Trudoliubovka Pogrom – date and perpetrator
Collated by Chaim Freedman,
Opinions expressed are those of the persons contributing them and not necessarily of the coordinators of this site.
Note: Trudoliubovka was
also known to the Jews by its popular name “Engels”
"Megilat Hatevakh", The Scroll of Slaughter,
A.D. Rosenthal
"Trudoliubovka (a Jewish colony, district of Yekaterinoslav)
"In the month of May in the year 1919 there burst into the colony
Trudoliubovka, a large camp of partisan peasants from the surroundings, about
eight hundred armed men. They deployed in the street, broke into the houses,
dragged the Jews outside, clubbed them with the butts of the rifles and drove
them to the "assembly". In one barn they collected about one hundred
and fifty people and demanded from them that they should hand over to them the
weapons they possessed. When the Jews handed over to them the small amount of
weapons which they possessed, the peasants closed the barn and set it alight on
all its sides. They set guards around the barn. Anyone who tried to escape via
the roof, the guards slashed them with their sabers. Six Jews who made an
attempt to flee were stabbed and the remainder were burnt. And while one gang
was engaged with the burnt ones, another gang was deployed on the houses and
raped all the women and young girls who were in the colony. And the weeping and
shrieking of the tortured ones mingled with the cries of the burnt ones, and a
sharp choking odor of the flesh of the men roasting in the fire was carried in
the air."
Chaim Freedman – analysis “Our Fathers’ Harvest –
Supplement” 1990.
This description should be
compared with the eyewitness report which appears in Rokhel Luban’s memoirs.
The date above is incorrect; see below.
The identity of those
responsible for the pogrom on Trudoliubovka and Nechaevka (Engels and Peness)
was cast in some doubt by historians who studied the period. Attempts have been
made to clear the name of Nestor Machno, the notorious leader of the peasant
army which achieved considerable power in the region in which the Jewish
agricultural colonies were located.
Rokhel Luban , in her
memoirs, does not identify the group of `bandits' who were responsible for the
pogrom in Trudoliubovka. However this cannot be taken as any indication that
their identity was not known to the survivors. A study of the memoirs reveals
various instances wherein people are not referred to specifically by name (for
example, Rokhel's great-grandparents) or events known to her were omitted (the
deaths of her uncles Rabbi Zalmen and Mendel Komisaruk). Her memoir was not
meant to be an exhaustive historical document. Rather it was principally a
record of the events which she was personally involved in, to the best of her
memory sixty years later. As such it is a remarkable document.
However, in a letter to Chaim
Freedman (Aug.26 1964), Rokhel states:
`During the Christmas
holidays of 1918, when my husband, I and our baby girl Chaya (Clara) were
visiting with my parents, many Jewish settlements were massacred by bandits
called Machnovtsi including ours. My father, husband, brothers Shmilik, Pinchas
and Velvl were murdered.'
Furthermore, the identity of
the perpetrators of the pogrom was clearly stated by Wiliam Komesaroff of
There is a conflict between
the sources and the eyewitnesses as to the date of the pogrom. As quoted in
`Our Fathers' Harvest' (p.47), the chronicle of pogroms by A.D.Rozenthal
`Megilat Hatevakh' places the date as May 1919.However Rokhel Luban knew that
it was at Christmas time 1918 as stated above. In her memoirs she clearly
states that the Kolonya was threatened on Thursday December 21 and the pogrom
took place on Sunday December 24. Rokhel's daughter Clara Berchansky recalls
her mother telling her that the pogrom took place on the day before Christmas.
It can be concluded that Rozenthal's date was in error, perhaps confused with a
pogrom which took place on Kolonya Gorkaya in May 1919. See the Yelishevitch
memoirs for details of the Gorkaya pogrom.
The most extensive analysis
of the problem is presented in the Hebrew `Haavar', a journal
devoted to research of the history of Russian Jewry (No.16, 1969). The noted
historian Yehudah Slutski goes to extensive lengths to exonerate Makhno.
The following quotations summarize his essential thesis:
`All the armies which
fought on the lands of the
Most of the Red Army
excesses were perpetrated by units enlisted in the
In contrast, the White
Army, or Army of Volunteers, commanded by Denikin, is recorded in the annals of
Jewish History as one of the blackest names and spillers of Jewish blood. It
was comprised of monarchist and anti-Semitic forces. As a ravaging force the
White Army gained its reputation between June 1919 and March 1920 during its
advance across the
With the withdrawal of the
German army from the
The major Ukrainian
popular force was that led by Nestor Makhno, the son of a peasant family from
the large Ukrainian village Gulyai Polye. Under the Tsarist regime he had been
imprisoned for anarchist activities. When the revolution broke out he returned
to his village and raised a local peasant army whose immediate aim was to
impound the estates of the nobility. Many landlords were killed. With the
withdrawal of the Germans at the end of1918, Makhno held power over a wide area
of the Eastern Ukraine and with the cooperation of local communist forces
captured the city of
The communists never
accepted the fact of an independent force not under their command, nor did
Makhno accept central Soviet authority. But the communists benefited from
Makhno's 50,000 strong army in its contribution to the defeat of the Whites
under Wrangel in October 1920.Immediately after the defeat of the Whites, the
Red Army set about the systematic destruction of the Makhno forces until Makhno
was forced to become a political exile in August 1921. '
Slutski then quotes various
sources relating to Makhno's role in the anti- Jewish excesses:
`The `National Secretariat
of Ukrainian Jews' stated during the period of the pogroms: "A special
place is held for the actions of the Makhno bands which waged complete
destruction in the Yekaterinoslav-Pavlograd region."
