Blackwell Reference Online

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Nestor Makhno was one of the most heroic and, for a time, one of the most successful anarchist figures in Russia and internationally. He led the most powerful anarchist movement during the Russian Revolution and Civil War , sometimes allied with the Bolsheviks , sometimes warring against them. Makhno was born in the province of Ekaterinoslav, in the large Ukrainian village of Guliai-Polya, the youngest of five sons. His father, a poor peasant, died when Makhno was barely 10 months old, leaving an impoverished widow to ensure her family's survival. By the age of 7, the young Makhno began to labor as an agricultural worker, which over the next several years was mixed in with a partial education acquired in a village school, culminating in employment as a foundry worker. At the age of 17 he was drawn into the revolutionary ferment and uprisings that swept through the Russian empire in 1905 . While he connected with a number of different revolutionary currents active in that period, he soon committed himself, body and soul, to a vibrant group of anarchocommunists . By 1908 he was arrested and imprisoned by the authorities for his subversive activities. A central influence in Makhno's intellectual growth and political development was Peter Arshinov, a working-class intellectual and organizer, whom he met in prison. Arshinov was a metal worker who had been a Bolshevik until 1906, ... log in or subscribe to read full text