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Title: Anarchy’s False Flag Author: Sean Patterson Date: 2022, June 30 Language: en Topics: Russia, Civil War, Ukraine, Makhnovist movement, war, false flag, Anarchist Studies Source: Anarchiststudies Blog, June 30, 2022, accessed July 6, 2022 at https://anarchiststudies.noblogs.org/death-to-all-who-stand-in-the-way-of-freedom-for-the-working-class-anarchys-false-flag/ Notes: Image accessed July 6, 2022 at https://anarchiststudies.noblogs.org/death-to-all-who-stand-in-the-way-of-freedom-for-the-working-class-anarchys-false-flag/
Anarchiststudies Blog, June 30, 2022, accessed July 6, 2022 at
https://anarchiststudies.noblogs.org/death-to-all-who-stand-in-the-way-of-freedom-for-the-working-class-anarchys-false-flag/
In pursuing the recovery of the past, the near inevitability of error is
a perpetual thorn in the side of historians. Ranging from small typos to
translation errors to source manipulation, historical inaccuracies can
be introduced into authoritative academic texts in a multiplicity of
ways. Sometimes error is a matter of carelessness or the unintentional
mis-reading of a text; in other cases, the introduction of error is
linked to authorial biases, or even the intentional falsification by
state authorities for political purposes. Many textual errors are mere
nuisances that have little to no broader implications for their subject,
while other errors can over time spawn historiographical consequences
that outweigh their initial appearance. The subject of the Ukrainian
Civil War’s peasant-anarchist Makhnovist movement provides numerous
examples of historiographical myth production. In this article I
investigate the case of one flag, which turns out to be a false flag, in
order to illustrate how a seemingly minor historical error can create
enduring ripples that far outweigh its initial transgression.
The Makhnovists were a popular peasant movement based in the southern
Ukrainian province of Katerynoslav [modern-day Zaporizhia oblast] during
the years of Revolution and Civil War (1917-1921). Their leader, Nestor
Makhno, was an anarcho-communist from a poor peasant background, who as
a youth was convicted for terrorist crimes and sentenced to life in
prison. However, after the 1917 Revolution Makhno was released and he
returned to his hometown, Huliaipole, where he organized a successful
insurgent movement. His forces fought against virtually every competing
power including the Imperial German Army, the White Army, the Ukrainian
People’s Army, the Red Army, and various other local forces.
The movement’s ideological leadership sought to create a society of
federated peasant communes and worker-controlled industries administered
through freely elected councils outside of party-control. However, due
to the contingencies of the Civil War their social experiments were
consistently disrupted. Moreover, the leadership often struggled to
control elements of its army which engaged in looting and atrocities.
[1]
Against this background, Makhno’s forces were frequently accused of
anti-Semitism and carrying out ethnic pogroms -an accusation that Makhno
and his supporters defended themselves from both during the Civil War
and later in exile. It is in the context of the debate around these
accusations that the flag in question first emerges.
A key example of the myth-producing power of error and manipulation
within Makhnovist historiography is the black flag that has become the
movement’s central symbol, displaying the skull-and-crossbones and a
slogan in white Ukrainian lettering that reads, "Death to all who stand
in the way of freedom for the working people" ["Smert? vsim, khto na
pereshkodi dobut’ia vil?nosti trudovomu liudu"]. [2]
The flag is widely recognized both within Ukraine and internationally.
It is especially ubiquitous in online anarchist communities, inspiring
innumerable memes and entire lines of merchandise including T-shirts,
stickers, cell phone cases and even pandemic masks. However, despite its
near-universal reputation as the primary symbol of Ukrainian anarchism,
the flag is not Makhnovist.
In academic and popular literature of various languages, the
skull-and-bones flag has been consistently identified as Makhnovist
since at least the 1970s. [3]
In the digital era, Wikipedia has been especially important in tying the
flag to Makhno in the broader public mind. Until very recently most
related Wikipedia articles uncritically labelled the flag as Makhnovist.
