The Military Revolutionary Council (, VRS) was the ''de facto''

executive Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to: Role or title * Executive, a senior management role in an organization ** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators ** Executive dir ...

of 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, ...

, empowered to act during the interim between sittings of the Regional Congresses.

Function

Its powers covered both military and civil matters in the region, although it was also subject to instant recall at the will of the Regional Congress and its activities were limited to those explicitly outlined by the Congresses themselves. At each Regional Congress, the VRS was to provide detailed reports of its activities and subjected itself to reorganization. When it came to the decisions of local

soviets The Soviet people () were the citizens and nationals of the Soviet Union. This demonym was presented in the ideology of the country as the "new historical unity of peoples of different nationalities" (). Nationality policy in the Soviet Union ...

and assemblies, the VRS presented itself as a solely

advisory board An advisory board is a body that provides non-binding strategic advice to the management of a corporation, organization, or foundation. The informal nature of an advisory board gives greater flexibility in structure and management compared to the ...

, with no power over the local bodies of self-government. The VRS also functioned as the supreme body of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army, acting in concert with its elected general staff and in consultation with insurgent detachments, thus "representing the authority of the civilian over the military." The VRS even came into conflict with the Makhnovist general staff over a number of unilateral decisions by the latter, including the execution of members of the Polonsky conspiracy. This eventually resulted in an agreement between the two, which reaffirmed the purview of the VRS as being in "administrative, economic, and financial matters", while the insurgent army itself would concentrate on "military affairs."

History

First council (February – June 1919)

On 12 February 1919, the Second Regional Congress elected the first VRS to act as the interim

while Congress was not in session. The first VRS consisted of 32 delegates, each representing a

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

from the

provinces A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...

Yekaterinoslav Dnipro is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper River, Dnipro River, from which it takes its name. Dnipro is t ...

and

Taurida The recorded history of the Crimean Peninsula, historically known as ''Tauris'', ''Taurica'' (), and the ''Tauric Chersonese'' (, "Tauric Peninsula"), begins around the 5th century BCE when several Greek colonies were established along its coast ...

. The Second Regional Congress further elected Ivan Chernoknizhny as chairman of the VRS; Leonid Kogan as vice-chairman; and Karbet as secretary. The constitution of the VRS was opposed by 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, ...

, with

Lev Kamenev Lev Borisovich Kamenev. ( Rozenfeld; – 25 August 1936) was a Russian revolutionary and Soviet politician. A prominent Old Bolsheviks, Old Bolshevik, Kamenev was a leading figure in the early Soviet government and served as a Deputy Premier ...

openly demanding its abolition during a visit to

Huliaipole Huliaipole ( ; ) is a small city in Polohy Raion, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukraine. It is known as the birthplace of Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary Nestor Makhno. In January 2022, it had an estimated population of Huliaipole was attacked by ...

. This demand was refused by

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 ...

, as the constitution of the VRS outlined that it could only be disbanded by a Regional Congress, not by any central authority. As tensions between the

Insurgents An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare against a larger authority. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric nature: small irregular forces face a large, well ...

and the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

command began to heighten, the VRS convened a Fourth Regional Congress for 15 June. However, this Congress would never take place, as a Red Army attack against on 11 June resulted in the capture and execution of a number of VRS members by the

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

Second council (August – October 1919)

Moves to reconstitute the VRS were made during negotiations between the Makhnovists and Nykyfor Hryhoriv's green army. In the proposed amalgamated force, Hryhoriv as commander-in-chief of the army would have been subordinate to the VRS, with

acting as its chairman and Hryhorii Makhno as its

chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supportin ...

. However, Hryhoriv would be assassinated by the Makhnovists before the negotiations ended. With the only crucial tactical decisions having been made before its establishment, the second VRS was constituted while on the retreat to

Uman Uman (, , ) is a city in Cherkasy Oblast, central Ukraine. It is located to the east of Vinnytsia. Located in the east of the historical region of Podolia, the city rests on the banks of the Umanka River. Uman serves as the administrative c ...

and its role was largely confined to propaganda work. One of the appeals that the second VRS issued was a denunciation of the Ukrainian nationalist leader Symon Petliura.

