1 gen 1923 anni - The greatest quantity of references to Makhnovist Kontrrazvedka and its terror occur in the autumn of 1919 - the peak of the Ma- knovist federation of Free Soviets and the time when the Liberated Zone embraced the most territory. the Makhnovist movement the Kontrrazvedka was smaller, pro- portional to the amount of territory controlled. Its function was more concentrated on basic reconnaissance and the struggle with hostile agent networks, and less to the repressions of the Black Ter- ror. Finally, it was m

Descrizione:

The greatest quantity of references to Makhnovist Kontrrazvedka
and its terror occur in the autumn of 1919 - the peak of the Ma-
knovist federation of Free Soviets and the time when the Liberated
Zone embraced the most territory. It was natural that in the rear
of the Volunteer Army, under martial law, that the Kontrrazvedka
developed a rather formidable repressive apparatus which the VRS
had difficulty controlling. However it is also possible to draw the
opposite conclusion from this: for most of the time of existence of
the Makhnovist movement the Kontrrazvedka was smaller, pro-
portional to the amount of territory controlled. Its function was
more concentrated on basic reconnaissance and the struggle with
hostile agent networks, and less to the repressions of the Black Ter-
ror. Finally, it was more subject to control of the main elected organ
of the Makhnovshchina.
In the history of the Makhnovist Kontrrazvedka we confront the
thorny question of the relationship of anarchists to secret services
and punitive organs. The most freedom-loving ideology and the
principled enemy of any kind of compulsion, anarchism was always
hostile to structures similar to those of its chief enemy - the State.
Nevertheless, any active organization of anarchists was compelled to
make use of weapons and mechanisms of "the old society in order
to pave the way towards an anarchical future. Compelled for the
simple reason that there were no other effective mechanisms. The
main question here is whether the anarchists could control these
mechanisms or would there be yet another State regenerated under
their, albeit black, banners. This question was faced in full measure
by one of the most important anarchist movements in the history
of humanity - the Makhnovshchina.
The history of the Makhnovist Kontrrazvedka displays all the traps
and temptations of power which await human weakness in the pro-
cess of making use of such a dangerous weapon. But it also displays
the steadfastness and will power of people who find in themselves
the strength to recognize and offer resistance to the degeneration
of this weapon into the normal murderousness of a statist secret
service. I have no intention of idealizing or even justifying the re-
tributive politics of the anarchists during the Civil War. But let us
recall Volin: "The Makhnovshchina was an event of extraordinary
breadth, grandeur and importance, which unfolded with excep-
tional force undergoing a titanic struggle against all forms of
reaction" (244) And let us remember that without the Kontrrazvedka
this struggle would have been lost much earlier. In which case the
Makhnovshchina would generally not been able to develop its full
strength and show the world the heights of the human spirit liber-
ated from authority
And one more important observation. Anarchists are usually de-
picted in one of two modes: either as romantic idealists cut off from
real life - inexperienced youth or seni oldsters; or as degenerate
criminal types, physically incapable of living in "normal society". To
the State and, with its encouragement, conformist citizens generally,
it is convenient to perceive people who uphold a different way of organizing society as "abnormal”. The Makhnovist Kontrrazvedka,
the unique organ of defence of the emerging alternative future,
shows better than any other anarchist structure how competent,
sensible, composed, and resourceful people can be who are true to
the anarchist ideal. May they rest in peace and their
memory
live forever.

Aggiunto al nastro di tempo:

Data: