In the multi-colored kaleidoscope of the Russian multi-party system, a special place belongs to the anarchists - supporters of an ideology that rejects the power of man over man and who advocate the abolition of all forms of political management of society. The fundamental concepts of this doctrine, were formed over a long time, and even in the 40s and 50s of the XIX century began to be traced in the works of A.I. Herzen and the statements of the Petrashevists. Given that today there are a number of social movements that continue the traditions of the party of anarchists, it will be interesting to recreate their history in general terms.
Prince who has chosen the path of revolution
The ideas of anarchism formulated in the middle of the 19th century by prominent Western European thinkers P.Zh. Proudhon and M. Stirner, in Russia became elements of the mass revolutionary movement. They found their followers in the face of such major domestic ideologists as M.A. Bakunin and Prince P.A. Kropotkin, who entered into force of his convictions on the path of political struggle. Their calls for an immediate uprising of the working masses were enthusiastically received in the circles of the radically minded intelligentsia.
Despite the fact that the party of anarchists in Russia was not formally established, its program compiled by Kropotkin was very popular. It provided for the creation of a future society based on "free communes" deprived of central government. In his subsequent works, he developed this idea and proposed the concept of "anarcho-communism." Since the realization of his ideas required a certain preparation of the population, Kropotkin called for the creation of an anarchist party, the program of which he intended to replenish with further developments, taking into account all the socio-political characteristics of that time.
The emergence of the first anarchist groups
In 1900, a number of anarchist organizations were created in Geneva by a group of Russian emigrants, and the newspaper “Bread and Freedom”, corresponding to their ideology, began to be published. In the following years preceding the First Russian Revolution, similar organizations appeared in France, Germany, Bulgaria, and even in the USA. Despite the fact that the constituent congress was not held and the party of anarchists was not formed, its supporters declared themselves as a real political force.
New political trend in Russia
In Russia itself, its representatives first appeared in 1903 on the territory of the Grodno province, and for the most part came from the local Jewish intelligentsia and students. Very soon, they created more than a dozen groups in such large cities as Odessa, and Yekaterinoslav, Bialystok and several others.
The initiative of the Grodno anarchists received wide support in society, and during the revolutionary events of 1905-07. in the country there were already about 220 similar cells created in 185 settlements. According to some reports, organizations of anarchists in Russia then united in their ranks about 7 thousand people.
Goals and methods of struggle
A year before the start of the First Russian Revolution, a party congress was held in London, at which the tasks facing all the communist anarchists were outlined (as they called themselves, using the term borrowed from the works of Kropotkin). The main goal was the forcible destruction of all exploiting classes and the establishment of anarchist communism in the country.
The main method of struggle was declared an armed uprising, while the issue of terrorist acts was referred to their direct executors and did not require additional coordination. There, in London, Kropotkin took the initiative to create an anarchist party in Russia. Characteristically, violent expropriation of values ​​from “representatives of the exploiting classes” was proposed as one of its main sources of financing.
Subsequently, this resulted in massive robberies of banks, post offices, as well as apartments and mansions of wealthy citizens. It is known that some anarchists, for example, such as the famous Nestor Makhno, under the cover of the interests of the party, often carried out expropriations in order to enrich themselves.
Pluralism of opinion among anarchists
In terms of its members, the party of anarchists was not homogeneous. With a general ideological orientation, consisting in the denial of all forms of man’s power over man, it included supporters of various forms of its implementation. In addition to the communist anarchists mentioned above, anarcho-syndicalists, who preached self-government and mutual assistance to revolutionary militant organizations, as well as anarchist-individualists, who advocated exceptional individual freedom in isolation from the collective, also enjoyed wide influence.
The ideological inspirers of the first were prominent public figures of that time: B.N. Krichevsky, V.A. Posse and Ya.I. Kirillovsky, while their opponents were headed by L.I. Shestov (Schwartzman), G.I. Chulkov, as well as the popular Russian and Soviet poet S.M. Gorodetsky and a major political figure-anarchist P.D. Turchaninov, better known under the pseudonym of Leo Black.
Ahead of the October Revolution
The First World War split the ranks of the anarchists. This was due to the fact that Kropotkin, who was then in exile, and his closest associates demanded that it be continued “to a victorious end,” while the wing of anarchist-internationalists who had gained strength by that time advocated the immediate signing of a peace treaty. During this period, the total number of the party of anarchists, uniting up to 7 thousand people in their ranks at the beginning of the 20th century, drastically decreased for various reasons, and probably barely reached 200 - 300 people.
