Volin
Volin | |
---|---|
Волин | |
Chairman of the Military Revolutionary Council of the Makhnovshchina | |
In office 1 September 1919 – 31 January 1920 | |
Preceded by | Nestor Makhno |
Succeeded by | Dmitry Popov |
Personal details | |
Born | Vsevolod Mikhailovich Eikhenbaum 23 August [O.S. 11 August] 1882 Voronezh, Russian Empire |
Died | 18 September 1945 (aged 63) Paris, French Republic |
Resting place | Père Lachaise Cemetery |
Political party | Socialist Revolutionary (1904–1911) |
Other political affiliations |
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Relatives |
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Education | Saint Petersburg State University |
Occupation |
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Vsevolod Mikhailovich Eikhenbaum
He returned to
After the suppression of the Russian and Ukrainian anarchist movements by the Bolsheviks, Volin again went into exile. In Paris, he became a leading opponent of platformism, which he criticised as authoritarian, and found work as a prolific writer in multiple different languages. He lived out the last years of his life in poverty, evading persecution by the Nazis and the French State, as he was wanted for his Jewish heritage and his anarchist political convictions. He died of tuberculosis shortly after the liberation of France.
Early life
Volin was born Vsevolod Mikhailovich Eikhenbaum on 23 August [O.S. 11 August] 1882,[1] to an educated Russian Jewish family from Voronezh, a city in the Central Black Earth Region of the Russian Empire. His parents, both of whom were doctors,[2] employed western tutors for Volin and his brother, Boris, who were educated in the French and German languages, in addition to Russian. After completing his education in Voronezh,[3] Volin moved to Saint Petersburg, where he studied in the Faculty of Law at Saint Petersburg State University.[4]
Political activism
By 1901, Volin had become involved in the imperial capital's nascent
After settling in
Revolutionary activities
Volin quickly became a leading proponent of anarcho-syndicalism during the 1917 Revolution, calling for workers' control in his frequent speeches to the workers of Petrograd and as editor of Golos Truda, which expanded its circulation to 25,000 readers.[10] In the wake of the October Revolution, he became a vocal critic of the Bolsheviks, warning of their authoritarian tendencies and predicting that they would see the power of the soviets usurped by the state.[11] He particularly criticised the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which he considered to be a renouncement of world revolution by the Bolsheviks. He called for the prosecution of partisan warfare against the Central Powers and consequently decided to move to Ukraine, which had fallen under the occupation of the German Empire and Austria-Hungary.[12]
After visiting relatives in Voronezh
By mid-1919, the organisation had drawn the attention of the Bolsheviks, who closed its meeting places and shut down its newspaper press.[21] In response, Volin moved the Nabat's headquarters to Huliaipole, where it became a central organisation within the Makhnovshchina, an anarchist mass movement led by Nestor Makhno's Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine. Volin joined the movement's Cultural-Educational Commission, serving as an editor for its publications and organising its regional congresses, even going on to act as chairman of the Military Revolutionary Council (RVS), the movement's executive body.[22] As chair of the RVS, Volin clashed with the Insurgent Army's command over the excessive violence employed by the Kontrrazvedka.[23] He also edited the movement's Draft Declaration, which proposed the establishment of free soviets as the basis for a transition towards a communist society.[24]
In December 1919, Volin went to Kryvyi Rih in order to counter the spread of Ukrainian nationalism in the region, but he contracted typhus and was forced to stop for recovery in a peasant village.[25] On 14 January 1920, he was arrested on his sickbed by the 14th Army and given to the Cheka,[26] who had orders from Leon Trotsky to execute him. Russian American anarchists such as Alexander Berkman attempted to appeal his sentence, but this was rejected by Nikolay Krestinsky, the general secretary of the Communist Party and a former colleague of Volin.[27] Further appeals by Russian libertarians, including the Bolshevik Victor Serge, eventually secured his transfer to Butyrka prison in Moscow, where his death sentence was commuted.[28] He was finally released in October 1920, as part of the terms of the Starobilsk agreement between the Bolsheviks and the Makhnovists,[29] and he was even offered the post of People's Commissar for Education in the Ukrainian Soviet government, which he rejected.[20]
