Paint the Revolution Black and Red: Russia Under Anarcho-Syndicalism

Prologue:



No one would have anticipated an anarchist revolution at all. Indeed, at first anarchy was synonymous with a chaotic break down in law and order, but that was the general view before the first series of Russian Revolutions occured. It all started in 1906 when General Helmuth von Moltke the younger had studied the Schlieffen Plan and decided that while the original Plan was feasible in terms of knowing that France can be defeated before Russian mobilization is completed, he also knew that the Russian reserves were unnaturally large, and no one knows how fast can they mobilize. So in a decision that would ultimately change the plans of a future war, Moltke devised his own plans instead, with the top priority on defeating Russia first before France has a chance to attack Germany. Moltke's reasons were that the Russian juggernaut was even more menacing than the French. It would also help Austria-Hungary a bit by relieving their pressure while allowing the Habsburgs to invade Serbia.

World War One comes around and the German High Command launches the Moltke Plan instead of the Schlieffen Plan. To make sure that the Russian collapse would be even bigger, the Germans incited an uprising in Poland and the Baltics, where the Russian Army used some of its troops to put down the uprising. However, the German Army successfully diverted the Russian Army's attention from its invasion of Russian Ukraine. By the time the Russians have realized what's going on, most of the Ukraine, the Baltics and Belorussia have already broken away from the Russian Empire. The Germans then push onwards into St. Petersburg from liberated Estonia and laid siege there on September of 1914. They also laid siege to Moscow in an attempt to bring the Russian Empire to its knees. Overall, the Germans managed to establish Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as its client states, as well as Belorussia, Ukraine and Poland. However, the sheer, humiliating defeat Russia sustained at the hands of the Germans within two years would ultimately turn into a thirst for revolution. It would start in 1915.

At the Western Front, the German Army took advantage of Russia's sudden collapse and began to invade Belgium and France on January 14th, 1915, a few months after the Germans have started to lay siege to Moscow. The Moltke Plan for the Western Front involved the German forces encircling the French Army and reachng Paris. The speed of the offensive would be based on how the Russians would recover from their collapse. When the Germans encouraged the Poles living under the Russian Empire to launch an uprising, it didn't take any general to realize that inciting the Poles was a bad idea. Not only did the Polish Uprising had paralyzed the Russian front, but it also backfired as Poles within the German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire called for the unification of all Polish-speaking peoples. At least the Russians would be occupied with the rebellions in Poland, the Baltics, the Ukraine and Belorussia, but the Germans would now have additional soldiers to throw in against France.

In the Russian homefront, the two competing socialist factions, the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks are fiercely deadlocked in a fight to decide the fate of a post-Tsarist Russian state. The Tsarist armies were also deployed around the rebellious states in order to pacify it, and at the same time, drive out the remnant German forces out of Russia and restore order. The problem though, was that once the Baltics, Russian Poland, Belorussia and the Ukraine had intended to stick to their goals of independence, there was nothing the Russians can do. So in a resigned compromise, Tsar Nicholas II agreed to recognize the independence of the Baltic states and Poland, but fell short of recognizing the independence of its fraternal East Slavic states of Belorussia and Ukraine.

(Keep in mind that the Russian Revolution of this TL would start earlier because the Central Powers had defeated Russia first before turning towards France. Their 1914 invasion of Russia would be explained in this chapter after giving the first introduction. Also, since they attacked Russia first, the invasion of Belgium and France does not occur and Britain sits this one out.)
 
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Okay, slight problem. What keeps France from invading more? Additionally, if Germany focused on Russia... things wouldn't have ended well to say the least.
 
Well, the idea of a Free Territory seems to eschew any dictatorships at all, or am I wrong? This is the first time I've done an Anarcho-Syndicalist TL.

In theory, communism also eschewed dictatorship. Look how that ended up.
 
Hi!Really like the POD! :) Please write more&develop this further!The issue of France taking advantage of Germany during the split of Military forces may still happen,But your TL could have the France vs Germany conflict happen after the Russian loss.Then as German Forces pull out to fight the French,You could have the Russians fight the Remnant German forces while they are reduced in number to try&take back the territories lost to Germany during the Tsar's failed military response&subsequent concessions.
 

Hendryk

Banned
Something like this then?

jour_j_4_octobre_noir_couverture.jpg
 
Hi!Really like the POD! :) Please write more&develop this further!The issue of France taking advantage of Germany during the split of Military forces may still happen,But your TL could have the France vs Germany conflict happen after the Russian loss.Then as German Forces pull out to fight the French,You could have the Russians fight the Remnant German forces while they are reduced in number to try&take back the territories lost to Germany during the Tsar's failed military response&subsequent concessions.

