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Title: The Greek Makhnovists Author: Nick Heath Language: en Topics: Makhnovists, 1921 black army, black army, Ukraine, Russian Revolution, history, anarchist history Source: Retrieved on 2020-05-07 from http://libcom.org/history/greek-makhnovists
Greeks had settled along the north coast of the Black Sea in what is now
Ukraine and Crimea from at least the 5^(th) Century BC. At the time of
the Revolution of 1917 there were around 180,000 of these Pontic Greeks
in the region. When the Austrian and German military backers of the
puppet Hetman Skoropadsky withdrew from the Ukraine in 1918, the White
forces of Denikin attempted to enforce conscription on the local Greek
population of the Mariupol area and met with armed resistance from them.
The Greeks resisted the Denikinist requisitioning of food and other
materials and were appalled by the rape of local Greek women and the
high handed comportment of the Whites. They had not originally wanted to
be involved in the strife but were forced to organise self defence units
in spring 1919.
Isaac Teper, alias Ilya Gordeev, was a militant of the Nabat
Confederation of Anarchists and fought with the Makhnovists. He had
edited Golos Makhnovtsa (Voice of the Makhnovists) at Kharkhov. He was
captured by the Reds and recruited to the Cheka, then carrying out
espionage activities for it among the Makhnovists. In 1924 at Kharkhov
he wrote a scurrilous booklet on the Makhnovist movement, most likely
under the supervision of a Chekist supervisor (he at least still had
enough integrity left to state that Makhno was neither an anti-Semite
nor a nationalist). The novel of Alexei Tolstoy ( no relation to the
great Leo, and a veteran supporter of Tsarism before becoming a slavish
devotee of Stalin) which slanders Makhno is based on the Teper booklet.
Teper makes the claim that the Makhnovist movement originated among the
Black Sea Greeks. Far fetched as this at first seems, it is true that
twenty per cent of the Makhnovist forces were Greek and that according
to Arshinov some of the best Makhnovist commanders were Greek. The Greek
units were noted for their strong self-discipline, organisation and
durability.
The Bolshevik and anarchist renegade Dybets remarked favourably on the
Greek Makhnovist units saying that they were the most stable and
reliable units of the Makhnovists and that Makhno had great for their
courage and fighting ability and that they were often in combat in the
most dangerous areas. Lev Yarkutsky in his book on Mariupol (1993) says
that the Greeks in this region were the first to respond to the appeals
of Makhno.
In spring 1919 Greeks organised guerilla groups in several villages of
the Mariupol region against Denikin. These units had commanders like
Vladimir Feofanovich Tachtamisev and Tsoumparev (Tachtamisev is the
Russified version — which was only used on official documents — of a
Tatar name Tokhtamysh that he had started using). The capture of
Mariupol from French and Denikinist forces on March 29^(th) that year
was partly due to the 9^(th) (Greek) division led by Tachtamisev
alongside the Makhnovist 8^(th) division of Kurilenko. Tachtamisev was
awarded the Order of the Red Banner by the Bolsheviks for this, pinned
on by the Kronstadt sailor and Bolshevik Pavel Dybenko in April. Ivan
Chubarev in his The Guerilla Movement in Mariupol 1918–1919 refers to
Tachtamisev operating in Stary Kermenchik, Novy Petrikovka, Novy Karata
and Yanisol whilst near Maly Yanisol, Cherdakly, Kellerovka and
Makedonivka operated the detachments of Sprutsko, Tsololo and Bohadytsi.
Makhno in his Memoirs recalls that he planned a raid in the
south-eastern region of Berntiansk-Mariupol-Iouzovka to stimulate the
revolt of the population. After a battle fought at Bolshoi Mikhailovka
when the insurgents decided to make Makhno their leader, the Greek
village of Komar was invaded and a unit of the Ukrainian National Guard
driven out. Following this Makhno and another anarchist of Gulyai Polye,
Alexei Marchenko addressed the local population with revolutionary
speeches. Many local Greeks immediately joined the Makhnovist forces
with their own horses. Makhno then proceeded to Bogatyr, the village
occupied by Urum Greeks (who spoke a Greek-Tatar language) and on to the
villages of Veliky Yanisol and Maly Yanisol which were also Greek. So
the Mariupol Greeks were the first to respond positively to the call of
Nestor Makhno.
1500 Pontic Greeks were initially organised in combat units. A Greek
Makhnovist regiment fought alongside a Jewish one in a battle against
the Whites in June 1919.The Mariupol area was a safe place for the
Makhnovists. It was to the village of Veliky Yanisol that the Makhnovist
commander Lashkevich went when he managed to escape from the Bolshevik
encirclement of Gulyai Polye with the Makhnovist treasury of thousands
of roubles. Here he was sheltered by a Greek grandfather. Unfortunately
so much money disoriented him, and he began to spend it lavishly. This
not only alienated the local people but brought down the wrath of the
Makhnovists on him. He was shot for embezzlement in the main square of
the village in summer 1920.
In the final phase of the Makhnovist movement another rally was held in
Komar on February 24^(th) 1920. Unfortunately the local population was
perturbed by the thought of Bolshevik repression and there was no major
impulse to join the combatants from among them. In March a Bolshevik
punitive detachment arrived in the area shooting 7 people in Komar, 10
in Bogatyr and 12 in Konstantinovka. Further reprisals followed over the
next few years. Hundreds of Pontic Greeks had been killed by the forces
of Denikin, now the Bolsheviks went to work. In the Stalin period the
local Greeks suffered further massacres and deportations from the
region.
Tokhtamysh-Tachtamisev, a native of Veliky Yanisol, had always, it
appeared, had some sympathy for the Bolsheviks. He had first come to
prominence when he first organised a small unit in his village. He later
moved over to the Bolsheviks and later still was involved in the
construction of a fish canning factory at Mariupol and became its first
director. He died in 1935 of a congenital disease.
Other prominent Greek Makhnovists include the Mavrodi brothers from the
Greek village of Kermenchik. They are mentioned by Belash in his
testimony to the Cheka. One was a Makhnovist battalion commander.
According to Belash, after the collapse of the Makhnovist movement he
joined the Communist Party and worked in the Volnovaskyi area. His
younger brother was still an anarchist according to Belash and was
disgusted by the NEP of the Bolsheviks which he felt made the rich
peasants richer and the poor peasants poorer. He had been involved in
the Makhnovist cultural-educational section, popularizing the setting up
of anarchist communes. He was, again according to Belash, aware of the
need to carry out anarchist propaganda amongst the Greek population but
did not want repression to come down on him, although he was discreetly
engaged in the organisation of communes with local official approval. He
was apparently able to organise such communes in Veliky Yanisol, Stary
Kermenchik and Novy Kermenchik and Konstantinovka. Mavrodi (it is not
clear which brother this was) was secretary of the Revolutionary
Military Council (RMC) of the Makhnovist movement on April 10^(th), 1919
alongside the Jewish anarchist Kogan (pointing to the thoroughgoing
internationalism of the Makhnovists).
Another key factor in the Greeks rallying to the Makhnovists was the
latter’s proclamations on the rights of different national minorities to
their own language, costume, dress and culture whilst strongly
denouncing nationalism and explicitly taking an internationalist
position. The Makhnovist ability to attract contingents of these
national minorities (apart from only small units of the German speakers)
is to their eternal credit.
section (in Greek) on the Greek Makhnovists
Vladimir Chop on the Greek Makhnovists
Viktor Belash’s testimony to the Cheka where he mentions the Mavrodi
brothers