In November, he made a quick visit to Dmitrov, where he paid his respects to a dying Peter Kropotkin,[30] who by then was pessimistic about the prospects of the revolution.[31] Volin then returned to Kharkiv, where he began to prepare an All-Russian Congress of Anarchists to be held on 25 December,[32] and led the negotiations with Christian Rakovsky's government over the controversial fourth political clause of the Starobilsk agreement, which would have provided for the autonomy of the Makhnovshchina.[33] Following the soviet victory over the White movement in Crimea, he and other members of the Nabat were arrested and imprisoned again in Moscow.[34] In July 1921, after being visited by Gaston Leval, a French syndicalist delegate to the Profintern,[30] Volin and other anarchist political prisoners staged a hunger strike in order to draw the attention of other visiting trade union delegates.[35] Following protests from the delegates to Vladimir Lenin, the prisoners were released and subsequently deported from Russia in January 1922.[36]
Exile
Exiled in Berlin, Volin and his family were supported by German anarchists such as Rudolf Rocker,[37] who provided them with a small attic to live in.[38] While in the German capital, Volin worked with Alexander Berkman to provide support for anarchist political prisoners and exiles,[39] including Nestor Makhno himself, who Volin helped escape from Poland to Berlin.[40] He also published a weekly newspaper, The Anarchist Herald,[41] translated Peter Arshinov's History of the Makhnovist Movement and publicised evidence of political repressions against Russian anarchists.[42] In 1924, his old comrade Sébastien Faure invited him back to Paris[43] to collaborate on the publication of his Anarchist Encyclopedia.[44] Volin became a key contributor to the encyclopedia, as well as a number of anarchist periodicals in various different languages, including the French Le Libertaire, the German Die Internationale, the English Man!, the Russian Delo Truda and the Yiddish Fraye Arbeter Shtime. It was at this time that he also began to compile his history of the Russian Revolution.[45]
In 1927, Volin was caught in the debate over the
He attempted to continue his educational activities by providing free classes about anarchism, but he also needed money to support his family, so he took up a number of jobs in the publishing industry, notably working on a Russian translation of Eugene O'Neill's play Lazarus Laughed.[54] In the wake of the Spanish Revolution of 1936, he briefly worked on the French language organ of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo,[55] but quit after the organisation joined the government of the Popular Front.[54] Volin lived out the following years in poverty,[54] until André Prudhommeaux provided him a job on the board of his newspaper Terre Libre, which he contributed to in Nîmes.[55]
In 1940, while living in poverty in
In his obituary to Volin written the month after his death, Victor Serge described him as "one of the most remarkable figures of Russian anarchism, a man of absolute probity and exceptional rigor of thought. ... One must hope that the future will render justice to this intrepidly idealistic revolutionary who was always, in prison, in the poverty of exile, as on the battlefield and in editorial offices, a man of real moral grandeur."[58]
Works
- Volin (1922). "Гонения на анархизм в Советской России" [The Repressions of the Anarchists in Soviet Russia]. The Anarchist Herald (in Russian).
- —— (1924). "Sur la Synthèse" [On Synthesis]. Revue anarchiste (in French). No. 25–27.
- —— (1934). "Le Fascisme Rouge" [Red Fascism]. Ce qu'il faut dire (in French).
- —— (1935). "The Historical Role of the State". Vanguard. Vol. 2, no. 3. pp. 8–11.
- —— (1947). La Révolution Inconnue [The Unknown Revolution] (in French). Les Amis de Voline.
Notes
- Yiddish: ווסעוואָלאָד מיכאילאָוויטש אייכענבוים
- Yiddish: וואָלין
References
- ^ a b Avrich 1988, p. 126; Guérin 2005, p. 473.
- ^ a b Avrich 1988, p. 126; Patterson 2020, pp. 28–31.
- ^ a b c d Avrich 1988, p. 126.
- ^ a b c Avrich 1988, p. 126; Guérin 2005, p. 473; Patterson 2020, pp. 28–31.
