'What Do We Strive For?': Makhnovist Newspapers and Proclamations, 1918-1921

• In Event: ‘Down with Authority and Capital!’: Anarchist Media and Revolutions, 1917-1921

Abstract

The exact ideological makeup of the peasant-led Makhnovist movement during the Ukrainian Revolution (1917-1921) is a long-standing debate among researchers. Over the decades, the nature of the Makhnovshchina has been variously interpreted as fundamentally anarchist, nationalist, peasant, or criminal. In this presentation, I will seek to answer a question that the Makhnovists repeatedly asked themselves in their literature throughout the revolutionary period: "What do we strive for?" Through extant Makhnovist newspapers and proclamations, this paper will identify the core concepts of Makhnovist ideology, its relationship to anarchism, and how it adapted to the shifting ground of revolution and civil war. My paper will argue that at the core of Makhnovist ideology is a specific understanding of power (vlast’) and powerlessness (bezvlastie), through which the movement filtered its aspirations and actions.

Author

• Sean Patterson, U of Alberta (Canada)