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Hello and welcome to

2:23

Revolutions.

2:27

Episode

2:29

10.87. Or

2:32

here. Last

2:36

time we talked about the ongoing transformation

2:38

of Russia into a centralized one party

2:40

regime. Which increasingly

2:43

took the form of elected Soviet

2:45

of soldiers, workers and peasant deputies.

2:48

The, which functionally became an appendage of the Communist

2:50

Party. And as we discussed

2:53

this transformation, cause tension, resentment

2:55

and finally outright revolt in many areas

2:58

controlled by the Communists. But

3:00

we also discussed how this was all taking place inside

3:02

the context of larger civil war. That

3:05

many of those frustrated with the Communists. Ultimately

3:08

concluded that the Reds, however annoying

3:10

they were, are. We're better than the Whites.

3:13

This week we're gonna talk about region where this

3:16

mess of social unrest and political

3:18

tension and military necessity combined

3:20

with particular volatility. Ukraine.

3:25

Since the treaty abreast with task, the

3:27

armies of the central powers had been occupying Ukraine.

3:31

But there capitulation is on the western front

3:33

in the autumn of Nineteen Eighteen meant.

3:35

that they were now going to be forced to withdraw This

3:38

withdraw would leave a gaping

3:40

power vacuum that left much of Ukraine

3:42

in state of anarchy. And

3:44

I don't mean that is a pejorative synonym

3:47

for chaos and disorder, although

3:49

there was an awful lot of that going around. I

3:51

mean, a literal state of anarchy. Because

3:54

Ukraine was the place where the black flag

3:56

flying anarchists enjoyed the greatest

3:58

success at establishing. Their vision

4:01

for what post revolutionary society ought

4:03

to look like. And depending

4:05

on who you talk to you. They either

4:07

provided viable blueprint for an

4:09

alternative to the creeping authoritarianism

4:11

of the Communist. Or they

4:13

were simply tossing off half baked ideas

4:15

that were never going to survive prolonged contact with

4:18

reality. Either

4:20

way, there is no way to tell the story

4:22

of the Russian revolution without discussing

4:24

the Ukrainian anarchists. And specifically

4:27

their greatest leader. Nestor

4:29

mock know. Nestor

4:31

mock know was born in eighteen eighty

4:33

nine in who iPad. Small

4:35

rural city in south east Ukraine, situated

4:38

east of the Nipper River and north of

4:40

the sea of As off. His parents

4:42

had both been born serfs and were liberated

4:44

by the emancipation decree of eighteen, sixty

4:46

one. They were still extremely

4:48

poor at the time of his. Compounding

4:51

the families misfortunes mock knows father

4:54

died when he was just ten months old. Little

4:56

Nestor was the youngest of five children. Then

4:59

he received only few years primary

5:01

education. As student,

5:03

he was noted for being bright and clever.

5:06

But also extremely headstrong and rebellious.

5:09

He didn't last long in school, though my mostly

5:11

because the families economic circumstances

5:14

forced him to go out and work for wages. The

5:16

took his first paying job at the age of just seven.

5:20

Mark Know spent what was left of his childhood working

5:22

in the fields for wages before moving on

5:24

to assorted other odd jobs. Wherever

5:27

you went, the story was always the same. Right

5:29

to capable. Rebellious and

5:31

on discipline. McNeill

5:34

came equipped with an instinctive hostility

5:36

to authority that was compounded by

5:38

life spent working for various landlords

5:40

and state managers. The you never

5:42

did go back to school and so unlike

5:44

most of the other revolutionaries we've talked about,

5:47

mock know was not radicalized at university

5:49

before advancing on to the coffee houses.

