Vsevolod Mikhailovich Eichenbaum, or VOLINE, was born in 1882 in the district of Voronezh in Great Russia. As a result of his activities in the 1905 revolution he was exiled, an exile from which he escaped to France where he became a convinced anarchist. In 1915, under threat of persecution, Voline moved to New York and there joined the Union of Russian Workers, returning to Russia on the outbreak of revolution in 1917. Thus his commentary on the Russian Revolution is not simply an historical account, but draws heavily on personal experience.
The Unknown Revolution seeks to chart the history of attempts at social revolution in Russia, as opposed to charting the history of the Bolshevik revolution. Starting in 1825, Voline gives a sketch of the revolutionary situation, ending in 1921 with the final defeat of the Machnovists and Kronstadt. Struggles for social revolution, post October 1917, were closely associated with anarchist organisations. The anarchists of the period were shot, imprisoned, tortured and exiled by the Bolsheviks. Despite the fact that it veers towards it in places, the book as a whole is not a polemic against Bolshevism:
"As the reader can see, that system [Bolshevik] is truly that of absolute slavery of the people - physical
and moral slavery. It is, if one likes, a new and terrible Inquisition on a social level. Such is the work
achieved by the Bolshevik Party.
"But did the Bolsheviki seek this result? Did they come to this deliberately?
"Certainly not. Beyond doubt, the party's best representatives hoped for a system which would have permitted the building of true Socialism and would have opened the way of integral Communism. They were convinced that the methods preconceived by their great ideologists were going to lead there infallibly. Moreover, they believed that all means were good and justified, if they would lead to that goal." (Page 388)
"But did the Bolsheviki seek this result? Did they come to this deliberately?
"Certainly not. Beyond doubt, the party's best representatives hoped for a system which would have permitted the building of true Socialism and would have opened the way of integral Communism. They were convinced that the methods preconceived by their great ideologists were going to lead there infallibly. Moreover, they believed that all means were good and justified, if they would lead to that goal." (Page 388)
Nevertheless, as shown by a quote from the next page, VOLINE has little time for the Bolshevks:
"Any attempt to acieve the Social Revolution with the help of a
State, a government, and political action - even though that attempt is very sincere,
very energetic, favoured by circumstances, and supported by the masses - will lead
inevitabley to State capitalism, the worst form of capitalism, which has absolutely
nothing to do with the march of humanity toward a Socialist society.
"Such is the lesson for the world to be drawn from the tremendous and decisive Bolshevik experiment, a lesson which lends powerful support to the libertarian thesis, and which, in the light of events, will soon be understood by all those who labor, suffer, think, and struggle." (page 389)
"Such is the lesson for the world to be drawn from the tremendous and decisive Bolshevik experiment, a lesson which lends powerful support to the libertarian thesis, and which, in the light of events, will soon be understood by all those who labor, suffer, think, and struggle." (page 389)
VOLINE is quick to disprove that the anarchists of the day had a strictly destructive agenda. Many examples of the positive work of anarchists in the Ukraine are given, as are examples of Kronstadt's attidute towards the soviets:
"The first dissentions between the men of Kronstadt and the new
government took place almost immediately after the October Revolution. The slogan
of 'All Power to the Local Soviets' meant to Kronstadt the independence of each
locality, of each Soviet, of each social organisation in the matters which
concerned it alone. It meant the right to take initiatives, to make decisions,
and to act without asking permission from the 'centre'. According to this interpretation,
the 'centre' could neither dictate nor impose its will on the local Soviets, since
each Soviet, each workers' and peasants' organisation, was its own master.
Of course, it must co-ordinate its activity with that of other organisations,
but on a federal basis. Matters concerning the whole country would be co-ordinated
by a general federative centre. Kronstadt therefore supposed that, under the
protection of a 'proletarian' and 'friendly' government, free federations of Soviets
and factory committees would progressively create a powerful organised force, capable
of defending the conquests of the social revolution and of continuing it." (page 459)
The history of amonst others, the anarchist's, endeavors for social revolution makes for sombre reading. This however is counterbalanced by VOLINE's insightful analysis, and unbounded belief, one might almost say faith, in the revolutionary ideals of the individuals and organisations he describes. Personal recollection of events, is to the whole separated from the main arguments of the text, and adds greatly to its weight. Thus when describing the retreat of the Machnovist armies from Denikin's counter-revolutionary forces:
"Fierce fighting, of an unprecedented violence, took place almost every
day; in fact, it was an uninterrupted battle which lasted for two moths, and in which
both sides fought exceptionally hard.
"I was with Makhno's army during this whole retreat (five comrades, including Archinov and myself, constituting the Commission for Propaganda and Education) and I recall this long series of days as if it were an interminable nightmare.
"Those summer nights, which only lasted a few hours, hardly allowing a brief rest to the men and horses, vanishing suddenly with the first glimmer of daylight, the rattle of machine guns, the explosion of shells and the gallop of horses! It was the Denikinists who, attacking from all sides, sought once again to enclose the insurgents in a vice of iron and fire" (page 612)
"I was with Makhno's army during this whole retreat (five comrades, including Archinov and myself, constituting the Commission for Propaganda and Education) and I recall this long series of days as if it were an interminable nightmare.
"Those summer nights, which only lasted a few hours, hardly allowing a brief rest to the men and horses, vanishing suddenly with the first glimmer of daylight, the rattle of machine guns, the explosion of shells and the gallop of horses! It was the Denikinists who, attacking from all sides, sought once again to enclose the insurgents in a vice of iron and fire" (page 612)
This book is persuasive in its arguments for free organisation of the masses. If you still harbour the inkling of an idea that an authoritarian political party or that a "benevolent" socialist dictatorship could lead to social revolution, you should read this book and be disabused.
VOLINE (1882-1945) The Unknown Revolution - Black Rose Books - 1974.
Voline: Thursday 5th August 2004
