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58-529: The Union communiste libertaire ( UCL , English: Libertarian Communist Union ) is a French platformist federation, established in 2019 from the merging of Alternative Libertaire and the Coordination of Anarchist Groups . In addition to revolutionary struggle, they engage in social and environmental struggles. At a founding congress organized in the Allier from 8 to 10 June 2019, Alternative Libertaire (AL) and

116-626: A classless society . The Nabat dispatched a delegation, consisting of Aron Baron , Isaac Teper and Yakiv Sukhovolski , to secure an agreement with Makhno on these terms. Now integrated into the centre of the Makhnovshchina, the three delegates began to clash with the insurgent command. As the new de facto political leader of the movement, Baron began to interfere with military decisions and argued with Makhno over which territory they would capture to establish anarchism - with Makhno insisting on it being his home region. Dmitry Popov , frustrated with

174-484: A dictatorship of the proletariat in the form of an anarchist-led trade union system, for which Nestor Makhno himself was accused of Bonapartism . Meanwhile, the Nabat Confederation of Anarchist Organizations , which had originally been established as a loose-knit organization, developed into a tightly organized structure with a unified policy and an executive committee, in what a member would later describe as

232-702: A "transitional economy and political stage for the revolution", to be handled by free soviets . Levandovsky accused the Makhnovists of operating its own Cheka , in the form of the Kontrrazvedka , and accused Makhno himself of running a military dictatorship . Meanwhile, Isaac Teper claimed that it had been the Nabat itself that directed the Makhnovshchina, depicting Aron Baron as the movement's dictator. On 20 June 1926, Peter Arshinov published his Organizational Platform , which advocated for anarcho-communists to form

290-606: A more loose-knit organization, contributed to dividing the anarchist movement into "synthesists" and "platformists". The Platform's harshest critics included Volin , Senya Fleshin and Mollie Steimer , who denounced the Platform as an attempt to create an anarchist political party , which they feared would inevitably result in the formation of a police state . Arshinov responded by claiming his Platform actually abided by anarchist principles, as it consciously avoided coercion and preserved decentralization . The debate also took

348-521: A more personal turn as Makhno and Arshinov attacked Volin, which attracted denunciations from other critics of the Platform , including Alexander Berkman , who denounced Makhno as a militarist and Arshinov as a Bolshevik . After years of defending the ideas of Platformism, in the early 1930s, Arshinov joined the Communist Party and defected to the Soviet Union , where he would disappear during

406-561: A number of its members in Katernyoslav, including one member of the secretariat. In mid-May 1919, the Nabat secretariat decided to move its headquarters from the hostile climate in Kharkiv to safety in Huliaipole. Other Russian anarchists, including Peter Arshinov and Aron Baron , also began to flee to southern Ukraine, seeking refuge in the area under Makhnovist control. There, Arshinov joined

464-516: A precursor to platformism. After their flight into exile, Russian and Ukrainian anarchists began to call for the reorganization of the anarchist movement, considering that chronic disorganization had led to their defeat during the Revolution . Among the anarcho-communists, Peter Arshinov was the most vocal advocate of reorganization. On 20 June 1926, the Organizational Platform of

522-616: A process spearheaded by the FAU. In 2003, the Anarkismo.net website was established by an international network of anarcho-communist organizations, including both Latin American especifistas and European platformists, which publishes news and analysis in a variety of different languages. Nabat Civilian leaders Military organisations Political organisations The Nabat Confederation of Anarchist Organizations , better known simply as

580-808: A social revolution. In the years that followed, the FCL united together with the North African Libertarian Movement (MLNA) to establish the Libertarian Communist International (ICL), but their suppression by the French state forced the organization's dissolution in 1957. Platformism was revived in France during the events of May 68 , when the Revolutionary Anarchist Organization (ORA) was founded, although it would remain

638-413: A tightly coordinated organisation, based on the principles of tactical and theoretical unity , collective responsibility and federalism . Volin fiercely criticised this Platform , considering it be an attempt to form an anarchist political party along bureaucratic and centralist lines. Nabat had a rigid and disciplined organizational structure. The purpose of this organization and discipline