5:52

In fact, he developed something of loaning for those

5:54

kind of intelligentsia radicals who had

5:56

no real connection to the things they were talking

5:58

about. And in fact, Mac

6:00

No actually was what many coffee

6:03

house Russian revolutionaries idolized:

6:05

"I could never be themselves" True

6:08

revolutionary peasant. Lucknow

6:11

first got into politics as teenager in the wake

6:14

of the revolution of nineteen or five. Attracted

6:16

to the fundamentally anti authority message

6:18

of anarchism. He joined small anarchist

6:21

group in his hometown of who, like born in nineteen

6:23

oh sex. Their group numbered

6:25

in the mirror doesn't but. we're committed

6:28

to continuing the revolutionary struggle even

6:30

in these reactionary days of this to

6:32

leap an era The group

6:34

engaged in both revolutionary expropriations,

6:37

which is to say robberies as well as

6:39

revolutionary strikes against the enemies of the people.

6:42

Which is to say bombings and arson of local

6:44

A states. He was arrested

6:46

once in held for ten months before being released

6:48

without charges even being from. And

6:51

any a chronic infiltrated the group? And

6:53

after several shootout with the police, Mac Know

6:55

was arrested again. Several

6:57

of his comrades were hanged and he

6:59

himself was sentenced to death. But

7:02

this sentence was commuted down to life

7:04

in prison on account of his alleged

7:07

useful and maturity. transferred

7:09

to prison in Moscow, young mock know wound

7:12

up amidst other better and political prisoners.

7:15

And as we've seen before. Russian prisons

7:17

turned out to be great place to get further radicalized.

7:20

In particular, mock know met guy computer

7:23

are seen off who school him and

7:25

anarchism slipping him smuggled copies

7:27

of by coonan and Kropotkin. These

7:30

books, gay form and voice to mock knows own

7:32

instinctive loading of authority. And

7:34

he became committed anarchist. Placing

7:36

the blame for most social ills and injustices

7:39

on the nature political authority itself. And

7:41

believing the common people would be just fine running

7:43

their own affairs without the need for any

7:46

parasitic, an exploitive state

7:48

apparatus. McNabb

7:51

was still sitting in prison at the age of twenty seven

7:53

when the February revolution hit. He

7:55

and all the other political prisoners were amnestied

7:58

and set for it. He returned

8:00

home to her libel and immediately started

8:02

working to organize the local population. Putting

8:05

into practice the things he had learned in prison.

8:08

Mark Know turned out to be naturally charismatic

8:10

leader. Then, in the post February Revolution,

8:13

era became forceful advocate

8:15

for direct appropriation of land by the peasants.

8:18

These were the days when the provisional government and

8:20

Petra Grad was dragging their feet on the land

8:22

question and we talk about how the peasant

8:24

out there just started taking matters into their own

8:26

hands. Mr

8:28

Mac Know was one of those taking power

8:30

into his own hands. Human

8:33

strikes and work stoppages. organize

8:35

volunteer armed bands to go disarm local

8:37

law enforcement and simply sees

8:39

state land and redistribute them to the peasants.

8:42

The asking neither permission nor forgiveness.

8:46

It was during this period and nineteen seventeen, Mac

8:48

Know gained reputation as sort of revolutionary

8:50

Robinho. rallying the locals

8:52

under the slogan "Land and Liberty" Not

8:55

unlike is Mexican counterparts, Emilio

8:57

know supporter. Who had been doing the same

8:59

thing for years and Mexican state morale

9:01

of? Doing of their own initiative

9:04

with their own people. What be educated,

9:06

big city intellectuals only talked

9:09

about doing? This

9:11

initial period of revolutionary anarchism was

9:13

up ended by the treaty brusquely task and

9:15

the invasion of Ukraine by the central powers. This

9:19

invasion was ostensibly welcome by the

9:21

leaders of the rada. Their self declared

9:23

Ukrainian People's Republic. And

9:26

also refined and recognized by

9:28

the Russian Bolsheviks. Mock

9:30

know, in his comrades, we're aghast at betrayal of

9:32

the people of Ukraine. There wasn't anything

9:34

they could do about it. The had

9:36

small partisan band who were sturdy,

9:39

loyal and top. But they were going

9:41

to be able to fend off hundreds of thousands of invading

9:43

Germans, Austrians and Hungarians. Though

9:46

instead, they settled into life resisting

9:48

the occupation wind and where they could. And

9:51

protecting local peasants from abuses by

9:53

the occupation authorities. In

9:56

the early summer of nineteen, eighteen mock know

9:58

embarked on tour of Russia to.

