Pavel Dmitrievich Turchaninov ( rus, Па́вел Дми́триевич Турчани́нов, p=ˈpavʲɪl ˈdmʲitrʲɪjɪvʲɪtɕ tʊrtɕɪˈnʲinəf; 1878–1921), commonly known by his pseudonym Lev Chernyi ( rus, Лев Чёрный, p=ˈlʲef ˈtɕɵrnɨj, a=Lyev Chyornyy.ru.vorb.oga), was a Russian individualist anarchist. Having joined the anarchist movement during the Russian Revolution of 1905, during which he developed his individualist theory of "associational anarchism", Chernyi was arrested and exiled 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 ...

for his revolutionary activities. After several escape attempts, one of which resulted in mutinous exiles capturing Turukhansk, he managed to flee to

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 ...

, where he stayed until the

Russian Revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

. After returning to Russia, he acted as secretary for the Moscow Federation of Anarchist Groups and organised the Black Guards, the federation's armed wing. As political repression against anarchists intensified after 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, ...

took power, Chernyi joined an underground anarchist group, which bombed a Russian Communist Party meeting. In 1921, Chernyi and Fanya Baron were arrested on charges of

counterfeit A counterfeit is a fake or unauthorized replica of a genuine product, such as money, documents, designer items, or other valuable goods. Counterfeiting generally involves creating an imitation of a genuine item that closely resembles the original ...

ing and were executed by shooting by the Cheka.

Biography

Pavel Dmitrievich Turchaninov was born to

noble family Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the rea ...

in the Smolensk Governorate of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, on . His father, Dmitry Turchaninov, was a

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

in the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

Revolutionary activities

After coming of age, Turchaninov enrolled in Moscow University but he was expelled in 1901 for his activity in revolutionary groups. By the outbreak of the Russian Revolution of 1905, he had joined the anarchist movement. Under the pseudonym Lev Chernyi, he wrote a manifesto of his newfound anarchist beliefs, ''Associational Anarchism'', which he finished in February 1906. Chernyi's brother Sergey Turchaninov, himself a

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

and empirio-criticist, criticised his brother's work for

utopianism A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', which describes a fictiona ...

and a lack of basis in

materialism Materialism is a form of monism, philosophical monism according to which matter is the fundamental Substance theory, substance in nature, and all things, including mind, mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. Acco ...

. In its own "Review of the Revolutionary Movement", the Ministry of Internal Affairs described Chernyi's book as a " paraphrasing" of the work of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon. Researcher Allan Antliff himself compared it to Max Stirner's book '' The Ego and Its Own''. From 1906 to 1908, Chernyi was a member of the ''Buntar'' group, through which he began a relationship with Nina Yagodina. In April 1908, he was exiled to the Yeniseysk Governorate in

, while Yagodina was exiled

Arkhangelsk Governorate Arkhangelsk Governorate () was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire and the Russian SFSR, which existed from 1796 until 1929. Its seat was in Arkhangelsk. The governorate was located in the north of the Russ ...

in the Russian North. Turchaninov frequently attempted escaped from exile, aiming to reunite with Yagodina.

Exile

In the autumn of 1908, he and a group of exiled revolutionaries made a plan to escape Siberia by hijacking a steamship. On 8 December 1908, the group ambushed a convoy at and headed north along the Yenisey, despite Chernyi's objections to the choice of route. On , they captured Turukhansk, where they led an armed uprising against the Tsarist authorities. Although he had himself refused to participate in the revolt, he was arrested on ; two days later, the rebels were disarmed by the

. By this time, the authorities had identified Turchaninov as the writer Lev Chernyi. Despite his lack of direct involvement in the Turukhansk uprising, the Ministry of Internal Affairs held him responsible for organising the mutiny. After this setback, he again made a last attempt to escape Siberia; this one was successful. Chernyi moved to

, where he lived until the outbreak of the

. Details about Chernyi's Siberian exile were only revealed after the opening of the State Archive of the Russian Federation and the State Archive of Krasnoyarsk Krai, which contributed to a more complete biographical picture of his life.

Return to Moscow

After the February Revolution, Chernyi returned to Moscow, where he joined the Moscow Federation of Anarchist Groups, serving as the organisation's secretary. Although the Federation largely opposed illegalist and expropriative activities, Chernyi himself advocated for the organization to seize private homes. Following the outbreak of the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

, Chernyi helped organise the Black Guards, the armed wing of the Moscow Federation of Anarchist Groups. On 5 March 1918, the second issue of '' Anarkhiia'' after 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 ...

, Chernyi published an article in which he denounced the new Russian Soviet Republic and declared it to be as much of a threat as the old regime. In subsequent issues of the paper, Chernyi outlined proposals for the decentralisation of industry and the abolition of hierarchical power. By the summer of 1918, political repression against the anarchist movement drove many of Moscow's anarchists underground. In 1918, Chernyi himself facilitated the creation of an underground group of the Federation; and in 1919, he joined the Underground Anarchists, founded by Kazimir Kovalevich and Pyotr Sobalev. On 25 September 1919, the Underground Anarchists carried out a bombing of a Russian Communist Party meeting, killing 12 functionaries and wounding 55 others, including

Nikolai Bukharin Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin (; rus, Николай Иванович Бухарин, p=nʲɪkɐˈlaj ɪˈvanəvʲɪdʑ bʊˈxarʲɪn; – 15 March 1938) was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and Marxist theorist. A prominent Bolshevik ...

, Yemelyan Yaroslavsky and Yuri Steklov. The bombing ultimately resulted in the intensification of political repression against the anarchists. Chernyi himself was not directly involved in the bombing.

Arrest and execution

During the political repression that followed the bombing, Lev Chernyi and Fanya Baron were detained on charges of

ing. In September 1921, Chernyi and Baron were shot by the Cheka. Their execution drew protests from others in the Russian anarchist movement, including

Emma Goldman Emma Goldman (June 27, 1869 – May 14, 1940) was a Russian-born Anarchism, anarchist revolutionary, political activist, and writer. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europ ...

. The public outcry led to the government of Vladimir Lenin ordering the release and immediate deportation of a number of anarchist political prisoners, while other anarchists voluntarily left the country.

Political ideology

Chernyi's "associational anarchism" was a spin on individualist anarchism, based on the free association of individuals. Together with Alexei Borovoi, Chernyi was a leading figure of individualist anarchism during the revolutionary period in Russia. They were both inspired by

Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher. He began his career as a classical philology, classical philologist, turning to philosophy early in his academic career. In 1869, aged 24, Nietzsche bec ...

's call for the overthrow of bourgeois values, as well as Max Stirner and Benjamin Tucker's opposition to

society A society () is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. ...

. They even rejected the anarchist communism advocated by

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 ...

, as they believed it would stifle individual freedoms.

Selected works

;Books *''Новое направление в анархизме: Ассоциационный анархизм'' / ''A New Trend in Anarchism: Associational Anarchism'' (New York, 1923) oscow, 1907*''О классах'' / ''About the Classes'' (Moscow, 1924) ;Articles *"Госуправление и анархизм" / "The State and Anarchism" (''Anarkhiia'', 5 March 1918) *"Мир захлючен. Да здравствует война!" "The Peace is Concluded. Long Live War!" (''Anarkhiia'', 7 March 1918)

References

Bibliography

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