The journal `Reshumot'
(1920) refers to: "the well known wild animal Makhno who was known
for his cruelty and his army which was drunk with blood."
`Jewish Agriculturalists
in the Steppes of
Slutski denies this report with the claim:
`If indeed such pogroms
took place, the Soviet historians would not desist from telling about them and
denouncing Makhno. The sole incident blamed on Makhno was the killing of 22
Jews in the small colony Gorkaya.'
Arshinov in his `History of the Makhno
Movement' (
The Jewish historian of the
Ukrainian pogroms, Eliyahu Chernikover did not complete his book on the
subject such that he did not relate to Makhno in writing. The poet Lissin
claims that Chernikover told him in 1935:" That he (Makhno)was
guilty of a series of excesses I have no doubt. But I must state that the
number of pogroms carried out by Makhno's men was considerably smaller than
those perpetrated by Petlura, Denikin, Grigoryev and others. It is enough that
the simple Jew in the
Volin, the Jewish defender of Makhno, also
related his conversations with Cherikover whom he claims stated:
`Every time when I came to
check the facts I have been obliged to declare that on the day in question no
Makhnovist unit could have been at the place indicated in the testimony. All
his army was situated far from such a place. I checked and established the facts,
each time absolutely, at the place and time of the attacks, a unit of Makhno's
army was not engaged in the vicinity. I could not establish the presence of a
unit of Makhno's army in any place in which took place attacks on Jews.
Therefore the attacks were not the work of Makhno's men'
Slutski adopts unquestioningly the above
hearsay evidence reputed to Cherikover, ascribing pogroms in the region
in the summer of 1919 to Denikin. Slutski concludes:
`We have no evidence of
attacks perpetrated by Makhno's men in their region, aside for the attack on
Gorkaya.The name which has been ascribed to Makhno as one of of the leaders of
excesses against the Jews in the Ukraine has no basis. Makhno negated hatred of
Jews and his efforts to restrain his men and protect the Jews of his region is
worthy of praise.'
`Nestor Makhno' written by Michael Malet (
27.11.1918: Permanent occupation of Hulyai Pole.
26.12.1918: Bolshevik and insurgent forces under
Makhno attack Katerinoslav.
12.5.1919: Gorkaya incident.
6.6.1919: Whites take Hulyai Pole.
Presumably
these dates are accoding the the Julian calander.
Another
book seeking to exonerate Makhno is "Vek Voli" by Moshe Goncharok,
published in 1996 by the Central Zionist Archive in
There
are a number of Internet sites which continue to defend Makhno.
“The Makhnovists on the National and Jewish Questions”
http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/russia/makhno_antisem.html
Sources and Reanalysis
Chaim Freedman August 2005.
Rokhel Luban’s memoirs (compiled until her death in 1978).
“Trudoliubovka Pogrom
(extract)
It
was not very long until Christmas, 1918. All my brothers heard that Grisha and
I were coming home so they came home. The times were not very good. Once there
came a White recognizance unit. They found nothing in the Kolonya but they
plundered. Everyone felt that a storm was coming. Friday and Shabbes went by in
terror. Sunday morning Father wanted to travel for good water. The wagon was
soon harnessed when Father came into the house and said that the whole Kolonya
was surrounded by bandits.
Mama
had first sent my little brothers to go to Kheder but it did not take long for
them to come home weeping. They had been stripped of their boots and coats and
all the children had been sent home barefoot and naked.
All
the men were called to an assembly, actually in Moshe Nol's yard. Two bandits
with cocked rifles faced us. One gave a look at my sister and said: "She
is a spy; she has black eyes!" My mother stood up, stood by my sister and
said: "First you will have to kill me before you can kill her!" One
said: "Let us take them." The second smote my husband with his
`Nogaika' ( whip). He was still weak from his operation. There were shouts as
Pinkhas and Velvel came.
Mama
cried out such that the heaven would split. I thought that perhaps they will
surely beat them. And I dragged and begged Mama she should go. He was ready to
shoot. When we were back in the house Mama tore out her hair from her head,
banged her head on the wall and begged her father, the Tsaddik ( Saint) that he
should take immediately her children to him alive.
