1919, the Makhnovists returned and launched asurprise counterattack inUman, cutting Denikin's army off from its supply lines, which forced him to call off the Moscow offensive and retreat toCrimea.[93] The Makhnovists swiftly occupied the cities ofKaterynoslav andOleksandrivsk, releasing their prisoners, proclaimingfreedom of speech andassembly, and dissolving the localrevolutionary committeess.[94] The Makhnovists emphasisedself-organization andself-determination, agitating against political party activists that called for centralisation and advising unpaid workers to seize control of their workplaces and charge the customers directly.[95] However, the agrarian Makhnovists found themselves unable to understand or adapt to the complexities of industrial capitalism, and would leave the cities shortly after to return to the battlefield.[96]
The Makhnovists resolved to defend their territory against both the Red and the White armies, with Trotsky again declaring Makhno an outlaw and the Makhnovists producing propaganda to persuade Red Army soldiers not to take up arms against them.[97] The Makhnovists led the Red Army offensive into a protracted guerrilla war, causing great losses on both sides. The deaths were exacerbated by atyphus epidemic, which even struck Volin, resulting him in being captured by the Bolsheviks.[98] But in October 1920,Pyotr Wrangel launched an offensive from Crimea, causing the Makhnovists to once again sign a truce with the Bolsheviks, on the conditions of their autonomy, the amnesty of all anarchist political prisoners and the right to freedom of speech. Upon recovery, Volin was released and returned to Kharkiv, where he resumed work for the Nabat and set about preparing for the slated All-Russian Anarchist Congress.[99] Within the month, the Bolsheviks had reneged on the agreement. Following Wrangel'sevacuation of the Crimea, the Makhnovist commanders were immediately shot by the Bolsheviks, Huliaipole was subsequently attacked by the Red Army and members of anarchist organizations throughout Ukraine were arrested by the Cheka.[100] The remnants Insurgent Army retreated toRomania, with Makhno himself eventually making his way into exile inParis.[101] Thepower vacuum in Ukraine was definitively filled with the establishment of theUkrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, with the Red Army taking control of theDnieper River basin by the end of 1921.[102] Any remaining remnants of anarchism in Ukraine were suppressed, with many anarchists being imprisoned in theGulag, and theNew Economic Policy was implemented, transforming the Ukrainian SSR into astate-capitalist economy.[103]
Following the dissolution of theUkrainian People's Republic, many Ukrainian nationalist exiles experienced a sharp turn toright-wing politics, with a number even blamingMykhailo Drahomanov's anarchist ideas for the Ukrainian defeat in thewar of independence.[13][a] During the war,antisemitic pogroms had caused the murder of tens of thousands of Jewish people, committed by all sides of the conflict. But it wasSymon Petliura that was largely held responsible for the outbreak of violence, due to his position as chairman of theUkrainian Directorate.[104] While in exile inFrance, Petliura was assassinated by the Ukrainian Jewish anarchistSholem Schwarzbard,[105][106] who after ashort trial wasacquitted on all charges.[107]
Meanwhile, the exiled anarcho-communists began to have their own disagreements in their analysis of the revolution. In order to rectify what he perceived to be a generalized state of disorganization within the anarchist movement,Peter Arshinov founded the organizational tendency ofplatformism, which found the approval of Nestor Makhno.[108] Volin andMollie Fleshin were among those that led the split of thesynthesis faction over this proposal, considering the aims of "the Platform" to be the creation of an anarchist vanguard party and the establishment of a state.[109] Arshinov retorted that his Platform did not conflict with anarchism, but in fact advocated for decentralization and anti-authoritarian practices. Makhno also accused Volin of being an agent provacateur for the Bolsheviks, which only drew the rest of the exiled anarchist movement into conflict against platformism, withAlexander Berkman himself denouncing Arshinov as a Bolshevik.[110] This accusation became reality in 1930, when Arshinov returned to the Soviet Union and joined theCommunist Party.[111] Arshinov would later disappear during theGreat Purge, while Makhno and Volin both succumbed totuberculosis in their Parisian exile.[112]
Following the end of thePovolzhye famine, there was widespread disillusionment with theNew Economic Policy (NEP) due to rising levels of unemployment. Furthermore, thedeath of Lenin, the dissolution of the once-powerfulSocialist-Revolutionary Party and the purging of leading academics and civil servants had opened a power vacuum in Ukrainian politics. During this time, there was a noted easing of repressive measures against the anarchist movement, leading to a resurgence of the Ukrainian anarchist movement, as a new generation of youths became attracted to the philosophy.[113]
