Greetings

[Makhnovist]

I'm a Canadian of Ukrainian descent and happened to chance upon the figure, Nestor Makhno. I was immediately interested in learning about the Makhnovshchina and have been learning more about historical anarchism from books like Orwell's Homage to Catalonia.

If I had to define my political sympathies, I would consider myself a Anarcho-Communist.

It's great to be on here and I hope I end up as an active member of this community.

[Mr. Natural]

Welcome!

I hadn't thought about myself in that term, but I could describe myself as an "Anarcho-Communist," too.

Bring us lots of Nestor Makhno. He is a fascinating figure of whom I know little, other than that he formed a "green" guerrilla force during the Russian Civil War. Makhno sometimes allied with the Red Army and sometimes opposed it, but was always fighting the Whites.

Once the Red Army gained the upper hand in the Civil War, it turned its attention to Makhno's forces and eliminated them, as I recall.

I claim to be a systems theorist, among other conceits. The chaos and destruction of WWI and the civil war and Western invasions that followed made it absolutely impossible to create a decent Russian society of any sort, much less the new socialism.

Example: a child raised in a highly abusive, dysfunctional family will always be negatively affected, in various ways. This holds true for infant nations, too. Another example: the US couldn't prevent the Vietnamese revolution, but it sure perverted it, didn't it?

Hitler and Stalin were products of relentless childhood abuse. The horrific conditions in Russia foreclosed socialism and enabled Stalin, a ruthless sociopath and schemer, to take charge. He became the mob boss of his ruined neighborhood and eliminated all rivals--real and perceived.

I'm looking forward to learning more about Makhno--person and politics.

[Makhnovist]

Welcome!

I hadn't thought about myself in that term, but I could describe myself as an "Anarcho-Communist," too.

Thanks for the welcome.



Bring us lots of Nestor Makhno. He is a fascinating figure of whom I know little, other than that he formed a "green" guerrilla force during the Russian Civil War. Makhno sometimes allied with the Red Army and sometimes opposed it, but was always fighting the Whites.

Once the Red Army gained the upper hand in the Civil War, it turned its attention to Makhno's forces and eliminated them, as I recall.

He also had conflicts with the Central Powers, namely their puppet, the Hetmanate. The Russian Civil War was undeniably one of the most tangled up conflicts in history.


I claim to be a systems theorist, among other conceits. The chaos and destruction of WWI and the civil war and Western invasions that followed made it absolutely impossible to create a decent Russian society of any sort, much less the new socialism.

Example: a child raised in a highly abusive, dysfunctional family will always be negatively affected, in various ways. This holds true for infant nations, too. Another example: the US couldn't prevent the Vietnamese revolution, but it sure perverted it, didn't it?

Hitler and Stalin were products of relentless childhood abuse. The horrific conditions in Russia foreclosed socialism and enabled Stalin, a ruthless sociopath and schemer, to take charge. He became the mob boss of his ruined neighborhood and eliminated all rivals--real and perceived.

I agree with you completely. A nation or person that harbours resentment will never forget or forgive unfortunately. We can see this with the Treaty of Versailles and the Weimar Government's popularity or rather lack of it.

I would also have to argue that the Russo-Japanese Wars and the Balkan wars were the first to hinder Russian Society.


I'm looking forward to learning more about Makhno--person and politics.

I don't profess to be an expert, however I am an enthusiast on the topic.

[Magón]

Welcome. It's always good to have another Anarchist on here.

Good name too. ;)

[Makhnovist]

Welcome. It's always good to have another Anarchist on here.

Good name too. ;)

Thanks, I hope to get know the other anarchists better.

[W1N5T0N]

welcome! I also think the Makhnovists are a very interesting group, as they offered the only real attack on the bolshevik coup d'etat, as i gather.

[toadghost]

That's so cool! u rawk

[Kiev Communard]

I'm a Canadian of Ukrainian descent and happened to chance upon the figure, Nestor Makhno. I was immediately interested in learning about the Makhnovshchina and have been learning more about historical anarchism from books like Orwell's Homage to Catalonia.

If I had to define my political sympathies, I would consider myself a Anarcho-Communist.

It's great to be on here and I hope I end up as an active member of this community.

Hello, Makhnovist! It is great to have a fellow Ukrainian there! I was always dismayed that a lot of members of Ukrainian Diaspora in Canada seemed to take reactionary stance due to the confusion of socialism/communism with Stalinism. Now it seems all not is lost there. I take it that these sites of modern Ukrainian libertarian left would be interesting to you -

http://avtonomia.net/ - Автономна спілка трудящих (Autonomous Union of Toilers) - broadly revolutionary syndicalist organisation, in the process of formation.

http://livasprava.info/ - Ліва Справа (The Left Cause) - the co-operative project of various libertarian socialist tendencies.

http://direct-action.org.ua/ - Пряма дія (Direct Action), a militant students' anarcho-syndicalist union.

Welcome on the board!

[Makhnovist]

Thanks for the helpful links.

I also know what you're talking about. My parents are from the L'vivska Oblast and needless to say, I've heard it all. As for Ukrainian-Canadians, I'm assuming they would also be in line with such sentiments.

[Kiev Communard]

Thanks for the helpful links.

I also know what you're talking about. My parents are from the L'vivska Oblast and needless to say, I've heard it all. As for Ukrainian-Canadians, I'm assuming they would also be in line with such sentiments.

I think that these resources on anarchism and Makhno in particular would be useful to you, if you are a newcomer to the leftist politics:

An Anarchist FAQ (basically the best resource on the Web that deals with the problems of anarchism) - http://www.infoshop.org/page/AnAnarchistFAQ

The Makhno FAQ (more specifically, a section of the Anarchist FAQ devoted to the Makhnovist movement) - http://www.nestormakhno.info/english/makfaq.html

Articles by and about Nestor Makhno on libc.com - http://libcom.org/tags/nestor-makhno

[Sun at Eight]

In a more Stalinist left direction, you did/do have the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians, though I don't know how much support it ever really had among Ukrainian Canadians.