The
bandits meanwhile left her alone and dragged from the cup boards tablecloths
and bed linen and with a sword cut them to shreds. They found our coats. Then a
bandit in a wagon rode up and banged on the window: "Let's go now."
When they left our house we went quickly to the third house where they had
taken our dear ones. The neighbor from the house came with us to open the house
with the key. She said:" We have nothing to go in for." Nothing could
be heard from the house. The door was locked. Through the window I saw a broken
head, a chopped foot, and a chopped hand.
We
all went quickly to the assembly. From all the houses came the same chant. All
were hurrying to the assembly. There was a shout: "They have all been
burnt!"
We
could not believe it. We hurried and arrived at the place: a great heap of
black ashes. We screamed so much with dismay. When the bandits came to the
second Kolonya Peness they had only time to kill nineteen Jews when the Goyim
came and said:" Get going, the Whites are coming." So they saved the
remaining Jews.
In
the `house of fire' of the Starosta was a `Saray'( barn). They drove everyone
inside and sealed them in. We found from my father an `anitsha' (sock). This meant that they were made to
remove their boots and clothes.
We
were left naked and barefoot. The first night we hid in the cemetery with the
children. Another neighbor with her children also took a wagon and horse and we
traveled to a German village. That day was very cloudy for us in the heart. We
started to travel; Mama, my sister, my brother Zalmen and the youngster Leibl
and me with my child. (Murdered in the pogrom were Rokhel’s first husband
Grigory Berchansk, her father Avrom Hillel Namakshtansky and her brothers
Shmilik, Pinkhas and Velvel). When we proceeded they shot so we turned around
and rode back to the Kolonya.
There
firstly we learnt that in the Hintisher Gasse the bandits killed all the women
and children. Then the leader of the bandits gave an order to leave the women
alone and children from thirteen years were to be set free. One little boy of
six years old hid under the bed when the bandits came in. And he saw how the
murderers slaughtered everyone.
In
our house we blocked the window with a cushion and stood a lamp on the table.
When a little child wanted to make a sound we used to close his mouth. The
pogrom had been on Sunday and so we existed until Thursday. I thought that the
whole world must be like this and I used to think that I surely would live and
find out what sort of a world there was to see.
Thursday,
early in the morning we heard that a Minyan of Jews ( the quorum of ten men
required to hold prayers, in particular for the dead) had come from Kaminka
(Tsarakonstantinovka) to bury the dead. They broke the windows where the bodies
lay in the houses. The blood saturated the earth. They took a swig of whiskey
to give them strength to carry out their holy work. They carried them, stiff as
boards and loaded them on a Britchka ( cart). We traveled in a wagon to look at
our dear ones for the last time. But they had to finish and get back. So they
went from house to house. They went to the cemetery where they had taken the
mound of ashes. We took Father's Tallis ( prayer shawl in which the deceased
were normally buried). They had made graves; in one grave they buried the
ashes.
We
didn't know what to do now. We should get away soon. Friday, very early, we
took the wagon with the horse, loaded up and traveled on. As we passed our
house we took from the attic a half sack of meal. We opened the stall, let out
the cattle, horses and hens and gave them water to drink and to eat. We locked
up the doors and set of to travel to Grafskoy to Mama's brothers.
Sequence of events according
to Rokhel Luban’s memoirs:
Firstly Shmilik went to the Starosta Moshe Nol and told him everything. He immediately called an assembly. That was Thursday, 1918, December 21st. They quickly called everyone to the assembly. [But Dec 21st 1918 Julian was a Friday]
Friday in the morning I took the revolver and
wrapped it in a rag. [ Dec.21
1918 Julian; Gregorian
Everyone felt that a storm was
coming. Friday and Shabbes
went by in terror.
Sunday morning Father wanted to travel for good
water. The wagon was soon harnessed when Father came into the house and said that
the whole Kolonya was surrounded by bandits. [Dec 23 Julian;
All the men were called to an
assembly.
We all went quickly to the
assembly. There was a shout: "They have all been burnt!" We arrived
at the place: a great heap of black ashes.
The first night we hid in the cemetery.
In the morning it was still. We went home and took
the wagon with a horse ….we left and traveled to a German village. …we turned
around and rode back to the Kolonya.
The pogrom had been on Sunday and so we existed until
Thursday.
Thursday, early in the morning we heard that a
Minyan of Jews had come from Kaminka (Tsarakonstantinovka) to bury the dead.
Friday, very early, we took the wagon with the horse …. and set of to travel to Grafskoy to Mama's brothers. [Dec 28 Julian; Jan 10 Gregorian]
We drove to Uncle Mendel, Mama's
elder brother. We arrived at his yard and stopped the wagon. Uncle came out of
the house and said: "I can't help you with anything as my family are not
here at home. I have only come to see what is happening and I am going straight
back to them."
