Aron Davydovych Baron (; 1891–1937) was a Ukrainian

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

ary. Following the suppression of the

1905 Revolution The Russian Revolution of 1905, also known as the First Russian Revolution, was a revolution in the Russian Empire which began on 22 January 1905 and led to the establishment of a constitutional monarchy under the Russian Constitution of 1906, t ...

, he fled to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, where he met his wife

Fanya Baron Fanya Anisimovna Baron (1887 – 30 September 1921) was a Russian Jewish anarchist revolutionary. She spent her early life participating in the Chicago workers' movement, but following the Russian Revolution in 1917, she moved to Ukraine and pa ...

and participated in the local workers movement. With the outbreak of the

1917 Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social change in Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government following two successive revolutions and a civil war. It ...

, he returned to Ukraine, where he became a leading figure in the

Nabat The Nabat Confederation of Anarchist Organizations, better known simply as the Nabat (; ), was a Ukrainian anarchist organization that came to prominence during the Ukrainian War of Independence. The organization, based in Kharkiv, had branche ...

and in the

Makhnovshchina The Makhnovshchina (, ) was a Political movement#Mass movements, mass movement to establish anarchist communism in southern Ukraine, southern and eastern Ukraine during the Ukrainian War of Independence of 1917–1921. Named after Nestor Makhno, ...

. He was imprisoned by the

Cheka The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission ( rus, Всероссийская чрезвычайная комиссия, r=Vserossiyskaya chrezvychaynaya komissiya, p=fsʲɪrɐˈsʲijskəjə tɕrʲɪzvɨˈtɕæjnəjə kɐˈmʲisʲɪjə, links=yes), ...

for his anarchist activities and was executed during the

Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...

Biography

Aron Davydovych Baron was born into a

Ukrainian Jewish The history of the Jews in Ukraine dates back over a thousand years; Jewish communities have existed in the modern territory of Ukraine from the time of the Kievan Rus' (late 9th to mid-13th century). Important Jewish religious and cultural move ...

family.

As a teenager, Baron became an anarchist and participated in the

1905 Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution of 1905, also known as the First Russian Revolution, was a revolution in the Russian Empire which began on 22 January 1905 and led to the establishment of a constitutional monarchy under the Russian Constitution of 1906, th ...

, for which he was banished to

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

as punishment. He fled to the

, where he lived in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. There he met and married Fanya Grefenson, also an

revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates for, a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective to describe something producing a major and sudden impact on society. Definition The term—bot ...

, and together they were arrested for starting a demonstration against unemployment. Following the

February Revolution The February Revolution (), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and sometimes as the March Revolution or February Coup was the first of Russian Revolution, two revolutions which took place in Russia ...

, Baron returned to

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, where his lectures and writings grew in popularity and the Kyiv bakers' union elected him to represent them at the local

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. In the wake of the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

, Baron moved to

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

with Fanya, where they participated in the establishment of the

, a confederation of anarchist organizations in Ukraine. He joined the confederation's

secretariat Secretariat may refer to: * Secretariat (administrative office) * Secretariat (horse) Secretariat (March 30, 1970 – October 4, 1989), also known as Big Red, was a champion American thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse who was the ninth winn ...

and acted as co-editor of its journal, along with

Volin Vsevolod Mikhailovich Eikhenbaum (18 September 1945), commonly known by his pseudonym Volin, was a Russian anarchist intellectual. He became involved in revolutionary socialist politics during the 1905 Russian Revolution, for which he was forc ...

. By the summer of 1919, the Nabat had been forcibly dispersed by the Bolshevik government, which brought Baron and Volin to join the ranks of the

, serving on its Cultural-Educational Commission and on the

Military Revolutionary Council The Military Revolutionary Council (, VRS) was the ''de facto'' executive of the Makhnovshchina, empowered to act during the interim between sittings of the Regional Congresses. Function Its powers covered both military and civil matters in ...

. At a Regional Congress, Baron spoke out against the Bolsheviks and declared the necessity to build a regime of

free soviets Free soviets were the basic form of organization in the Makhnovshchina. These soviets acted independently from any central authority, excluding all political parties from participation, and met to self-manage the activities of workers and peasan ...

, outside of party control. But before long, Baron had started to clash with

Nestor Makhno Nestor Ivanovych Makhno (, ; 7 November 1888 – 25 July 1934), also known as Bat'ko Makhno ( , ), was a Ukrainians, Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary and the commander of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine during the Ukrainian War o ...

and Dmitry Popov over the leadership of the movement, with the latter even threatening to have him killed. In September 1920, during an illegal conference of the Nabat in Kharkiv, Baron issued a resolution that was highly critical of the

, declaring it "better to vanish into a Soviet prison than vegetate in that terrible atmosphere". AaronBaronwifedaughter

In November 1920, the leaders of the Nabat were arrested by the Cheka in Kharkiv, as part of Bolshevik operation against the Makhnovshchina. Aron and Fanya Baron were subsequently transferred to a prison in Moscow. In February 1921, Aron was briefly freed from prison in order to attend the funeral of

Peter Kropotkin Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist and geographer known as a proponent of anarchist communism. Born into an aristocratic land-owning family, Kropotkin attended the Page Corps and later s ...

. In September 1921, Fanya was executed by the Cheka. Aron Baron spent the following 17 years in either prison or exile, before he was arrested and executed during the

. The fate of Aron's second wife Fanya Avrustkaya and their daughter Voltairina is unknown.

References

Bibliography

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Baron, Aron 1891 births 1937 deaths American anarchists American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Anarchist victims of the Great Purge Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States Executed trade unionists Great Purge victims from Ukraine Jewish anarchists Jews executed by the Soviet Union Makhnovists People from Kiev Governorate People from Zhytomyr Oblast Soviet anarchists Soviet rehabilitations Ukrainian anarchists Ukrainian Jews Ukrainian prisoners and detainees Ukrainian revolutionaries Ukrainian trade unionists

Biography

References

Bibliography

Further reading

External links