This has been corrected to some extent of late. For example, the entry
"Flags of the Makhnovshchina" -created in June 2022 -correctly notes
that the flag is not Makhnovist but incorrectly ascribes it to Symon
Petliura’s Ukrainian People’s Army. [4]
In other entries and in the Wikimedia Commons the flag is still
described as Makhnovist or "allegedly" Makhnovist. [5]
Given Wikipedia’s broad cultural reach, it is likely that the site acted
as a significant vector in reinforcing the flag’s association with
Makhno, particularly with online anarchist communities. As an
open-source collaborative platform, Wikipedia is especially prone to
such errors and the spreading of mythologies about under researched and
highly politicized topics like the Makhnovist movement.
Within Ukraine itself, the flag and its slogan is widely seen in street
graffiti, artworks, historical films, and even official museum exhibits
like the one in Nestor Makhno’s hometown of Huliaipole. The slogan, and
variations thereof, are also seen on frontline Ukrainian soldiers’
patches and flags in the current war with Russia. Ukrainian and Russian
anarchist organizations frequently evoke the flag and slogan in their
propaganda. In the context of today’s war, the slogan is understood as a
Ukrainian rallying cry for resistance against the Russian state’s
invasion.
The original archived photo of the flag depicts it held aloft by two
soldiers with sabers in front of a large stone building. Within the
USSR, the photo first appeared in Zel?man Ostrovskii’s 1926 publication
entitled Jewish Pogroms, 1918-1921. [6]
The book documented the Civil War’s outburst of anti-Semitic violence,
which by contemporary estimates resulted in roughly 50,000 Jewish
deaths. [7]
An early Bolshevik propaganda strategy was to label their ideological
enemies as the instigators of these ethnic pogroms. This was the primary
purpose of Ostrovskii’s book, which took particular aim at Civil War-era
Ukrainian nationalists and independent peasant movements. [8]
Interestingly, Ostrovskii mentions the Makhnovists only twice in the
book’s text. In the first instance, Ostrovskii identifies Makhno, as one
of the "chief inspirers of the pogromist bands" and asserts that it was
only during Makhno’s temporary alliances with the Bolsheviks that he was
restrained from committing pogroms. In the second mention, Ostrovskii
states that the Makhnovists operated in the Poltava and Katerynoslav
provinces, and includes them in an ignoble list of "bandits" who
"reveled in the suffering of their Jewish victims". [9]
Ostrovskii offers no discussion of any specific pogroms allegedly
committed by Makhno.
By contrast the Makhnovists feature more prominently among the book’s
photos. These include images of Makhnovist units, Makhno himself, and
the famous black flag photo. [10]
Photos of alleged Makhnovist violence are also provided including
mutilated corpses of victims from Oleksandrivsk in the summer of 1919
and a mass grave of 175 victims from the Jewish colony Trudoliubovka.
[11]
It is in this context that the skull-and-bones flag first appears as
part of an early Soviet effort to visually link Makhno to Jewish pogroms
through the strategic use of a memorable symbol and slogan.
Researchers and Civil War survivors have long debated the historical
role of anti-Semitism in the Makhnovist movement. In recent decades the
scholarly consensus amongst specialists is that Makhno himself was not
an anti-Semite and that his movement included many prominent Jews. [12]
Moreover, it is recognized Makhno issued many orders condemning ethnic
chauvinism and demanding the death penalty for pogromists. [13]
On the other hand, evidence from the movement itself shows that
anti-Semitism had infected the rank-and-file level to a degree and that
pogroms were committed by Makhnovist units in confirmed instances. [14]
The exact relationship between anti-Semitism and the Makhnovists became
a point of serious contention in post-civil war émigré circles, in which
Makhno vociferously refuted all charges until his death in 1934. [15]
While living in exile in France, Makhno consulted a copy of Ostrovskii’s
book and in 1927 published an article entitled "To the Jews of All
Countries".