Rokhel Luban, letter to Chaim Freedman (Aug.26 1964):
`During the Christmas holidays
of 1918, when my husband, I and our baby girl Chaya (Clara) were visiting with
my parents, many Jewish settlements were massacred by bandits (called
Machnovtsi) including ours. My father, husband, brothers Shmilik, Pinchas and
Velvl were murdered.'
William
Komesaroff (
(Audio tape of memoirs to
Chaim Freedman, 1983)
“About
the pogrom that was on in Engels. I notice that in your book that you wrote
that A.D. Rosenthal quoted that it happened in 1919 in the month of may and
Rokhel said that it was more towards Christmas, December.
Well I distinctly remember it
was a fast day and it was getting on towards Spring and the only fast day that
we have around December January would be in Teves, that it was the 10th
of teves and I very much remember standing on the steps of the synagogue just
waiting for the stars to get out so that we can break our fast and Daven Maariv
and then break our fast.
And this man came running from
the end where the Beis Eylem [cemetery]
is and he was singing out that Engels
[Trudoliubovka] and Peness [Nechaevka] were killed out.
In the 20’s there was a paper in
William Komesaroff recalls that the when the news reached
Grafskoy all the men were in the synagogue because it was a fast day, the 10th
of Tevet. But the corresponding date according to the Julian calendar was
Mel Comisarow (
17 May 2005
According to my Jewish Calendar
program 10 Tevet 1918 =
Julian Friday, Nov 30 or Gregorian Friday, Dec 13.
Yakov Pasik (
11 May 2005
1. In memoirs of pogrom Rochel names date on
of Christmas.
However Russian orthodox church till now uses old
Style and celebrates Christmas on Jan 7, that corresponds
on Dec 25 of old style. Thus Rochel used old style (Dec 21 1918 is
on Jan 3 1919) and pogrom in Trudolubovka has
occured approximately on
This Date corresponds to other sources, in particular to a photo.
2. I have checked up what Mahno`s army at this time did. From a site
HTtp://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/
"... 31.12.1918 after defeat from Petlura`s army Mahno has left
Ekaterinoslav, 5.1.1919 Mahno with group 200 person has returned
in Gulaypole. In January-February 1919 Mahno has organized a number
of pogroms of Colonists in area Gulaypole... "
3. I have checked up conformity of day and date on
(on Jan 3 of new style) there was a Friday, not Thursday. Here
in memoirs there is a small mistake.
What to take for a basis Thursday or Jan 3 ?
I think, thursday because She described all the days of week.
Thursday was Jan 2, and day of pogrom - Sunday Jan 5 1919
Yakov Pasik (
Photograph of mass grave in Trudoliubovka – captions states that 175 Jewish farmers were killed by Makhno.
“This
photo confirms bloody pogrom in Trudolubovka, specifies quantity of victims and
a way of murder. However, who has arranged pogrom on former remains a question.
Now in Russian sources there are many materials about struggle of Mahno with
pogroms and about participation of Jewish colonists in Mahno`s movement.
Communists specially attributed the Jewish pogroms to the ideological enemy”
Yakov Pasik..
http://mahno.ru/lit/vek_voli/5.php
Д-р Аня
Маккаби-Иорш
в своих
воспоминаниях59
настолько
резко
высказалась
в адрес махновцев,
что
заставила
автора этих
строк связаться
с ней. В
воспоминаниях
г-жи Иорш
анархисты
названы
"бандитами
батьки
Махно", утверждается,
что "во всех
колониях
знали, что
бандиты
Махно
полностью
вырезали
всех
обитателей
первых
еврейских колоний
- Трудолюбовки
и 
Нечаевки". Я
процитировал
г-же Иорш
самые
"сильные" места
ее мемуаров и
попросил
указать
источники
такой
информации. В
ходе
телефонного
разговора
выяснилось,
что автор
воспоминаний
сама событий,
описанных
выше, не
помнит, а
опирается на
рассказ
матери. На
вопрос, не
могла ли мать
перепутать
махновцев с
какими-нибудь
другими
отрядами,
ответа не
последовало.
Я спросил,
почему, в
таком случае,
написано, что
о зверствах
Махно "знали
все". Г-жа
Иорш сослалась
тогда на
"разные
энциклопедии,
где все это
написано". Я
спросил, о
каких именно
энциклопедиях
идет речь, но
ответа не
последовало.
Разговор я
закончил тем,
что процитировал
строку из
Краткой
еврейской
энциклопедии,
из главы
"Погромы":
"Нестор
Махно и
другие
главари
движения
решительно
боролись с
погромами и
расстреливали
погромщиков"60.
Возражений
со стороны
автора мемуаров
не было...
59.
Маккаби-Иорш.
"Неугасимая
звезда". Гл. XJ-XII - "Алеф" №599.
