Today in Labor History March 22, 1910: Nestor Makhno was illegally sentenced to death, along with his comrades, for a series of bank robberies and other expropriations to raise money for their anarchist propaganda. The death sentence was illegal because they had not killed anyone. Due to the fact that he was only 17 at the time, his sentence was commuted to a life in prison. However, they released him during the 1917 Revolution. While in prison, he contracted typhoid fever and, later, tuberculosis.

Makhno was born in Huliaipole, southern Ukraine. His parents were peasants and extremely poor, and he was forced to start working at the age of ten. When the 1905 revolution occurred, at the age of 16, he joined a local anarchist group, the Union of Poor Peasants, which initiated a campaign of “Black Terror” against the wealthy landlords and local Tsarist police, ultimately leading to his arrest in 1910. After his release from prison, he returned to Huliaipole to continue his anarchist organizing, leading ultimately to anarchist and peasant control of Huliaipole's Public Committee, the local organ of the Provisional Government. As a union leader, he led a series of worker strikes against the employers resulting, ultimately, in total workers' control over all industry in the Huliaipole region.

The Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine (RIAU), an anarchist peasant army led by Nestor Makhno, created a stateless libertarian communist society known as the Free Territory, or Makhnovshchina, in south-eastern Ukraine. The autonomous region, which lasted from 1917-1921, had an influence that extended over nearly one-third of Ukraine. The 7 million people who lived there refused to pay rent to the landowners and seized the estates and livestock of the church, state and private landowners, setting up local committees to manage and share them among the various villages and communes of the Free State. They implemented a system of common land ownership among the peasantry and established hospitals, schools and children’s communes. In 1920, the Bolsheviks began attacking Makhnovshchina, after the Maknovists had defeated White Army, their common enemy. But many soldiers in the Red Army defected and joined the RIAU in their fight against the Bolsheviks. Nevertheless, the Bolsheviks ultimately crushed Makhnovshchina in 1921. Nester Makhno barely escaped. He died in exile in Paris, July 25, 1934.

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"Baba, what a fuzzy mustache you have!"

https://piefed.social/c/historymemes/p/1866661/baba-what-a-fuzzy-mustache-you-have

Mother Anarchy Loves Her Sons, Ukraine, 1919

Context: “Mother Anarchy Loves Her Sons” (Анархия-мама сынов своих любит) is a revolutionary song associated with the anarchist insurgents who fought in southeastern Ukraine during the Ukrainian struggle for independence and self-determination around 1918–1921.

It is commonly described as the unofficial anthem of the Makhnovist “Black Army,” reportedly written in 1919 by Nestor Makhno, and reflects the movement’s militant struggle against forces, whether Red or White, that sought to reimpose centralized state control.

Our horses are running mile after mile,
Because Freedom is priceless.
Through the slot of my machine gun
I’m looking for the enemy in the dust.

Mother Anarchy loves her sons,
Mother Anarchy is not for sale
We’ll wait for the enemy, with lead we’ll destroy them
Mother Anarchy is with us!

I’ll put my knife into the fire
And then I’ll sneak closer.
Nothing to be sorry for into the fight,
Nothing to be sad about.

Mother Anarchy loves her sons
Mother Anarchy is not for sale
We’ll wait for the enemy, with lead we’ll destroy them
Mother Anarchy is with us!

The only thing that makes me happy is the dead one,
killed by the strength of my friend.
The only thing I can see and remain calm
Is the dead enemy.

Mother Anarchy loves her sons
Mother Anarchy is not for sale.
We’ll wait for the enemy, with lead we’ll destroy them
Mother Anarchy is with us!

Mother Anarchy loves her sons,
Mother Anarchy is not for sale.
We’ll wait for the enemy, with lead we’ll destroy them
Mother Anarchy is with us!
We’ll wait for the enemy, with lead we’ll destroy them
Mother Anarchy is with us!
We’ll wait for the enemy, with lead we’ll destroy them

Mother Anarchy is with us!
Mother Anarchy is with us!
Mother Anarchy is with us!
Mother Anarchy is with us!

Ukrainian anarcho-communist group with Nestor Makhno seated front row, far-left, Russian Empire, 1909

https://piefed.social/c/historyphotos/p/1691496/ukrainian-anarcho-communist-group-with-nestor-makhno-seated-front-row-far-left-russian