In it he rejects the charge that he was an anti-Semite. He emphasizes
how some of the movement’s leading figures were Jewish, and that
"revolutionary fighting units made up of Jewish workers played a role of
prime importance in the movement". [16]
He also notes that Ostrovskii conveniently avoided discussing pogroms
committed by the Symon Budonnyi’s 1st Red Army Cavalry. Regarding the
photos depicting a Makhnovist pogrom in Oleksandrivsk, Makhno correctly
notes that "it is common knowledge in Ukraine that at the time in
question [summer 1919] the Makhnovist insurgent army was far from that
region it had fallen back into western Ukraine". [17]
Indeed, Oleksandrivsk was occupied in summer 1919 by Red and White
forces but at no point during this period by Makhno’s army. [18]
Makhno also comments on "the photograph purporting to show ‘Makhnovists
on the move’ behind a black flag displaying a death’s head", asserting
that "this is a photo that has no connection with pogroms and indeed
does not show Makhnovists at all". [19]
Finally, Makhno notes that one of the pictures supposedly depicting him
under the mocking title "Makhno -a peaceable citizen" is in fact
"someone absolutely unknown to me". [20]
Unfortunately for Makhno, his protests over the skull-and-bones flag
would go unheeded and over time its symbol and slogan would become
exclusively associated with his movement -although not in a manner he
nor Ostrovskii would have ever imagined.
As for the photo itself, there was reason to believe Makhno’s disavowal.
Firstly, the slogan is in the Ukrainian language, and, while the vast
majority of Makhnovists were ethnic Ukrainians, the movement’s
literature and slogans were almost exclusively published in Russian.
[21]
Secondly, the soldiers holding the flag do not look like typical
Makhnovist partisans, who often wore mismatched outfits rather than
identical uniforms.
Nonetheless, these red flags, as it were, did not prove Makhno’s claim.
Moreover, the photo’s official entry in the Ukrainian archives lists it
as "Banner of the Makhnovists. 1920". [22]
However, it turned out that the photo was part of a larger set that
included a separate photo of the same soldiers displaying the flag’s
reverse, which reads "Naddniprians?kyi Kish". [23]
"Kish" is a Cossack term that originally described a military encampment
or settlement. During the Ukrainian Civil War, the term was used to
indicate something approximating an army division. [24]
Thus the flag’s inscription roughly translates to the "Lower Dnipro
Division". However, the Makhnovists never used the term "kish" and
indeed this division belonged not to Makhno but to a different Ukrainian
insurgent, named Svyryd Kotsur. [25]
Kotsur’s career mirrored Makhno’s in uncanny ways. Like Makhno, Kotsur
self-identified as an anarcho-communist -although one historian
described his philosophy more as a "combustible mixture" of anarchism,
nationalism, and Bolshevism, allegedly once referring to himself as "a
Bolshevik but not a Communist". [26]
Also like Makhno, Kotsur briefly carved out an autonomous region, and
fought every force with which he came into contact. He was even referred
to as "Little Makhno" and in some photographs bore a striking
resemblance to Makhno.
Svyryd Dementiovych Kotsur was born to a large peasant family on January
30, 1890 in the small central Ukrainian village of Subotiv (Chyhyryn
district, Kyiv province). From an early age Svyryd and his brothers were
involved in political activity. Like Makhno, prior to the Revolution
Kotsur joined an anarcho-communist group and was arrested for
participating in a Katerynoslav bank robbery. Makhno himself was briefly
acquainted with Kotsur in these early days. In March 1910 Makhno was
facing a court martial in Katerynoslav for terrorist offences. He
describes in his memoirs how on the fourth day of his trial the session
was suspended due to gunshots just outside the courtroom. A number of
days later, Makhno recalls that "in our cell in the basement, we
encountered Comrade Kotsur, who told us he was the cause of the shooting
on the fourth day of the trial". [27]
Kotsur explained that his shootout with the police lasted a full day
during which he injured seven guards and killed one secret police agent.
[28]
He told Makhno he was now awaiting trial and expected to be hanged. [29]
Fate would turn out quite differently for the pair, as despite being
sentenced to death, both would have their sentences abruptly commuted to
hard labour.
The pair also found themselves released from prison after the February
1917 Revolution due to the government’s amnesty of political prisoners.
Makhno and Svyryd each returned to their native regions where in
parallel they built formidable movements centred around their
charismatic leadership.
In the early days of the Revolution, Kotsur was elected as one of 2,000
delegates to the All-Ukrainian Congress of Free Cossacks in Chyhyryn.