Dr.
anya Makkabi-Iorsh in her vospominaniyakhshch9 so sharply expressed herself in
the address of makhnovtsev, that she forced this author to be connected with
it. In the recollections g -ji Of iorsh the anarchists are named by the
"bandits of father Makhno", it is asserted that "in all colonies
they knew that the bandits Makhno completely cut out all inhabitants of the
first Jewish colonies - Trudolyubovki and Nechayevki". I quoted g -of
iorsh the very "strong" places of its memoirs and asked to indicate
the sources of this information. In the course of telephone conversation it was
explained that the author of recollections itself of the events, described
above, does not remember, but he rests on the story of mother. To a question,
could not the mother entangle makhnovtsev with any other forces, it did not
follow answer. I asked, why, in that case, it is written, that about the atrocities
Makhno "knew everything". G- Ja of iorsh referred then to the
"different encyclopedias, where all this is written". I asked, with
what precisely encyclopedias the discussion deals, but it did not follow
answer. Conversation I finished fact that it quoted line from the brief Jewish
encyclopedia, from the chapter "pogroms": "Nestor makhno and
other leaders of motion decisively fought with the pogroms and shot
pogromshchikov"'0. Objections from the side of the author of memoirs not
there were... 59. Makkabi-Iorsh. "inextinguishable star". Main Xj-xii
- "aleph" of №shch99.
William Comisarow (Vancouver , Canada
“After
the Civil War, some of the Jewish colonies suffered from raids organized by
bandits who lived in the area. Our colony Novozlatopol was fortunate in this
respect as we had an organized “samochrana” a self defence group.We had lots of
firearms and ammunition left by the retreating armies.
In 1919 Hersche
Wiseman’s daughter and her family moved to Novozlatopol from Colony Engels whe
her husband was killed in the 1919 pogrom in Engels.
One day I saw the bandit,
Machno, who was from Gulaipole, in Novozlatopol with several of his horsemen.
He was a short man, shorter than the emn who were with him. He was also lame.
The rumor was that he was in town to negotiate an agreement to leave us alone.
The Jews blamed Machno’s gang
for every raid in the area, for which it may or may not have been responsible.
A delegation from Novozlatopol once went to machno to discuss his raids against
the Jews. Machno’s reply was “What can I do ? They’re just a bunch of ignorant
peasants”, referring to his own men.”
Moshe Avigal (Beigal) “
Morai Verabotai” (Tel Aviv 1960)
“And
with the passage of a half Jubilee of years, did Khavidor [an Ukrainian childhood
friend] also go out in the Makhno pogroms
which took place in the 20’s, to massacre the people of my settlement [Nechaevka
/ Engels] most of whom were slaughtered, strangled, burnt, raped for the
Sanctification of the Holy Name, and with them members of my family the Jewish
farmers, the toilers, them and their children, who sank into the depths until
this day ?”
Yaakov Yelishevitch, (Israel, memoirs 1959)
“In
the colony of my birth I left the grave of my father of blessed memory who was
murdered in 1919 by the marauder Machno and his men. Today, 36 years after my
immigration to
The
period was a period of anarchy. Camps of marauders acted throughout
In
1919 the Machnovtsi arrived and in one night killed 33 men in our colony after
they gathered them in the synagogue.
Amongst
those slain were my father, Yehoshua of blessed memory, and his brother
Gotlieb. In another colony in our neighborhood "Khledidarovaka" they
killed 105 people. In another colony they killed half of the colony. As stated
the colonies suffered by the changing of forces "Whites" and the
"Reds" and simply bandits. But not all the colonies were helpless. In
the colony Zlatopol a "Self Defense” was organized. This defense received
200 rifles from Machno himself so that they could defend themselves from other
bands hostile to Machno. Since the marauders did not attack other than in bands
of 50-100 men, the self-defence could drive them off after an exchange of
shots.”
Mordekhai (Mottel /
Mark) Komisaruk , ( Kozil-Orda, USSR.memoirs 1959)
The
third daughter of the grandfather Pinkhas was called Dina. Her husband
was Avraham Hillel Namakshtansky. They lived in colony Engels, in
Russian Trudoliubovka, he worked the land. They had boys with the names Khaim,
Shmuel, Pinkhas and a girl Yokhved, and more than that I have
forgotten their only was called Rokhel, she was the eldest. The end of the
family was in 1918 when Machno [attacked] the colony and took all the Jews into
the Shule (synagogue) and there they shot them and set fire to the Shule and burned
them.
Abram Komisaruk (
“Jews-colonists
used to live in very good relation with their neighbors - Ukrainians, but in
year 1919 scam of Ukrainian nation, bandits of Makhno and Petliura began to
raid Jewish colonies and massacre population. From the hands of Makhno bandits
perished all nephews of my grandfather (I remember them well). When it became
unsafe to live in the village, grandfather moved to Pavlograd.”
