Two versions of another appeal to the Red Army to mutiny.
Comrade in the Red Army! You were sent by your commissars and commanders to capture the insurgent Makhnovists. Following orders from your chiefs, you will destroy peaceful villages, search, arrest and kill people you don't know but whom they have pointed out to you as enemies of the people. They tell you that the Makhnovists are bandits and counter-revolutionaries.
They tell you; they order you; they do not ask you; they send you; and, like obedient slaves of your leaders, you go to capture and kill. Whom? For what? Why?
Think about it, comrade Red Army Man! Think about it you toiling peasant and worker, taken by force into the cabal of the new masters, who claim the stirring title of worker-peasant authority.
We, the revolutionary insurgent Makhnovists, are also peasants and workers like our brothers in the Red Army. We rose against oppression; we are fighting for a better and brighter life. Our frank ideal is the achievement of a non-authoritarian labourers' society without parasites and without commissar-bureaucrats. Our immediate goal is the establishment of the free soviet order, without the authority of the Bolsheviks, without pressure from any party whatsoever. For this the government of the Bolshevik-Communists sends punitive expeditions upon us. They hurry to make peace with Denikin, with the Polish landlords, and other white guard scum, in order to crush more easily the popular movement of revolutionary insurgents, who are rising for the oppressed against the yoke of any authority.
The threats of the white-red high command do not scare us.
We will answer violence with violence.
When necessary, we, a small handful, will put to flight the legions of the bureaucratic Red Army. For we are freedom-loving revolutionary insurgents and the cause we defend is a just cause.
Comrade! Think about it, who are you with and who are you against?
Don't be a slave - be a man.
Insurgent Makhnovists
[June 1920]
Alternative Version
The "Makhnovitsi" appeal to their Brethren in the Red Army
Stop!
Read!
Reflect!
Red Army comrade!
You have been despatched by your commissar-commanders to fight the makhnovitsi insurgents and revolutionaries.
On the order of your commanders you will bring ruination to peaceable areas, you will carry out searches, make arrests and murder folk whom you personally do not know, but who will have been pointed out to you as enemies of the people. You will be told that the makhnovitsi are bandits or counter-revolutionaries. They will order, not ask, but make you march like a humble slave to your commander. You will arrest and you will kill! Who? Why? On what grounds?
Reflect, Red Army comrade! Reflect, toilers, peasants and workers forcibly subjected to the new masters who go by the ringing title of the "worker-peasant authorities"!
We are the makhnovitsi revolutionary insurgents, peasants and workers like you, our Red Army brethren!
We have risen up against oppression and degradation; we fight for a better and more enlightened life. Our ideal is to atain a community of toilers, with no authority, no parasites and no commissars.
The government of the Bolshevik-Communists sends you to mount punitive expeditions. It is a hurry to make peace with Denikin and with the wealthy Poles and other White Army scum, so that it may the more easily harass the popular movement of revolutionary insurgents, of the oppressed risen up against the yoke of authority, all authority.
But the threats from the White and the Red commands do not scare us! We will answer violence with violence!
If need be, we, a tiny handful of men, will rout the divisions of the government's Red Army. Because we are free and enamoured of liberty! We are insurgent revolutionaries, and the cause we champion is a just cause.
Comrade! Reflect upon whose side you are on and against whom you fight. Do not be a slave. Be a man!
The Makhnovitsi Revolutionary Insurgents
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