The Congress resolved in favour of Ukrainian autonomy and demanded the
withdrawal of all Russian troops. This declaration was rendered moot
when the Bolsheviks negotiated a peace treaty with the German Imperial
Army. The latter occupied Ukraine from April through November 1918,
during which Kotsur was elected leader of the Chyhyryn insurgent
committee to lead the underground resistance against the Germans. Kotsur
raised an effective detachment and even successfully dislodged the
Germans from Chyhyryn in November.
Following the German Army’s withdrawal from Ukraine, Kotsur engaged in a
dizzying array of strategic alliances with the Civil War’s competing
forces. Kotsur initially sided with the Bolsheviks against Petliura’s
nationalist forces. Subsequently, when the Bolsheviks were pushed out of
Ukraine by Denikin’s White Army in fall 1919, Kotsur briefly allied with
Makhno from September until the return of the Red Army in January 1920.
However, relations between Kotsur and the Bolsheviks quickly soured as
he refused to cooperate with orders that led him outside his home
region. In January Kotsur ordered a visiting Bolshevik delegation to be
drowned in a well. After this event, Kotsur declared an independent
Chyhyryn republic and the formation of the Lower Dnipro Kish.
Kotsur’s territory was more of a micro-republic encompassing a mere four
settlements. Nonetheless, Kotsur initially successfully defended his
territory against the Bolsheviks and various local atamans allied with
the Ukrainian People’s Army. In February 1920, Kotsur successfully
defended Chyhyryn against a Red raid with the help of a Makhnovist unit
stationed there. However, by March 30 his forces were overwhelmed and
the Red Army successfully occupied Chyhyryn. The death of Kotsur has
many versions and it is not clear exactly when he died. The official
version states that Kotsur was captured and shot shortly after the
Bolshevik occupation. Other stories have Kotsur surviving and travelling
to Bulgaria, while a local legend claimed a man closely resembling
Kotsur himself would frequently visit the grave of Svyryd Kotsur in the
1980s. In a ghostly parting shot to history a small note signed by
Kotsur was found in 2018 hidden inside an artillery shell bearing the
words "One who is for freedom and their native land knows no fear
Freedom or death!" The note was found with a newspaper from 1923 adding
fuel to the fire of speculation that at least one of the Kotsur brothers
survived 1920. [30]
How the skull-and-bones flag photo came to be labelled as Makhnovist is
unclear. While Kotsur briefly allied with Makhno between September and
December 1919, Kotsur did not form his Lower Dnipro Kish until January
1920. [31]
Moreover, if the photo was taken in 1920, as indicated in the archives,
then this occurred after the Kotsur-Makhno alliance had expired.
Although the fact that Makhnovists were present and acting alongside
Kotsur’s forces in some capacity until at least February 1920 suggests a
possible explanation for photo’s mistaken archival description. It is
also unknown whether Ostrovskii intentionally misattributed the photo to
the Makhnovists or simply repeated an error already present in the
archival catalogue.
To confuse matters further, the soldiers holding the flag are likely not
even Kotsur’s soldiers. Another photo from the archived set depicts the
same soldiers in front of the same stone building holding a different
flag this time a horizontally bi-coloured one (likely yellow and blue)
with the inscription "Free Ukraine". The photo description indicates
this is a flag from the 1st Cavalry Cossack regiment "Free Ukraine" of
the Ukrainian People’s Army and that the soldiers holding it are Red
Army soldiers. A third person now appears behind the flag wearing a
black leather jacket -the preferred fashion of Bolshevik intelligence
officers. [32]
This suggests that the photo set is of Bolsheviks displaying captured
battle flags.
Two final pieces of evidence complete the flag’s puzzle. An identical
copy of the black flag photo was discovered in the Russian State
Military Archives during the preparation of a Civil War photo album
published in 2018. The entry for this photo reads "Flag of P. Kotsur’s
Band", suggesting the flag was specifically associated with Svyryd
Kotsur’s brother Petro. [33]
In fact, the supposed photo of Makhno produced by Ostrovskii, which
Makhno irritatedly rejected, bears a striking resemblance to Petro
Kotsur.