- ^ Avrich 1988, p. 126; Guérin 2005, p. 473; Patterson 2020, pp. 28–31; van der Walt & Schmidt 2009, pp. 103–104.
- ^ Avrich 1988, pp. 126–127.
- ^ Avrich 1988, p. 127; Guérin 2005, p. 473; Patterson 2020, pp. 28–31.
- ^ Avrich 1988, p. 127; Patterson 2020, pp. 28–31.
- ^ Avrich 1988, p. 127; Guérin 2005, p. 473; Patterson 2020, pp. 28–31; van der Walt & Schmidt 2009, p. 254.
- ^ Avrich 1988, pp. 127–128.
- ^ Avrich 1988, p. 128; Guérin 2005, pp. 473–474; Patterson 2020, pp. 28–31.
- ^ a b Avrich 1988, p. 128.
- ^ Avrich 1988, p. 128; Guérin 2005, p. 474.
- ^ Avrich 1988, p. 128; Darch 2020, p. 31; Patterson 2020, pp. 28–31; van der Walt & Schmidt 2009, pp. 104, 255.
- ^ Avrich 1988, p. 128; Guérin 2005, p. 474; Malet 1982, p. 159.
- ^ Avrich 1988, p. 128; Darch 2020, p. 31; Guérin 2005, p. 474; Malet 1982, p. 159; Patterson 2020, pp. 28–31.
- ^ Avrich 1988, pp. 128–129; Malet 1982, p. 159; Patterson 2020, pp. 28–31; van der Walt & Schmidt 2009, pp. 245–247.
- ^ Avrich 1988, pp. 128–129; Malet 1982, p. 159.
- ^ Avrich 1988, p. 129; Darch 2020, p. 31; Guérin 2005, p. 474; Malet 1982, p. 159.
- ^ a b Avrich 1988, p. 129.
- ^ Avrich 1988, p. 129; Guérin 2005, p. 474.
- ^ Avrich 1988, p. 129; Guérin 2005, p. 474; Malet 1982, p. 175; Patterson 2020, pp. 28–31.
- ^ Malet 1982, pp. 51–52; Patterson 2020, p. 70; Shubin 2010, p. 183.
- ^ Darch 2020, pp. 74–75; Skirda 2004, pp. 332–333.
- ^ Avrich 1988, pp. 129–130; Malet 1982, pp. 53, 97; Patterson 2020, pp. 28–31.
- ^ Avrich 1988, pp. 129–130; Guérin 2005, pp. 474–475.
- ^ Avrich 1988, pp. 129–130.
- ^ Avrich 1988, pp. 129–130; Patterson 2020, pp. 28–31.
- ^ Avrich 1988, p. 130; Darch 2020, pp. 109–110; Guérin 2005, pp. 474–475; Malet 1982, pp. 66, 162–163; Patterson 2020, pp. 28–31; Skirda 2004, p. 201.
- ^ a b Avrich 1988, p. 130.
- ^ Darch 2020, p. 107.
- ^ Avrich 1988, p. 130; Guérin 2005, pp. 474–475.
- ^ Malet 1982, p. 163.
- ^ Avrich 1988, p. 130; Darch 2020, p. 118; Guérin 2005, pp. 474–475; Malet 1982, p. 163; Patterson 2020, pp. 28–31; Shubin 2010, p. 186; Skirda 2004, pp. 238–239.
- ^ Avrich 1988, p. 130; Guérin 2005, p. 475; Malet 1982, p. 163; van der Walt & Schmidt 2009, p. 104.
- ^ Avrich 1988, p. 130; Guérin 2005, p. 475; Patterson 2020, pp. 28–31; Skirda 2004, pp. 269–270, 277.
- ^ Avrich 1988, p. 130; Guérin 2005, p. 475; Malet 1982, p. 186.
- ^ Avrich 1988, p. 130; Malet 1982, p. 186.
- ^ Avrich 1988, pp. 130–131.
- ^ Darch 2020, p. 138; Malet 1982, p. 186; Skirda 2004, pp. 270–271.
