The publication of Nestor Machno's complete memoirs, translated from the original
Russian, represents a small event for Italian publishing. In 1970, thanks to thecommitment of the publishing house, the "Fiaccola" had been published (laterreprinted in the spring of 2022) a French translation of a part of the memoirs ofthe Ukrainian revolutionary which covered the period from March 1917 to April1918. Now, thanks to the curatorship work of the writer - which lasted more thana year - and to the financial and organizational commitment of the Castelvecchipublishing house, it was possible to send to print, in a single volume, not onlythe three volumes that make up Machno's memoirs published in France between 1929and 1937 but also his youthful memoirs (covering the period from childhood to theFebruary revolution in Russia) as well as a vast introduction of over one hundredpages which frame the overall story of the anti-authoritarian movements duringthe Russian civil war specially written by the Russian historian Aleksandr Subin(already known in Italy for his monograph on Machno published for the types ofEleuthera). In turn, we have decided to include the biographies of most of thecharacters encountered in the book, in order to make the whole text even moreusable. The result was therefore a "volume" of 800 pages which fills afundamental void for those who want to fully understand the figure of Nestor Machno.In the pages of the book we can thus enter the "big story" through the Muscovitetalks between the revolutionary of Guljaypole and Lenin in the Kremlin where thedifferences in political perspective of the two characters are fully revealed butalso the meeting with the old Kropotkin who in fact delivers the witness to theyoung Ukrainian peasant of the libertarian revolution in Europe, certainlyrepresent memorable pages of the volume. But also the atmosphere of the firstyears of the revolution, the raids of the Red Guards and the peasant armies, theinternal dynamics of the anarchist movement (to which Makhno does not spare heavycriticisms and even many of his arrows) make up a vivid and exciting picture ofthe events narrated by Makhno.Machno in his memoirs acknowledges, and more than once, that he is a"semi-literate peasant" but as Volin points out, in the introduction to thesecond volume, he did not lack his own style which made his writing not onlyrecognizable but also sharp and ironic.The "revolution is not a gala dinner" has often been said and Machno reminds usalmost ruthlessly in these pages: the revolution in its becoming of class war andcivil war is also death, destruction, terror. The path to liberation is alsodotted with this and Machno is aware of it and does not hide it. There are manypages in which the "anarcho-communist" revolutionary, as he liked to definehimself, reflects on the social transformation and the tragedies that heinevitably brings with him.Makhno, as we know, was defeated: after having incessantly fought the whites andthe Ukrainian nationalists he ended up also clashing with the reds and finallyhad to take the path of exile in France where he will die. But his example provedfruitful if his example has come down to us in the 21st century. As Subin writesin his introduction to the volume:"It is hard to imagine what the history of Russia, Ukraine, and perhaps the worldwould have been like if Nestor Makhno had been executed as early as 1910. Therewould have been no talented leader, no revolutionary army.there would have been no Makhno "republic" in Denikin's rear, no destruction oflinks, no withdrawal of troops. The White Army could have broken into Moscow, theBolshevik regime collapsed. But would another power have been better, thedictatorship of a vengeful white elite? Or maybe without that same Makhno, themilitary-communist machine of the Bolsheviks would have worked more smoothly and,who knows, would have invaded Central Europe as early as 1919. And what about theNew Economic Policy of 1921-1929, which was a lesson for the world entire? Wouldthe Bolsheviks have opted for this solution if it hadn't been for the success ofthe Makhnovists and other rebels, if it hadn't been for the Kronstadt uprising,also partly inspired by the experience of the Makhnovists? Even anti-fascistfighters during the Spanish Civil War still repeated Makhno's name as a mantra asthey prepared to attack. Of course he was already dead, but his experienceinspired still others to resist the totalitarianism that was spreading throughEurope."http://alternativalibertaria.fdca.it/_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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