“Chassidim” journal of
Chabad, Rosh
Chodesh Tamuz 5754 [1994]
Discourse of the Rebbe, 1962:
“When
I was a child, there happened once a pogrom by the “Makhnovtses”(armed bands of
marauders) and ……
Neville Lachowsky,
My father Leon Lachowsky was born in
During the "machnochtchina" my father was
in the Yekaterinoslav area and used to tell that he had
seen Makhno. He talked a lot about the civil war in
Lena Gavor/Kabo (
I wonder about Machno too as
But I can give you a view from another perspective. My
Russian grandfather was talented writer Artem Vesely who wrote in the 1920s an
epic novel about Civil War entitled '
Anarchist Idol Nestor Makhno and Peasant
Counterrevolution
Letter
Reprinted from Workers
Vanguard No. 839,
(Note: This is
a communist source)
Dear Workers Vanguard,
The leaflet protesting an anarchist
attempt to exclude Spartacists from a radical event at the Democratic National
Convention, reprinted in the
It refers to the "counterrevolutionary exploits of Makhno and others who sided with the imperialist-allied White Guards against the Soviet workers state."
Petrichenko, the leader of the semi-anarchist 1921 mutiny of the Kronstadt sailors, did indeed have connections with White Guards and foreign imperialists, as is documented in anarchist historian Paul Avrich's book, "Kronstadt 1921."
Nestor Makhno certainly perpetrated numerous counter-revolutionary exploits. His secret police tortured and murdered many communists. His Ukrainian peasant followers committed frequent pogroms against Jewish petty shopkeepers and merchants. But his guerilla bands did side with Soviet forces against the landlord-backed White Guards.
Trotsky describes in his
"Military Writings" how Makhno's mutiny in the spring of 1919, which
reflected Ukrainian
peasant antagonism to the overwhelmingly Russian and Jewish working class of
the Ukrainian cities, played a major role in the collapse of the
Southern front, and led to White Guard commander Denikin's seizure of the
Ukraine that summer. But Makhno never sided with Denikin. To the contrary. The
Makhnovite insurgency played a major role in the collapse of White rule in the
Makhno did attempt to ally with
other anti-Bolshevik forces in the
This alliance ended badly for Grigorev. Makhno murdered him, and Grigorev's peasant followers joined Makhno's rebel army—but continued to commit pogroms.
Makhno himself was not personally anti-Semitic, indeed there were Jews in his "collective." In a sense, it could be said that Makhno was simply following anarchist principle. If his secret policemen were torturing prisoners, and if his peasant followers were committing pogroms, what right did Makhno, as just one member of the "collective," have to object?
Fraternally, John H.
YSp Replies: While it is true that there was no formal
military alliance or documented connection between Makhno and the White armies
in the
"The BTS follows in the worst of the anarchist tradition, from Prince Kropotkin who preferred the hapless bourgeois politician Kerensky to the Bolsheviks, to the counterrevolutionary exploits of Makhno and others who sided with the imperialist-allied White Guards against the Soviet workers state. At bottom, there isn't much to distinguish the BTS from social democrats and liberals who have and will resort to any means to smear communists as ‘authoritarian,' denouncing the ‘extremism' of right and left, giving oh-so-‘democratic' aid and comfort to the forces of bourgeois repression."
This formulation does not pretend
to characterize the nature, extent or evolution of Makhno's relationship with
the White forces or the Red Army. We have previously addressed at some length
the history of the Makhnoite movement when replying to an anarchist recycling
numerous lies and distortions in its defense (see "An Exchange on Nestor Makhno: Peasant ‘Anarchism,'
Pogroms and the Russian Revolution," WV No. 656,
Especially since the late
1930s—when Trotsky devastatingly exposed the treachery of the Spanish
anarchists, who joined in a capitalist government which suppressed workers
revolution—anarchists have raised a hue and cry about the fate of the Makhnoite
movement (and the Kronstadt mutiny). Today, a popular Anarchist FAQ (
In the section of the FAQ titled "Did the Makhnovists support the Whites?", the authors quote from one of Leon Trotsky's writings on Makhno: "Undoubtedly Makhno actually cooperated with Wrangel, and also with the Polish szlachta, as he fought with them against the Red Army." This translation from the Russian text, taken from Michael Palij's book on the Makhnoite movement, makes it appear that Trotsky—the head of the Red Army—had claimed that Makhno fought directly together with Wrangel and the Polish gentry. In this same piece, Trotsky disavows all rumors of a formal alliance between Makhno and Wrangel. By so rendering Trotsky, the anarchists paint him as purposefully deceitful or woefully ignorant about the relationship between Makhno and the White generals and they dodge the substance of Trotsky's polemic against Makhno. Here is what Trotsky actually wrote: "Without a doubt, Makhno provided de facto aid to Wrangel, as well as to the Polish gentry, since he fought at the same time as they did against the Red Army" (translated from "Makhno and Wrangel," 14 October 1920, Kak vooruzhalas' revolyutsiya [How the Revolution Armed], Vol. 2, Book 2 [1924]).
