Nestor Makhno

Articles by and about Nestor Makhno, Ukrainian anarchist-communist who led a revolutionary army during the 1917 Russian revolution which fought against both the old Tsarist regime and the new Bolshevik one.

Makhno, Nestor, 1889-1934

A short biography of anarchist and guerrilla leader Nestor Makhno, who led the anarchist Insurrectionary Army of the Ukraine, known as the Makhnovist movement.

This movement was the manifestation of the Russian Revolution of 1917 in the Ukraine, where it took a libertarian form and where the workers and peasants fought both the counter-revolutionary Tsarist armies and the authoritarian Bolsheviks.

Nestor Ivanovich Makhno
Born Ukraine, 27 October 1889, died France, 25 June 1934

1917-1921: The Ukrainian Makhnovist movement

The history of the revolutionary movement in the Ukraine - the anarchist Makhnovists - at the time of the 1917 Russian Revolution.

The revolution in the Ukraine was a libertarian revolution, and the workers and peasants fought both Tsarist reaction and Bolshevik domination.

Russian Anarchists and the Civil War - Paul Avrich

Paul Avrich discusses the position of anarchists during the Civil War in Russia, including Makhno in the Ukraine and the repression of anarchists in Russia itself.

Russian Anarchists and the Civil War

Paul Avrich

from Russian Review, Volume 27, Issue 3 (Jul., 1968), 296-306.

Summons

This poem by Nestor Makhno was written when he was 23 years old and had been in prison for two years for "illegal subversive association."

Who are the Makhnovists and what are they fighting for?

A statement by the Cultural Educational Section of the Insurgent Army (Makhnovists), 27 April 1920.

To All Peasants and Workers of the Ukraine

A message from the Makhnovist army to the people of the Ukraine, written 7 January 1920.

To be transmitted by telegraph, telephone, or post to all villages, townships, districts, and provinces of the Ukraine. To be read in village assemblies, factories, and workshops.

17. Open Letter to the Spanish Anarchists

Makhno expresses his solidarity with the Spanish working class libertarian movement of the 1930s.

Dear Comrades CarbÃ³ and Pestana,

18. On the History of the Spanish Revolution 1931 - and the Part played by the Left and Right-Wing Socialists and the Anarchists

Reflections on the way forward for the Spanish working class movement of the 1930s.

Whenever a revolution breaks out - and regardless of its character - (the most important point is that broad masses of workers and peasants should have a hand in it) and its guides, whether a compact group or a scattering of individuals, enjoying a special authority in the eyes of the workers, place themselves above these masses and do not march in step with them and do not earn their trust, waiti