''The Cause of Labor'' () was a libertarian communist

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

published by exiled

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

and Ukrainian anarchists. Initially under the editorship of Peter Arshinov, after it published the '' Organizational Platform'', the subsequent controversy resulted in his exit from the anarchist movement. The magazine was then picked up by Grigorii Maksimov, who moved it 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 ...

and edited it until his death in 1950.

History

In 1925, ''Delo Truda'' was founded in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

by Peter Arshinov and

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 ...

, two former confederates of the Makhnovist movement, which had attempted to establish libertarian communism in Ukraine. Ida Mett was brought on as the magazine's secretary and typist, serving until 1927. Maria Goldsmith then took over as secretary, until her suicide in 1933. From 1926 to 1929, Makhno published a series of articles in ''Delo Truda'' that covered a range of topics about the Makhnovshchina, from refutations against allegations of

antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

to theoretical articles about the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

and

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 ...

. He also penned criticisms of the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

and issued appeals to aid anarchist political prisoners in the

Soviet Union 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 ...

through the Anarchist Black Cross. Makhno's articles were often written in a confusing polemical manner, to the frustration of Arshinov, who as editor had to constantly make revisions and corrections, which became a point of contention between the two. In June 1926, ''Delo Truda'' published its '' Organisation Platform'', written by Arshinov with contributions from Makhno. The ''Platform'' proposed the formation of a "general union of anarchists", with a central executive committee, that would be able to overcome the disorganisation of the anarchist movement. The publication of the ''Platform'' caused an immediate split within the anarchist movement, as anarchists such as Volin and Alexander Berkman issued sharp criticisms of it for its

centralist Centralisation or centralization (American English) is the process by which the activities of an organisation, particularly those regarding planning, decision-making, and framing strategies and policies, become concentrated within a particular ...

and

authoritarian Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in democracy, separation of powers, civil liberties, and ...

tendencies. In 1930, a discussion of the ''Platform'' was held at the 10th congress of the Union of Revolutionary Anarchist-Communists, in which Volin's anti-Platformist faction won out. Later that year, Arshinov joined the Communist Party and before long had returned to the

, leaving ''Delo Truda'' in the hands of Grigorii Maksimov, who transferred the magazine to the

. With the magazine relocated to Chicago, it shifted ideologically towards

anarcho-syndicalism Anarcho-syndicalism is an anarchism, anarchist organisational model that centres trade unions as a vehicle for class conflict. Drawing from the theory of libertarian socialism and the practice of syndicalism, anarcho-syndicalism sees trade uni ...

, while still keeping its pages open for contributions from anarchists of other tendencies. In 1940, the magazine was merged with the

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

-based anarchist magazine ''Probuzhdenie'', which Maximoff edited until his death in 1950.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * *

External links

Delo Truda archive
-

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

Nestor Makhno Archive
{{Authority control 1925 establishments in France 1939 disestablishments in Illinois Anarchist periodicals Anarcho-syndicalism publications Defunct platformist organizations Defunct political magazines published in the United States Makhnovshchina Magazines established in 1925 Magazines disestablished in 1950 Defunct magazines published in Chicago Defunct magazines published in Paris Defunct Russian-language magazines Non-English-language magazines published in the United States Russian-language magazines published in France

History

See also

References

Bibliography

External links