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Russian Anarchists and the Civil War Author(S): Paul Avrich Source: Russian Review, Vol The Editors and Board of Trustees of the Russian Review Russian Anarchists and the Civil War Author(s): Paul Avrich Source: Russian Review, Vol. 27, No. 3 (Jul., 1968), pp. 296-306 Published by: Wiley on behalf of The Editors and Board of Trustees of the Russian Review Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/127258 . Accessed: 15/11/2013 09:46 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Wiley and The Editors and Board of Trustees of the Russian Review are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Russian Review. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 128.197.26.12 on Fri, 15 Nov 2013 09:46:39 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions RussianAnarchists and the Civil War By Paul Avrich HEN thefirst shots of theRussian Civil War werefired, theanarchists, in commonwith the otherleft-wing op- positionparties, were faced with a seriousdilemma. Which side were theyto support?As staunchlibertarians, they held no brieffor the dictatorial policies of Lenin's government, but the prospectof a Whitevictory seemed even worse. Active opposi-. tionto the Sovietregime might tip the balancein favorof the counterrevolutionaries.On the other hand, support for the Bol- sheviksmight serve to entrenchthem too deeplyto be ousted frompower once the dangerof reactionhad passed. It was a quandarywith no simplesolutions. After much soul-searching and debate,the anarchists adopted a varietyof positions, rang- ingfrom active resistance to theBolsheviks through passive neu- tralityto eager collaboration.A majority,however, cast their lotwith the beleaguered Soviet regime. By August1919, at the climaxof theCivil War, Lenin was so impressedwith the zeal and courageof these"Soviet anarchists," as theiranti-Bolshe- vik comradescontemptuously dubbed them,that he counted themamong "the most dedicated supporters of Sovietpower."" An outstandingcase in pointwas Bill Shatov,a formerIWW agitatorin the UnitedStates who had returnedto his native Russiaafter the February Revolution. As an officerin theTenth Red Armyduring the autumn of 1919, Shatov threw his energies intothe defenseof Petrogradagainst the advanceof General Yudenich.The followingyear he was summonedto Chitato becomeMinister of Transport in theFar EasternRepublic. Be- forehe left,Shatov tried to justifyhis collaborationist position to hisfellow libertarians, Emma Goldman and AlexanderBerkman. "NowI justwant to tellyou," he said,"that the Communist state IV. I. Lenin,Sochineniia, 2nd. ed., 31 vols.,Moscow, 1931-1935, XXIV, 437. 296 This content downloaded from 128.197.26.12 on Fri, 15 Nov 2013 09:46:39 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions RussianAnarchists and theCivil War 297 in action is exactlywhat we anarchistshave always claimed it would be-a tightlycentralized power still more strengthened by the dangersof the Revolution. Under such conditions,one cannotdo as one wills. One does not justhop on a trainand go, or even ride the bumpers,as I used to do in the United States. One needs permission.But don't get the idea that I miss my American'blessings.' Me for Russia, the Revolution,and its gloriousfuture." The anarchists,said Shatov,were "the roman- ticistsof the Revolution,"but one could not fightwith ideals alone. At the moment,the chieftask was to defeatthe reaction- aries. "We anarchistsshould remaintrue to our ideals, but we should not criticizeat this time. We must work and help to build."2 Shatov was one of a small armyof anarchistswho took up weapons against the Whites duringthe Civil War. Othersac- cepted minorposts withinthe Soviet governmentand urged theircomrades to do likewise,or at least to refrainfrom activities which were hostileto the Bolshevikcause. Yuda Roshchin,a formerBlack Banner terroristand an implacable foe of the Marxists,now surprisedeveryone by hailingLenin as one of the great figuresof the modern age. Accordingto Victor Serge, Roshchineven triedto workout an "anarchisttheory of the dic- tatorshipof the proletariat."Speaking before a group of Mos- cow anarchistsin 1920, he exhortedhis colleagues to cooperate with Lenin's party. "It is the duty of everyanarchist," he de- clared, "to work whole-heartedlywith the Communists,who are the advance guard of the Revolution. Leave your theories alone, and do practicalwork for the reconstructionof Russia. The need is great,and the Bolshevikswelcome you."3 2EmmaGoldman, Living AJy Life, New York,1931, p. 729; AlexanderBerk- man,The BolshevikMyth (Diary 1920-1922),New York,1925, pp. 35-36. sVictorSerge, Memoires