- ^ Avrich 1988, pp. 130–131; Guérin 2005, p. 475.
- ^ Avrich 1988, pp. 130–131; Guérin 2005, p. 475; Patterson 2020, pp. 28–31.
- ^ Avrich 1988, p. 131; Guérin 2005, p. 475; Malet 1982, p. 187.
- ^ Avrich 1988, p. 131; Guérin 2005, p. 475.
- ^ Avrich 1988, p. 131.
- ^ Avrich 1988, p. 131; Darch 2020, p. 144; Malet 1982, pp. 190–191; Patterson 2020, pp. 28–31; Skirda 2004, pp. 277–278; van der Walt & Schmidt 2009, p. 253.
- ^ Avrich 1988, p. 131; Darch 2020, p. 144; Malet 1982, pp. 190–191; van der Walt & Schmidt 2009, p. 253.
- ^ Darch 2020, pp. 140–141; Malet 1982, pp. 190–191; Patterson 2020, pp. 28–31; Skirda 2004, pp. 277–278; van der Walt & Schmidt 2009, p. 256.
- ^ Darch 2020, pp. 140–141; Skirda 2004, pp. 278–279.
- ^ Avrich 1988, pp. 131–132; Malet 1982, p. 192.
- ^ Avrich 1988, pp. 131–132; Darch 2020, p. 30; Skirda 2004, pp. 285–288.
- ^ Avrich 1988, p. 132; Patterson 2020, pp. 28–31.
- ^ Darch 2020, pp. 142–143.
- ^ a b c Avrich 1988, p. 132.
- ^ a b Avrich 1988, p. 132; Guérin 2005, p. 475.
- ^ a b Avrich 1988, p. 134; Guérin 2005, p. 475; Patterson 2020, pp. 28–31.
- ^ a b Avrich 1988, p. 134.
- ISBN 978-1-68137-270-9.
Bibliography
- OCLC 17727270 – via Internet Archive.
- Darch, Colin (2020). Nestor Makhno and Rural Anarchism in Ukraine, 1917–1921. S2CID 224949062.
- LCCN 2005930956.
- Malet, Michael (1982). Nestor Makhno in the Russian Civil War. OCLC 8514426.
- OCLC 218212571.
- Patterson, Sean (2020). Makhno and Memory: Anarchist and Mennonite Narratives of Ukraine's Civil War, 1917–1921. OCLC 1134608930.
- Peters, Victor (1970). Nestor Makhno: The Life of an Anarchist. Winnipeg: Echo Books. OCLC 7925080.
- OCLC 1103577845.
- Shubin, Aleksandr (2010). "The Makhnovist Movement and the National Question in the Ukraine, 1917–1921". In Hirsch, Steven J.; OCLC 868808983.
- OCLC 490977034.
- OCLC 60602979.
- OCLC 1100238201.
Further reading
- Damier, Vadim (18 September 2018). "Портреты революционеров: Всеволод Волин". Confederation of Revolutionary Anarcho-Syndicalists (in Russian). Retrieved 13 November 2022.
- Heath, Nick (4 October 2011). "Volin (Eichenbaum, Vsevelod Mikhailovich) aka Voline, 1882 -1945". Libcom.org. Retrieved 13 November 2022.
- Rumyantsev, Vyacheslav (20 January 2000). "Волин Всеволод Михайлович". ХРОНОС: ВСЕМИРНАЯ ИСТОРИЯ В ИНТЕРНЕТЕ (in Russian). Retrieved 13 November 2022.
- Shipov, Ya. A. (2006). "Во́лин". ISBN 5-85270-334-6. Archived from the originalon 28 October 2018. Retrieved 13 November 2022.
- "Волин Всеволод". Electronic Jewish Encyclopedia (in Russian). Vol. 10. 2001. pp. 486–487. Retrieved 13 November 2022.
- "Voline". L'Ephéméride Anarchiste (in French). Retrieved 13 November 2022.
External links
Media related to Volin at Wikimedia Commons
- Arshinov, Peter (1923). History of the Makhnovist Movement (1918–1921).
- Voline archive entry at the Anarchy Archives