With the Bolsheviks' attention turned to its ongoing internal conflict betweenStalinism andTrotskyism, anarchists declared their neutrality in the dispute, while expressing some sympathy for theGroup of Democratic Centralism, which had numerous members in Ukraine.[114] Anarchists began to openly criticise the Bolshevik government for its implementation ofstate capitalism, repression oflibertarian socialists and destruction ofsoviet democracy. Letters from the USSR to exiled Ukrainian anarchists noted a revival in activity, with anarchism gaining sympathy particularly among theAll-Union Leninist Young Communist League. Anarchists in Ukraine made contacts with organizations in Russia, with the intention of unifying the renewed movement and eventually holding an "All-Union Congress of Anarchists".[115] TheCheka likewise reported a surge in anarchist activity, particularly among the well-organizedanarcho-syndicalists, which had received support from theInternational Workers' Association (IWA).[116]
There was also an upsurge in violent activity, with anarchists being reported to have gassed a theatre pit inKharkiv, agitated against taxation in rural Ukrainian villages and attempted to carry outexpropriations inPoltava. InOdesa, one armed detachment of about 30 members carried out attacks on infrastructure and local officials, committing a number of expropriations throughout 1923.[117] TheState Political Directorate's usual repression tactics proved ineffective against the anarchists, who engaged in both legal and clandestine activities, recruiting former Communists and organizing strike actions. State-run factories in cities throughout Ukraine were hit by strikes, even approaching the levels of ageneral strike inDonbas. Anarcho-syndicalists also organized the unemployed, leading a series of unemployment demonstrations in Odesa that culminated in the protestors storming the headquarters of the local government. The repression that followed led to the arrest of 75 anarchists, 16 of whom resisted arrest with arms, and the formal dissolution of the Odesan Anarchist Federation, which continued its organizing activities clandestinely.[118] By the mid-1920s, Odesa had become a refuge for foreign anarchists fleeing oppression inRomania andBulgaria.[119]Italian andFrench anarchists even emigrated to Ukraine, where they established an agricultural commune nearYalta.[120]
By 1924, there were anarchist groups in at least 28 Ukrainian cities. In the Odesa alone, there were three anarchist workers' circles, a youth group, a published journal and a library, with the police knowing of hundreds of anarchists in the city. Anarchists also organized within independent groups that were disconnected from the anarchist movement, such asEsperanto clubs andmasonic bodies, which offered them a clandestine platform for their activities.[121] In Kharkiv, anarchists re-established theNabat Confederation of Anarchist Organizations, organized strike actions, published propaganda and developed contact with anarchists throughout Ukraine and Russia. In April 1924, they were subject to a wave of raids and arrests, but continued their underground organizing work, even planning an All-Union Anarchist Congress before another wave of arrests forced leading Kharkiv anarchists into exile.[122] In Kyiv, anarcho-syndicallists made attempts to unify the Ukrainian anarchist movement, but the arrest waves continued, resulting in the suppression of anarchist youth groups and a dissident construction workers' union, as well as a number of clandestine groups in various other cities of Ukraine.[123] Despite a subsequent arrest wave in 1925, the anarchist movement remained strong inPoltava, where young people continued to adopt anarchism even as more of them were being arrested, imprisoned and exiled.[124]
The growth of anarchist tendencies among Ukrainian students continued, with a number of youth groups sprouting up in cities throughout Ukraine, leading Communist Party officials to officially call for the repression of the youth anarchist movement.[125] Soviet authorities were troubled by the growth of the anarchist underground and the leading role of anarcho-syndicalists in the workers' movement, as a number of "free trade unions" had organized strike actions, including among the miners inBakhmut. The police further identified anarchist cells known as "fivers", which agitated within labor collectives, the student and unemployed workers' movements, and even in theRed Army itself.[126] Soviet authorities noted that underground anarchist groups "were often composed of from 25 to 60 persons or more", with some even developing intomass movements among the Ukrainian working classes. Repressive actions against the movement in Kyiv failed to have lasting effects, as anarchist activity continued and even surged afterwards, the authorities noting anarchist attempts to unite into a single Ukrainian organization.[120]