d'un rivolutionnaire,Paris, 1951, p. 134; Berkman, The BolshevikMyth, p. 68. This content downloaded from 128.197.26.12 on Fri, 15 Nov 2013 09:46:39 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 298 The Russian Review But Roshlchin'slisteners were not impressed. Greetinghis speech witha chorusof jeers and catcalls,they wrote him offas anotherloss to "Soviet anarchism"and a traitorto the cause of Bakunin and Kropotkin.For even in these precariouscircum- stancesa large and militantsegment of the anarchistmovement would deny theirBolshevik adversaries any quarter. The Bri- ansk Federationof Anarchists,for example,called for the im- mediateoverthrow of the "Social Vampires"in the Kremlinwho sucked the blood of the people. Translatingthis appeal intoac- tion,a terroristorganization in Moscow known as the Under- groundAnarchists joined forceswith the Left SRs and bombed the headquartersof the CommunistParty Committee,killing twelveof its membersand woundingfifty-five others, Bukharin among them. In the south,where the authorityof the statewas completely disrupted,anarchist violence found its most fertilesoil. Bands of armed marauders,operating under such names as "Hurri- caiiC' and "Death," sprangup in everyquarter, ready to swoop down on town or village wheneverthe opportunitypresented itself. The Bakunin Partisansof Ekaterinoslavsang of a new "era of dynamite"which would greetoppressors of everystripe, Red and White alike: Down with the noise of churchbells! We shall sound a differentalarm. Withexplosions and groansin the land We shall build our own harmony!4 And in Kharkov a fanatical circle of Anarcho-Futuristspro- claimed""Death to worldcivilization!" and urgedthe darkmass- es to take up theiraxes and destroyeverything in sight. Auarchistsof a more pacific bent denounced these groups as "Sicilian bandits" who used the cloak of anarchismto con- ceal the predatorynature of theiractivities. For the moderates, 4M. N. Chudnov,Pod chernymznamenem (zapiski anarkhista),Moscow, 1930, pp. 53ff. This content downloaded from 128.197.26.12 on Fri, 15 Nov 2013 09:46:39 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions RussianAnarchists and theCivil War 299 robberyand terrorismwere grotesquecaricatures of anarchist doctrines,which served only to demoralizethe movement'strue adherentsand to discreditanarchism in the eyes of the public. Renouncingviolent action, the milderanarchists armed them- selves withnothing more lethal than pen and ink and mounted a verbal attack on the Soviet dictatorship.A major theme of theircriticism was that the BolshevikRevolution had merely substituted"state capitalism" for private capitalism, that one big ownerhad takenthe place of manysfinall ones, so thatthe peas- ants and workersnow found themselvesunder the heel of a "new class of administrators-anew class born largelyfrom the wombof the intelligentsia."5 In theirview, what had takenplace in Russia closely resembledthe earlierrevolutions in Western Europe: no soonerhad the oppressedfarmers and craftsmenof England and France removedthe landed aristocracyfrom pow- er than the ambitiousmiddle class stepped into the breach and erecteda new class structurewith itselfat the top; in a similar manner,the privilegesand authorityonce shared by the Rus- sian nobilityand bourgeoisiehad passed into the hands of a new rulingclass composedof party officials, government bureau- crats,and technicalspecialists. As the Civil War deepened,the governmentgrew less and less tolerantof such criticismsand startedclamping down on anar- chist groupsin Moscow and Petrograd. As a result,there be- gan an exodus of anarchiststo the Ukraine,the perennialhaven of fugitivesfrom the persecutionsof the centralgovernment. In the cityof Kharkova new anarchistorganization, the Nabat Confederation,sprang up in 1918 and soon could boast of flourishingbranches in all the major cities of the south. As mightbe expected,Nabat's adherentswere extremelycritical of the Sovietdictatorship, yet they believed thatthe mostpress- WVol'nyiGolos Trudac,September 16, 1918. This content downloaded from 128.197.26.12 on Fri, 15 Nov 2013 09:46:39 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 300 The Russian Review ing task of the anarchistmovement was to defend the revolu- tion against the White onslaught,even if this should mean a temporaryalliance with the Communists.To save the revolu- tion they pinned theirhopes on a "partisanarmy" organized spontaneouslyby the revolutionarymasses themselves. As the mostlikely nucleus of such an armythe Nabat leaders looked to the guerillaband led by NestorMakhno, whose
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