After the February Revolution, many prominent political figures of Russia returned from emigration, including Kropotkin. On his initiative, a confederation was formed in Petrograd and Moscow from the remaining anarchist groups, which included 70 people - mainly representatives of a radically inclined student body. They arranged the release of the Moscow newspaper Anarchy and the St. Petersburg Burevestnik.
During this period, members of the party of anarchists actively advocated the social revolution and the overthrow of the interim government, which, they said, represented only the interests of the bourgeoisie. After the creation of Soviets of workers and peasants' deputies in most major cities, they tried with all their might to bring their representatives into their composition.
The first post-revolutionary years
After the October Revolution, the ranks of anarchists again increased significantly, however, this was largely due to all kinds of extremists who wanted to take advantage of the current situation in the country, as well as people from the criminal environment. It is enough to say that in Moscow alone in the spring of 1918, at least 25 wealthy mansions were arbitrarily captured and plundered.
In the 20th century, the party of anarchists - officially, never established, but always existing “de facto”, underwent many kinds of troubles. The beginning was laid shortly after the October armed coup. As it became known later, the leadership of the Cheka received information that many groups of anarchists are actually conspiratorial cells of the White Guard anti-Bolshevik underground. Whether this information corresponded to reality or not, it is now difficult to say, but in the spring of 1918 the Extraordinary Commission organized a large-scale operation to eliminate them. On the night of April 11-12, several dozen anarchists died at the hands of the Chekists, and more than a hundred were arrested.
In the cauldron of political passions
However, thanks to the efforts of Kropotkin and a number of his comrades-in-arms, by the fall of the same year, the activities of the previously created confederation resumed in Moscow and Petrograd, and work began on convening the All-Russian Congress of Anarchists. As evidenced by many archival documents of the time, the party of anarchists of 1917-1918 was a “boiling pot” of political passions. Its structure included supporters of the most diverse ways of further development of Russia. They were united only by the denial of the supreme power, but otherwise they could not come to a common opinion. It is difficult to imagine the whole variety of ideological trends that have arisen in their midst.
Some prominent representatives of the anarchist movement left a noticeable mark in the history of the Civil War. One of them was the Ukrainian politician Nestor Ivanovich Makhno, who initially supported Soviet power and fought for it at the head of the partisan detachment he created. But later he changed his position, and after the armed groups controlled by him began to fight with food detachments and poor committees created in the villages, he entered into conflict with the Bolsheviks and became their implacable enemy.
The final rout of Russian anarchists
In January 1919, a major terrorist act took place in Moscow: a bomb was thrown into the premises of the RCP (b) committee, which killed 12 people, and many of those present were injured. In the course of the investigation, it was possible to establish the involvement of the members of the party of anarchists in Russia.
This gave an impetus to the beginning of tough repressive measures. Many of the anarchists were imprisoned, and even the funeral of their ideological leader, Kropotkin, who died in February 1921, was released by the authorities on parole. By the way, after the completion of the mourning ceremony, every one voluntarily returned to the cell.
The next convenient pretext for the total annihilation of the anarchist movement was the participation of a number of its members in the Kronstadt rebellion. This was followed by a continuous streak of arrests, executions, and forced expulsion abroad of dozens, and subsequently hundreds of supporters of the abolition of all forms of state power. For some time, their center, created on the basis of the Kropotkin Museum, continued to operate in Moscow, but in 1939 it was also liquidated.
Back to life
During the perestroika period, many political movements revived that declared themselves in earlier times, but interrupted their activities through the fault of the Communists. In 1989, the party of anarchists joined them. The year of the creation of its all-Russian organization, called the Confederation of Anarcho-Syndicalists, coincided with an important period in the country's history, when the main directions for its further development were outlined.
In search of solutions to the most pressing issues, the revived anarchist movement has again undergone a split. Representatives of his right wing, who advocated maximum political freedom and autonomy, chose the crossed-out dollar symbol as their symbol, and their left opponents, who later partially joined the Communist Party, appeared under the flag of the Jolly Roger, which has been a traditional sign of anarchy since the revolution.
Party of Anarchists of Russia in the 21st Century
United under the banner of the struggle with all forms of human control by man, the followers of Prince P.A. Kropotkin was never able to create anything other than a political movement that only indirectly influenced historical events. It will be in vain to look in the directories for the year the Anarchist Party was formed. It was never formally established, and its name itself exists only by virtue of an established tradition, without legal rights.
Nevertheless, certain signs of the development of the anarchist movement are noticeable. In the 2000s, an international left-wing anti-capitalist organization was created on its basis, called AntiFa. Its participants largely share the views of Marxists. In addition, in 2002, the liberal-communist semi-anarchist movement "Autonomous Action" was born, standing on an extremely left platform. In general, these areas do not have a serious impact on Russian policy and are of the nature of a youth subculture.