#WORLD #WORLDWIDE #ITALY #ANARCHISM #News #Journal #Update - (en) #Italy, Ponte della Ghisolfa: Nestor Machno THE LEGENDARY (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 The story, hidden until recently in the Moscow archives, of the legendary

Ukrainian libertarian commander of the peasant army who defeated the Tsar
Cossacks, the German occupiers, the "white" Russians and was finally defeated by
the Red Army. ---- Defender of Ukrainian freedom, the exploits of a forgotten
revolutionary. ---- Published by the "Manifesto" of 8 October 2022 ---- Had not
taken part in any war Nestor Ivanovic Machno, but to defend Ukrainian
independence, the rights of peasants and workers and a libertarian society based
on self-management, in 1918 he became a highly valued strategist and the founder
of Machnovšcina, the 'Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine of the first
libertarian territory of the twentieth century. ---- The documents of his
legendary deeds, buried in the vaults of the Moscow archives, until recently
could be consulted by a few pro-Soviet scholars who, conditioned by an obvious
political hostility, had an interest in denigrating or pushing the story of
Nestor Machno, the Emilian European Zapata and the anarchist forerunner of Che
Guevara, in the final oblivion.
Today in the democratic Ukraine the memory of the great revolutionary is
remembered only by a modest gilded bronze monument to Guljaj Pole (in Ukrainian
Huliaipole), the town between Zaporizhzhia and Mariupol in the steppe that
extends from the Dnieper River to the Azov Sea where the its movement. In the
bronze Machno is seated on a bench, his jacket closed by the frogs, the lamb's
fur hat, his huge sword and looks to the left, imagining the future and the
completion of the revolution.
Youth
His father Ivan, a former serf, died prematurely leaving five children orphaned
by his wife Evdokia. Nestor was convinced that he was born on October 27, 1889
because he did not know that his parents had falsified his birth date so that he
would be enrolled on compulsory detention a year later. This foresight saved the
life of the young man who after the Revolution of 1905 joined a political
organization that was financed by proletarian expropriations, the
anarcho-communist peasant group.
As a child he liked to go to school, but he took large spaces of freedom from the
class by practicing his only entertainment, skating on a frozen river. Once he
fell into the frozen waters and was saved from freezing death by a miracle. "From
that moment on I became a truly diligent student. So during the winter I studied
and in the summer I took sheep and calves to pasture for a rich farmer "he
recalls in his memoirs of him. A few years later, exalted by revolutionary ideas,
he went around armed. Covering his face with masks or mud, he plundered the
wealthy to give money to the dispossessed. On August 26, 1908, his long activity
as a young Robin Hood of the steppe was abruptly interrupted by his arrest. He
was now twenty years old. A little over 1.60 tall, he had brown hair and clear,
luminous eyes,
He underwent the "red wheel" the collective summary judgment together with all
the members of the anarchist group and was sentenced with the other comrades to
hang, even if he had not been involved in murders. He was saved by the
falsification of his date of birth made by his parents, where he was a minor. The
sentence of hanging was commuted to forced labor for life, but for his constant
rebellions in prison he was relegated in chains to the prison cells in the
cellars of the Butirki prison where he contracted tuberculosis. While in
detention, despite his illness, Makhno tried to educate himself and thoroughly
studied the texts of the anarchist movement. He took the nom de guerre of
"Skrommy" (the modest). "Two things struck me and liked me about Makhno: the
sweetness of his character and his fraternal and modest behavior towards his
companions. His modesty was truly exemplary "said Pio Turroni who met him years
later.
In prison Machno wrote political texts, reflections but also revolutionary poems:
"Let us hover with courage our joy in the struggle - for the faith in the Commune
that we will build ...".
On March 2, 1917, after the fall of the tsarist empire, the revolutionary
comrades freed him. He was 29. Contrary to other prisoners, he was not
irremediably marked by his long imprisonment, he still had the strength to see
his idea of anarchism realized, which was based on the concept of "organization"
and not on individualist action, but which was opposed to a centralizing idea,
top-down and violent like the "dictatorship of the proletariat".