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696-579: A voluntary and egalitarian basis, opposing the hierarchical and militarist conception of the Red Army , which the Nabat believed would inevitably become reactionary . But Makhno himself did not abide by the decisions of the Yelyzavethrad congress, which were taken without his presence. By this time, the Nabat was facing increasing political repression by the Cheka , which harassed anarchists in Kharkiv and arrested

754-517: The Cheka for criticising the Bolsheviks and the organisation itself was dispersed by the government, forcing more of its members into the arms of the Makhnovshchina. In August 1919, more members of the Nabat joined the Makhnovshchina during its retreat to Uman . One Makhnovist detachment was even dispatched to rescue Volin, who was a prisoner of the Ukrainian People's Army . Upon arrival, Volin

812-592: The Friends of Durruti Group in opposition to the state's militarisation of the confederal militias . After the Revolution was suppressed , the group published Towards a Fresh Revolution , which called for a revolutionary council to reform the militias and bring the economy back under the control of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT), which would effectively have dissolved the government of Spain . In

870-553: The Great Purge . Nestor Makhno himself died in 1934, leaving the Platform without any prominent defenders. Nevertheless, both the opponents and remaining supporters of the Platform managed to reconcile at Makhno's funeral. Volin himself took up the publication of Makhno's memoirs, which were published in the years after his death. During the Spanish Revolution of 1936 , a number of revolutionary anarchist hard-liners formed

928-596: The Makhnovshchina . The Draft Declaration called for a " Third Revolution " against the Bolshevik government, in order to establish a regime of free soviets . It centred the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine as the nucleus of this revolution, where the organization's entire membership would carry out the decision-making process. In 1921, the Makhnovists published another Declaration that proclaimed

986-646: The Nabat ( Ukrainian : Набат ; English: Alarm ), was a Ukrainian anarchist organization that came to prominence during the Ukrainian War of Independence . The organization, based in Kharkiv , had branches in all of Ukraine's major cities. Its constitution was designed to be appealing to each of the different anarchist schools of thought . The Nabat worked closely with the Makhnovist movement , often taking leading roles within

1044-582: The Red Army that urged them to mutiny and overthrow the Soviet government. The organisation appealed for help from the Makhnovists, but harassment continued. On 12–16 February 1919, delegates from the Nabat participated in the Second Regional Congress of Peasants, Workers and Insurgents , which criticised the repressive actions of the Bolsheviks in Ukraine and established a Military Revolutionary Council as

1102-480: The Soviet Union . On 22 July 1923, Halyna Kuzmenko signed a statement requesting that the Bolshevik government release remaining Nabat members from prison and cease political repression against the anarchist movement, in return for the cessation of hostile operations by the insurgents, but her request was not granted. The exiled anarchists of the Nabat turned their attentions to answering why their movement had failed in Ukraine. Mark Mratchny began to advocate for

1160-598: The arrival of the Bolsheviks to Ukraine , but Makhno pressed on with his insurgency, not wanting to lose the initiative against the Central Powers. In January 1919, the Nabat made contact with Viktor Bilash , who brought the organisation into the fold of the Makhnovshchina . The Nabat established a branch in the Makhnovist capital of Huliaipole , providing the movement with literature and activists. It came under Bolshevik harassment after publishing an appeal to soldiers of

1218-495: The authoritarian policies of the Bolshevik party, which it claimed had driven insurgents away from its own cause. Volin himself became embroiled in a polemic with Leon Trotsky , with the two publishing articles denouncing the other respectively in the Nabat and the Zvezda . Following the break between the Bolsheviks and the Makhnovists in June 1919, the Nabat newspaper was banned by

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1276-477: The Bolshevik party caused many surviving prominent anarchists to flee the country for a safer environment outside of Soviet control. Exiled in Berlin , Volin and Arshinov established a monthly journal The Anarchist Herald ( Russian : Анархический Вестник ), published a History of the Makhnovist movement , and worked together with Alexander Berkman to provide prisoner support for anarchist political prisoners in

1334-475: The Bolsheviks and the Makhnovists was ratified, promulgating an amnesty for anarchist political prisoners, allowing for the release of the Nabat's members from prison and extending them the right to freedom of association . On 4 November 1920, the Nabat newspaper resumed publication and the organisation immediately began planning an anarchist congress to be held in Kharkiv at the beginning of December. Volin, having been released from prison, began negotiating with

