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Title: An Historic Injustice Author: Nestor Makhno Date: June 30, 1926 Language: en Topics: antisemitism, Makhnovists, Ukraine Source: Retrieved on 19th May 2021 from https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/573pfz Notes: Published in Le Libertaire, August 27 1926, p.2. Translated by Malcolm Archibald.
Itʼs not the first time that the revolutionary Makhnovists have been
accused of organizing pogroms in Ukraine.[1] At the moment, in the wake
of the murder of Semyon Petlyura, leader and hero of semi-bourgeois
Ukraine, this accusation is being renewed more aggressively and more
obnoxiously than ever.
The Jewish community, and the Jewish socialists especially, should, in
my opinion, consider this fact very seriously. Itʼs even more important
that the Jewish people as a whole concern themselves with this matter.
Because it is only by doing so that they would be able without
hesitation, without demeaning themselves, honestly name the true
perpetrators of the pogroms that have caused the deaths of tens of
thousands of people among the peaceful Jewish population of Ukraine. In
this manner those men who consider themselves progressive would be
forearmed against the danger of committing a gross injustice by
formulating a shameful slander against the revolutionary insurgent
peasants, the Makhnovists. If the Jewish socialists and political men
generally were to take a serious look at these deceitful slanders, they
would not allow to appear in the columns of the Jewish press lies as
flagrant as those which I read in the article entitled: “Ten years in
prison for the organizers of pogromsˮ (published in the newspaper
“Pariser Haintˮ [Paris Today], June 13) and in the newspaper
“Volkszeitung” [Peopleʼs Daily] published in Poland (June 14). There one
finds: “A Ukrainian court has condemned the two Karetnik brothers to
death …[2] The elder was the favourite of the famous ataman Makhno, who
appointed him commandant of Zaporozhye [3]. He was one of the
perpetrators of the bloodiest pogroms of Ukraine … ˮ etc. But all this
is a tissue of lies.
The elder of the Karetnik brothers, Semyon, was shot by the Bolsheviks
in November, 1920, for having refused to sign an order that was offered
to him to sign without the knowledge of either myself or the
Revolutionary Council of the Makhnovist insurgents. This order directed
the main army of the insurgents to lay down their arms before the
Bolshevik Red Army. Thus itʼs impossible that the Bolshevik court has
passed judgment on him now, in 1926.
The two brothers Karetnik always fought honourably in the first ranks of
the Makhnovist insurgents, side by side with working class Jews, of whom
there were many in the revolutionary peasant army of the insurgents.
Together they fought for liberty and the independent of all workers,
regardless of nationality.
The elder, Semyon Karetnik, was my direct associate from the end of
1919; before that, he held various important command posts. And there is
not a soul among the Ukrainian Jews who knew him who would call him a
perpetrator of pogroms. (An exception, of course, would be those
Bolsheviks who, in slandering the Makhnovists, are deliberately
following the policy of their party.) On the contrary, Semyon was one of
those who struggled against pogroms not only in words, but in deeds,
exterminating antisemitic looters and assassins. It was in this capacity
that his name was known not only among the insurgents, but well
beyond—in the vast expanse of Ukraine.
In the future, the world will learn the story of the struggle against
antisemitism and pogroms in Ukraine that was led by the Makhnovist
insurgents. Then the workers will also learn of the role in this
struggle of the two Karetnik brothers, the elder one especially, and
they will tell their slanderers what I am telling them now: only an
irresponsible bastard or a deliberate liar can treat Semyon Karetnik as
a pogromist.
[1] Cherikover on Makhno’s attitude to pogroms
‘In his book, Voline quotes the conclusions of Cherikover, a specialist
investigator of persecutions and pogroms against the Jews in the
Ukraine:
“Makhno’s attitude is not to be compared to that of the other armies
which operated in Russia during the happenings of 1917–1921. On two
points I can offer you absolutely formal assurances:
1. It cannot be gainsaid, that of all these armies, Red Army included,
it was Makhno’s army which behaved best toward the civilian population
generally and the Jewish population in particular. I have plenty of
irrefutable testimony to that. Compared with the rest, the proportion of
justified complaints against the Makhnovist army is insignificant.
2. Let us not speak of pogroms supposedly organised or encouraged by
Makhno himself. That is calumny or error. Nothing of the sort
occurred.”’
Source: Nestor Makhno: Anarchy’s cossack by Alexandre Skirda (p339) The
quote from Cherikover can also be found on page 699 of Voline’s The
unknown revolution. The only significant difference is that the
equivalent of the first line quoted above says ‘But I am glad to be able
to say with certainty that, on the whole, the behaviour of Makhno’s army
cannot be compared with that of the other armies which were operating in
Russia during the events of 1917–21.’ [KSL]
[2] The youngest brother was Khariton (born 1904), so he may have been
too young to be active in the Makhnovist movement. Panteleimon was born
in 1898 and held important posts in the Insurgent Army. It should be
noted that although Makhno writes the family name as “Karetnik,” and it
is so found in much of the literature, the correct version is
“Karetnikov.” Panteleimon and Khariton were arrested in 1925 and charged
with robbing a mill (stealing grain) in the fall of 1921 along with
three other “band” members (including Panteleimon’s wife). Upon being
found guilty in 1926, the two brothers were sentenced to “the highest
measure of punishment.” As a result of an amnesty, this was later
commuted to 10 years imprisonment for Panteleimon and six years for
Khariton (because of his youth). In fact Panteleimon was released on
parole in 1928. His wife did not have to serve time because as an
illiterate with small children, she was not considered a danger to
society. Panteleimon was shot in 1937. [MA]
[3] Region of Ukraine.