The Makhnos of memory : Mennonite and Makhnovist narratives of the civil war in Ukraine, 1917-1921 [Master thesis]

192 Pages·2013·0.986 MB·English

by  Patterson, Sean David

The Makhnos of Memory:

Mennonite and Makhnovist Narratives of the

Civil War in Ukraine, 1917-1921

by

Sean David Patterson

A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of

The University of Manitoba

in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS

Department of History
Joint Master’s Program
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg

Copyright © 2013 by Sean David Patterson
All that we have a right to demand of history is that it shall point us with faithful and sure
hand to the general causes of human suffering - among these causes it will not forget the
immolation and subordination (still too frequent, alas!) of living individuals to abstract
generalities – at the same time showing us the general conditions necessary to the real
emancipation of individuals living in society. That is its mission, those are its limits,
beyond which the action of social science can only be impotent and fatal.

- Mikhail Bakunin, God and the State

This thesis is dedicated to all victims of Ukraine’s revolution and civil war.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................. iii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................. iv

CHAPTER 1 – Theory and Methodology ...................................................................................... 1
CHAPTER 2 – Through Makhnovist Eyes ................................................................................... 28
CHAPTER 3 – Through Mennonite Eyes .................................................................................... 69
CHAPTER 4 – The Eichenfeld Massacre: A Re-Narrativization ............................................... 106
BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................... 155

Endnotes ...................................................................................................................................... 167

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Abstract

This thesis examines the conflict between the military forces of Nestor Makhno and
Mennonites colonists in southern Ukraine during the Russian Civil War (1918-
1921) through the historical narratives found in each group’s literature. Employing a
methodology derived from deconstructionist approaches to history and James Wertsch’s
theory of distributed collective memory, this thesis considers the nature of each group’s
historical narratives, their biases, the context of their respective productions
and how these same narratives contain intimations of the other side’s perspective. The
thesis explores Makhnovist and Mennonite narratives in relation to each
other. Regarding the Makhnovists, the thesis argues that the personal writings of Nestor
Makhno, Victor Belash, the Makhnovist Chief of Staff, and Makhno’s wife, Galina
Kuzmenko, as well as histories by two of the movement’s intellectuals, Voline and Peter
Arshinov, understood the Mennonite colonists through categories of class. The thesis
divides Mennonite narratives of Makhno into Selbstschützler and pacifist accounts, both
found in newspaper accounts, memoirs and secondary historical accounts. The
thesis shows how both of these Mennonnite accounts identified Makhno as the
enemy but ultimately narrativized Makhno in different ways. The thesis analyzes
eyewitness accounts of the 1919 Eichenfeld massacre and its representation in current
historiography, arguing that this tragic event was the consequence of organized class-
based terror. By reframing Eichenfeld within the context of “revolutionary terror”
a multi-perspectival narrative emerges, embracive yet critical of both Makhnovist and
Mennonite narratives.

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Acknowledgements

This thesis has involved working with sources in French, German, Russian, Ukrainian
and Polish. I take full responsibility for all translations from the original French, German
and Russian. I would like to acknowledge the generous support of Malcolm Archibald in
providing translations from the Ukrainian and Polish sources, and in assisting me with the
Russian translations. His assistance and materials provided have been indispensible in
the completion of this thesis. Malcolm’s dedication to the study of anarchist history has
been a constant inspiration.

While I have had the honour of narrating the story contained in this thesis, it could not
have been accomplished without the voices of those who have assisted me over the past
four years. Foremost, I want to thank my advisor Dr. Royden Loewen and the Mennonite
Studies department at the University of Winnipeg. I want to thank Dr. Oleh Gerus for
first setting me upon the path of this thesis. I would like to thank the archives at the
International Institute of Social History, the Canadian Mennonite Heritage Centre, the
University of Michigan and Harvard University for providing copies of critical sources. I
want to especially thank Marianne Janzen for access to her files on the Eichenfeld
massacre, and Margie Koop for generously providing information on the Janzen family.
Finally, I want to express a heartfelt thank you to Ludmilla Karyaka for her assistance
during my visit to Zaporozhye, as well as the Gulyai-Pole Museum and Dnepropetrovsk
Museum for their generous accommodation to my schedule.

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The remaining list consists of those individuals that in some way contributed to the
completion of this thesis. If I have missed anyone I take full responsibility. Lisa Gislon,
Mary Marshall, Dr. Felix Schnell, Dr. Colin Darch, D.D. Johnston, Joel Penner, Peter and
Lorna Doerksen, Dave Berg, Eldon Heinrichs, Marilyn Heidebrecht, Paul Patterson and
Kelly Ruth.