After Svyryd’s apparent death in March 1920, his brother Petro took up
the cause of resistance against the Bolsheviks in Chyhyryn. It is not
clear how long the region’s insurgents continued their fight. However, a
telegram from the Revolutionary Military Soviet of the South-Western
Front dated June 26, 1920 reported that Red Army units in the Chyhyryn
area "completely defeated the bands of Petrenko and Kotsur. Kotsur
himself, his assistants, and Chief-of-Staff were killed ... The black
banner of the Zadneprovskiy regiment [polk] was taken". [34]
While the preposition "za", meaning beyond, is used instead of "and",
meaning lower, the telegram is highly suggestive. Unfortunately, at this
stage it cannot be proven beyond doubt that the referenced black banner
is in fact the same one as depicted in the photo. However, if it is,
then it offers a plausible scenario for the photo’s origins. Taken as a
whole the current state of evidence suggests the original photo depicts
Red Army soldiers displaying a captured flag from Petro Kotsur possibly
sometime after June 26, 1920. The exact location of the photo and the
unit to which the Red Army soldiers holding the flag belong remains
unknown.
Through this dizzying labyrinth of Civil War regiments, archival
entries, and Bolshevik propaganda, an enduring myth was produced. To
what extent do its origins matter? Does the fact that this beloved
Makhnovist symbol of freedom and popular resistance is not Makhnovist
after all diminish its contemporary power on the frontlines or rupture
its established chain of meaning? Will the Reddit memes of a Chad Makhno
behind the skull-and-bones flag fall into disrepute? These are questions
that only the communities that actively engage the flag and its slogan
can ultimately answer. However, I suspect the flag will remain a vibrant
part of anarchist and Ukrainian symbology.
Since the flag’s first appearance in Ostrovskii’s 1926 book, the flag
has become completely divorced from its origins. It has cycled through a
multitude of meanings from an ignoble marker of alleged Makhnovist
pogroms to an international source of inspiration for anarchist
resistance to a symbol of regional pride and a declaration of defiance
against Russian invasion. In one form or another the flag and its slogan
will surely survive and continue its march through time.
Sean Patterson is a PhD candidate in History at the University of
Alberta. He is currently researching the relationship between ideology
and violence in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhia region during the
Ukrainian Civil War (1918-1921). Sean is the author of Makhno and Memory
Anarchist and Mennonite Narratives of Ukraine’s Civil War, 1917-1921
(University of Manitoba Press, 2020).
He can be reached at sdpatter@ualberta.ca
I want to acknowledge Malcolm Archibald and Yuriy Kravetz for their
generous assistance in the research of this article.
References
The Russian entry for "The Insurrectionary Movement led by Nestor
Makhno" also correctly labels the flag as "pseudo-Makhnovist".
httpsen.wikipedia.orgwiki?????????????_????????_???_????????????_???????_?????
The Mennonite historian Victor Peters, who cannot be accused of
pro-Makhnovist views in any sense, argued that Makhno did not attack
Jews or Mennonites on the basis of ethnic hatred. Victor Peters, Nestor
Makhno (Winnipeg Echo Books, 1970), 106-107. See also Michael Malet,
Nestor Makhno in the Russian Civil War (London MacMillan Press, 1982),
168; Colin Darch, Nestor Makhno and Rural Anarchism in Ukraine (London
Pluto Press, 2020), 53; Alexandre Skirda, Nestor Makhno Anarchy’s
Cossack (Oakland AK Press, 2004), 336-341; Patterson, Makhno and Memory,
21, 25. I have confined myself to English language sources here but
Russian and Ukrainian specialists likewise agree that Makhno was not a
personal anti-Semite.
"Rezoliustiia ekstrennogo soveshchaniia aktivnykh rabotnikov
konfederatsii Nabat", in Kriven’kii, V.V., et al., ed. Anarkhisty
dokumenty i materialy.
Tom 2 (Moscow ROSSPEN, 1999), 287. The movement also directly addressed
and condemned the Gorkaia pogrom in their newspaper. P. Mogila, "Gde zhe
konets nasilie", Put’ k Svobode, No. 2, May 24, 1919. According to
Belash and Makhno its perpetrators were executed after an investigation.
