The Russian Civil War 1918–22 by David Bullock

Author:David Bullock
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: The Russian Civil War 1918–22
ISBN: 9781472810328
Publisher: Osprey Publishing Ltd

Portrait of a soldier

The Black Guards

‘Forward beneath the black flag of Anarchy, on to the great struggle!’

– poem by Nestor Makhno.

One of the most remarkable chapters in the history of guerrilla warfare was written in the Ukraine from 1918 to 1921. Here, a part of the larger Anarchist Federation called Nabat (Alarm), specifically the military forces of the Makhnovshchina (Makhno Movement), fought all powers in an attempt to establish free soviets and self-governance. The man behind this struggle was ‘Batko’ (Little Father) Nestor Ivanovich Makhno, a peasant variously vilified as a bandit and monster, or worshipped as a hero.

Extant source documents on the Makhnovshchina are fragmentary. The Bolsheviks destroyed many Anarchist papers and most of the Black Guard leaders were executed or killed in battle. Nevertheless, three accounts from senior commanders survive: those of Peter Arshinov, who was involved from start to finish, those of Nicholas Voline, who served for six months, and Makhno’s own.

Nestor Makhno was born in 1889 (some sources state 1888) into a poor peasant family residing in Gulyai-Polye, east-central Ukraine. Implicated in anarchist political activity after the Revolution of 1905, he was sentenced to life imprisonment at the infamous Butyrki penitentiary in Moscow. After serving nearly nine years, most of the time in chains or in solitary confinement in dank cells reserved for the unruly, he was released shortly after the February Revolution of 1917 under the general amnesty granted to political prisoners by the Provisional Government.

At Butyrki he had studied the theory of anarchism under fellow prisoner Peter Arshinov and had given himself a rudimentary education by reading a variety of books, courtesy of the prison library. Although a professed Anarchist, Makhno preferred direct action to theory; indeed, most of his followers understood as little about Anarchist ideology as they did about communism.

According to Russian-American Anarchist Emma Goldman, Makhno’s partisans were ‘a spontaneous, elemental movement, the peasants’ opposition to all governments being the result not of theories but of bitter experience and of instinctive love of liberty. [However], they were fertile ground for Anarchist ideas.’

Based on several eyewitness accounts, Makhno stood just under average height, had piercing grey-blue eyes, long, dark or chestnut hair, a snub nose with a prominent forehead, sometimes had a brown moustache, spoke with a high-pitched voice and was strongly built. Often he was seen with two ammunition belts crossed over his chest and two or more grenades suspended from his vestments, sometimes with a rifle, sometimes with a sabre, and usually with two or more handguns, usually Colt or Nagant revolvers and a Mauser ‘broom-handle’ automatic. He was considered a crack shot with the handguns and could serve artillery, a skill he required of all his immediate staff. Always a courageous fighter in the front ranks, he survived a dozen wounds.

Makhno himself had no military training. However, he proved himself a brilliant tactician who was able to respond quickly to a multitude of challenging circumstances. Any ruse was acceptable, from using enemy uniforms to feigning retreats or surrender, to moving or attacking in inclement weather.

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