The Bolshevik Myth · Chapter
XXIV: Yossif the Emigrant explained
The narrator recounts meeting Yossif, a Jewish anarchist emigrant who returned from America to participate in the Russian Revolution.
What happens
The narrator recounts meeting Yossif, a Jewish anarchist emigrant who returned from America to participate in the Russian Revolution. Yossif passionately defends the Makhno movement as the true spirit of October, arguing that the Bolsheviks have betrayed the revolution and become a despotic government. He describes Makhno's anti-pogrom stance and his own work organizing anarchist groups in Ukraine, while expressing bitter disillusionment with Communist rule.
Themes in this chapter
Betrayal of Revolutionary Ideals
Yossif argues that the Bolsheviks have betrayed the revolution, becoming a 'full-fledged government' that outlaws other revolutionaries and imposes despotism.
Revolutionary Idealism vs. Reality
The chapter contrasts the promise of October 1917 with the subsequent Bolshevik suppression of anarchists and the harsh realities of civil war.
Terror and Violence
Discussions of pogroms, Makhno's summary execution of a station master for Jew-baiting, and the brutality attributed to various factions.
Characters to notice
- Yossif
A short, slender man of thirty with lustrous dark eyes; an anarchist emigrant returned from America, active in the Nabat confederation and a devoted admirer of Makhno.
- Nestor Makhno
Ukrainian anarchist leader, called 'Nestor' by Yossif; defended as a revolutionary who punishes pogromists and offers liberty of speech and press in his territory.
- Unknown Narrator
The narrator who visits Yossif at the Volnoye Bratstvo bookstore and engages in debate about Makhno and the Bolsheviks.
- Trotsky
Quoted as saying it were better the Ukraine be taken by Denikin than allow Makhno to continue there.
- Lenin
Referenced as 'the Lenin of the Ukraine' (Rakovsky) in a suggestion about reapproachment.
Key passages
“Revolution lives, in spite of them. March, 1917, was only the revolutionary honeymoon, the lisping of lovers. It was clean and pure, but it was inarticulate, impotent. The real passion was yet to come. October sprang from the womb of Russia itself.”
The revolution endures despite its betrayers; the February Revolution was a naive and powerless beginning, while the October Revolution was the true, organic birth of change.
Yossif distinguishes between the idealistic February Revolution and the more profound October Revolution.
“True, the Bolsheviki have turned Jesuits, but the Revolution has accomplished much—it has destroyed capitalism and undermined the principles of private ownership. In its concrete expression today Bolshevism is a system of the most ruthless despotism. It has organized a socialistic slavery.”
Although the Bolsheviks have become cunning and authoritarian, the revolution has still achieved the destruction of capitalism and private property, even if it now manifests as a brutal dictatorship that enslaves society in the name of socialism.
Yossif acknowledges Bolshevik achievements while condemning their current tyranny.
“Makhno represents the real spirit of October. In the revolutionary povstantsi, whom he leads, is the sole hope of the country.”
Makhno embodies the true essence of the October Revolution, and his insurgent peasant army is the only remaining hope for Russia.
Yossif elevates Makhno as the authentic revolutionary force.
“The only hope of Russia now is in the forcible overthrow of the Communists by a new uprising of the people.”
Russia's sole remaining hope is a popular insurrection to violently remove the Communist government.
Yossif advocates for armed rebellion against Bolshevik rule.