See Belash, Dorogi Nestora Makhno, 215-216 and Nestor Makhno, "The
Makhnovshchina and Anti-Semitism", in Alexandre Skirda, ed., The
Struggle Against the State and Other Essays (Oakland AK Press, 1996),
34-35. Jewish anarchist and Makhnovist leader Volin claims that the
famous pogrom historian Elias Tcherikower told him in an interview that
the "Makhnovists behaved best with regard to the civil population in
general and the Jewish population in particular and that "not once have
I been able to prove the presence of a Makhnovist unit at the place
where a pogrom against Jews took place". Volin, The Unknown Revolution
(Oakland PM Press, 2019), 698. By contrast, Tcherikower wrote in a
private letter that, "there cannot be the slightest doubt that he
[Makhno] is implicated in a series of pogroms. I have enough
substantiated evidence in my archive to show that his men were exactly
the same sort of bandits as all the others. Whether they perpetrated the
pogroms with his permission or on their own initiative is difficult to
say; either way -he is responsible". Cited in Brenden McGeever, The
Bolshevik Response to Antisemitism in the Russian Revolution (Cambridge
Cambridge University Press, 2019), 135.
The newspaper was under the editorship of the Borotbists and, while
distinctively pro-Makhnovist, displayed a level of Ukrainian national
consciousness uncommon in other Makhnovist publications. For a
discussion on Makhnovist banners and propaganda see Yuriy Kravetz,
"Znamena povstancheskoi armii N. Makhno. 1918-1921 gg". Muzeinyi visnyk
7 (2007) 127-137; Yuriy Kravetz and Andrei Federov, "Agitatsiia i
propaganda Makhnovskogo dvizheniia", Pivdennyi zakhid.
Odesyka. Istoryko-kraeznavchyi naukovyi al?manakh 24 (2018) 50-85.
Kish was particularly associated with the Free Cossacks and units of
Petliura’s army. This explains why the Wikipedia authors of the "Flags
of the Makhnovshchina" attributed the flag to the Ukrainian People’s
Army. Kish did not always refer to a "division". For example, Petliura’s
Haidamatskyi Kish Slobidskoi Ukrainy referred to a battalion.
[1] For literature about Makhnovist violence see Sean Patterson, Makhno
and Memory (Winnipeg University of Manitoba Press, 2020); A.I. Beznosov,
"Die Nikolaipoler Mennonitensiedlungen in den Jahren des Bu?rgerkriegs
(1918--1920)". Nord-Ost Institut. 2019.
httpswww.ikgn.decmsindex.phpuebersetzte-geschichtebeitraegebeznosov-die-nikolaipoler-mennonitensiedlungen
; Mikhail Akulov, "Playground of Violence Mennonites and Makhnovites in
the Time of War and Revolution", International Relations and Diplomacy 3
(7) 439-447; Felix Schnell, Räumes des Schreckens (Hamburg Hamburger
Edition, 2012); Arno J. Mayer, The Furies (Princeton Princeton
University Press, 2000); N.V. Venger, "Nestor Makhno ta ‘nemets?ke
pytannia’ na ukrains?kykh zemliakh" in C.C. Troiana, ed., Persha svitova
viina i revoliutsii vektory sotsiukul?turnykh transformatsii (Kyiv
Kondor, 2017), 30-62; and John B. Toews, ed., Mennonites in Ukraine Amid
Civil War and Anarchy (Fresno Center for Mennonite Brethren Studies,
2013).
[2] The original flag’s spelling does not conform with modern Ukrainian.
The exact lettering in transliteration reads "Smert? vsyim, khto na
pyryshkodyi dobut?ia vyil’nostyi trudovomu liudu". It is hard to speak
here of spelling errors or typos given that during this period Ukrainian
spelling was not yet fully standardized and commonly varied by region.
[3] For example, the flag is included in Viktor Belash, Dorogi Nestora
(Kyiv Proza, 1993); Peter Arshinov, History of the Makhnovist Movement
(London Freedom Press, 2005); Semanov, S.N. "Pod chernym znamenem, ili
zhizn? i smert? Nestora Makhno" Roman-Gazeta 4 (1993); Valerii
Volkovyns?kyi, Nestor Makhno (Kyiv Perlit prodakshn, 1994); Vasilii
Golovanov, Nestor Makhno (Moscow Molodaia gvardiia, 2008); and Felix
Schnell, Räumes des Schreckens. The earliest attribution of the flag to
Makhno in Western literature I found was in "Makhno", Le Monde
Libertaire 182 (1972) 9.
