Definition of Black Army

The process of the fall of Tsarism and the subsequent conflict that would eventually lead to the Russian Civil War is, for historians, a very exciting, since it is far from the Manichean confrontation between communists and non-communists to which it is summarized in a basic way so that it is understandable to everyone world; the diversity ideologies and movements, as well as nationalities arranged on the board, makes this a conflict full of nuances.

And do not misunderstand me: with this passion I do not mean that I ignore the suffering and deaths that it caused, and the sad legacy later, but we must look at the past and study it in order to learn from our mistakes as a human collective so as not to return to repeat them.

Among the ideologies faced in this process of revolutionary transformation, we have not only the Communists or Tsarists, if not a very comprehensive arc that includes Social Democrats, Nationalists, or anarchists.

Precisely, of the latter there was a powerful army feared by its adversaries, the so-called Black Army for the color of its flag, black with a skull with crisscrossed femurs underneath (the symbol

Totenkopf, popularly known for being part of the pirate ensign Jolly roger), and an inscription that read “Death to all who stand in the way of freedom for a working people”

The Black Army was a military force of militia configuration, formed mainly by Ukrainian peasants, and of anarchist ideology, who participated in the Russian Civil War allied with the Red Army and ended up being betrayed by this latest.

Ukraine was a territory that was part of the Russian Empire, but that had also been coveted by the Austro-Hungarian Empire and even by Poland, just as it would be during the early 1920s, and even by the Germans in 1942, when they conquered the "granary of the USSR", since the country was a very fertile territory that fed the entire Empire.

But this territory had, as it has today, a personality a culture, a language and a history, and like any consolidated people, it aspired to also establish itself in a state, something that did not interest the neighboring powers, who preferred to keep it subdued.

In this context, Ukrainian nationalism also plays a major role, since after the revolution in 1917, a Ukrainian parliament is proclaimed (Rada) which declares autonomy first, and after the October Bolshevik revolution and the following invasion of the territory, independence from Russia.

Throughout this process, the large landowners in southern Ukraine had been driven out by the peasants who worked the land in precarious conditions, organizing themselves to defend themselves from aggressions external.

The Rada not only gives the approval to the landowners to reoccupy their former large estates, but also to repress those who dared to expel them.

Pressure from the nationalist Green Army, and German and Austrian troops leads Ukrainian peasants to organize a defensive force, an army in short, that allows them to defend themselves, and it is decided to open it to all anarchists, the ideology majority among a peasantry to whom the state (whatever it may be) has been constantly inflicting the worst deals. And to defend oneself, one begins to speak of taking sides in war, of aligning oneself.

It is finally decided to take sides by allying with the Bolsheviks and the Red Army.

The army strictly follows anarchist principles, being composed only of volunteers (that is, there is no conscription), with rules of discipline and some commands chosen by the soldiers themselves, to the point of electing the general staff.

At its peak, the black army numbered 25,000 soldiers, 48 ​​artillery pieces, 4 tanks, and 4 armored trains, as well as cavalry sections.

Their main combat tactic was the realization of rapid attacks (they were specialists in using the velocity) to deal damage, then retreat to attack the enemy again at some unexpected point, such as the rear.

The successful use of this tactic earned Ukrainian soldiers a reputation as effective and fearsome fighters.

Despite his alliance with the Bolsheviks to fight the Green Army and the White Army, friction between anarchists and communists was frequent.

During the war, the Black Army lost and regained control over southern Ukraine in a successive, since despite being more combative than his enemies, he had fewer fighters and resources.

The foreign intervention put him on the ropes, since part of the Ukrainian nationalists They lined up with the Bolsheviks and the Red Army to drive the British and French off the ground Ukrainian.

The war maelstrom caused the anarchist peasants to be attacked from all sides, including their theorists. allies of the Red Army, who carried out searches and summary executions against those who did not submit to their laws.

A part of the Ukrainian nationalists, led by Nikifor Grigoriev (called the ataman Grigóriev) opposed foreign intervention in the Ukrainian homeland, seeking an alliance with the Black Army led by Nestor Makhno.

This alliance came, but it only lasted a few months, until Grigoriev was assassinated in an anarchist congress by Makhno's men.

Most historians claim that the assassination was induced by Lenin and the high authorities of the Red Army, fearful that the alliance of the Anarchist and Ukrainian nationalist armies led to the expulsion of the Russian Bolsheviks from Ukraine and the proclamation of said territory as a state Independent.

From here on, the alliance between the Black and Red Army was maintained until the latter's betrayal.

Thanks to the successful anarchist offensive on the White Army in Ukraine, the latter and the troops of the powers foreigners had to retreat, and the Red Army was able to destroy the Tsarist forces that remained in the territory Russian.

The misgivings between Ukrainian anarchists and Russian communists were maximum, and although from the leadership of the Black Army it seems that there was no explicit plans against the Bolsheviks, Lenin, Trotsky and the communist generals did actively talk about how to get rid of Makhno and the his.

If the operation to liquidate the Black Army was not carried out immediately, it is only because Lenin and the Bolshevik staff knew that they could not stand up to the anarchists at the same time as the whites and the Ukrainian nationalists and emerge gracefully from the trance, so it was an alliance of convenience and circumstances.

This will only be broken for a few months in 1920, after the request for reinforcements by the Red Army to cover the front Pole is ignored by the anarchist council that leads the Black Army, although the waters return to their course with some speed.

Due to Bolshevik pressure from the north and anarchist pressure from the east and south, the White Army troops and the allies foreigners retreat to Crimea, but when victory seems within reach, violence again erupts between communists and anarchists.

The Black Army is again in retreat, fighting both the whites and the reds. Only white pressure on the Red Army opened the doors to talks between communists and anarchists, reaching a new alliance in the fall of 1920.

Thanks to this alliance, the Black and Red Army push the White again towards Crimea, the scene where the communist betrayal of the anarchists will take place.

In the attack on the city of Perekop, the key to Crimea, the Red Army was in charge of besieging the city, while the Black Army liquidated the white positions.

The movement was Machiavellian clever on the part of the Communists, allowing them to conserve their troops as much as possible, while those who wore out were the anarchists, thus facilitating a next strike of the former against the last.

On November 26, 1920, the Red Army threw itself on the weakened positions of the Black Army, after having deceived some of its leaders and having shot them. It is a real slaughter.

The attack is widespread throughout Ukraine, brutally decimating the anarchist forces, to the point where it is no longer possible for them to recover and fight effectively. In these circumstances, the survivors organize themselves as guerrilla parties, which would fight until 1924.

Most of the Ukrainian anarchist leaders were killed in combat or assassinated by the Bolsheviks. Makhno managed to survive and go into exile in Paris, where he died of tuberculosis in 1934.

The Black Army has passed to the general public as a mere anecdote at the foot of the page, although it deserves much more, to be known as an anarchist force that defended a territory which has been, surely, one of the few in which the doctrine has been able to be implemented in a successful.

Fotolia photos: WoGi / VaBoRo

Themes in Black Army