During the Civil War, the territory of modern Ukraine turned into a battlefield between the most politically polar forces. Supporters of the Ukrainian national statehood from the Petliura Directory and the White Guards of the Volunteer Army A. I. Denikin, advocating the revival of the Russian state. The Bolshevik Red Army fought with these forces. Anarchists from the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Nestor Makhno settled in Gulyaypole.
Numerous daddies and chieftains of small, medium and large formations kept aloof and did not obey anyone and entered into alliances with anyone, only to their own advantage. Almost a century later, history repeated itself. And yet, many Civilian rebel commanders evoke, if not respect, then considerable interest in their persons. At least, unlike the modern "lords-atamans", among them there were really ideological people with very interesting biographies. What is one legendary Marusya Nikiforova worth?
The general public, with the exception of specialists - historians and people who were closely interested in the Civil War in Ukraine, the figure of "atamansha Marusya" is practically unknown. She may be remembered by those who carefully watched "The Nine Lives of Nestor Makhno" - there she was played by the actress Anna Ukolova. Meanwhile, Maria Nikiforova, as they officially called “Marusya”, is a very interesting historical character. The mere fact that a woman has become the most real ataman of the Ukrainian insurgent detachment is a rarity even by the standards of the Civil War. After all, Alexandra Kollontai, and Rosa Zemlyachka, and other women - participants in revolutionary events, nevertheless, did not play the role of field commanders, and even insurgent detachments.
Maria Grigorievna Nikiforova was born in 1885 (according to other sources - in 1886 or 1887). At the time of the February Revolution, she was about 30-32 years old. Despite the relatively young years, even the pre-revolutionary life of Marusya was rich in events. Born in Aleksandrovsk (now - Zaporozhye), Marusya was a compatriot to the legendary daddy Makhno (although the latter was not from Aleksandrovsk itself, but from the village of Gulyaypole, Aleksandrovsky district). Marusya's father, an officer in the Russian army, distinguished himself during the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878.
Apparently, with courage and disposition, Marusya went to her father. At the age of sixteen, having neither a profession nor a livelihood, the officer's daughter left the parental home. Thus began her adult life, full of dangers and wanderings. However, among historians there is also the point of view that Maria Nikiforova in reality could not be an officer's daughter. Her biography in her younger years seems too dark and marginal - hard physical labor, living without relatives, a complete absence of mention of the family and any relationship with it.
It is difficult to say why she decided to leave the family, but the fact remains - the fate of the officer's daughter, who would eventually find a worthy groom and build a family nest, Maria Nikiforova preferred the life of a professional revolutionary. Having got a job at a distillery as an auxiliary worker, Maria met her peers from the anarcho-communist group.
At the beginning of the twentieth century. anarchism became especially widespread in the western outskirts of the Russian Empire. Its centers were the city of Bialystok - the center of the weaving industry (now - the territory of Poland), the port of Odessa and the industrial Yekaterinoslav (now - Dnepropetrovsk). Aleksandrovsk, where Maria Nikiforova first met the anarchists, was part of the “Yekaterinoslav anarchist zone”. The key role here was played by the anarcho-communists - supporters of the political views of the Russian philosopher Pyotr Alekseevich Kropotkin and his followers. Anarchists first appeared in Yekaterinoslav, where the propagandist Nikolai Muzil, who came from Kiev (pseudonyms - Rogdaev, Uncle Vanya), managed to lure an entire district organization of the Social Revolutionaries into the position of anarchism. Already from Yekaterinoslav, the ideology of anarchism began to spread throughout the surrounding settlements, including even the countryside. In particular, its own anarchist federation appeared in Aleksandrovsk, as well as in other cities, uniting the working, craft and student youth. Organizationally and ideologically, the Alexandrov anarchists were influenced by the Yekaterinoslav Federation of Communist Anarchists. Somewhere in 1905, a young worker, Maria Nikiforova, also took the position of anarchism.