1392-524: The Bolsheviks for seizing control of the workers' councils and for establishing a police state in Russia. As a result, the congress opposed anarchist participation in the Bolshevik-dominated Soviets , due to their tendencies towards centralisation . When discussion turned to the organisation of a Revolutionary Insurgent Army , the congress called for it to be established from the bottom-up on

1450-828: The Coordination of Anarchist Groups (CGA) enacted their fusion, the result of a year of discussions. AL, the successor of the Libertarian Communist Workers' Union founded in 1991, and the CGA, a split of the Anarchist Federation founded in 2002, were two libertarian communist organizations. Close ideologically and in their political practice, they began their merger in February 2018. The new organization, which wants to set up self-organized struggles, aims to lead feminist , anti-racist , pro-LGBTI and ecologist struggles at

1508-533: The General Union of Anarchists (Draft) was published in Delo Truda , with an introduction penned by Arshinov. Considering the goal of anarchism to be a social revolution that would create a stateless and classless society , the Platform proposed the establishment of a General Union of Anarchists to educate the working class and raise class consciousness . This General Union was to be organised according to

1566-416: The Nabat and began work editing the Makhnovist movement's main newspaper The Road to Freedom . In May 1919, the Makhnovists issued a proclamation that denounced the rebel leader Nykyfor Hryhoriv as a counter-revolutionary and an antisemite , in an article that Peter Arshinov signed, and published in Nabat . Members of the Nabat, such as Yakiv Sukhovolski , publicly blamed the rise of Hryhoriv on

1624-587: The Nabat held its founding conference in Kursk . The conference resolved to create an all-Ukrainian federation of anarchist groups, united together under a unified platform to take advantage of the opportunities for societal reform offered by the ongoing Russian Civil War . At the conference, Volin was tasked with creating a "declaration of principles" that would be agreeable to all of the major schools of anarchism, most importantly syndicalists , communists , and individualists . Volin's platform of " united anarchism "

1682-573: The Nabat were transferred to the prisons of Moscow , where they staged a hunger strike in order to attract the attention of syndicalist delegates to the Profintern congress. Amid widespread protest against their imprisonment, they were finally released in January 1922, by order of Vladimir Lenin , who decreed they leave the country immediately. Other prominent anarchists within Ukraine were arrested and killed without trial. The environment of fear created by

1740-600: The Revolutionary Insurgent Army, in order to work together in a mass movement against the counter-revolution . Despite the Nabat's pleas for Makhno to prevent it, the Insurgent Army began to disintegrate in the face of the Red advance. In February 1920, the Nabat's secretariat held a secret meeting in Kharkiv, where they dissaffiliated themselves from the Makhnovshchina, declaring Nestor Makhno himself unfit to lead

1798-455: The conference, which was dominated by the three delegates. Baron passed a resolution against the Makhnovshchina, although this was opposed by a minority that still supported Makhno, including Yakiv Sukhovolski, Yosif Gotman and Peter Arshinov. Sukhovolski and Gotman were dispatched to repair ties with the Makhnovists, but disappeared en route. In October 1920, the Starobilsk agreement between

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1856-471: The document as a way forward for the international anarchist movement to "marshal its forces". Although supported by Nestor Makhno , Arshinov's Platform was opposed by most prominent anarchists at the time. French anarchists in attendance, led by Sebastien Faure , criticised it as Russocentric, considering it unapplicable to the material conditions in France. In the years that followed, Faure's Anarchist Synthesis , which rejected platformism in favor of

1914-480: The executive organ of the Makhnovist movement. In March 1919, the Nabat took up editorship of the Makhnovist movement's newspapers, which were printed in the Russian language from Kharkiv. In response to the spread of epidemic typhus , a decree was published in Nabat that demanded the improvement of personal hygiene , under threat of punishment. In that same month, the Nabat also published an advertisement that it

1972-502: The extension of freedom of speech and freedom of the press to all socialist organisations. This allowed the Nabat to resume publication in November 1919, beginning its new run by declaring that a third revolution had been initiated by the Makhnovshchina. As the Red Army moved into Ukraine at the end of 1919, the Nabat called for the revolutionary elements of the Red Army to unite with

2030-409: The government of Christian Rakovsky over the implementation of the agreement's fourth clause, which would have provided autonomy to the Makhnovshchina. But following the Soviet victory at the siege of Perekop , on 26 November, the Bolsheviks carried out a surprise attack against the Makhnovshchina and arrested almost all of the Nabat's members in Kharkiv, destroying the organisation. The leaders of

