The Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine, also known as the Makhnovtsi or the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine, was a anarchist army active during the Russian Civil War from 1918 to 1921. The army was led by Nestor Makhno, a Ukrainian peasant and anarchist who advocated for a society based on free association and mutual aid.
Makhno and his followers fought against various forces during the war, including the Red Army, the White Army, and various nationalist and anti-Semitic groups. The Makhnovshchina was initially aligned with the Bolsheviks, but later broke with them over disagreements about the role of the state and the suppression of individual liberties.
Under Makhno's leadership, the Makhnovshchina controlled a large swath of territory in southeastern Ukraine, which they organized into a network of communes and councils. The army practiced direct democracy and collective decision-making, and rejected the authority of any central government. Despite their successes on the battlefield and their popular support among the peasantry, the Makhnovshchina ultimately faced defeat by the Red Army in 1921. Makhno fled to Romania and then to Paris, where he lived in exile until his death in 1934.
History Hustle presents: The Black Army of Nestor Makhno during the Russian Civil War.
Even among Ukrainian anarchist leaders, this guy isn't much of a pick. One must wonder if modern Ukrainian nationalists like him so much because of how some of his purported followers conducted pogroms and banditry.
I forget the guy's name, but there was a Jewish anarchist who encountered a pogromist (other than allegedly Makhno) in exile by coincidence and on the spot decided to kill him. Makhno tried to dissuade him and save the life of the fascist, but he failed, and the Jewish anarchist went and killed the fascist and subsequently got exonerated in French court after the trial uncovered a wealth of evidence of the genocide the fascist helped along.
Idk, I feel like Makhnovists are like second derivative Trotskyists, like Trotsky was still just too effective and too successful, so they need to find the most embittered loser who can't keep allies but doesn't even have the resolve to help kill a genocider right in front of him at the urging of a survivor of that genocide, a survivor who was also supposedly a personal friend and ally of his. But at least he shot some Bolsheviks!
Edit: Samuel "Sholem" Schwarzbard was the name of the Jewish, Russian, anarchist hero that Makhno sought to dissuade.
:so-true: But at least he shot some Bolsheviks!
In danger of some sectarianism here but given that I've been on both sides of the fence and seamlessly transition between pro-state and anti-state depending on the situation I'll go ahead and risk saying that the core ideology of this group of people is anti-communism, and then everything else offshoots from that.
When the core ideology is not anti-communism you get something more like the modern german and greek anarchists who are absolutely uninterested in infighting over these historical events and much more interested in allying with anyone and bolstering numbers to get shit done right now.
I feel like you could separate out "mahknovists" from active anarchists in the same way you can separate out vaushites or like you say - separating out trots from communists. The same strand of anti-communism being at the foundation exists in all of them.
