A-Infos (en) UK, ACG: Makhno in the service of the Ukrainian war effort (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

The state often makes use of its former opponents once they are safely 
dead and no longer the threat they were in life. The Ukrainian state and 
its media have done this with the legendary anarchist communist Nestor 
Makhno. ---- Makhno, a native of Huliaipole in the Zaporizhzhia region 
of Ukraine, was a lifelong anarchist revolutionary. The son of poor 
peasants, he joined his local anarchist communist group in 1906, 
subsequently spending nine years in prison for his involvement with the 
killing of a district police officer. Whilst in prison he developed his 
politics and when liberated by the Provisional Government in 1917, he 
returned to his home town and was elected chair of the local carpenters 
and metal workers union and the local Soviet of Peasants and Workers 
Deputies and threw himself into the maelstrom of the Russian revolution 
in Ukraine. He has become most well known for leading the Revolutionary 
Insurgent Army, also known as the Black Army. This politico-military 
force combatted the White counter-revolutionary armies and, eventually 
the Red Army. But it also vigorously fought Ukrainian Nationalists, a 
faction of whom had murdered Makhno's brother, Omelian. Makhno was no 
friend of any sort of nationalism - neither Ukrainian or Russian. The 
'Makhnovist' movement attempted to create free territory based on 
self-managed communes. The largest of these was named after Rosa 
Luxemburg, the Polish Marxist of Jewish descent. Hardly the actions of 
Ukrainian nationalists!

But that hasn't stopped Makhno being claimed as a Ukrainian patriot, 
despite all the evidence to the contrary. Whilst this started before the 
Russian invasion, it has increased during the war with many fighters 
claiming to be in the tradition of Makhno and with nationalists using 
imagery associated with the Makhnovists. This took an interesting turn 
with the destruction of the Huliaipole Museum on August 23rd this year, 
following a Russian missile attack. This local museum centres 
Huliaipole's most famous son and the movement associated with his name, 
with displays and permanent exhibitions. The exhibits, however, were 
moved into central State storage facilities for safekeeping away from 
the frontline town the day before the attack.

The destruction of the museum, seen as a direct attack upon Ukrainian 
and Zaporozhzian culture, has been used to whip up patriotic sentiment 
and Makhno's memory, reimagined as a national hero - a sort of national 
anarchist - has been used to mobilise support for war at a time when 
resistance to conscription is its highest point since the beginning of 
the conflict.

Added to this, the Huliaipole's statue of Makhno, which was partially 
destroyed by a Russian attack on May 23rd, has recently been replaced 
with fanfare with the addition of a Ukrainian national flag in the hand 
of a man who never would have held it in real life. The replacement has 
hoped to raise morale in a town where the only civic building still 
fully functioning was the museum. Since May 2023 no ATMs, no doctors, 
with only 1 shop open 2 hours per day accepting only cash, and only 600 
civilians remaining from a pre-war 14,000.

Odessa based historian, Vyacheslav Azarov gives some background to 
attempts to co-opt Makhno to the nationalist cause:
"The first campaign to privatise Makhnovism by nationalists began during 
the "orange" demonstrations of 2004 and the subsequent rule of Victor 
Yushchenko. The organizers of the first Maidan tried to compare their 
political technology events with the people's liberation of Huliaipole, 
and the patriotic grant activists led by Oles Doniy actively called for 
the "posthumous Ukrainisation" of Makhno. They did not hide the fact 
that the appropriation of Makhnovist heritage was necessary for the 
purpose of promoting nationalist ideology in the territories of the 
South-East, which was hostile to the Banderist movement. The peak of 
this campaign was the ceremonial installation of the monument to the 
Batko in Huliaipole, which was organized by the then Minister of 
Internal Affairs Yuriy Lutsenko with the financial support of a 
well-known oligarch from Zaporozhye. The monument is certainly good - 
but the fact that the police minister stood behind it, who then dropped 
the phrase: "if you want, call me a racist!", gave the events an absurd 
character. This political privatisation has been seen at the 
Independence Day with Makhno festival, which was held in Huliaipole for 
several years in a row under the patronage of the same Lutsenko. 
Banderist flags were flying over the concert venue, anti-Semitic and 
xenophobic slogans were heard from the stage, the organizers forbade 
performing Russian-language songs and generally speaking Russian on 
stage - the native language for the absolute majority of Huliaipole 
residents. Uncommitted guests of the Makhnofest noted the dominance of 
nationalists and reactionary rhetoric - suffice it to say that the cult 
Odessa Nazi Maxim Chayka took part in it. And all this completely 
contradicted the ideas and views of the outstanding Ukrainian anarchist."

Sad and bitter days in the birthplace of Makhno.

https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/2024/09/25/makhno-in-the-service-of-the-ukrainian-war-effort
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Subscribe/Unsubscribe https://ainfos.ca/mailman/listinfo/a-infos-en
Archive: http://ainfos.ca/en