[4] "Flags of the Makhnovshchina",
httpsen.wikipedia.orgwikiFlags_of_the_Makhnovshchina.
[5] For example, see the entries "Anarchism in Ukraine",
httpsen.wikipedia.orgwikiAnarchism_in_Ukraine ; "Makhno, Nestor
Ivanovich", httpsru.wikipedia.orgwiki?????,_??????_???????? ; and
"Makhno’s Flag", httpscommons.wikimedia.orgwikiFileMakhno%27s_flag.jpg
[6] Zel?man Ostrovskii, Evreiskie pogromy, 1918-1921 (Moscow Akts.
obshchestvo "Shkola i kniga", 1926), 100.
[7] Henry Abramson. "Russian Civil War". YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in
Eastern Europe, November 22, 2010,
httpsyivoencyclopedia.orgarticle.aspxRussian_Civil_War
[8] Ibid. Abramson breaks down the perpetrators of Jewish pogroms as
follows 40 percent -Symon Petliura’s Ukrainian forces; 25 percent
-independents; 17 percent -White Army; 9 percent -Red Army.
[9] Ostrovskii, Evreiskie pogromy, 28; 72.
[10] Ibid., 39, 102, 103, 95, 100.
[11] Ibid., 37, 47, 111, 112, 131.
[12] See Paul Avrich, Anarchist Portraits (Princeton Princeton
University Press, 1988), 122-123. After examining hundreds of photos in
New York’s YIVO archive, Avrich concluded that the accusations of
anti-Semitic violence "are based on hearsay, rumor, or intentional
slander, and remain undocumented and unproved".
[13] For example see "Prikaz Bat?ko Makhno No. 1", Put? k svobode, No.
29, November 21, 1919. For an English translation see Peter Arshinov,
History of the Makhnovist Movement (London Freedom Press, 2005),
214-216. A resolution from the Makhnovist February 12, 1919 Congress
explicitly condemned "plunder, violence, and anti-Jewish pogroms"
carried out under the name of the movement. Palij, The Anarchism of
Nestor Makhno (Seattle University of Washington Press, 1976), 155.
[14] For example see the emergency resolution of Nabat anarchists within
the movement, which specifically mentions anti-Semitism as a problem
amongst troops.
[15] For the most comprehensive discussion on anti-Semitism and Makhno
in English see Michael Malet, Nestor Makhno, 168-174; For Makhno’s
personal defence see Nestor Makhno, "K evreiam vsekh stran", Delo truda
23-24 (1927) 8-10 and "Makhnovshchina i Antisemitizm", Delo truda 30-31
(1927) 15-18. Translated into English as "To the Jews of All Countries"
and "The Makhnovshchina and Anti-Semitism" in Skirda, ed., The Struggle
Against the State, 28-31; 32-38.
[16] Makhno, "To the Jews of All Countries", 28.
[17] Ibid., 30. It is more accurate to say central Ukraine. The furthest
west Makhno found himself at this time was Uman? in the most southern
part of Kyiv province [guberniia].
[18] Makhno occupied Olesksandrivsk on two occasions January 1918 with
the Red Army; October-November 1919. Malet, Nestor Makhno, 7; 47.
[19] Makhno, "To the Jews of All Countries", 30.
[20] Ibid.
[21] An exception was the Makhnovist Ukrainian language newspaper
Shliakh do voli [Path to Freedom]. It was published in the fall of 1919
during the Makhnovist occupation of Katerynoslav. However, the newspaper
was a product of a short-lived alliance with the Borotbists -a socialist
Ukrainian nationalist movement.
[22] TsDKFFA Ukraine [Central State Cinema and Photo Archive] 0-53894. A
copy of the photo is also held in the Elias Tcherikower Archive in New
York. It is labeled "Flag of Makhno". YIVO Archives Record Group 80,
Series IV, Folder 642.