In contrast to the Bolsheviks, who preferred painstaking propaganda work in industrial enterprises and focused on mass actions of factory workers, anarchists tended to acts of individual terror. Since the overwhelming majority of anarchists at that time were very young people, on average 16-20 years old, their youthful maximalism often outweighed common sense and revolutionary ideas in practice turned into terror against everyone and everything. They blew up shops, cafes and restaurants, first class carriages - that is, places of increased concentration of "people with money."
It should be noted that not all anarchists were inclined towards terror. So, Peter Kropotkin himself and his followers - "Khlebovoltsy" - treated individual acts of terror negatively, just as the Bolsheviks were guided by the mass workers 'and peasants' movement. But during the years of the revolution of 1905-1907. much more noticeable than the "Khlebovoltsy" were the representatives of the ultra-radical trends in Russian anarchism - the Black Banners and the Beznakhaltsy. The latter generally proclaimed unmotivated terror against any representatives of the bourgeoisie.
Focusing on work among the poorest peasantry, laborers and longshoremen, day laborers, unemployed and tramps, the beggars accused the more moderate anarchists - "Khlebovoltsy" that they were fixated on the industrial proletariat and "betrayed" the interests of the most disadvantaged and oppressed strata of society, whereas they, and not relatively prosperous and financially well-off specialists, most of all need support and represent the most malleable and explosive contingent for revolutionary propaganda. However, the "beznakhaltsy" themselves, most often, were typical radical-minded students, although there were also openly semi-criminal and marginal elements among them.
Maria Nikiforova, apparently, ended up in the circle of non-motivators. During two years of clandestine activity, she managed to throw several bombs - on a passenger train, in a cafe, in a store. The anarchist often changed her place of residence, hiding from police surveillance. But, in the end, the police managed to track down Maria Nikiforova and detain her. She was arrested, charged with four murders and several robberies (“expropriations”), and sentenced to death.
However, like Nestor Makhno, Maria Nikiforova's death penalty was replaced by indefinite hard labor. Most likely, the verdict was due to the fact that at the time of its passing, Maria Nikiforova, like Makhno, had not reached the age of majority, according to the laws of the Russian Empire, which came at the age of 21. From the Peter and Paul Fortress, Maria Nikiforova was convoyed to Siberia - to the place where she was leaving hard labor, but she managed to escape. Japan, the United States, Spain - these are the points of Maria's journey before she was able to settle in France, in Paris, where she was actively involved in anarchist activities. During this period, Marusya took part in the activities of anarchist groups of Russian emigrants, but she also collaborated with the local anarcho-bohemian environment.
Just at the time of the residence of Maria Nikiforova, who by this time had already adopted the pseudonym "Marusya", the First World War began in Paris. Unlike the majority of domestic anarchists, who spoke from the standpoint of "turning the imperialist war into a class war" or generally preached pacifism, Marusya supported Peter Kropotkin. As you know, the founding father of the anarcho-communist tradition came out from the "defensist", as the Bolsheviks said, positions, taking the side of the Entente and condemning the Prussian-Austrian military.
But if Kropotkin was old and peaceful, then Maria Nikiforova literally rushed into battle. She managed to enter the Paris military school, which was surprising not only because of her Russian origin, but also, to an even greater extent, because of her gender. Nevertheless, a woman from Russia passed all the entrance tests and, having successfully completed a course of military training, was enlisted in the army in the officer rank. Maroussia fought as part of the French troops in Macedonia, then returned to Paris. News of the February Revolution in Russia forced the anarchist to hastily leave France and return to her homeland.
It should be noted that the evidence of Marusya's appearance describes her as a masculine, short-haired woman with a face that reflected the events of a stormy youth. Nevertheless, in the French emigration, Maria Nikiforova found herself a husband. It was Witold Brzostek, a Polish anarchist who later took an active part in the anti-Bolshevik underground activities of the anarchists.
Having announced herself after the February Revolution in Petrograd, Marusya plunged into the stormy revolutionary reality of the capital. Having established contacts with local anarchists, she conducted agitation work in naval crews, among workers. In the same summer of 1917, Marusya left for her native Aleksandrovsk. By this time, the Alexander Federation of Anarchists was already operating there. With the arrival of Marusya, the Alexandrov anarchists are noticeably radicalized. First of all, the millionth expropriation is made from the local industrialist Badovsky. Then contacts are established with the anarcho-communist group of Nestor Makhno operating in the neighboring village of Gulyaypole.