That's what I'm doing right now. Having the Western Front break out in 1915 while the Russians are busy taking on the remnants of the German Army. Of course, I will also cover the pros and cons of anarcho-syndicalism, which would come into the big question: How long could it last? Since I don't know much about an anarcho-syndicalist regime, I will take a guess and say it would last only as long as the Free Territory outlasts its enemies. Anti-anarchist Russians would also include the National Alliance of Russian Solidarists and maybe some radical National Syndicalists or we'll call it Corporate Solidarists.
 

RousseauX

Donor
Well, the idea of a Free Territory seems to eschew any dictatorships at all, or am I wrong? This is the first time I've done an Anarcho-Syndicalist TL.
Since I don't know much about an anarcho-syndicalist regime,
A-S, as in actual A-S (with no representatives and direct democracy) isn't really practical for the 20st century. So you are stuck with more traditional forms of union-based political-economical systems, or something like Anarco-Soc which was tried in Catalonia. The former could work as long as they don't actually try to implement bona-fida Socialism (and turn into a dictatorship if they do). The latter will either collapse or regress into some sort of a state in a matter of month.

The basic problem with this is that non-Authoritarianism Socialism, as oppose to Social Democracy, is practically impossible in the 20th century.
 
A-S, as in actual A-S (with no representatives and direct democracy) isn't really practical for the 20st century. So you are stuck with more traditional forms of union-based political-economical systems, or something like Anarco-Soc which was tried in Catalonia. The former could work as long as they don't actually try to implement bona-fida Socialism (and turn into a dictatorship if they do). The latter will either collapse or regress into some sort of a state in a matter of month.

The basic problem with this is that non-Authoritarianism Socialism, as oppose to Social Democracy, is practically impossible in the 20th century.

Yes, that is true. Hence my guess of a short anarcho-syndicalist regime stands. Of course, there will be a sequel thread to Pain the Revolution Black and Red, and I may still call it Paint the Revolution Black and Red but under a different title.
 
To make sure that the Russian collapse would be even bigger, the Germans incited an uprising in Poland and the Baltics, where the Russian Army used some of its troops to put down the uprising.

Staging an uprising in Poland would shit on the Germans themself and the Austro-Hungarians, ESPECIALLY the Austro-Hungarians as there were Poles in those countries. Germany could probably deal with Polish uprisings as German Empire was mainly German; but it would be a sapping point. Austro-Hungarian Empire won't be able to deal with a Polish uprising in Russian Empire that inevitably spreads into Austro-Hungarian Polish regions. The Germans screwed over their allies :p

In theory, communism also eschewed dictatorship. Look how that ended up.

communism also had the concept of the 'dictatorship of the proletariat' and leninist theories were blatantly pro-vanguard party. There's a big difference


Of course, I will also cover the pros and cons of anarcho-syndicalism, which would come into the big question: How long could it last? Since I don't know much about an anarcho-syndicalist regime, I will take a guess and say it would last only as long as the Free Territory outlasts its enemies. Anti-anarchist Russians would also include the National Alliance of Russian Solidarists and maybe some radical National Syndicalists or we'll call it Corporate Solidarists.

They can do decently well, if they organize. And no that is not a contradiction. Anarchists can be organized. Just not hierarchical. Look up the concept of 'free federations for mutual assistance' and mutualist theories. It isn't pure anarcho-syndicalism but it is libertarian socialism; which is a general term for all this stuff. You can see a POD of the mensheviks take power and insteas of a bolshevik revolution there are small anarchist uprisings in Ukraine and Russia which destablise the state prompting an anarchist federation formed in moscow which has loose connection to the soviets (like OTL and Lenin; only it STAYS decentralized. Or it centralized for the war and dies down after the war ends). The name 'soviet union' would still apply here; but a better name might be 'union of anarchist workers communes/soviets or 'union of syndicalist nations' or something like that.
 