Repression largely resulted in the anarchist movement being pushed further away from legality and into clandestinity, as punitive measures were focused mostly on a few dozen prominent members of the anarchist old guard, with the secret police unable to infiltrate the clandestine "wildcat" groups. Imagined cells of underground anarchists engaged in acts ofterrorism andexpropriation presented the biggest threat to the Soviet government, which feared the onset of an anarchist-led mass uprising, despite Ukrainian anarchists of the time largely being either unable or unwilling to commit to terrorist tactics.[127] Nevertheless, the inclination of some exiled anarchists in Poland towards carrying out a terror campaign in Russia provided the authorities with evidence of an alleged conspiracy in Ukraine, which allowed the police to intensify repression against the anarchist movement, going on to use the publishing house ofGolos Truda as a way of baiting anarchists out of hiding.[128] Following therise of Joseph Stalin to power and the implementation oftotalitarianism, punitive action against dissent was intensified, leading to the complete suppression of the Ukrainian anarchist movement by 1929.[129]
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Political repression in Ukraine intensified under thetotalitarian rule ofJoseph Stalin. The policies ofcollectivization anddekulakization, as part of thefirst five-year plan, led to afamine in Ukraine known colloquially as theHolodomor - killing millions of people due to starvation.[130] This was followed by arepressive campaign against the Ukrainian intelligentsia, culminating in theGreat Purge of 1937–1938.
DuringWorld War II, the former MakhnovistOsip Tsebriy formed a green army to wage guerilla warfare against the Ukrainian SSR, theReichskommissariat Ukraine and the ultra-nationalistUkrainian Insurgent Army, briefly reinvigorating the anarchist movement among the Ukrainian peasantry inKyiv. But it was defeated in 1943 by theNazis and many of its members were forced intoconcentration camps.[131] Nazi rule over Ukraine was eventually defeated bySoviet partisans, who restored Soviet rule and began a period of reconstruction in the country. Following the war, the URP formed part of theUkrainian government in exile and joined with other left-wing groups to form theUkrainian Socialist Party [Wikidata] in 1950.[15]
After thedeath of Stalin, theKhrushchev Thaw brought with it a period ofDe-Stalinization, which allowed the open criticism of Stalin's policies.[132] Many Ukrainian communists particularly criticized the Stalinist policy ofRussification, giving way instead to a period ofUkrainization.[133] During theStalinist period,Mykhailo Drahomanov had been denounced as a "petite bourgeoisliberal" and a "Ukrainian nationalist", but following the Thaw, Ukrainian intellectuals began to rediscover Drahomanov's work, making sure to downplay the elements of his theory that didn't conform to Soviet political orthodoxy.[13] However, this progress was reversed under theBrezhnev administration, which advocated for a return toSoviet nationalism - continuing the halted Russification of Ukraine.[134] Drahomanov studies also underwent censorship during theEra of Stagnation but resurfaced once again during the1980s, when students began to develop his theory into analternative form of socialism to the prevailingMarxism-Leninism, growing substantially in scale.[13] The political shift in Ukraine, combined with the changes brought byglasnost andPerestroika, saw the country's firstdemocratic elections, which culminated with theDeclaration of Independence of Ukraine.[135]
The Ukrainian anarchist movement, which had reformed underground in the 1970s and grew substantially during theRevolutions of 1989, finally re-emerged publicly in the newly independent Ukraine.[136] In 1994, theRevolutionary Confederation of Anarcho-Syndicalists (RKAS) was established in Ukraine, gaining 2,000 members by 2000.[136][137] The RKAS coordinated trade unions, formed "Black Guard" defense units and establishedworker cooperatives around the country.[136]
But the Ukrainian new left that had first constituted itself during the period ofPerestroika, forming in opposition to the dominantCommunist Party of Ukraine, largely failed to construct a sustainable nationwide political movement.[138] The new left only began to grow during the late 2000s, when widespread disillusionment with theOrange Revolution brought a new generation of young activists into the movement.[139] The left-libertarian student unionDirect Action led a number of mobilizations during this period, but their activity started to dwindle by 2013. The anarcho-syndicalistAutonomous Workers' Union (AWU) also sought to establish anindustrial union in Ukraine, but saw most of its successes in promotingcultural liberalism.[140] It was this opposition tocultural conservatism in particular that brought the Ukrainian new left into conflict with bothnationalist andneo-Soviet parties.[141]
