Neutral/Academic histories of the Mahknovists

[Zanthorus]

I'm wondering if there are any serious histories of the Mahknovists that aren't by participants or political fellow-travellers? Mahkno got mentioned a couple of times in Evan Mawdsley's book in the Civil War, and it was quite interesting reading on the military defincies of the Mahknovist army, but there was nothing about what society was like in anarchist-controlled regions during those periods or, more importantly, whether the anarchist governance structures provided a viable alternative to the Bolsheviks.

[ComradeOm]

Paul Avrich gives them a chapter in The Russian Anarchists (which should be available free online somewhere). Avrich is certainly not impartial in this matter but the work is fairly even-handed. So he might repeat the tale of Makhno's daring meeting with Lenin (something that there is, AFAIK, not a single non-Mahknovist source to support) but he'll also detail the failings in implementing the anarchist programme in the Ukraine. Plus its about anarchists and not the Revolution or the Civil War or the Soviet state or whatever. So be aware of the author's sympathies but its still well worth a read

As to "whether the anarchist governance structures provided a viable alternative to the Bolsheviks", here's an extract:


During October and November [1919], Makhno occupied Ekaterinoslav and Aleksandrovsk for several weeks, and thus obtained his first chance to apply the concepts of anarchism to city life. Makhno's first act on entering a large town (after throwing open the prisons) was to dispel any impression that he had come to introduce a new form of political rule. Announcements were posted informing the townspeople that henceforth they were free to organize their lives as they saw fit, that the Insurgent Army would not "dictate to them or order them to do anything." Free speech, press, and assembly were proclaimed, and in Ekaterinoslav half a dozen newspapers, representing a wide range of political opinion, sprang up overnight. While encouraging freedom of expression, however, Makhno would not countenance any political organizations which sought to impose their authority on the people. He therefore dissolved the Bolshevik "revolutionary committees" (revkomy) in Ekaterinoslav and Aleksandrovsk, instructing their members to "take up some honest trade"

Makhno's aim was to throw off domination of every type and to encourage economic and social self-determination. "It is up to the workers and peasants," said one of his proclamations in 1919, "to organize themselves and reach mutual understandings in all areas of their lives and in whatever manner they think right." In October 1919, an SR speaker who called for effective leadership at a Congress of Workers and Peasants in Aleksandrovsk was greeted with shouts of protest from the Makhnovtsy: "We have had enough of your leaders. Always leaders and more leaders. Let us try to do without them for once." When the railroad workers of Aleksandrovsk complained that they had not been paid for many weeks, Makhno advised them to take control of the railway lines and charge the passengers and freight shippers what seemed a fair price for their services.

Makhno's utopian projects, however, failed to win over more than a small minority of workingmen, for, unlike the farmers and artisans of the village, who were independent producers accustomed to managing their own affairs, factory workers and miners operated as interdependent parts of a complicated industrial machine, and were lost without the guidance of supervisors and technical specialists. Furthermore, the peasants and artisans could barter the products of their labor, whereas the urban workers depended on regular wages for their survival. Makhno, moreover, compounded the confusion when he recognized all paper money issued by his predecessors-Ukrainian nationalists, Whites, and Bolsheviks alike. He never understood the complexities of an urban economy, nor did he care to understand them. He detested the "poison" of the cities and cherished the natural simplicity of the peasant environment into which he had been born.That should give you a taste of the author's style. Unfortunately it also constitutes a good portion of the words spent describing this 'anarchist society', as opposed to tracing the evolution of anarchist intellectual currents

[Raubleaux]

One of the few items of history in which Trotsky is instructive and insightful.