10:00

Support for the Ukrainian resistance,

10:02

eventually, winding his way to Moscow,

10:04

and July, according

10:06

to mock knows Memoir while in Moscow.

10:08

He had two important meetings first

10:11

with an agent, Republican, who

10:13

offered him Sage advice. and cautious

10:15

encouragement. The other

10:18

was an audience with Lennon in the crowd.

10:21

According to mock know, Lenin quizzed

10:23

him on the situation in Ukraine, bemoaned

10:25

the contagion of anarchism. But

10:28

finally admitted that they were at least probably

10:30

fighting on the same some it. Lucknow

10:33

provide a detailed description of this conversation

10:35

and his depiction of Lenin certainly tracks

10:37

with when his personality. What

10:39

it is worth mentioning that so far as I can

10:41

tell? Mock knows memoir is the

10:44

only evidence we have that he ever met personally

10:46

with Luna. There's apparently no

10:48

other contemporaneous record schedule,

10:51

calendar entry or note from

10:53

anyone working inside the Kremlin at the time

10:55

that confirms that this meeting ever took place. Which

10:58

doesn't mean that it didn't just that it's not

11:00

entirely clear that it dead. From

11:03

Moscow mock no return to whom pull

11:05

and found things had gotten worse in his absence.

11:08

The occupation forces were rooting out all his

11:10

comrades. His mother's home had been

11:12

burned to the ground, his brother had been shot.

11:16

He also discovered that about he had been placed on his

11:18

own head and he had to go into hiding.

11:21

But it would be a very active hiding,

11:24

not passive hiding. Mac

11:26

Know started organizing and arming local

11:28

forces to commence more deliberate

11:30

guerrilla campaign against the occupation.

11:33

And it was during this period in the second half of Nineteen

11:35

Eighteen. That his reputation as an

11:37

innovative military strategist and tactician

11:40

group. The wound up running an

11:42

exemplary guerrilla campaign built on speed.

11:45

mobility surprise local knowledge

11:47

and loyal camaraderie. Is

11:50

growing forces were supported by the peasants

11:52

with food supplies and information? They

11:54

could gather strike and disperse before the

11:56

enemy forces, mostly Austrian

11:58

soldiers, could respond. He

12:01

famously pioneered the use of mounting

12:03

machine guns on for strong current to

12:05

strike targets with deadly speed. And

12:08

while military affairs to get most of his attention,

12:10

mock know also became quite the anarchist

12:13

proselytizer. He delivered

12:15

passionate political speeches and every town

12:17

and village he passed through. Always

12:19

and everywhere promising the people what they want

12:21

it. The land and liberty.

12:24

His courage and battle and steadfast commitment

12:26

to the safety of the local population earned

12:29

him the affectionate honorific, bought go.

12:31

Or little father. And

12:34

as much as Mark know hated all forms of authority.

12:36

The was earning quite bit of it for himself.

12:41

This brings us to November nineteen eighteen when everything

12:43

gets turned upside down once again. The

12:46

defeated central powers had to renounce their

12:48

claim to Ukraine and prepare to withdraw

12:50

their forces. This

12:52

laugh be propped up reactionary regime

12:54

of admins grow apart, ski. Without

12:56

anything propping him up. Multiple

12:59

political factions gathered forces to overthrow

13:02

the hat minute. And within a matter of weeks

13:04

squarepants be band in Kiev and fled

13:06

into permanent ex. White

13:09

was precipitated by the advance of

13:11

those left leaning Ukrainian nationalists,

13:13

the had foreign the initial leadership of the run.

13:16

They took over Kiev on December nineteenth and

13:19

established new directory government to govern

13:21

what they were declaring to be restored

13:24

Ukrainian People's Republic. But

13:27

they were far from the only faction and play. Conservative

13:30

forces, who had supported the headman and

13:32

the occupation, waited in the wings

13:34

for an opportunity to launch counter revolution.

