Maria Nikiforova. La Rivoluzione Senza Attesa

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Maria Nikiforova. La Rivoluzione Senza Attesa Mila Cotlenko MARIA NIKIFOROVA LA RIVOLUZIONE SENZA ATTESA L’epopea di un’anarchica attraverso l’Ucraina (1902-1919) Edizioni E1 Rùsae Edizioni lì] K’ùsac Il termine E1 Rùsac nel dialetto triestino vuole dire lo zaino. Abbiamo scelto questo nome per queste nuove edizioni anarchiche perché quest’oggetto ci ricorda in­ nanzi tutto la sua utilità. E1 Rùsac è un oggetto utile sotto vari aspetti; per chi lotta è il conte­ nitore delle maschere antigas, san pietrini e volantini durante i cortei, il porta manifesti durante le serate ad “attacchinare” sui muri delle cit­ tà, è l’oggetto che tanti compagni e compagne hanno usato ed usa­ no durante i sabotaggi e le azioni dirette che da sempre hanno fatto fare brutti sogni ai nemici della libertà. E quell’amico nei giorni della clandestinità. E l’oggetto che si può usare quando si esce dal car­ cere per tenere le lettere ed i pochi vestiti. È un compagno che non ci abbandona mai, allo stesso tempo però ci vuole metodo nell’organiz­ zare E1 Rùsac sennò il suo utilizzo rimane monco: è come le lotte che si portano avanti, non basta la de­ terminazione, ci vuole un metodo anche nelle lotte sia da soli sia con i compagni e compagne di strada. Queste nuove edizioni vogliono portare uno stimolo al confronto tra gli anarchici e non solo, vo­ gliono, con modestia, portare un nuovo contributo alla propaganda semplicemente perché chi sta scri­ vendo vuole la Rivoluzione Socia­ le e l’Anarchia, quindi la libertà per tutte e tutti. MARIA NIKIFOROVA LA RIVOLUZIONE SENZA ATTESA L ’epopea di un anarchica attraverso l’Ucraina (1902-1919) Edizioni E1 Rùsac Prima edizione italiana, Trento, ottobre 2016 a cura delle Edi­ zioni Anarchiche “E1 Rùsac”. Tradotta dalla edizione francese dei tipi delle Mutines Sedi- tions del settembre 2014. Illustrazione in copertina di Marco Trentin. Ringrazio Giulia, Benedetta, Ludovica e Massimo per il lavoro di traduzione e correzione. Questo libro non sarebbe uscito senza la loro collaborazione. INDICE INTRODUZIONE ALL’EDIZIONE FRANCESE 11 UNA GIOVINEZZA DI BEZMOTIVNIKI 17 IL GRANDE VIAGGIO 21 GIORNATE RIVOLUZIONARIE A PIETROGRADO 23 ALEKSANDROVSK E HULJAJ POLE 30 IL COLPO DI STATO DI OTTOBRE IN UCRAINA 37 LA MINACCIA COSACCA 41 LA DRUZHINA DEL LIBERO COMBATTIMENTO 45 LE BATTAGLIE DI ELISAVETGRAD 48 LA LUNGA RITIRATA 53 PROCESSO A TAGANROG 56 UN INVERNO ODIOSO 61 RITORNO A HULJAJ POLE 66 LA ROTTURA 70 ANARCHICI UNDERGROUND 75 “NON PENSARE MALE DI ME” 85 GLI ANARCHICI UNDERGROUND IN UCRAINA 1920-1930. CONTORNI DI UNA STORIA 89 LA STORIA DI UN VOLANTINO E IL DESTINO DELL’ANARCHICO VARSHAVSKIY 101 POSTFAZIONE 109 RIFERIMENTI CRONOLOGICI 117 PICCOLA BIBLIOGRAFIA 121 Dedico questo libro a Giovanni Boni detto il Monello, partigiano anarchico scomparso qualche tempo fa. MARIA GRIGOR’EVNA NIKIFOROVA INTRODUZIONE ALLA EDIZIONE FRANCESE Matriosca uando mi sono approcciata alla storia della rivoluzione del 1917 in Russia, ho come avuto l’impressione di apri­ Q re una successione di scatole di bambole russe, dove ogni m atriosca rivelava nuove realtà. A scuola, in due paragrafi mi avevano insegnato l’ascesa irresistibile dei bolscevichi tra febbraio e ottobre, e su lunghe e noiose pagine, la progressiva realizzazione del loro regime totalitario. La morale era chiara: la rivoluzione non può che portare al dispotismo della peggior specie. Successivamente, la lettura di Volin infranse definitiva­ mente la più grande delle matriosche. 