What was posed in
John H. lists a number of those counterrevolutionary exploits committed by the Makhnoites. The authors of the Anarchist FAQ charge the Bolsheviks with having "engineered" Makhno's outlawing and expulsion from the Red Army. But even when he was a commander in the Red Army, Makhno sabotaged defense of the social revolution, from commandeering supply trains to refusing to collect surplus grain for the Soviet government, while engaging in an anti-Bolshevik ideological campaign. This campaign directed at the Bolsheviks, the lone group in the revolutionary crisis of 1917 to fight for a regime based on soviet power and spearheading its defense, could only serve White Guardism. For example, in May 1919, while still allied with the Red Army, Makhno adopted a neutral position toward Grigorev who was calling for an alliance of all anti-Bolshevik forces, including the White armies.
In writing about the Makhnoite
movement, Trotsky recognized that the conflict between the Red Army and Makhno
was not one primarily between the ideas of Marxism versus anarchism but rather
involved defense of the Soviet workers state against peasant-centered counterrevolution.
Many anarchists, e.g., Bill Shatov, a veteran of the American Industrial
Workers of the World, actively collaborated with and supported the Bolshevik
forces throughout the Civil War. Trotsky later recounted how in 1918 he and
Lenin had thought of recognizing an autonomous region for the anarchist
peasants of the
In the first instance, these
loyalties were dictated not by ideological but by class conflicts. German and
Austrian occupation delayed the development of the Russian Revolution in the
The anti-state prejudices of the Makhnoite leadership, shared by its peasant base, led them into the camp of enemies of the Soviet state power. But this anti-authoritarian "principle" was one of the few that the Makhnoites respected when confronted by the practical realities of the Civil War. Achieving military success meant forced conscription, summary executions and recruiting anti-Semitic pogromists into their ranks; hostility toward the Bolsheviks meant establishing an alternative government hostile to the central Soviet workers state. As anarchist historian Paul Avrich wrote in his sympathetic account of Makhno (Anarchist Portraits [1988]):
"The Second [Makhnoite Regional] Congress, meeting on February 12, 1919, voted in favor of ‘voluntary mobilization,' which in reality meant outright conscription, as all able-bodied men were required to serve when called up. The delegates also elected a Regional Military Revolutionary Council of Peasants, Workers, and Insurgents to carry out the decisions of the periodic congresses. The new councils encouraged the election of ‘free' soviets in the towns and villages—that is, soviets from which members of political parties were excluded. Although Makhno's aim in setting up these bodies was to do away with political authority, the Military Revolutionary Council, acting in conjunction with the Regional Congresses and the local soviets, in effect formed a loose-knit government in the territory surrounding Gulyai-Polye.
"Like the Military
Revolutionary Council, the Insurgent Army of the
Since the majority of anarchists
in
Joseph Komissarouk’s (
Nestor Makhno was a typical warlord, one of those who inevitably appear in a country in civil turmoil and over-saturated with arms in private hands, an able, charismatic, cruel and ruthless leader.
From his own memoirs (incomplete, edited by the Anarchist Volin and published posthumously) he appears as a hysterical person, and in reality was probably much worse than in his depiction.
His personal convictions and his attitude toward Jews are of little, if any, importance. More important, as a lesson from History, is the fact that as soon as civil order in the Russian empire collapsed, the Jewish minority became a target for unleashed savagery of surrounding people, no matter to which camp those savages belonged, and after even many years of relatively peaceful coexistence.
Makhno proclaimed himself an Anarchist Communist, and took
it seriously: he kept company with other Anarchists, traveled to
In his memoirs he tells a story about two priests whom
Makhno’s bandits hanged for propaganda
against him. In conclusion he says, that this measure worked, other priests
ceased meddling in things not of direct concern to them. Sometimes their
parishioners asked them sarcastically: “Why don’t you preach any more about
Getman and Austro-Germans who saved
Army of Makhno lived off the land;, they had no support from a rear, no source of provision, or horses etc. other than what they obtained by robbery (The Red army was not better in this respect). Units of this army were very volatile, they had no uniforms, an important element of their tactic was to come together for a major operation and then disperse afterward, leaving only the nucleus of an army. This means that detachments of Makhno’s army could rob, burn and kill to their heart’s content, even if Makhno himself did not order all or some of this behavior. (But he ordered a lot of this). As mentioned above, in his memoirs he does not sound like a rabid anti-Semite. Nevertheless, peasant bandits under his command did not need any encouragement from him in this respect.