13:37

Meanwhile, on the border with Russia. There

13:40

loomed to force us. The

13:42

Russian communists were organizing an army

13:44

to support Ukrainian Soviet

13:46

socialist republic that would enter Ukraine

13:48

as soon as they were sure the army so the central powers

13:50

were fully withdrawn. There

13:52

are also white armies under general thing he can

13:55

also poised for an invasion. They

13:57

plan to take over Ukraine and use it as

13:59

for. The springboard. The capture, Moscow.

14:04

Meanwhile, anarchist groups like Mac nose

14:06

had no truck with any of these people. They

14:08

plan to carve out their own stateless society

14:10

free of all outside authority or interference.

14:14

At original Congress of insurgent leaders and

14:16

late nineteen eighteen. They organize

14:18

themselves into much larger force called

14:20

the revolutionary insurgent army

14:22

of Ukraine. Writing under the black

14:24

banner of anarchism. That know

14:27

became it overall leader. And

14:29

even though the insurgent army had it's own interests.

14:32

The brewing conflict over the future of Ukraine

14:34

was great time for enemies of enemies

14:37

to become friends. Mac

14:39

know identified for immediate enemies

14:41

for the insurgent army. The

14:43

forces who had propped up the head minute. The

14:46

withdrawing armies of the central powers. The

14:48

Dawn Cossacks and the White Russians,

14:50

who were aligned with then, Eakins won't hear early.

14:53

These last two were acutely important.

14:56

On January twelfth ninety nineteen, the White or

14:58

Mean launched an attack on the area controlled by

15:00

Mac Now. And on January twenty first,

15:03

they directly attacked with little. Racing

15:05

this threat mock know resolved on

15:08

an alliance with rebel faction he did not

15:10

include on his list of immediate threats but

15:12

who would entire be his political rivals. The

15:15

Russian Communist. Not

15:18

as moment the Red Army was preparing it's own

15:20

invasion of Ukraine and they were looking for local

15:22

military allies. The

15:24

Reds and the Blacks agreed to an

15:26

alliance of pure military convenience.

15:29

Knock Know agreed to integrate his insurgent

15:31

army into the organizational structure of

15:33

the Red Army and nominally submit

15:35

to orders from Red Army headquarters. But

15:38

the Ukrainian insurgents would maintain their own

15:41

internal structure. And in reality,

15:43

acted far closer to an independent auxiliary

15:46

force, then centrally controlled

15:48

subsidiary of the Red Army. The

15:51

Ukrainian front of the Red Army was now

15:53

under the command of Latimer and turn off

15:55

the guy who had overseen the capture the Winter Palace

15:58

during the October revolution. There's

16:00

worse has crossed into Ukraine and successfully

16:02

captured Kiev on February fifth. Installing

16:06

the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic

16:08

to replace the boosted Ukrainian

16:10

People's Republic. Good luck keeping

16:12

all of this straight. As

16:14

part of the offensive mock knows, horses participated

16:17

in battles against the Whites down in the Donbass region.

16:20

North of the sea of as off. As

16:22

result of the Black Army successes, the

16:24

territory controlled by Mac Know grew

16:27

even more. They soon control

16:29

large, autonomous own free from

16:31

all outside authority. Just

16:34

the way it like that. So

16:37

what I want to do now is turn to

16:39

what was going on inside disown during

16:41

the first half of nineteen nineteen. We're

16:45

talking about a loose blob of territory

16:47

comprising maybe seventy five thousand

16:49

square kilometers east of the need for

16:51

river and north of the see of as ot. It

16:54

had geographic and political center.

16:56

The in mock knows home town of who lives.

16:59

At it's maximum extent, it probably

17:02

covered population somewhere north of

17:04

seven million people. Mostly

17:06

these were agrarian peasants, but we also

17:09

have several small industrial cities with

17:11

the working class as the go along with them. The

17:14

population was also mostly Ukrainian.

17:16

But there were also Russians in the cities, as

17:19

well as significant population

17:21

of Jews. And in dealing

17:23

with the Jewish population, mock know

17:25

was famously virulent anti.