At first, there were obvious discrepancies between Makhno and Nikiforova. The fact is that Makhno, being a far-sighted practitioner, allowed significant deviations from the classical interpretation of the principles of anarchism. In particular, he advocated the active participation of anarchists in the activities of the Soviets and generally adhered to a tendency towards a certain degree of organization. Later, after the end of the Civil War, in exile, these views of Nestor Makhno were formalized by his colleague Peter Arshinov in a kind of "platformism" movement (named after the Organizational Platform), which is also called anarcho-Bolshevism for the desire to create an anarchist party and streamline political activity anarchists.
Unlike Makhno, Marusya remained an adamant supporter of the understanding of anarchism as absolute freedom and rebellion. Even in her youth, the ideological views of Maria Nikiforova were formed under the influence of the anarchists-beznakhaltsy - the most radical wing of the anarcho-communists, which did not recognize rigid organizational forms and advocated the destruction of any representatives of the bourgeoisie only on the basis of their class affiliation. Consequently, in her daily activities, Marusya manifested herself as a much greater extremist than Makhno. In many respects, this explains the fact that Makhno managed to create his own army and put the whole region under control, and Marusya never stepped further than the status of a field commander of the rebel detachment.
While Makhno was strengthening his position in Gulyaypole, Marusya managed to visit Aleksandrovka under arrest. She was detained by revolutionary militiamen, who found out the details of the expropriation of a million rubles from Badovsky and some other robberies committed by the anarchist. Nevertheless, Marusya did not stay in prison for long. Out of respect for her revolutionary merits and according to the demands of the “broad revolutionary community”, Marusya was released.
During the second half of 1917 - early 1918. Marusya participated in the disarmament of military and Cossack units passing through Aleksandrovsk and its environs. At the same time, during this period Nikiforova prefers not to quarrel with the Bolsheviks, who received the greatest influence in the Alexandrov Council, shows herself to be a supporter of the "anarcho-Bolshevik" bloc. On December 25-26, 1917, Marusya, at the head of a detachment of Alexander's anarchists, took part in assisting the Bolsheviks in the seizure of power in Kharkov. During this period, Marusya communicated with the Bolsheviks through Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko, who led the activities of the Bolshevik formations on the territory of Ukraine. It is Antonov-Ovseenko who appoints Marusya as the head of the formation of cavalry units in Steppe Ukraine, with the issuance of the appropriate funds.
However, Marusya decided to dispose of the Bolsheviks' funds in her own interests, forming the Free Combat Squad, which was actually controlled only by Marusya herself and acted on the basis of her own interests. The free fighting squad of Marusya was a rather remarkable unit. Firstly, it was completely staffed with volunteers - mostly anarchists, although there were also ordinary "risky guys", including the "Black Sea" - yesterday's sailors demobilized from the Black Sea Fleet. Secondly, despite the "partisan" nature of the formation itself, its uniforms and food supplies were set to a good level. The detachment was armed with an armored platform and two artillery pieces. Although the financing of the squad was carried out, at first, by the Bolsheviks, the detachment performed under a black banner with the inscription "Anarchy is the mother of order!"
However, like other similar formations, the Marusya detachment worked well when it was necessary to carry out expropriations in occupied settlements, but turned out to be weak in the face of regular military formations. The offensive of German and Austro-Hungarian troops forced Marusya to retreat to Odessa. We must pay tribute to the fact that the squad of the "Black Guards" proved to be no worse, and in many respects even better than the "Red Guards", bravely covering the retreat.
