# In Various Walks explained — The Bolshevik Myth

> Chapter companion for The Bolshevik Myth by Alexander Berkman.

## What happens

The narrator observes the dire conditions of Jewish intellectuals and the broader population in Kiev under Bolshevik rule, including systematic requisitions, housing abuses, and the suppression of Jewish culture. A chance meeting with Gallina, Makhno's wife, reveals the peasant rebel movement's opposition to both Whites and Bolsheviks. Conversations with Jewish families and the Kulturliga highlight the destruction of Jewish life and the dream of Zion.

## Themes in this chapter

### Human Suffering and Dehumanization

The misery of Jewish intellectuals and the poor, the arbitrary requisitions, and the story of the teacher arrested for protesting housing abuses.

### Betrayal of Revolutionary Ideals

Gallina argues that Bolshevism is a caste dictatorship, not true proletarian revolution; the Makhnovshchina represents the people's own ideal.

### Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict

Jewish families suffer both from pogroms and from Bolshevik suppression of Jewish culture and Zionism.

## Character check-ins

### Unknown Narrator

The narrator walks through Kiev, meets Gallina, and engages with Jewish intellectuals and families.

### Gallina

Makhno's wife, encountered in Kiev; she delivers a message from Nestor Makhno and explains the Makhnovstchina movement.

### Nestor Makhno

Mentioned by Gallina as eager to meet Emma Goldman and the narrator; leader of the peasant rebel movement.

### Zinoviev

Quoted as upbraiding local Communists for leniency toward the bourgeoisie, inciting requisitions.

### Emma Goldman

Mentioned by Gallina as someone Makhno wishes to visit him.

### Trotsky

Referenced by a Jewish elder as an example of Jews in government, but dismissed as not truly Jewish.

## Key lines

> The most tragic part of it is that the izlishki rarely reach their proletarian destination. We all know that the really valuable things confiscated get no further than the Cheka, while the old and almost useless rags are sent to the unions, for distribution among the workers.

Confiscated goods often end up with the Cheka rather than the workers, with only worthless items distributed to unions.

_C⸺, a Yiddish writer, exposes the corruption in Bolshevik requisitioning._

> I regard the povstantsi movement as the only true proletarian revolution. Bolshevism is the mastery of the Communist Party, falsely called the dictatorship of the proletariat.

Gallina sees the peasant rebel movement as the genuine revolution, while Bolshevism is just party rule.

_Gallina articulates the anarchist critique of Bolshevik state communism._

> Under the Communists we have no violent mob pogroms; at least I have not heard of any. But we have the 'quiet pogroms,' the systematic destruction of all that is dearest to us—of our traditions, customs, and culture.

While there are no mob pogroms, the Bolsheviks are destroying Jewish culture and identity in a quiet, systematic way.

_An elderly Jewish man describes the cultural suppression as a 'quiet pogrom.'_

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_bolshevik_myth_se/chapters/xxx-in-various-walks
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_bolshevik_myth_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_bolshevik_myth_se/chapters