Nestor Makhno was one of the most eccentric revolutionaries during the Russian Civil War. He established a regime based on left-wing anarchist principles on the left bank of the Dnipro River in Ukraine and fought against both White and Red armies. Makhnos project was short-lived but provided inspiration for left-wing revolutionary movements in the following decades.Nestor Makhnos Revolutionary IdealsNestor Makhno and his allies at Huliaipole, 1919. Source: Wikimedia CommonsBorn on October 27, 1889 in the Ukrainian village of Huliaipole, Nestor Ivanovich Makhno grew up in a poor environment in which local peasants struggled to advance in society. His father died when he was very young and the conditions he and his family lived in radicalized him. In 1906, he joined a small anarchist cell plotting attacks on Russian policemen. He was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment in Butyrka prison in Moscow after killing a policeman in Huliaipole.He continued working on plans for an anarchist revolution from prison with his cellmate Peter Arshinov when he was released during the February Revolution in 1917. He immediately returned to Huliaipole hoping to organize workers in the village. Workers councils sprouted up all over the Russian Empire to promote nationalism, workers rights, and self-determination. Makhno ran one of these councils, known as soviets, in Huliaipole. The town proved receptive to the promises made by Makhnos soviet.Like the rest of the Russian Empire, Ukraine experienced rapid industrial development in the late 19th century, and workers in Ukrainian cities were exposed to left-wing socialist ideas. Makhnos soviet aimed to improve conditions for peasants in Huliaipole while redistributing land from wealthy families, especially the Mennonite community, in the region. He opposed Lenins revolutionary dictatorship but hoped to work with other revolutionaries. When the Central Powers invaded in 1918, his soviet organized resistance to their presence while he went to Moscow to gain support.Ukrainian IndependenceFirst General Secretariat of the Ukrainian Central Rada, 1917. Source: Euromaidan PressOutside of Huliaipole, major developments were underway in Ukraine. Years of underground organizing led to the creation of Ukraines national movement. In March 1917, Ukrainian delegates formed a regional congress known as the Central Rada and elected Mykhailo Hrushevsky, a historian and Ukrainian nationalist leader, as its head. Its members were divided on whether they wanted autonomy within a democratic Russia or full independence. After the October Revolution of 1917, the Central Rada declared full independence, establishing the Ukrainian Peoples Republic in the process.The Central Rada was composed of parties representing Ukrainian socialist movements, the Russian Social Democrats, Jewish parties of different backgrounds, and Polish representatives. They agreed to create a social democratic state with equal rights and universal suffrage. The Ukrainian language was rehabilitated and a new army was formed.The Bolsheviks were opposed to the calls for Ukrainian independence and ordered the Red Army to take Kyiv, the new capital. After a brief fight outside the city, the Central Rada fled along with the remnants of Ukraines army. They returned when the Austrian and German armies invaded Ukraine to keep it from falling to Bolshevik rule. However, the Central Powers wanted to rule Ukraine through a puppet and installed a regime called the Hetmanate, led by General Pavlo Skoropadsky. This led to an insurgency throughout Ukraine. Makhnos soviet organized peasant attacks on Austrian troops near Huliaipole. Skoropadsky was thrown out of power on April 29, 1918, by supporters of Symon Petliura. Ukraine subsequently collapsed into a civil war.The Formation of the MakhnovshchinaMap of the Makhnovshchinas furthest extent of control in 1919 found in Peter Arshinovs History of the Makhnovist Movement, 1921. Source: The Anarchist LibraryWhile the Russian Civil War raged around Eurasia, Nestor Makhno and his acolytes began putting their anarchist ideas into practice. It went beyond the village of Huliaipole; a large chunk of territory on the left bank of the Dnipro River came under Makhnovist control. With the help of men like Fedir Shchus, Volin (Vsevolod Eichenbaum), Vasyl Kurilenko, Peter Arshinov, and many others, they began implementing their plans of land distribution, the formation of peasant councils, and creating a militia called the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine. While they supported Ukrainian self-determination, they opposed Petliuras reestablishment of the Ukrainian Peoples Republic, believing it to be too bourgeois.When the November 1918 armistice went into effect, the Central Powers troops went home, leaving a power vacuum in Ukraine. The Makhnovists wanted to extend their control as far as possible and began to clash with both the Petliurists and Russian White Armies. Makhno, now nicknamed Batko (uncle), took advantage of peasant grievances to gain supporters. His military became reputable for its ability to seize towns through trickery. The Makhnovists also played different parties in the Russian Civil War against each other.The Makhnovshchina (i.e. the area under Makhnovs rule) was a multiethnic and multireligious territory that officially made no distinctions between people based on their background. Because of the presence of Jews in the Insurgent Army and Makhnovist leadership, there was little antisemitism. Russian anarchists were welcome too, even if the movement was