The mysterious death of Shchors

Nikolay Shchors

A short account of the life and mysterious death of Red commander Nikolay Shchors

“A Communist commander is always a most precious acquisition for our Red Army. Only he must be a real Communist, that is, a man of duty and discipline from head to foot. However, we still have amongst our officers a considerable number of commanders who demand unquestioning subordination to themselves but are completely insubordinate towards their own immediate superior.

The Dvinsk Regiment and the mysterious death of Grachov

Mass grave of  revolutionaries killed in the fighting in Moscow in October 1917

A short account of the revolutionaries of the Dvinsk Regiment and the suspicious death of their commander Grachov

“…Arshinov often told me how the comrades of the Moscow Federation and the renowned Dvintsy (soldiers of the Dvinsk regiment under the command of our comrade Grachov) fought in the streets of Moscow. His stories never failed to fill me with pride in the Moscow Anarchists as well as Grachov and all the Dvintsy”. Nestor Makno, Under the Blows of the Counterrevolution.

The Petrenko incident: an opening shot in the attack by the Bolsheviks on the Revolution

A short account of the attack by the Bolsheviks on the detachment led by the revolutionary Petrenko in May 1918 at Tsaritsyn.

"It seemed to Antonov-Ovseenko [commander-in-chief of Soviet troops in 'South Russia' in 1918] that the only reliable forces available [to oppose the Austro-German invasion] were the Latvian International detachments, as well as the detachment of the anarchist Petrenko, who on March 24 at Zvenigorodka [90 miles southeast of Kiev] engaged the German forces in battle on his own." from Twelve Wars fo

Bogunsky and Lopatkin : Trotsky’s attacks on Red commanders

Bogunsky (Anton Shary)

A short account of Trotsky's involvement in the killing of Red commanders Bogunsky and Lopatkin

Quote:
“[i]At the same time a purge needs to be undertaken, a purge of the commanding personnel. In the Ukrainian units there are still too many Petlyurist, guerrilla and ataman elements such as Bogunsky, Lopatkin and others. Even the best of these guerrilla commanders still do not understand what an order means and consider disobedience to an order quite a natural thing.

The shootings of Trofimovsky, Panteleev and Gneuchev: Trotsky imposes discipline in the Red Army

Red Army parade, 1918

A short account of events on the Eastern Front during the Russian Civil War.

The Right Socialist Revolutionaries were always strong in the Volga region of Russia. They began to form links with the Czechoslovak Legion. The Bolsheviks had assumed that these units would, at Trotsky’s command, act to attack the Germans on Russian soil as part of an Allied offensive.

Dare to be a Daniel! - Wilf McCartney

Book Cover

Wilf McCartney (1877-1949) was a catering worker from the age of ten. Here he gives a vivid description of the conditions in the kitchens of London's West End restaurants (some of which haven't altered much) and the way a revolutionary syndicalist union was built in 1910, to be smashed by the 1914-1918 war.

DARE TO BE A DANIEL!
A History of one of Britain’s Earliest Syndicalist Unions
38 Strikes Fought – 38 Won!

The Life and Struggles of an Agitator and the Fight to Free the Catering Slaves of the West End of London (1910-1914)

By Wilf McCartney

The Anarchist and Maximalist uprising in Samara 1918

Red Army enter Samara - October 1918

A short account of the Anarchist and Maximalist uprising in Samara in May 1918.

After Moscow, Samara, a city on the Volga, was one of the strongholds of anarchism in Russia in the period just after the February Revolution. David Kogan edited the anarchist paper Chernoe Znamia ( Black Flag) in Samara in 1917-1918. Another local anarchist of importance was Alexander Moiseevich Karasik (born 1895 in the Ukraine).

The Russian constructivists and anarchism

Malevich's Black Square

A short account of the Russian constructivists and their close relations with anarchism

London is currently host to an exhibition of the works of Rodchenko, Russian artist associated with the Constructivist movement. The exhibition reveals Rodchenko’s relationship with the Bolshevik regime but fails to dive beneath the surface of official Soviet truth and the origins and ideas of the Constructivists.

A Memorial Day History Lesson

Good morning campers; it’s almost Memorial Day and some of you, no doubt, are wondering just exactly what is Memorial Day history. You may want to know how it came about, how it was made official, so on and so forth. So before all of us head off to the lake, here's the scoop on Memorial Day.

The Poltava uprising against the Bolsheviks, 1920

A short account of the large scale uprising against the Bolsheviks throughout Poltava province in the Ukraine.

Khristovoi, Buhovetsky and the rest ....with a special mention for Sergei Kirichenko