The new Emiliano Zapata was elected to the cry of "land and freedom" as head of
the peasants' union which became the absolute authority in the territory created
to "build one's life from one's own desires by fighting against the
counter-revolutionary forces and Ukrainian nationalisms".
Agricultural cooperatives
The peasants did not accept the idea of agricultural communes, the one of
confiscation of the private properties of the landowners, the pomešciki, (men of
arms, who had received a concession for a farm) and of the kulaks (peasants who
owned large plots of worked land), won. sharecropping), who were allowed to keep
only the lands they could work alone. The expropriated lands were redistributed
among the peasants and agricultural cooperatives created. Large quantities of
weapons were seized from the landowners which served to arm the Committee of the
Defense of the Revolution, the first nucleus of the future peasant army of
Makhno, which served to prevent the return to tsarism after the revolt of General
Lavr Kornilov against the provisional government.
On November 7 (October 25) a coalition of Bolsheviks and Left Socialist
Revolutionaries organized armed uprisings in Petersburg and Moscow, overthrowing
the Provisional Government: the October Revolution, what Makhno always called
"the coup" led to power in Russia. the Soviets of People's Commissars. According
to Machno, Ukrainian peasants and workers were not happy with the "coup d'etat"
because "they saw in it a new phase of the intervention of the powers in the
local revolutionary work of the workers and, consequently, a new attack of the
Power against the people." Even the peasant followers of Makhno thought so, "The
city only exists for this; his idea and his system are bad: they favor the
existence of the idiot, the government. " In those days, Makhno, with the support
of the population, extended the libertarian movement in Ukraine to other
neighboring towns. With the representatives of the Provisional Government
expelled, the defenses had to be prepared for the danger of the pro-Tsarist
Cossacks returning from the front, who for Makhno were "... the executioners of
the workers of Russia who for a Tsar ruble and a glass of wine were always ready
to crucify».
Free Battalion
To defend his people Makhno formed the "Free Battalion" which was the first
opportunity for the Ukrainian revolutionary to show his military talent.
On Kickasky's bridge over the Dnieper, Makhno's forces, allying with the
Bolsheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries, blocked the Cossack cavalry, achieving
an unexpected victory.
In March 1918, after the signing of the peace of Brest-Litovsk, wanted by Lenin,
which Makhno called "the death of the revolution and revolutionaries", the
occupation forces of the German and Austrian armies, strong in force, entered
Ukraine, ceded to the enemy. 200 thousand soldiers.
"As for the Ukrainian revolutionary workers, they were left ... unarmed at the
mercy of the executioners of the revolution from the West, as the revolutionary
command withdrew their weapons from Ukraine or, in its flight, abandoned them to
the German troops."
Makhno succeeded in overcoming the divisions within the anarchist group which had
caused "the revolutionary terror" and to bring everything back under his control.
Meanwhile, the conflict with the "nationalist" forces had also reignited. The
"Free Battalion" had been attacked and disarmed. It was no longer possible to
face the Austro-Germans who had crossed the Dnieper River and attacked Guljaj
Pole in the open field. In April Makhno decided to start the guerrilla war and
embarked on an important journey to seek aid through revolutionary Russia.
Although the Cheka (the Soviet political police) and the Bolshevik army, under
the pretext of fighting "banditry", attacked anarchist circles in major Russian
cities,
«The smart Lenin», as Machno would always have called him, he replied, «Most
anarchists think and write about the future without understanding the present:
this divides us Communists from them ... in the present they are inconsistent,
indeed pathetic, precisely because of their unconscious fanaticism, they have no
real link even with the future...».
Makhno recalls, "In spite of the respect for Lenin that I had during the
interview, my bad temper, so to speak, did not allow me to entertain any longer
with him." And he proved to Lenin with facts how wrong he was. Makhno returned to
Ukraine where he discovered that the Austro-Germans had burned down his mother's
house and murdered his elder brother, a war invalid.