Something else: for the local population all bandits looked alike, and when some armed mob came to a village, no one was interested in asking them to determine whether this band is under Makhno’s command, or under Grigoriev’s, or Zielony’s, or if they are just for themselves. Similarly, no one asked if they were influenced by the ideas of P.A. Kropotkin, or if they are simple illiterate bandits. So people, probably, called all such bands “Makhno bandits”.
As William Comisarow wrote:
The Jews blamed
Makhno’s gang for every raid in the area, for which it may or may not have been
responsible. A delegation from Novozlatopol once went to Makhno to discuss his
raids against the Jews. Makhno’s reply was “What can I do ? They’re just a
bunch of ignorant peasants”, referring to his own men.”
The Following statement from Slutski shows Slutski’s absolute lack of understanding of how the Soviet ideological brainwashing machine worked:
`If indeed such pogroms took place, the Soviet historians
would not desist from telling about them and denouncing Makhno. The sole
incident blamed on Makhno was the killing of 22 Jews in the small colony
Gorkaya.'
The Communists wanted to make the Soviet people hate Makhno,
but did not want to stimulate any sympathy to Jews.
Soviet propaganda never mentioned
Jewish suffering or Jews in general more than was absolutely necessary. When
talking about Nazi war crimes, the Communists worked hard to mention Jews only
along with other victims. For example: “The Nazis killed many innocent victims
– people of various nationalities, Jews, Poles, Byelorussians, Ukrainians… ”.
The Communists built with state money a huge memorial in memory of the people
of the Byelorussian
The Jewish participation in all
sides of the Russian revolutionary
movement deserves separate discussion. At this time I limit myself to note that
Jewish Communists, the activists in
“Yevseksia” – the Jewish Section
– were destroyers of the old Jewish way of life, but were not homicidal.
Mel Comisarow’s comments:
Here are the facts as I see them
--
1) Makhno's writings are pro-Semitic and he gave arms to the Jews of
Novozlatopol and executed members of his gang who wantonly killed
Jews.
2) Makhno had Jews in his gang and Lev Zadov of Hoopolov was
Makhno's chief of counterintelligence.
3) Other pogromchik (Denikan, Petlura) gangs, with better documented
anti-Semitic credentials, also operated in the region.
4) Some spontaneously formed gangs with no continuing leadership
operated in the region.
5) There was a strong anti-Semitic streak in the culture of the local
peasantry. Much of this was derived from envy and was similar to the
peasantry's hostility towards the German colonists of the region.
e., the hostility was not solely derived from the preachings of the
Orthodox Clergy. (Remember, the German colonists didn't kill Christ.)
6) Makhno was the most prominent warlord in the kolonya region.
7) Makhno lacked good control over those who were nominally under his command.
8) I have no doubt that renegade bands of Makno's gang killed Jews.
(see 5, 6, 7 above). But this does not establish that Makhno or
Makhno's army were anti-Semitic as a matter of either policy or
action.
Items 5. and 6. above are sufficient to explain the belief that
Makhno was responsible for all progromchik activity in the region.
But commonly held belief does not make it true.
Yaakov Pasik’s comments
On the of role Mahno it is necessary to consider following
factors:
1.
Within civil war anti-Semitism became the mass phenomenon
characteristic for all participants of the conflict.
2. There are no proofs, that anti-Semitism was ideology of Mahno.
Whereas the management of other forces openly accused Jews in
all troubles of
3. In the nearest Mahno`s assistants there were many Jews.
In Mahno`s army there were Jewish military units.
Mahno helped to create forces of self-defense in the Jewish colonies.
Mahno shot organizers of pogroms.
The Jewish environment supported Mahno even after its defeat.
Whereas Jews have killed Petlura for the organization
of pogroms.
4. Mahno was popular in people and represented the greatest danger
for communists. Therefore communists tried to make from Mahno a devil.
They attributed to him all atrocities and pogroms.
5. After defeat of communists in
other tendency - to make from Mahno an angel.
True is on the middle. Mahno was not the anti-Semite.
Mahnovzy participated in pogroms but possibly without a command of the heads,
also as it was done by Red Army.
Other participants of civil war were more terrible.
Conclusion by Chaim Freedman (August 2005)
The
defenders of Makhno claim that he could not have been anti-Semitic because
there were a number of Jews in his organization. This line of reasoning is not
logically tenable. Unfortunately, throughout Jewish history, there have been
Jews who have acted against the best interests of their people. There were Jews
in various parties that took part in the Revolution and Civil War in
So
the presence of Makhno’s Jewish
collaborators do not help to exonerate him from the overwhelming Jewish opinion
that his army and bandit groups carried out pogroms against the Jews, whether
or not Makhno was personally present or approved of the actions of some of his
forces.
Other groups also were guilt of this activity, Denikin, Skoropadsly, Petlura. Together with Makhno, the Ukrainians were responsible for the slaughter of thousands of Jews and the plight of thousands of orphans.