17:28

The anti semite. Most

17:31

of the people he had been fighting with since he was teenager

17:33

were Jewish and he detested

17:35

their persecution and abuse at the hands of anti

17:38

Semite. So while anti

17:40

Jewish programs tended to follow the advance

17:42

of practically all the army's running around to Ukraine.

17:45

Mac know wasn't having it. In

17:47

fact, he demanded the opposite. In

17:49

his mind, everybody was part of universal

17:52

brotherhood. rank bigotry

17:54

like anti semitism could not be tolerated.

17:57

It had to be eliminated root and branch. So

18:00

we find my nose, black army consistently

18:04

anti semitic. Though

18:06

this was not something every one in the ranks

18:08

embrace. He apparently had

18:10

one troop commander summarily shot for "exploitive

18:13

we rating Jewish settlements" Another

18:15

soldier was executed for waiting flag that

18:17

said, "beat the Jews and safe Russia"

18:21

The not known ultimate object, which

18:24

were all the people living in his own, to live

18:26

under their own authority. FORMING

18:28

hyper local councils that would see to their own

18:30

affairs. When the Black

18:32

Army rolled through town, they posted notice which

18:34

read. The army does

18:36

not serve any political party. The

18:39

power, any dictatorship? On

18:41

the contrary, it seeks to free the region

18:43

of all political power of all dictatorship.

18:46

It strives to protect the freedom of action,

18:49

the free life of workers against all exploitation

18:51

and domination. The mock know

18:53

army does not therefore represent any

18:55

authority. They will not subject to any

18:57

one to any obligation whatsoever. That

19:00

robot confined to defending the freedom of the

19:02

workers. The freedom of the peasant and the workers

19:04

belongs to themselves and should not

19:06

suffer any restriction. Though

19:10

Mac know was there to liberate and move

19:12

on. Not to stay and set up soon.

19:16

This particular focus on hyper local

19:18

administration mock know also started

19:21

establishing formal anarchist communism.

19:24

Not just liberating existing villages but setting

19:26

up brand new settlements on land seized from

19:28

largest state and populated with

19:30

the formerly landless poor. They

19:33

were meant to live together and communes of couple

19:36

hundred people. Working the land together,

19:38

ensuring to produce together. And

19:40

Mac know himself periodically resided in

19:42

these comments. Working the fields just

19:44

as he had done when he was kid. Except

19:46

this time. Not for any master. These

19:50

communes tend to function more like

19:52

prototypes than anything else and are only

19:54

handful of them set up. Mostly

19:57

the people I mock, no sound continue

19:59

to live in there. The village structures

20:01

and continue on with their traditional way of life. Simply

20:04

cut loose of external authority. Ultimately,

20:07

what Mark know want it was for all these communities

20:10

to knit themselves together and a larger confederation

20:12

that would spread out across Ukraine. The

20:15

into effect is confederation they wanted

20:17

to use the existing structure of the Soviets.

20:20

What they called for very specific kind

20:22

of Soviet. The free Soviets.

20:26

Over nineteen seventeen and eighteen eighteen, they had

20:28

seen how organized political parties now,

20:30

most especially the communists. Had

20:33

been getting themselves elected to the executive committee

20:35

of local Soviets and, then ignoring

20:38

then wishes of the peasants and the workers who had elected

20:40

them and instead serving the interests

20:42

of the party The role of

20:44

the Soviets had does been flipped on it's head. They

20:47

were now enforcing top down decrees

20:49

with no input from the local population.