In 1918, Marusya's cooperation with the Bolsheviks also came to an end. The legendary woman commander could not come to terms with the conclusion of the Brest Peace, which convinced her of the betrayal of the ideals and interests of the revolution by the Bolshevik leaders. From the moment the agreement was signed in Brest-Litovsk, the history of the independent path of the Free Combat Squad of Marusya Nikiforova begins. It should be noted that it was accompanied by numerous expropriations of property both from the "bourgeois", which included any wealthy citizens, and from political organizations. All governing bodies, including the Soviets, were dispersed by Nikiforova's anarchists. Plundering actions repeatedly became the cause of conflicts between Marusya and the Bolsheviks and even with that part of the anarchist leaders that continued to support the Bolsheviks, in particular, with the detachment of Grigory Kotovsky.
On January 28, 1918, the Free Combat Squad entered Elisavetgrad. First of all, Marusya shot the head of the local military registration and enlistment office, imposed indemnities on stores and enterprises, organized the distribution of goods and products confiscated in stores to the population. However, the man in the street should not rejoice at this unheard-of generosity - the fighters of Marusya, as soon as the stocks of food and goods in the stores ran out, switched to ordinary people. The Revolutionary Committee of the Bolsheviks operating in Elisavetgrad nevertheless found the courage to intercede for the population of the city and influence Marusya, forcing her to withdraw her formations outside the village.
However, a month later, the Free Fighting Squad again arrived in Elisavetgrad. By this time, the detachment consisted of at least 250 people, 2 artillery pieces and 5 armored vehicles. The situation in January was repeated: the expropriation of property followed, and not only from the real bourgeoisie, but also from ordinary citizens. The patience of the latter, meanwhile, was running out. The point was the robbery of the cashier of the Elvorti factory, which employed five thousand people. The outraged workers revolted against the anarchist detachment of Marusya and pushed it back to the station. Marusya herself, who initially tried to appease the workers by appearing at their meeting, was wounded. Having retreated to the steppe, Marusya's detachment began to shoot the townspeople from artillery pieces.
Under the guise of a struggle with Marusya and her detachment, the Mensheviks were able to take political leadership in Elisavetgrad. The Bolshevik detachment of Alexander Belenkevich was driven out of the city, after which detachments from among the mobilized citizens went in search of Marusya. An important role in the "anti-anarchist" uprising was played by former tsarist officers, who took over the leadership of the militia. In turn, the Kamensk Red Guard detachment arrived to the aid of Marusa, which also entered into battle with the city militia. Despite the superior forces of Elisavetgrad residents, the outcome of the war that lasted several days between the anarchists and the Red Guards who joined them, and the front of the townspeople, was decided by the armored train "Freedom or Death", which arrived from Odessa under the command of sailor Polupanov. Elisavetgrad again found itself in the hands of the Bolsheviks and anarchists.
However, the detachments of Marusya after a short time left the city. The next place of activity of the Free Fighting Squad was the Crimea, where Marusa also managed to make a number of expropriations and come into conflict with the detachment of the Bolshevik Ivan Matveyev. Then Marusya is announced in Melitopol and Aleksandrovka, arrives in Taganrog. Although the Bolsheviks assigned Marusya the responsibility of protecting the Azov coast from the Germans and Austro-Hungarians, the anarchist detachment unauthorizedly retreated to Taganrog. In response, the Red Guards in Taganrog managed to arrest Marusya. However, this decision was greeted with indignation both by her vigilantes and other left-wing radical formations. First, an anarchist Garin's armored train arrived in Taganrog with a detachment from the Bryansk plant Yekaterinoslav, who supported Marusya. Secondly, Antonov-Ovseenko, who had known her for a long time, also spoke in defense of Marusya. The Revolutionary Court acquitted and freed Marusya. From Taganrog, Marusya's detachment retreated to Rostov-on-Don and neighboring Novocherkassk, where at that time the retreating Red Guard and anarchist detachments from all over Eastern Ukraine were concentrated. Naturally, in Rostov, Marusya was noted for expropriations, demonstrative burning of banknotes and bonds, and other similar antics.