mainly a Ukrainian one. The minority group targeted by the Makhnovists was the Mennonite community, a group of German and Dutch Anabaptist Christians who had been invited to the Russian Empire by Catherine the Great in the 18th century. Because many Mennonites were landowners, they were frequently attacked by Makhnos militia.Failed Alliance with Hryhoriv and the RedsNestor Makhno in Red Army uniform, 1919. Source: Wikimedia CommonsMakhnos Revolutionary Insurgent Army began fighting the Ukrainian Peoples Army and the White Russian Army once the Central Powers evacuated. Petliura could not bring Makhno under his wing and hostilities ensued. Makhnos forces outclassed the other Ukrainian troops and defeated them repeatedly. At the same time, the White Russian Army moved from areas of southern Russia into Ukraine with the aim of reconstructing the Russian Empire under former loyalists of the tsar. Makhno felt that he was being put in a vice and sought assistance from Red Army commander Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko and a warlord named Nykyfor Hryhoriv.The alliance with the Reds and Hryhorivs militia deteriorated as a result of repression from the Cheka, the Bolshevik secret police. Makhno and his allies opposed the establishment of the Soviet regime in Moscow, favoring libertarian socialism. They also opposed Hryhorivs antisemitism. In 1919, when the Makhnovshchina held a Regional Congress, the Bolsheviks announced that they were traitors. The White Army also broke through the Red Armys lines in Donbas and attacked the Makhnovshchina. Makhnos army came under attack from multiple directions and was forced to flee over the Dnipro River to Uman.The Makhnovists continued fighting even with the loss of their center of power. In July 1919, they assassinated Hryhoriv and briefly buried the hatchet with the Ukrainian Peoples Republic. Their alliance with Petliuras forces enabled them to prepare for a counterattack. Both armies assaulted the Whites on the left bank of the Dnipro River and the Makhnovists regained Huliaipole on November 11, 1919.Zenith of the MakhnovshchinaVolin (Vsevolod Mikhailovich Eichenbaum), Chairman of the Makhnovshchinas Military Revolutionary Council. Source: Wikimedia CommonsFor a brief period at the end of 1919 and early 1920, the Makhnovshchina reached the high watermark of its territorial control. Anton Denikins Army of South Russia had been forced back out of most of Ukraine. All business enterprises were brought under worker or peasant control again and local soviets were reestablished. Volin, the chairman of the Military Revolutionary Council, advocated that every soviet in the region be given total autonomy, something opposed by other delegates to the Regional Congress. By December 1919, a typhus epidemic ravaged the Makhnovshchina, enabling the Reds to retake control of the area on the left bank of the Dnipro River down to Crimea.The implementation of the Red Terror by the Cheka enraged the Ukrainian peasantry, leading to additional fighting between the two. An estimated 200,000 Ukrainian peasants were killed during the Red Terror. Much of the progress made by Makhno and his allies was reversed. However, the Whites reared their head again, forcing the Reds and Makhnovists to put aside their differences once more. The Starobilsk Agreement led to another short-lived alliance between the two factions.As Baron Pyotr Wrangels White forces advanced and the Polish Army along with Petliuras forces marched on Kyiv in the west, the Revolutionary Insurgent Army joined the Red Army in driving back the White advance. Despite serious battle damage to the region, Wrangels withdrawal and the terms of the agreement enabled Makhno to set up his autonomous state again. They controlled everything between the Dnipro River and the Azov Sea.The End of the MakhnovshchinaMakhno and members of the Military Revolutionary Committee, 1920. Source: libcom.orgThe destruction of the remaining White armies meant that the Bolsheviks no longer required the assistance of the Makhnovists. Vladimir Lenin demanded that the Makhnovists join the Red Army in invading Poland, which Makhno and his supporters refused to do. The Cheka began to suppress many of the local soviets when they refused to recognize Moscows authority. The Revolutionary Insurgent Army tried to resist but lacked support and weapons. It was forced to retreat into western Ukraine.By this point, the peasants who lived in the Makhnovshchina were exhausted by years of war. They formed the main support base of Makhnos movement but had little left to offer. As a result, Makhno and his supporters went into exile, first fleeing to Romania and then on to France. While in Poland, Makhno was briefly arrested before being released. He later died in 1934 in Paris. The work he and his comrades did was undone by Bolshevik War Communism, in which resources from the countryside were plundered to feed the cities. Even Lenins more moderate New Economic Policy involved a greater degree of central control compared to Makhnos vision of localized socialism.The Makhnovschina had proven to be resilient and popular through several years of war. Peasants and workers living there embraced land reform and democratic freedoms that they lacked under tsarist or communist rule. However, the endless conflict on the territory took a heavy toll on the people. Without external assistance and recognition, the Makhnovshchina was doomed to fail. It was, however, an inspiration to other anarchist movements and not the last time anarchist leaders attempted to create a mass movement.