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Chapter 1
Theory and Methodology

In the summer of 2011 I traveled to the Zaporozhye region in southeastern
Ukraine.1 Amongst the locals of Gulyai-Pole circulates a legend that upon abandoning his
struggle and fleeing Ukraine, Nestor Makhno ordered a cache of loot to be buried in a
secret location. The intention was to safeguard funds for a renewed future struggle.
Makhno never did return to his homeland and according to local rumour the treasure
remains buried to this day. In my travels to Gulyai-Pole, I panned the sources and even
spoke with a relative of Makhno, but never were any clues to the treasure’s location
revealed. In the end, the gold at the end of the Makhnovist rainbow proved as ephemeral
as any pirate’s tale, but even if Makhno’s gold did exist what could be expected by
finding it? For myself I hoped to transform the imaginings of my mind into something
“real” by capturing a tangible piece of the past.2 Somehow I believed it might bring me
closer to the historical Makhno and a clearer understanding of his movement and its
legacy.
In a sense all history is alchemy. Whether turning lead to gold or the past into
“objective history” the goal is frustratingly elusive. Descending into the rabbit hole of
Makhnovist research has inevitably led me to confront a multitude of competing
histories, memories, myths and legends, all jostling to assert their own unique
perspective. Poet and blogger Marie Marshall writes of Makhno:
My peering into the life and character of Nestor Ivanovich Makhno has grown arms
and legs, and the more it goes on the less I am able to grasp hold of truth, the more
he becomes a wisp of smoke, a man whose legend seems more important than his
reality. That reality retreats into iconography – can it be recaptured?3

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Marshall articulates a fundamental reality confronting any attempt to accurately represent
the life of Makhno and his movement. In a topic whose literature is fraught with folklore,
ideological battles and radically divergent cultural memories, how is one to discern fact
from fiction? Who is the real Makhno? Or to phrase it differently: who are the Makhnos
of memory?

I. Background

Nestor Ivanovitch Makhno was the youngest child of a poor peasant family from
the town of Gulyai-Pole. As a youth Makhno embraced philosophical anarchism and
became active in a local anarchist group. After the group assassinated a local police
chief, Makhno was arrested and sentenced to a life of hard labour. Following the 1917
February Revolution Makhno’s release from prison was secured. Returning to his
hometown, he and other local anarchists organized the peasantry for the expropriation
and redistribution of land in the region. During the German and Austro-Hungarian
occupation of Ukraine in 1918 Makhno directed a peasant insurgency against the
occupiers. Out of this insurgency emerged what would be called the Makhnovshchina
[“Makhno movement”]. The movement was locally popular and successful in its
harassment of German and Austrian units stationed in the area.
Ideologically, the movement associated itself with the principles of anarchist-
communism and actively recruited anarchist intellectuals to assist with propaganda and
social reform.4 The Makhnovist program was primarily concerned with the organization
of freely elected local soviets and the egalitarian redistribution of land. The Makhnovist

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army came to see itself as guardians of the civil population’s right to freely organize
themselves without any compulsion from outside forces. The movement was highly
suspicious of centralized authority and virulently opposed to party politics.5
With the end of World War I and the withdrawal of the occupying powers, a
power vacuum emerged in Ukraine. Given the weak Bolshevik presence in Ukraine,
various local powers asserted their control over the regions of Ukraine. The
Makhnovshchina quickly consolidated its power over Gulyai-Pole and the surrounding
area. In the ensuing civil war, the Makhnovists would battle both the Whites and Reds in
a bid to establish an independent anarchist region. The Makhnovist struggle would last
until August 1921 when the Red Army finally overwhelmed the movement and Makhno
was forced into exile.
The high tide of the movement came shortly after the White army’s thrust through
southern Ukraine towards Moscow in the fall of 1919. Makhno directed his forces to
attack the White army’s vulnerable rearguard, severely affecting the Whites’ ability to
continue their campaign and forcing the White commander, General Denikin, to transfer
frontline troops to deal with Makhno. Shortly thereafter, Red forces routed the White
army. Amidst the defeat of Denikin, the Makhnovists greatly expanded their sphere of
influence, occupying a substantial area of eastern Ukraine until the arrival of the Red
Army in January 1920.
During this period the Makhnovists occupied the numerous Mennonite colonies of
southern Ukraine. Due to the widespread wealth of the colonies the Makhnovists
identified most Mennonites as class enemies. Furthermore, in an effort to protect their
families and property many colonies had established self-defense [Selbstschutz] units,

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which had collaborated first with the German occupation and later with the White army.
In the Makhnovists, the colonies perceived a direct threat to their continued existence.
Already during the German occupation, the colonies suffered under a wave of
Makhnovist raids that inevitably brought with it robbery, murder and rape. The decision
to arm themselves greatly divided the colonies between Selbstschützler and those who
maintained traditional Mennonite pacifism. Under Makhnovist occupation Mennonite
families were subjected to constant harassment and abuse. The horror of their experience
culminated in November-December, 1919 when a series of massacres were carried out by
Makhnovist troops in the colonies.
The histories that emerged from Makhnovists and Mennonites in the aftermath of
these events consist of radically opposing narratives. To the former, Makhno and his
movement is a vindication of anarchism in practice and a shining example of the masses’
ability to self-organize. In Makhnovist literature, the Mennonites are never mentioned by
name. Rather they are referred to simply as “German colonists” or more commonly as
capitalist exploiters. Furthermore, not a single mention of the massacres of 1919 is found
in the corpus of Makhnovist literature. These events are left unmentioned and the
positive aspects of the movement are overwhelmingly brought into relief.
By contrast, the Mennonite narrative presents the Makhnovshchina as a force of
irrational violence void of any ideological vision. Makhno is a wholly negative character
held personally responsible for the massacres and the suffering of Mennonites during the
civil war. He is described as a terrorist or bandit consumed by an illogical hatred of
Mennonites. The Mennonite narrative highlights the martyrdom of the Mennonite
community, particularly its pacifist members who died a martyr’s death. Generally the

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