20:51

Rather than what they had originally been. Which

20:53

is forum for the expression of local needs

20:56

from the bottom up. So,

20:58

by free Soviet, what they

21:00

meant was Soviet that explicitly board

21:02

members of political parties from Germany. This

21:05

was supposed to keep the Soviet grounded in the interests

21:08

of the local population they served rather

21:10

than having the local population serve the interests

21:12

of some political party and they're far

21:14

off central committee. This

21:16

was an idea that was gaining widespread traction

21:19

and as we talked about last week, the peasant

21:21

uprising in the vulgar were often rising

21:23

up under the banner Soviets without

21:25

communists. The

21:29

mock nose anarchism was rooted in hyper

21:31

local autonomy. That did not mean

21:33

the Ukrainian, the anarchist, did not seek wider

21:35

coalitions and confederations. In

21:38

the first half of ninety nine p.m. they held several

21:40

regional congress' The first one

21:42

in January of about one hundred delegates and

21:45

second, more consequential and controversial

21:47

congress held in February. It

21:50

was controversial because by now

21:52

the Communists had established Ukrainian

21:55

Soviet socialist republics based

21:57

in Kiev. The growth

21:59

and salud of. Location of this anarchist

22:01

autonomous zone in their midst was

22:03

threat. The second Congress

22:06

held in February also established it's own

22:08

revolutionary military Soviet the

22:10

challenge the communists claim to power. The

22:14

further issued declaration that read. The

22:16

workers and peasants of Ukraine had liberated

22:18

the territory from its enemies. Now

22:20

that the enemy is beaten, some government

22:23

appears in our midst, describing itself is Bolshevik

22:25

and aiming to impose its parties dictatorship

22:28

upon us. Is that to be countenanced?

22:31

We are non party insurgents. We

22:33

have revolted against all our oppressors. We

22:36

will not countenance new enslavement

22:38

no matter the quarter whence it may come. The

22:41

Congressmen declared it's intention to establish

22:43

regime of freely elected anti

22:46

authoritarian Soviets. Though

22:50

he was not all land in liberty inside

22:53

this anarchist free zone, though. There

22:55

were internal contradictions of their own making

22:57

that threaten the project. For

22:59

one, the regional congress's approve

23:02

the need for military conscription. Which

23:05

tends to undermine the kind of free choices

23:07

guaranteed by the anarchist. But

23:10

they insisted that this was all voluntary,

23:12

it wasn't conscription. Because the levy

23:14

had been approved by the People's Representatives

23:16

at the Regional Congress. Which

23:18

is, of course, clever rhetoric, but

23:21

doesn't matter very much to the people being pressed

23:23

into service against their well as the Black Army

23:25

joined the brands in the white and everyone

23:27

else. Hissing off every local population,

23:29

they pass through bike and scripting people

23:31

into their army at Bayonet Point. There

23:35

were also problems with the urban population.

23:38

Mark Know was temperamentally peasant and

23:40

he kind of detested cities. The

23:43

encouraged workers to take control their own factories,

23:46

but otherwise offered very little understanding

23:48

of their specific needs. He certainly

23:50

didn't care much about the value of paper money. Which

23:53

are been workers needed to buy things like

23:55

food from the villages. No

23:58

tended to insist that food should only be good. Not

24:00

for bartered good. Good to the urban

24:02

population often didn't have readily at hand.

24:06

Marco Free society had many supporters

24:08

among the peasants. That was viewed with

24:10

increasingly hostile skepticism by

24:12

the urban population. The

24:15

while there was internal dissension an internal

24:17

conflict the. main threat to mock

24:19

knows autonomous zone seem to come from outside

24:22

From the communists, those in Kiev and

24:24

nose in Moscow. In

24:26

the spring of ninety nineteen, both the Reds

24:29

and the Blacks were making it very clear to each other

24:31

that once the war against the White was over. There

24:33

would not be room in Ukraine for the both of them.

24:36

These conflicts really started breaking

24:38

out into the open when third regional

24:41

Congress of insurgents was called to convene

24:43

on April the ten. The

24:45

Communist authorities deemed this Congress

24:47

counter revolutionary. And explicitly

24:50

banned the delegates from convening. In

24:52

their eyes, it represented an attempt to create

24:54

state within state and was outside

24:56

the bounds of the authority of the Communist.

24:59

To course it was, that was the whole point. Intense

25:02

Communist authority to naturally extend

25:04

into the region yet. The delegates

25:06

to the Congress just went ahead and convened in

25:08

defiance of the me. When

25:10

they met, the incredulously defended themselves

25:13

against the crazy charge that they were bunch of counter

25:15

revolutionary. They said.