2088-424: The influence of these "outside anarchists", even threatened to kill the delegates himself. Makhno himself became frustrated with the Nabat members, whose intermittent presence in the movement and lack of participation in the armed struggle led Makhno to label them as " tourists ". On 3–8 September 1920, the Nabat held a conference in Kharkiv . A fresh sense of disillusionment with the Makhnovist movement permeated

2146-619: The local Soviet . Following the Bolshevik occupation of Kharkiv during the October Revolution , Fanya and Aron moved to the city, where they helped to launch the Ukrainian anarchist movement . Meanwhile, Peter Arshinov had been released from Butyrka prison and moved to Katerynoslav , joining the anarchist movement in Donbas and giving lectures to the region's miners and factory workers. As

2204-672: The minority tendency within the anarchist movement. The formation of the ORA accelerated the establishment of other anarchist federations throughout Europe, such as the Anarchist Federation (AF) in Britain and the Federation of Anarchist Communists (FdCA) in Italy, while the ORA itself would eventually be succeeded by the Libertarian Communist Union (UCL). Especifismo (English: Specifism )

2262-596: The movement's institutions. But conflicts between the political leadership of the Nabat and the military leadership of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army led to a rupture between the two, before they were both suppressed by the Bolsheviks in November 1920. In exile, former members of the Nabat became involved in providing prisoner support for their members still in Soviet prisons. They were also embroiled in debates over what to learn from their experiences, with one faction led by Peter Arshinov advocating for platformism , and

2320-470: The movement. Although they still maintained contact with the Makhnovshchina, they decided to shift their attentions from supporting the Makhnovist movement to concentrating on fomenting revolution in the cities. At another meeting the following month, the Nabat declared the need for anarchists to participate in the revolutionary struggle, but they disputed the anarchist character of the Insurgent Army, highlighting issues of alcoholism and antisemitism within

2378-585: The new Russian government became increasingly hostile, many anarchists decided to leave Russia and move to Ukraine, where they could enjoy greater freedom and put their ideas into practice. By the fall of 1918 the Nabat Confederation of Anarchist Organizations had established its headquarters in Kharkiv , Ukraine. Over the subsequent months, the Nabat grew to include branches in a number of other major Ukrainian cities, including Katerynoslav and Odesa , Yelyzavethrad , and Kyiv . On 12–16 November 1918,

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2436-617: The organisation declared that Ukrainian anarchists needed to close ranks with the Makhnovshchina, in the face of the advance by the White movement . At the beginning of June 1920, the secretariat of the Nabat attempted to negotiate an armistice with the Ukrainian Soviet government, but their offers were rebuffed. The Nabat considered it necessary for the Makhnovshchina to stop fighting a mobile guerrilla insurrection and instead to permanently capture territory, where it could begin construction of

2494-575: The organization and more than five hundred members. Many were trade unionists, from unions such as Solidaires Unitaires Démocratiques or the General Confederation of Labour and associations. The Libertarian Communist Union supported the Yellow vests movement since its inception. The group created a branch in Millau in late 2019. Platformist First developed by Peter Arshinov in response to

2552-545: The other led by Volin advocating for synthesis anarchism . Following the outbreak of the February Revolution , a number of Russian and Ukrainian anarchists returned from exile to the country. The anarcho-syndicalist Volin arrived in Petrograd and began lecturing about the need for anarchist unity against the rise of Bolshevism . Aron Baron , along with his wife Fanya , moved to Kyiv , where they participated in

2610-624: The perceived disorganization of the Russian anarchist movement , platformism proposes that a "general union of anarchists" be established to agitate, educate and organize the working classes . It advocates working within existing mass organizations , such as trade unions , in order to transform them into vehicles for a social revolution . The roots of platformism go back as far as the organizational principles of Mikhail Bakunin , particularly in his theory of "organisational dualism". Bakunin proposed that anarchists form their own revolutionary organisations that would encourage workers to rebel against

2668-494: The prevailing synthesist orientation of the French anarchist movement, becoming the founding document for the Libertarian Communist Federation (FCL). Drawing from aspects of the Platform , Fontenis' Manifesto called for an anarchist revolutionary vanguard to work within existing mass organizations in order to develop a mass movement , with the eventual aim of dissolving itself into the movement and achieving

