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| anarchism in Russia | |
|---|---|
| Name | Anarchism in Russia |
| Native name | Анархизм в России |
| Founding period | 19th century |
| Key people | Mikhail Bakunin, Piotr Kropotkin, Peter Kropotkin, Nestor Makhno, Emma Goldman, Alexander Berkman |
| Regions | Russian Empire, Soviet Union, Russian Federation, Ukraine |
| Related movements | Populism, Narodniks, Socialist Revolutionary Party, Bolsheviks |
anarchism in Russia emerged in the 19th century as a radical current within Russian radicalism that combined influences from European Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Mikhail Bakunin, and Peter Kropotkin with indigenous Narodnik traditions and peasant communalist practices. It developed through networks of émigré intellectuals, clandestine groups, and insurgent movements across the Russian Empire, played a prominent role during the revolutionary crises of 1905 and 1917, and later faced violent suppression under the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and Soviet Union, followed by revival during the late Soviet dissident era and diversification in the post‑Soviet period.
Early Russian anarchism drew on the writings and activism of exiled and domestic figures such as Mikhail Bakunin, Peter Kropotkin, Nikolai Chernyshevsky, and Vera Figner, intersecting with the Narodniks and the Land and Liberty tendency. Émigré circles in Geneva, London, and Paris served as hubs for translation and dissemination of texts by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Max Stirner, and Errico Malatesta, while Russian journals and clandestine publishing in Saint Petersburg and Moscow connected students and intellectuals associated with Kharkov University and the Imperial University of Saint Petersburg. The 1870s and 1880s saw the development of propaganda of the deed inspired cells linked to People's Will and actions that influenced later militants such as Stepan Khalturin and Semen Kogan.
During the 1905 Russian Revolution, anarchists participated alongside SRs and RSDLP factions in strikes, uprisings in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, and armed detachments in the Manchurian and Polish provinces. Influential publications like Golos Truda and groups centered around figures such as Vladimir Lenin’s opponents within the Bolsheviks—and critics like Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman—shaped debates over tactics. The prewar years also saw anarcho-syndicalist experiments inspired by the Industrial Workers of the World reaching dockworkers in Odessa and factory committees in Riga and Baku.
Anarchists played major roles during the February Revolution and the October Revolution era, organizing through federations such as the Federation of Anarchist Groups and publishing organs like Anarkhiia and Golos Truda. In the Ukrainian War of Independence, Nestor Makhno led the Makhnovshchina in Huliaipole against both White movement forces (including Anton Denikin and Pyotr Wrangel) and the Red Army, entering tactical alliances with the Red Army and negotiating with the Central Rada and Hetmanate. Prominent anarchist theorists and militants including Peter Kropotkin, Vladimir Karelin, and Alexander Shapiro debated relations with the Council of People's Commissars and the Communist Party.
Following the consolidation of Bolshevik power, anarchist organizations were suppressed by the Cheka, GPU, and later the NKVD through arrests, executions, and exile to Siberia and Solovetsky Islands. Key incidents included the crackdown on the Makhnovist movement and the closure of anarchist presses and cultural institutions in Kazan, Kiev, and Moscow. Prominent anarchists such as Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman were deported in 1919, while domestic militants faced show trials alongside figures from the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries. Surviving anarchist thought persisted in émigré communities in Paris, Berlin, and New York and in samizdat networks.
From the 1960s onward, new currents emerged among Soviet dissidents, linking anarchist critiques with the activities of figures and groups associated with Andrei Sakharov’s circle, the Chronicle of Current Events samizdat, and informal networks in Leningrad and Moscow. Small libertarian socialist circles reconstituted through punk and DIY scenes in the 1970s and 1980s, interacting with activists connected to Solidarity in Poland and environmentalists linked to Green Party tendencies. Perestroika and glasnost enabled the formation of federations like the Confederation of Anarchists of Russia and publications reviving Bakunin’s and Kropotkin’s works, while returning émigrés from Western Europe and North America bolstered organizational capacity.
After 1991, anarchist activism diversified into federations, activist collectives, and social movements engaging with anti‑authoritarian protests, squatting scenes, and anti‑fascist actions in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kiev, and Yekaterinburg. Groups such as the revived Anarchist Black Cross, anarcho-communist federations, and anarcho-syndicalist unions contested policies of Boris Yeltsin and later Vladimir Putin through direct action, labor organizing, and solidarity networks linking to European and Latin American movements. Contemporary debates involve interactions with anti-globalization campaigns, digital activism on platforms tied to Yandex and international networks, and confrontations with law enforcement including cases prosecuted under statutes used by the Federal Security Service.
Russian anarchism encompasses currents like anarcho-communism associated with Peter Kropotkin and Emma Goldman, anarcho-syndicalism inspired by the Industrial Workers of the World, platformist and especifista tendencies influenced by Nestor Makhno’s Military Revolutionary Council, and individualist strains tracing to Max Stirner. Notable organizations and networks include the historical Makhnovshchina, Anarkhiia groups, the Anarchist Black Cross, and contemporary federations active in Russia and Ukraine. Key figures span theorists and militants: Mikhail Bakunin, Peter Kropotkin, Nestor Makhno, Emma Goldman, Alexander Berkman, Volin (Vsevolod Eikhenbaum), Maria Spiridonova, and later activists emerging from punk and squatting movements in Saint Petersburg and Moscow.
Category:Anarchism Category:Political movements in Russia