Upon the outbreak of theMaidan protests, the Ukrainian new left were supportive of the movement, emphasising the promotion of "European values" such asgender equality andminority rights.[b] The Ukrainian new left engaged in theself-organization of the Maidans, coordinating protests, self-defense, education and media engagement, describing the process as a form of "spontaneous anarchism".[143] Direct Action was able to mobilize students in Kyiv to holdpopular assemblies, but was not able to institutionalize their control over education policy or even break from theAnti-corruption agenda of theneoliberals. Members of the AWU inLviv andKharkiv managed to get increased recognition for their participation in the movement, but were also unable to shift the agenda of the local protests towards left-wing politics.[144]
The disorganized and small groups of the new left quickly found themselves outpaced byfar-right groups, which attacked new left activists for their promotion ofegalitarian andfeminist ideas, resulting in the marginalization of the organized left in the Maidan.[145][146][136] Faced with the dilemma of continued participation in the Maidan movement in the face of an increasingly right-wing agenda, attempts to establish a left-wing "third camp" were stillborn, leaving the Ukrainian new left to slowly become the left-wing ofnational liberalism in Ukraine.[147] The new left's support for the anti-authoritarianism and spontaneous self-organization of the Maidan also brought it into conflict with theAnti-Maidan movement, which the new left opposed due to itsRussian nationalism andcultural conservatism.[148][149]
By the end of theRevolution of Dignity and the outbreak of theRusso-Ukrainian War, the Ukrainian new left had become completely marginalized by the polarization between competing Russian and Ukrainian nationalisms.[150] In the wake of the conflict, anarchist analyses of the events were driven by the AWU and theNihilist collective, which came to characterize the Maidan as abourgeois revolution against theoligarchy and thepolitical corruption of the Ukrainian government, while in-turn characterizing the subsequent Russian intervention as acounter-revolution. In order to advance the gains of the Maidan, Ukrainian anarchists concluded it necessary to ignite asocial revolution, in order to dismantle the Ukrainian capitalist state and replace it with adecentralized system ofself-governance andsocial ownership.[151]
The escalation of the conflict and theRussian invasion of Ukraine led to the ongoingWar in Donbas, in which the Ukrainian state (with far-right paramilitary support) fought against the forces of the Russian state andpro-Russian separatist forces. Many anarchists were caught in the middle of the conflict, even leading to the dissolution of theDonbas-based Revolutionary Confederation of Anarcho-Syndicalists, which was forced to continue its operations illegally and underground.[136]
Following this period of renewed conflict, in 2015 a Ukrainian branch ofRevolutionary Action was established, organizing around the principles ofsolidarity anddirect action.[152] The organization has held demonstrations outside the Belarusian embassy.[153][154]
On 27 October 2019,insurrectionary anarchists carried out a bomb attack against a mobile communications tower, in theProletarskyi District inDonetsk. It was reportedly done to draw attention to the torture being performed by the state security forces of theDonetsk People's Republic.[155]
In the wake of the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian anarchists were among those that joined theTerritorial Defense Forces, with a group calling itself theResistance Committee establishing ananti-authoritarian "international detachment" in Kyiv.[156] A separate anarchist detachment called Black Flag was also set up in response to the Russian invasion.[157] Since the start of the conflict, about 100 Ukrainian anarchists and 20 foreign anarchists have reportedly signed up to fight in theArmed Forces of Ukraine, with one claiming they were "fighting to protect the more or less free society that exists in Ukraine".[158]
The Great Famine (Holodomor) of 1932–33 – a man-made demographic catastrophe unprecedented in peacetime. Of the estimated six to eight million people who died in the Soviet Union, about four to five million were Ukrainians ... Its deliberate nature is underscored by the fact that no physical basis for famine existed in Ukraine ... Soviet authorities set requisition quotas for Ukraine at an impossibly high level. Brigades of special agents were dispatched to Ukraine to assist in procurement, and homes were routinely searched and foodstuffs confiscated ... The rural population was left with insufficient food to feed itself.