He began organizing partisan warfare hidden in the woods. He decided to attack
the village of Dibrivski defended by an Austrian battalion and a hundred armed
German settlers. To comrades the enterprise seemed crazy, but the libertarian
revolutionary implemented one of the tricks that would have made him famous. With
a small group of comrades, apparently unarmed, he managed to get to the center of
the village where the enemy machine gun positions were. At a sign from him the
comrades fired on the Austrians, surprised and dismayed, while the bulk of the
partisans attacked on the outskirts of the village. The frightened Austrians fled.
Makhno needed that victory for the morale of his men and to encourage neighboring
populations to rise up. Word of Machno's military success spread and he was
honored with the nickname Bat'Ko (little father).
Its partisan forces grew day by day. In Temirovka the Austrians seriously wounded
him. Machno, lying on the ground almost dying, thought he was finished, but his
companions arrived to save him. He decided to divide his partisans into small
groups that gathered only for large-scale actions, inflicting sound lessons on
the occupants.
In November 1918 the Kaiser was overthrown by the revolution, Germany signed the
surrender and began the evacuation of the occupation troops to Ukraine.
Makhno had a new enemy to fight, Simon Petljura, who in a coup had overthrown the
central government. He decided to create a united insurrectional front in the
region, an alliance of the Makhnovists with the Communists, the Socialist
Revolutionaries and the other anarchists. The Makhnovists first drove out the
remaining German forces, then occupied Ekaterinoslav and defeated Simon
Petljura's army.
Makhno now controlled a vast region up to the Sea of Azov, but not all allied
military formations respected the orders. He had to suppress looting,
requisitions, threatening to shoot his own commanders.
A new danger loomed. In January 1919, in agreement with the Bolsheviks, he went
on the offensive against the "whites", the reactionary forces who wanted to
resettle a tsar. General Denikin was the first to attack the libertarians, but
was defeated and had to retreat towards the Don and the Azov Sea. He placed a
bounty of half a million rubles on Makhno's head but no one was able to cash in.
While the Makhnovists were fighting victoriously against the "whites" in April -
May they were attacked from behind by the Bolsheviks. A campaign of slander
against Makhno was unleashed, orchestrated by Trotsky. They also tried to
assassinate him after luring Makhnovist officers into an ambush under the guise
of a military council.
He broke with the Bosheviks, but never sought a confrontation even though some of
his commanders had been arrested and shot.
«Stop! Laws! Meditate! Companion of the Red Army. They will tell you that the
Makhnovists are bandits of the counter revolutionaries ... and as a humble slave
of your commander you will go arrest and kill. Who? And what for? Why? "Was
written by the Makhnovist revolutionary insurgents on a manifesto for the
soldiers of the Red Army.
"Above all, Trotsky's treachery disgusted him, his system of destroying the
opponent first with slander, then physically: a system that was later inherited
by Stalin," recalls Pio Turroni, a friend of Machno.
In September, after the establishment of the Ukrainian Insurrectionary Army, the
Makhnovists inflicted a heavy defeat on the "whites" on Peregonova. Makhno's
libertarians conquered Aleksandrovsk and Ekaterinoslav. Throughout the first half
of 1920 they carried out guerrilla actions against the "whites" and the
Bolsheviks. Many peasants followed Makhno armed only with axes, pikes and old
hunting rifles.
Against the danger of the victory of the "whites" some Bolsevic regiments
defected and sided with Makhno, carrying arms and ammunition.
A new strong offensive by the "whites" forced the Bolshevik leaders to enter into
a truce with Makhno, who signed a political-military agreement with them.