25:18

Can it be that laws laid down by handful

25:20

of individuals describing themselves

25:22

as revolutionaries can afford them

25:24

the right to declare outside of law

25:27

and entire people more revolutionary

25:29

than themselves? Is there some law,

25:32

according to which revolutionary is alleged

25:34

to have the right to enforce the harshest

25:36

punishment against the revolutionary mass?

25:39

On whose behalf he fights and

25:41

this because that same mass has secured

25:43

for itself the benefits that

25:45

the revolutionary promised them. Freedom

25:47

and equality. Hammer Mass,

25:50

remain silent when the quote unquote revolutionary

25:53

strips it have the freedom which it has just one.

25:55

There's law revolution required the shooting of

25:57

delegate on the grounds that you strike. In

26:00

to achieve and life, the task and trusted to

26:02

him by the revolutionary mass, which appointed

26:04

him. The interests should

26:06

the revolutionary different. Those are the

26:08

party. For those are the people at

26:10

the cost of whose blood the revolution has been

26:12

set in motion. The

26:14

Congress meat and dispersed without further incidents.

26:17

The gauntlet are being thrown down.

26:21

Despite all this as late as April,

26:23

nineteen both sides were still publicly

26:26

supporting each other. Hammond

26:28

f even came down and praise my nose

26:30

steadfast revolutionary principles. Though

26:33

he also sent a private telegram to Lenin,

26:35

recommending only temporary diplomacy

26:38

with Mac nose Army. No

26:41

was also told by sympathetic functionaries inside

26:43

the Soviet apparatus. It might be ambushed

26:45

and killed. This

26:48

was not great time for the Reds

26:50

and the Blacks to be sizing each other up for

26:52

final battle. Because General

26:54

thing he can to wait Army. What about

26:57

to make major push into Ukraine?

27:00

Like his counterpart, Admiral Call Track.

27:03

The unique and was now being supplied by the British.

27:06

And throughout the fighting in nineteen nineteen.

27:08

His army would receive in total. Almost

27:11

two hundred thousand rifles, sixty two

27:13

hundred machine guns. Five hundred

27:15

million rounds of ammunition, eleven

27:17

hundred artillery pieces and nearly two

27:19

million shoot. They also

27:21

delivered sixty brand new tanks

27:24

and made available, or hundred, and sixty eight

27:26

aircraft from the newly minted are

27:29

ass. They also received additional

27:31

supplies for the soldiers, including four

27:33

hundred and sixty thousand coats and

27:35

six hundred and forty five thousand pairs of boots.

27:39

The apply to the hilt and now commanding pretty

27:41

competent and discipline white army of about

27:44

fifty thousand men. Then he can

27:46

moved into Ukraine in the spring

27:48

of ninety nineteen. The

27:52

forces opposing him started to break

27:54

down in May. rocky visited

27:56

the region for the first time in reported. The

27:59

prevailing state of. The Aussie responsibility,

28:01

laxity and separatism exceeds

28:03

the most pessimistic expectations. The

28:07

Ukrainian front to the Red Army had been

28:09

built on system of alliances with local warlords,

28:12

including people like Mr Mackinlay. Just

28:15

as white started to advance, one of the

28:17

most important of these local warlords

28:20

for Guy called Nikki for Gregorio split

28:22

from the red, taking all his forces with

28:24

them. It wasn't

28:27

entirely clear what Gregorius ultimate

28:29

plan was. But he controlled

28:31

good chunk of southwest Ukraine, and

28:33

his defection was big deal. Trying

28:36

to hold the rest of the line together. Ham

28:38

enough ordered Mac know to denounce Grigori

28:41

have publicly. Mac know refused

28:43

to take hard pro communist line.

28:46

And said only that he remained unshakable,

28:48

be loyal to the worker and the peasant revolution.

28:51

And it? As an anarchist revolutionary,

28:53

I cannot by any means support seizure of power

28:56

by Gregorio or by anyone. This

28:59

rather lackluster declaration of loyalty

29:02

to the Communists, which obviously

29:04

imply that he wasn't planning on letting the communists take

29:06

over anger. Ring alarm bells

29:08

in Moscow that may be Mac know couldn't really

29:11

be depended. No,

29:13

it is worth pointing out the Mac know ultimately did

29:15

denounce Grigori of and wrote among other things.