The further path of Marusya - Essentuki, Voronezh, Bryansk, Saratov - was also marked by endless expropriations, demonstrative distribution of food and seized goods to the people, and growing hostility between the Free Combat Squad and the Red Guards. In January 1919, Marusya was nevertheless arrested by the Bolsheviks and transported to Moscow in the Butyrka prison. However, the revolutionary court turned out to be extremely merciful to the legendary anarchist. Marusya was given bail to a member of the Central Electoral Commission, anarcho-communist Apollo Karelin and her longtime acquaintance Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko. Thanks to the intervention of these prominent revolutionaries and the past merits of Marusya, the only punishment for her was the deprivation of the right to hold leading and command positions for six months. Although the list of acts committed by Marusya was drawn to an unconditional execution by a court-martial sentence.
In February 1919, Nikiforova appeared in Gulyaypole, at the Makhno headquarters, where she joined the Makhnovist movement. Makhno, who knew Marusya's disposition and her tendency to overly radical actions, did not allow her to be placed in command or staff positions. As a result, the fighting Marusya spent two months engaged in such purely peaceful and humane affairs as the creation of hospitals for the wounded Makhnovists and the sick from among the peasant population, the management of three schools and social support for poor peasant families.
However, soon after the ban on Marusya's activities in the governing structures was lifted, she began to form her own cavalry regiment. The real meaning of Marusya's activities lies elsewhere. By this time, having finally become disillusioned with the Bolshevik regime, Marusya was hatching plans to create an underground terrorist organization that would start an anti-Bolshevik uprising throughout Russia. Her husband Witold Brzhostek, who has arrived from Poland, helps her in this. On September 25, 1919, the All-Russian Central Committee of Revolutionary Partisans, as the new structure christened itself under the leadership of Kazimir Kovalevich and Maxim Sobolev, blew up the Moscow Committee of the RCP (b). However, the Chekists managed to destroy the conspirators. Marusya, having gone to the Crimea, died in September 1919 under unclear circumstances.
There are several versions of the death of this amazing woman. V. Belash, a former associate of Makhno, claimed that Marusya was executed by whites in Simferopol in August-September 1919. However, more modern sources indicate that the last days of Marusya looked like this. In July 1919, Marusya and her husband Vitold Brzhostek arrived in Sevastopol, where on July 29 they were identified and captured by the White Guard counterintelligence. Despite the war years, counterintelligence officers did not kill Marusya without trial. The investigation lasted for a whole month, revealing the degree of guilt of Maria Nikiforova in the crimes presented to her. On September 3, 1919, Maria Grigorievna Nikiforova and Vitold Stanislav Brzhostek were sentenced to death by a military court and shot.
This is how the legendary chieftain of the Ukrainian steppes ended her life. What is difficult to deny to Marusa Nikiforova is personal courage, conviction in the correctness of her actions and a certain “frostbite”. For the rest, Marusya, like many other field commanders of the Civil, was rather suffering for ordinary people. Despite the fact that she posed as a defender and protector of ordinary people, in reality anarchism in Nikiforova's understanding was reduced to permissiveness. Marusya retained that youthful, infantile perception of anarchy as a kingdom of unlimited freedom, which was inherent in her during the years of participation in the circles of "beznakhaltsy".
The desire to fight the bourgeoisie, the bourgeoisie, state institutions resulted in unjustified cruelty, robberies of the civilian population, which actually turned the anarchist detachment of Marusya into a half-bandit gang. Unlike Makhno, Marusya could not only manage the social and economic life of any region or settlement, but also create a more or less numerous army, develop her own program and even win the sympathy of the population. If Makhno personified rather the constructive potential of ideas about a stateless order of social structure, then Marusya was the embodiment of the destructive, destructive component of anarchist ideology.
People like Marusya Nikiforova easily find themselves in the fire of battles, on revolutionary barricades and in pogroms of captured cities, but they turn out to be completely unfit for a peaceful and constructive life. Naturally, there is no place for them even among the revolutionaries, as soon as the latter move on to issues of social arrangement. This is exactly what happened to Marusya - in the end, with a certain amount of respect, neither the Bolsheviks, nor even her like-minded Nestor Makhno, who prudently alienated Marusya from participating in the activities of his headquarters, did not want to have any serious business with her.