1917 non era più la storia di un semplice colpo di Stato, ma ridiventava un processo ri­ voluzionario ricco e abbondante, con molteplici forze in cam­ po. Non era detto in anticipo che i bolscevichi avrebbero fatto man bassa della puntata. Si scopriva una situazione complessa, in cui numerosi uomini e donne - tra cui degli anarchici - si erano lanciati anima e corpo per realizzare il loro sogno di li­ bertà, contro le truppe austro-tedesche, i bianchi, i nazionalisti e i vari partiti rivoluzionari autoritari. Questa storia rivoluzionaria non poteva più essere pensata come due sussulti in un solo anno per saldare tutti i conti, sa­ pendo che la normalizzazione da parte dei bolscevichi prese del tempo, dieci anni in certe zone. Poco a poco, Makhno di­ venne un’icona, incarnando da solo la lotta anarchica in Ucrai­ na. Tuttavia, è stato necessario infrangere anche questa m a tr io ­ sca, per scoprire al suo interno il percorso di Maria Nikiforova e di tanti altri compagni dimenticati. Stranamente, né Volin, né Arsinov, non più che storici come Skirda o Avrich le fanno spazio nel loro racconto, mentre Makhno stesso riferisce senza esitare diversi episodi che forni­ scono un punto di vista sulle attività di Maria Nikiforova1. Per un anarchico che ha vissuto quest’epoca in Ucraina - la ritro­ viamo ugualmente nelle memorie del capo di stato maggiore del movimento insurrezionale makhnovista Viktor Belash2 -, 1. Nestor Makhno, Mémoires et écrits (1917-1932), ed. Ivrea (Parigi), gennaio 2010, 560 p, i passaggi esatti saranno segnalati nel corso del libro. 2. Viktor Belash, Dorogi Nestora Makhno (Le strade di Nestor Makhno), ed. Prosa (Mosca), 1993, 632p. Sono memorie ritrovate da suo figlio e pubblicate dopo la sua morte. Si veda anche il diario di Alexei' Chubenko, Biografiya Makhno i Makhnovshchina (Biografia di Makhno e della Makhnovcina), diario inedito pub­ blicato in Nestor Makhno: krest’ianskoe dvizhenie na Ukraine. 1918-1921. Dokumenty i 11 è difficile non parlarne: faceva senza alcun dubbio parte dei compagni imprescindibili. Alla testa di un distaccamento di guardie nere, sostenuta da numerosi operai di Aleksandrovsk, città situata vicino a Huljaj Pole, di cui era originaria, ma an­ che dai marinai di Kronstadt, le sue qualità di oratrice e le sue capacità pratiche imposero rapidamente la sua fama in tutto il territorio ucraino. Fermamente convinta che bisognava ap­ profondire il processo rivoluzionario in corso, in funzione dei rapporti di forza in loco non esitava a sfidare le autorità loca­ li, anche quelle cosiddette “rivoluzionarie", a esigere contributi dalla borghesia e dai proprietari terrieri, a condurre espropri (armi, viveri, denaro e edifici, ecc.), il che le valse presto l’essere messa alla gogna degli “anarco-banditi" dal potere bolscevico. Dietro Maria Nikiforova, o piuttosto al suo fianco, ci sono al­ tre m atriosch e che si sono aperte, poiché periodi interi della sua vita sono ancora largamente sconosciuti, che si pensi alla sua giovinezza posta sotto il segno del “terrore senza motivo” (bezmotivnyi) intorno al 1905, alle giornate insurrezionali di Pietrogrado nel luglio 1917, lanciate dai compagni prima del colpo di Stato di Ottobre, o ancora alla sua partecipazione agli “anarchici