[23] TsDKFFA Ukraine 0-235665. As with the flag’s front side, the
reverse’s spelling deviates from modern Ukrainian, reading
"Nadnyipriansii Kish".
[24] "Free Cossacks", Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine,
httpwww.encyclopediaofukraine.comdisplay.asplinkpath=pages%5CF%5CR%5CFreeCossacks.htm.
[25] Reliable works on Kotsur are limited, although a few studies offer
a glimpse into his life and movement. Foremost are Oleksandr Solodar’s
writings, in which he extensively consulted the State Archives of
Cherkassy Oblast. Oleksandr Solodar, "Zvyvysti shliakhy Svyryda Kotsura"
Istorichni storinky "Nova Doba" No. 61 (August 6, 2002) 2-3. Viktor
Savchenko’s book on Ukrainian atamans also includes a fairly detailed
survey of Kotsur’s career. V.A. Savchenko, Avantiuristy grazhdanskoi
voiny (Kharkiv Folio, 2000), 200-239. See also O. Mins?ka, "Svyryd
Kotsur Fakty i Manipuliatsiyi", in V.M. Lazurenko, ed.,
Personalistychnyi vymir istoriyi Cherkashyny materialy Pershoyi
regional?noyi istoryko-kraeznavchoyi konferentsiyi (Cherkasy 2018),
184-191. Unless otherwise indicated I drew from Solodar’s work to
provide Kotsur’s biography.
[26] Savchenko, Avantiuristy, 233.
[27] Nestor Makhno, "My Autobiography", in Malcolm Archibald, ed., Young
Rebels Against the Empire (Edmonton Black Cat Press, 2021), 30, 33. This
text was originally published in Russian, French, and German anarchist
newspapers Rassvet (1926), Le Libertaire (1926), and Der freie Arbeiter
(1927).
[28] This event is confirmed by an archival file that directly
references Kotsur’s "armed resistance to the police in Ekaterinoslav".
GARF [State Archives of the Russian Federation] F. 102, op. 207, d. 729.
I thank Yuriy Kravetz for drawing my attention to this file.
[29] Makhno, "My Autobiography", 33-34.
[30] "U Kholodnomu Iaru znaideno snariadnu hil?zu z povstans?kymy
dokumentamy", Kozats?kyi krai, April 26, 2018,
httpcossackland.org.ua20180426u-holodnomu-yaru-znajdeno-snaryadnu-hilzu-z-povstanskymy-dokumentamyfbclid=IwAR3hgvWbjjB6gWCzbanXy4mzjXn2_lUyY4MYGnsaulL_WtCFVGSWSFBsFXE
[31] Some sources give July 1919 as the date of formation for the Kish,
but here I am preferencing Solodar’s research due to his extensive
knowledge of the regional archives.
[32] Iaroslav Tychenko, Novitni Zaporozhtsi Viis’ka tsentral’noyi rady
(Kyiv Tempora, 2010), 109. This picture is clearly part of the same
photo session but the date indicated is spring 1918. This is either an
error or possibly an indication of when the flag was first captured. As
the Lower Dnipro Kish did not exist prior to January 1920, these photos
could not have occurred earlier than that date.
[33] R.G. Gagkuev, E.E. Koloskova, and Iu.D. Andreikina, eds.,
Grazhdanskaia voina v Rossii v fotografiiakh i kinokhronike. 1917-1922
(Moscow Kuchkovo pole, 2018), 206. Yet again a different year is given
for the photo. The description gives 1919, however the year of 1920
given in the Ukrainian archival entry is more likely as I argue for in
this article.
[34] TsDAVO Ukraine [Central State Archives of Supreme Bodies of Power
and Government of Ukraine] F. 2, op. 1, d. 744, ark. 25. The telegram is
written in Russian. Thank you to Yuriy Kravetz for this archival
reference. Kravetz is a Zaporizhia-based historian of Makhno. He has
written extensively on the Makhnovist movement and is the first
researcher that I am aware of to question the flag’s Makhnovist origin.
See Yuriy Kravetz, "Znamena povstancheskoi armii N. Makhno. 1918-1921
gg".