2726-451: The principles of theoretical unity , tactical unity and collective responsibility , and would be governed by an executive committee that coordinated collective action and political policy. The Platform was first presented at a meeting of the Delo Truda group, with attendees also including Bulgarian , Chinese , French and Italian anarchists . At the meeting, Arshinov introduced

2784-490: The proletariat ", instead proposing non-party councils , factory committees and poor peasant committees to oversee a self-managed economy . The conference also resolved to establish anarchist partisan bands to fight against the counter-revolutionary White movement , recognising the insurgent forces under Nestor Makhno to be the best option for creating an anarchist armed force. The Nabat cautioned Makhno against launching an uprising without aid and urged him to wait for

2842-509: The ranks. But in April 1920, the Nabat held a larger meeting in Kharkiv, which reversed the course set by the secretariat. Renewed political repression by the Bolsheviks had forced them to again shift their attentions back towards the countryside and start working closer with the Makhnovists, resolving to intensify their work within the Makhnovist movement in order to shape it into a specifically anarchist revolutionary vanguard . In their newspaper,

2900-493: The same time as the anarcho-communist and revolutionary struggle. It wants to be able to lead a "popular counter-power", which is placed "neither on the electoral ground nor on the level of institutions". UCL retains red and black colors, symbolic of communism and anarchism, as well as the Libertarian Alternative newspaper, which did not change its name. In the same month, UCL claimed about forty local groups linked to

2958-529: The state and capitalism, and once a social revolution had replaced the state with a federation of voluntary associations , it would then agitate against any attempted reconstitution of the state by political parties. The Platform's most direct predecessor was the Draft Declaration of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine , adopted in 1919 by the Military Revolutionary Council of

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3016-426: The wake of the 1944 Bulgarian coup d'état , the Federation of Anarchist Communists of Bulgaria (FAKB) issued its own Platform , which argued for a specifically anarcho-communist federation, coordinated by a central secretariat, which would participate in trade unions and prepare for a social revolution. In 1953, the French anarchist Georges Fontenis published his Manifesto of Libertarian Communism , which attacked

3074-465: Was criticised by many of his own anarcho-syndicalist comrades in Russia, who feared the dominance of the anarcho-communists in such an arrangement. The conference proclaimed that the Russian Revolution was the beginning of a world revolution that would overthrow capitalism and replace it with communism . But they criticised the Bolshevik model of achieving this through the " dictatorship of

3132-642: Was first developed in 1972 by the Uruguayan Anarchist Federation (FAU), with the publication of its text Huerta Grande , which proposed the creation of a unified political policy directly applicable to the material conditions in Uruguay. The collapse of the ruling right-wing dictatorships towards the end of the Cold War resulted in the emergence of many other especifista groups throughout Latin America, in

3190-460: Was forming its own armed regiment in Huliaipole. On 2–7 April 1919, the Nabat held its first congress in Yelyzavethrad, where the organisation resolved to commit itself fully to participating in the Makhnovist movement. When the congress discussed the alliance between the Makhnovists and Bolsheviks, the congress was notable for being relatively pro-Soviet, with the exception of one anti-communist delegate from Huliaipole. Senya Fleshin denounced

3248-406: Was quickly elected as chairman of the Military Revolutionary Council and joined the editorial board of The Road to Freedom . From these positions, Volin took a leading role in civilian affairs, while military command remained in the hands of Nestor Makhno himself. After the insurgent victory at the battle of Peregonovka , the insurgents occupied much of southern Ukraine, where they proclaimed

3306-478: Was seen as “technically executive” but had rather expansive duties, including guiding the Confederation ideologically, managing the monies of Nabat, publishing the newspaper and other propaganda activities, and controlling what militants the Confederation had. The organization was described by Volin as "union, on a basis of federalism with some of the elements of a natural, free, and technical centralization, which

3364-426: Was to make Nabat a healthy syndicate and rise above the differences of opinion of the various schools of thought of anarchism. It was organized by federal principles, with regional components that were answerable to each other about decisions made during the general Assemblies, even when such decisions were passed by a simple majority. The Secretariat, a small leading body, oversaw the workings of Nabat. The Secretariat

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