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Staging an uprising in Poland would shit on the Germans themself and the Austro-Hungarians, ESPECIALLY the Austro-Hungarians as there were Poles in those countries. Germany could probably deal with Polish uprisings as German Empire was mainly German; but it would be a sapping point. Austro-Hungarian Empire won't be able to deal with a Polish uprising in Russian Empire that inevitably spreads into Austro-Hungarian Polish regions. The Germans screwed over their allies :p



communism also had the concept of the 'dictatorship of the proletariat' and leninist theories were blatantly pro-vanguard party. There's a big difference




They can do decently well, if they organize. And no that is not a contradiction. Anarchists can be organized. Just not hierarchical. Look up the concept of 'free federations for mutual assistance' and mutualist theories. It isn't pure anarcho-syndicalism but it is libertarian socialism; which is a general term for all this stuff. You can see a POD of the mensheviks take power and insteas of a bolshevik revolution there are small anarchist uprisings in Ukraine and Russia which destablise the state prompting an anarchist federation formed in moscow which has loose connection to the soviets (like OTL and Lenin; only it STAYS decentralized. Or it centralized for the war and dies down after the war ends). The name 'soviet union' would still apply here; but a better name might be 'union of anarchist workers communes/soviets or 'union of syndicalist nations' or something like that.

I didn't realize that when I put the Polish uprising, I ended up screwing the Central Powers, especially Austria-Hungary. I may try to form an anarchist Soviet Union, but keep in mind that it could also have a hybrid of anarcho-syndicalism, mutualism, and libertarian socialism should the Free Territory actually collapse.
 
Chapter One: The Path to a Black Revolution



1915. Petrograd. Tsar Nicholas II had recently recognized the independence of the Baltic states and rump Poland, but soon faced fresh new challenges. The humiliating Russian defeat at Germany's hands as the German Army still laid siege to Petrograd and Moscow, forcing the Tsar to relocate the government to Kazan. By June of 1915, Finland declared its independence from the Russian Empire, adding yet another reminder of Russia's humiliation at the hands of its foreign enemies. Faced with an increasingly hostile population and a set of political parties frustrated of not being able to participate in the Duma, Nicholas II contemplated about abdication but decided against it. However, Nicholas II would be forced to change his mind in an incident occured in the city of Samara, in what became known as the Samara Incident.

On July 9th, 1915, Nicholas II and his family arrived in Samara for a nice vacation, away from the prying eyes of a desperate population. Upon arrival in their temporary home in Samara, a group of Russian soldiers led by Grand Duke Mikhail burst into the room and dragged his Tsar brother out of his bedroom and locked him and his family into the basement of their vacation home. Nicholas was outraged at his brother's treasonous actions but Mikhail told him that if he hadn't arrested him, either the revolutionaries or disgruntled Russian officers would have killed him. Mikhail got to the point and forced Nicholas to abdicate. Once again, the Tsar refused to do so until Mikhail revealed to his brother that even the nobility expressed doubts about his ability to rule as a sovereign. Finally, Nicholas bowed to the inevitable and abdicated. Mikhail ordered his own bodyguards to take the Tsar's family into a safe house in Krasnoyarsk, away from the reaches of the revolutionaries.

By July 12th, revolutionaries launched their coup as Petrograd was dominated by armed soldiers fighting on both sides. The Bolsheviks was fighting off a Menshevik attempt to seize power, and in the midst of the confusion, a small group of anarchist movements sprung to life. One of the movements was an anarchist faction led by Nestor Makhno. An unknown player in the revolutionary game, Makhno was only able to shore up support among the Ukrainian peasants against all factions who strove to compete for power in the post-Tsarist era, mainly the Bolsheviks and the White movement. His Black Army was short of supplies and personnel, forcing Makhno to enter a truce with the Bolshevik Red Army for a while. As Black and Red Army soldiers started to fraternize while off duty, Trotsky tried to intervene in order to make sure that the Red Army didn't become influenced by the Black Anarchists. However, an untimely event forced Trotsky to redirect his attention elsewhere.

White Russian forces under Mikhail II were alerted to a Bolshevik presence in Krasnoyarsk and rallied some of the inhabitants to help protect the Tsar and his family, but Trotsky's forces managed to help the regular soldiers defect to the revolutionaries. Indeed, by July 29th, the Bolshevik Red Army swelled up in numbers, thanks to defections from disgruntled civilians of major Siberian cities but Trotsky grew worried about the liability of these volunteers. Indeed, news of increased fraternization incidents between Black and Red soldiers were reported even in Belorussia, but the Bolsheviks were so stretched to their limits that they couldn't do anything to muster up what's left of their support.
 