underground" che, dal 1919, ricostituirono delle reti per compiere attacchi mirati sia contro i bianchi che contro i rossi, chiamando nella loro azione di agitazione a una “te rza rivoluzione sociale Al di là dell’entusiasmo che il suo percorso comprensibilmen­ te suscita, non faremo indossare a Maria Nikiforova gli abiti di una santa o di un’eroina, come fa talvolta una parte del movi­ mento anarchico con i propri morti. Esistono già abbastanza libri prediletti per rassicurarsi all’ombra del passato, felici di poter appuntare, prima di addormentarsi, una figura in più nel pantheon degli anarchici o delle grandi donne. Poiché se non per alimentare le riflessioni e le lotte del presente, a che serve immergersi sulle tracce dei compagni che ci hanno preceduto? Costruire una contro-storia senza asperità finisce per incon­ trare gli stessi ostacoli della storia ufficiale, privando gli indi­ vidui della loro complessità e della loro unicità per farne dei miti. Pur se scritta dal punto di vista dei dominati e dei rivolto­ si, fissa comunque delle posizioni, trasforma in destino ciò che è un percorso vivo, cancella i dibattiti e le altre scelte presenti in favore di una sorta di successione ineluttabile di fatti. L’idea di questo libro non sarà quindi di imbalsamare Marus- sia in una posizione di “Atamansha” (capo militare carismati- materialy (Nestor Makhno: il movimento contadino in Ucraina. 1918-1921. Docu­ menti e materiali), Pod red. V. Danilova i T. Shanina, Rossiyskaya polotoches- kaya entsiklopediya (Mosca), 2006, doc. n°443. 12 co) o di “Giovanna cL’Arco dell’anarchia’. Piuttosto, è proprio in questa direzione che bisognerà essere critici, poiché può ave­ re un costo elevato. Di fronte alle conquiste dei bianchi, delle truppe austro-tedesche e dei nazionalisti ucraini, lei scelse di condurre una guerra frontale, e, per farlo, di stipulare un ac­ cordo militare con i bolscevichi. Fu in seguito che agì in rela­ tiva autonomia, e alla fine se la prese direttamente col potere rosso dalla clandestinità. Tutti questi momenti sono in realtà attraversati da esitazioni e contraddizioni, sollevando questio­ ni che si pongono ad ogni tempesta sociale, tra cui alcune che risuonano fino ad oggi: fino a dove spingere il processo rivo­ luzionario quando questo non porta che ad un cambiamento al vertice dello Stato? Quando gli operai si stanno imposses­ sando delle fabbriche e i contadini delle terre, come fare affin­ ché la sedia del potere resti vuota e soprattutto le sue gambe vengano frantumate? Che fare quando la contro-rivoluzione arriva da ogni parte? Come evitare di cadere nella trappola di “fare la guerra ” a scapito di “approfondire la rivoluzione ”? Come riconoscere i falsi amici tra i rivoluzionari dalle intenzioni tut­ tavia sincere? Quali sono le conseguenze del coordinarsi con gruppi autoritari in un “fronte comune”? Quest’ultimo tipo di strategia sembra in questo caso impossibile senza rinunciare a parte delle proprie idee, ed è d’altronde questa la conclusione che trarrà Maria Nikiforova dopo aver sperimentato un’alle­ anza con i bolscevichi. Seguiamo il suo percorso non per ral­ legrarci delle sue alte gesta militari, ma come un’esperienza di situazioni piene di sconvolgimenti rivoluzionari e di difficoltà, come una finestra per affrontare una storia fatta da una succes­ sione di possibili non necessariamente accaduti.
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