Third council (October 1919 – January 1920)

On 1 September 1919, the insurgent army called a meeting to restructure the army, in order to rapidly mobilize its forces for partisan warfare against the

White movement The White movement,. The old spelling was retained by the Whites to differentiate from the Reds. also known as the Whites, was one of the main factions of the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922. It was led mainly by the Right-wing politics, right- ...

. A third VRS was elected, consisting of 30 members, 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 ...

being elected as its chairman, at the insistence of

. The third VRS was constituted at a time when the Makhnovshchina's territory had reached its largest extent, while the military and political situation in Ukraine was still fluid. During its time, it implemented a score of economic and social measures. Following the capture of cities and towns, the VRS announced complete

freedom of expression Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The rights, right to freedom of expression has been r ...

and

freedom of association Freedom of association encompasses both an individual's right to join or leave groups voluntarily, the right of the group to take collective action to pursue the interests of its members, and the right of an association to accept or decline membe ...

would be extended throughout the territory. It subsequently oversaw the seizure of money from local banks and its redistribution to the populace, particularly paying attention to supplying local children's homes and hospitals in

. It then appealed to the local populace to summon their own municipal conferences, which would assume control of their local affairs, while the VRS itself stepped back to take on a purely military function. Alexandre Skirda wrote that " is practice on the part of the insurgents is a good illustration of their approach; they took the lead in eliminating state power used by Whites, Reds or any other hegemony-seeking faction, before inviting workers to get on with self-organization." The third VRS also edited the Makhnovists' official organ '' The Road to Freedom'' and published their '' Draft Declaration of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine'', which elaborated on the " free soviets" as the basis of a "transitional period" towards libertarian communism. The VRS envisaged the "free soviets" as laying the groundwork for an eventual "All-Ukrainian Labour Congress", which would result from the

self-determination Self-determination refers to a people's right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage. Self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international la ...

of Ukrainian workers. They contrasted their vision of "social independence" for Ukrainian workers and peasants with the "national independence" sought by the Ukrainian nationalists, declaring that: "Ukrainian, and all other, working people have the right to self-determination not as an ‘independent nation’, but as ‘independent workers’."

Final council (June – December 1920)

After the fall of Nikopol in January 1920, the Military Revolutionary Council was disbanded and replaced with the Revolutionary Insurgent Council, a new coordinating body concerned entirely with military affairs and drawing largely from an insurgent base. This new VRS consisted of 7 members, elected directly by the insurgents, and was headed by Dmitry Popov as its secretary. In July and August 1920, the fourth VRS attempted to propose a

ceasefire A ceasefire (also known as a truce), also spelled cease-fire (the antonym of 'open fire'), is a stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions often due to mediation by a third party. Ceasefires may b ...

and military alliance with the

, but they received no reply, leaving the Makhnovshchina to effectively fall under the control of the

. The VRS again called for a ceasefire on 30 September, this time successfully, resulting in a political and military agreement being made between the Makhnovists and Bolsheviks. However, the final VRS would end up dissolving by December 1920, when a number of its members, including Popov, were assassinated by the Red Army.

References

Bibliography

* * * *{{cite book, author-link=Alexandre Skirda, last=Skirda, first=Alexandre, title=Nestor Makhno: Anarchy's Cossack, url=https://libcom.org/library/nestor-makhno-anarchys-cossack-alexandre-skirda, translator-first=Paul, translator-last=Sharkey, year=2004, location=

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, publisher=

AK Press AK Press is a workers' self-management, worker-managed, independent publisher and book distributor that specializes in publishing books about anarchism and the Far-left politics, radical left. Operated out of Chico, California, United States, ...

, isbn=1-902593-68-5, oclc=58872511, orig-year=1982 1919 establishments in Ukraine 1920 disestablishments in Ukraine Anarchist organizations in Ukraine Government agencies established in 1919 Government agencies disestablished in 1920 Makhnovshchina Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine Organizations of the Russian Revolution Ukrainian governments