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| Ukrainian Free Territory Махновщина | |
|---|---|
| 1918–1921 | |
 Flag | |
Motto: Власть рождает паразитов. Да здравствует анархия! Power breeds parasites. Long live anarchy! | |
Anthem: Розпрягайте, хлопці, коні Unhitch the horses, boys | |
| Capital | Huliaipole |
| Dominant mode of production | Communism (De jure) Semi-feudalism (De facto) |
| Government | Stateless communes (De jure) Warlordism (De facto) |
• Leader | Nestor Makhno |
| Legislature | Regional Congress of Peasants, Workers and Insurgents |
| History | |
• Established | 1918 |
• Dissolution | 1921 |
| Area | |
• Total | ~75,000 km² |
| Population | |
• Estimate | ~7,500,000 |
• Density | ~100 km² |
| Currency | Various |
| Today part of | Ukraine, Donetsk |
The Ukrainian Free Territory, also know as Makhnovshchina (Ukrainian: Махновщина) was a supposedly stateless society that existed during the Russian Civil War; however, it was effectively a bandit state, headed by Nestor Makhno. Its lack of true statelessness can be attributed to its feudalistic economy.[1]
Conflict with Bolsheviks
Makhno demanded weapons from the Bolsheviks to fight the White Army but refused to allow Soviet grain collectors into the region.[2] On 7 May 1919, Ukrainian guerrilla leader Nikifor Grigoryev formed an alliance with the Whites and mutinied against the Red Army. Makhno was initially neutral but joined the rebellion on 25 May.[3] The rebellion weakened the Red Army and allowed Anton Denikin's White Guards to take control of most of Ukraine.
Anti-Semitism
Makhno himself was not an anti-Semite, but he recruited followers of Grigoryev who had been involved in pogroms. Grigoryev himself had organized pogroms in the summer of 1919 that killed roughly 6,000 Jews.[4]
References
- ↑ Colin Darch (2020). Nestor Makhno and Rural Anarchism in Ukraine, 1917-1921. Pluto Press. ISBN 9780745338880
- ↑ Arthur Adams (1963). Bolsheviks in the Ukraine. New Haven: Yale University Press.
- ↑ Michael Palij. The Anarchism of Nestor Makhno.
- ↑ Various authors. Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 13.