Nestor Makhno

To this day he is revered as a great hero to many Russian and Ukrainians. I found some of his writings to be quite amazing.  

Did anyone read "Anarchist Revolution"? His manifesto on how he would govern Russia?

I think its interesting to think about what Makhno could have done would he have succeeded in defeating Lenin and the White Armies.

It is particularly interesting to immagine if Russia would have chosen Anarchism rather than Bolshivism. Maybe the world would have been spared the Great Terror of Stalin.

Hello Ferret!
Yes I agree he ws a real revolutionary hero, but I do not think that Anarchism would have worked very well in Russia ...That sort of system works best in smaller groups or collectives, its hard to organize in such a huge country.

Aha, other people who like Makhno! Yes, a real revolutionary, fighting both the Reds and Whites.

Yes, being an anarchist I find him to be an amazing personality. He could very well have been the man who showed the world how Anarchism really can work.


Nestor Makhno

[does]

He could very well have been the man who showed the world how Anarchism really can work.

Hey, how does anarchism really work??  

Helen

Copied from Wikipedia because I'm lazy.  

Anarchism is a generic term describing various political philosophies and social movements that advocate the elimination of the state. These philosophies use anarchy to mean a society based on voluntary cooperation of free individuals. Philosophical anarchist thought does not intend to advocate chaos or anomie — it intends "anarchy" to refer to a manner of human relations that is intentionally established and maintained.

While individual freedom and opposition to the state are primary tenets of anarchism, most anarchists insist that anarchism is much more than that. There is also considerable variation among the anarchist political philosophies, to the point that groups with radically different views may consider themselves anarchist, at the same time denying that other points of view should be called anarchist. Two areas where opinions vary are the role of violence in society, and the role of property and/or economics. Egalitarianism is a present, but lesser subject of debate.

These philosophies use anarchy to mean a society based on voluntary cooperation of free individuals.

It's a nice idealistic theory, but... do you really think this would actually work in "real life"? I mean, I used to think something like this may work, but, and I hate to say this, judging by the outcome of the last US election alone, most people just don't seem to be up to par to be allowed to make any kind of important decisions on their own!  

Helen, it would not have worked for Russia, nor, would it really work elsewhere.

AGRBear

Helen, it really doesn't work.

AGRBear

AGRBear,

I didn't think so. Based on human nature alone, it can't possibly work, just like communism. But would have been nice if it could...

What does the poster say? I can only make out the first word 'death'.

"Death to the enemies of the working class".

[does]

Hey, how does anarchism really work??  

Helen

It can under proper conditions. Anarchism can ether be violent or passive. Many prominant anarchists, among them Leo Tolstoy believed in peace through absence of govenment. Some forms of anarchism are spiritually based (e.g. Christian Anarchism of Dorothy Day) and others are based on materialist agnosticism.

There are different varieties of anarchism, Anarcho-Syndicalism which holds that producers shal control the economy themselves and that governments should become irrelevent and eventually fall by the wayside. There is Communist Anarchism, popular in Russia in the 19th century. There is Christian Anarchism, corporate anarchism, libertarian anarchism and so on.

If you want to know more check out

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/blackchip/What_is_Anarchism.htm

To learn more about Nestor Makhno and read some of his writings see:

http://www.nestormakhno.info/

And don't forget Anarcha-Feminism.  

And don't forget Anarcha-Feminism.  

Hmmmm... You mean as advocated by my sister and comrade Emma Goldman?

She is buried about a mile from where I live.

[love]

my favorite of the russian anarchists was prince kropotkin.

aside from his ideas, i just love saying his name!