29:18

The others. Don't you here in his

29:20

words a grim call to the Jewish program?

29:23

Don't you feel the desire of at man,

29:25

Gregorius? The break, the living for eternal

29:27

connection between the revolution of Ukraine and

29:30

revolutionary Russia. And

29:32

of course, grigori as ultimate fate which

29:34

will get you next week. There's pretty

29:37

clear final denunciation by Mac

29:39

now. Then in

29:41

the first week of June, there was huge

29:43

blow up between the rent in black. A

29:46

fourth regional congress was scheduled for June

29:48

fifteen, and this time the communists absolutely

29:50

refuse to allow it to proceed. Especially

29:53

because the invitation sent out was

29:56

addressed, the soldiers in the Red Army. All

29:58

but encouraging them to me. Mutiny

30:00

and desert. To get

30:02

the authoritarian reds and join the freedom

30:04

loving black. The

30:07

trotsky issued order number one,

30:09

eight, two, four on June fourth, absolutely

30:11

forbidding the Congress. And he said, among

30:14

other things. The WHO, like Paul

30:16

Executive Committee in concert with

30:18

Mac, knows brigade staff is attempting

30:20

to schedule a Congress of Soviets and insurgents.

30:23

Said Congress is wholly an affront to Soviet

30:26

power in the Ukraine and to the organization

30:28

of the southern front to which make knows brigade

30:30

is attached. That Congress could

30:32

not produce any result other than to deliver

30:35

the front to the Whites in the face of who Mac

30:37

knows brigade does nothing but for further and further

30:39

back thanks to the incompetent and criminal

30:42

tendencies and treachery of it commanders.

30:45

This is quite an open denunciation

30:47

of Mac now. And it was followed up by

30:49

Communist the line, Red Army forces moving

30:51

into his district. Breaking up the anarchist

30:54

communes and briefly occupying

30:56

who live bullets. This

30:58

occupation didn't last very long. Because

31:01

just few days later didn't, Eakins

31:03

forces showed up and drove off every.

31:06

That know resigned from his position in the Red

31:09

Army while reaffirming his commitment to the revolution.

31:12

At least to the revolution, as he understood

31:14

it as revolution of workers and peasants.

31:16

The actual workers and peasants. I

31:19

just those who claim to represent them. With

31:22

the Whites advancing through Ukraine. No

31:24

declared his intention to go on waging a guerrilla

31:27

war just like he had waged against the occupation

31:29

forces and nineteen eighteen. Karate

31:32

ordered Mac Know arrested for deserting his post.

31:35

Sympathetic officers and the Red Army tipped him off.

31:37

And he avoided capture by the checker. Meanwhile,

31:41

the White enjoyed unbroken success

31:44

in Ukraine against the disintegrating line

31:46

of red and black. The Red Army

31:48

retreated more than two hundred miles beyond

31:50

even car costs. The main political

31:52

and industrial center of eastern Ukraine in one

31:55

of the most important cities in the whole region. On

31:58

June fourth, Trotsky had confidently. That.

32:00

I think that Kharkov stands in no

32:02

greater danger than Moscow or any

32:04

other city of the Soviet Republic. It

32:07

fell to the Whites by the end of the month. Which

32:10

opened up the question. If it was

32:12

in no greater danger than Moscow. And

32:15

how much danger was Moscow and? Next

32:19

week we will answer that question. As

32:21

we get to the second stage of the neocons nineteen

32:24

summer offensive. The threat

32:26

of an ultimate white victory will force the Red

32:28

to the Blacks back together into an uneasy

32:30

fighting alliance has the Red Army

32:32

reformed a front line and,. mac knows

32:35

guerrilla forces found the over

32:37

extended white supply lines easy pickings

32:40

They would, once again, team up to save the revolution.

32:42

They both believed the other

32:45

was hell-bent on wrecking.