Although he received Trotsky's order to go to the Polish front, Makhno,
suspecting traps, refused to carry it out. By order of Trotsky, the Bolsheviks
raged for nine months with civilians loyal to Makhno, killing more than 200,000
peasants and deporting as many. In November Makhno and the Bolsheviks together
attacked the "whites" of General Wrangel who, after months of battles, were
definitively defeated. The Makhnovist troops, however, betrayed and encircled by
the Bolsheviks, who had again broken the pacts, suffered considerable losses.
Makhno with his small forces for a year defeated the Bolsheviks from east to west
in various clashes and escaped the Cheka who was after him. In February-March
Trotsky smothered in blood the revolt of the sailors and workers of the naval
base of Kronstadt and immediately afterwards the new economic policy (NEP) was
announced, which put an end to the repression of peasant movements and civil war.
But the Bolsheviks still had an open problem: to destroy the libertarian social
system of Makhno.
Hunting for Makhno
At the beginning of 1921, troops of the powerful cavalry divisions were sent
against him. Makhno advanced to the borders of Galicia, crossed the Dnieper and
escaped encirclement. All the divisions of the Red Army set out to hunt Makhno
and his remaining troops.
As Errico Malatesta wrote, "The exquisitely libertarian character of the movement
and the egalitarian and anti-authoritarian spirit could only clash with the
methods and projects of the Bolsheviks."
In a confrontation with the Bolsheviks, Makhno was wounded in the thigh and lower
abdomen, but carried on a wheelbarrow he continued to give orders, to write
messages to his detachments. He was wounded again in August 1921 in a battle with
the 17th Cavalry Division. Due to his further injuries, his companions decided
that he had to be transported abroad to be treated.
On 28 August he passed the Dnieper and first fled to Romania where he was
interned. He had a bullet scar on his face that entered the back of his head and
left his cheek. His body bore the marks of his many battles: saber scars, bullet
wounds, one of which had smashed his ankle. Despite this he escaped.
He entered Poland where he was arrested, tried but then acquitted.
With his companions he analyzed what had happened in Ukraine and in 1923
published a text on "Delo Truda": "The state will have to disappear once and for
all from the future society ... it will be replaced by a system of self-managed
confederate production and consumption organizations. among them...".
With the help of his French comrades in 1924 he reached Paris where he remained
until his death in July 1934 from starvation and the after-effects of
tuberculosis and war wounds. His last words were for his beloved daughter: «I
hope you can live healthy and happy...».
It will not be so. His wife and daughter will be persecuted and imprisoned first
by the Nazis and then deported by the Stalinists to Siberia. Only after Stalin's
death will they be freed and exiled to Kazakhstan where his wife Galina will die
in 1978 and his daughter Yelena in 1993.
Since 1990, celebrations have been held annually in Guljaj Pole to remember
Nestor Machno to which a local museum was also dedicated, but his ashes remained
in Paris in the Père Lachaise cemetery near the graves of the Parisian communards
who embraced Bakunin's ideas. and Proudhon.
At this moment the name of Makhno is an indicator of the direction that his
country invaded by Putin's army will want to take. Do you want to give the right
role in history to this defender of freedom or do you still want to re-evaluate
the unfortunate figure of Stepan Bandera, a collaborator of the Nazis who someone
would like to pass off as a national hero?
Volodymyr Zelens'kyj should reflect on this rather than continuing to make dramas
for entertainment companies. The thought and deeds of Nestor Machno should make
us reflect on how much Stalinist propaganda weighed on the convictions of many in
the twentieth century.
The Nestor Machno ideas, which have been more realized than theoretical, are not
dead, however, they have not been definitively buried by Soviet defamation and
disinformation. And what is happening today in Kurdish Rojava remembers a lot,
and we hope with more luck and continuity, the experiment of the Community
Republic of Guljaj Pole founded by Makhno, the legendary libertarian commander of
the peasant army who defeated the Tsar's Cossacks, the army of the coup leader
Simon Petljura, the Austro-German occupiers, the armies of the "white" nostalgic
for the Tsar and even the Red Army.

https://ponte.noblogs.org/2022/3141/nestor-machno-il-leggendario/
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