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Chapter Two: The Formation of the Federation of Syndicalist Free Territories


The Bolsheviks' worries about Makhno's Black Army was soon confirmed when sailors from the Kronstandt naval base erupted in a rebellion, a year after the Tsar's family was imprisoned in Krasnoyarsk. The reason for such a rebellion was that the Bolsheviks were losing support from the countryside, which witnessed the confiscation of their foodstuffs to feed the Red Army. Moreover, the Russian Civil War shifted into a three way slugfest with the White, Red and now Black movements fighting for the fate of post-Tsarist Russia. Makhno's Anarchists, libertartian socialists and other non-Bolshevik parties were also concerned about Bolshevik domination of the government and how they were not allowed to express themselves, therefore giving the Bolsheviks an unfair advantage.

Russian naval sailors who fought for the Bolshevik faction now grew frustrated at their hardship and the apparent lack of care among the Bolshevik echleons for their well being. They drew up a manifesto, calling for the loosening of Bolshevik control of all governmental affairs, as well as allowing free expression and free speech to flourish in all areas of the soon to be established Federation of Syndicalist Free Territories. Unfortunately, the Kronstandt naval sailors had to wait for another year in order to launch their revolution as the Black and Red factions still cooperated in their campaign against the White emigres. Numerous victories were won by the combined Black and Red Armies in Siberia and in Central Asia, where the White armies were severely outstretched, yet the Black and Red forces were also outstretched too. Even so, tensions between Trotsky and Makhno grew and even erupted at one point when Red Army soldiers mutinied against their commissars and defected to Makhno's faction.

Once Makhno has gained enough support among the Black and Red Armies' soldiers, he also invited dissident communists, other anarchists who still had doubts about the revolution and libertarian socialists to join his movement and to help form what he called the Federation of Syndicalist Free Territories. Indeed, the FSFT would eventually be founded in 1923 after yet another two years of civil war after 1921 when the White forces were defeated by the Red Army in the Far East. The de facto Second Russian Civil War, this time it was also known as the Anarcho-Bolshevik Wars, was even bloodier with the Bolshevik Reds on the receiving end of a very frustrated peasantry's wrath, as well as Makhno's expanded Black Army with the most of Red Army soldiers absorbed already.
 
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Chapter Three: The Interregnum



When the Federation of Syndicalist Free Territories was established in 1923, most of Europe and Asia looked at the new state with utter horror, as if it came out of a very bad Frankenstein experiment. True, Bolshevism was a feared ideology that could have shaken up the foundations of European civilization, but anarcho-syndicalism? The very essence of anarcho-syndicalism went almost against government authority as a whole, and even leftists among European intellectuals were at loss as to whether or not they should support the movement.

Poland fell prey to the anarcho-syndicalist movement in 1925 after an assassination attempt against Marshal Pilsudski was foiled by his bodyguards. When it was revealed that the would-be assassin was a Ukrainian anarchist, the Polish government attempted to launch a brutal crackdown on the anarcho-syndicalist movement. It was only thanks to anti-Makhnoist Ukrainians and Lithuanians' efforts that the anarcho-syndicalist revolution in Poland proved to be short lived. The same could be said to would-be anarcho-syndicalist revolutions in Spain (where their attempts to destroy religion as a whole provoked a violent response from the Spanish monarchy), the United States (the First Black Scare was an event in which the American government played on the fears of anarchism in the so-called Land of the Free), and in China where the warlords reigned supreme and the Kuomintang proved to be inept in keeping the country together. In Asia besides China however, the most popular anarcho-syndicalist movement came to prominence in the Philippines where anti-American sentiment boiled over the US government's benevolent assimilation policies. Students were encouraged to rebel against their Americanized teachers in support of the movement, peasant revolts often broke out and a small skirmish in the farmlands of Central Luzon where the oligarchs came close to experiencing the full wrath of anarcho-syndicalism.

Back home in the FSFT, Nestor Makhno declares himself simply as 'the Syndicate' and begins to come up with the core beliefs for the Makhnoist anarcho-syndicalism. In his Kronstandt speech on August 9th, 1926, Makhno condemned the Bolshevik movement as a 'party of thugs' who merely wanted to take over the Russian leadership that they themselves had overthrown. He promised to leave all economic aspects of production to trade unions and to make sure that all members of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Movement are to be disciplined. Ironic as it sounds, even anarcho-syndicalists must show some professional class if their movement would become popular. As for the rest of Europe, here's the rundown of how they fared after the devastating, Russian defeat:

- France: From 1915 onwards, the German Army bombarded French positions around No Man's Land. An offensive in Verdun in which the German two pronged offensive against the French forts resulted in a Phyrric German victory, although the victory at Verdun was spoiled by a German defeat by loyalist Tsarist Russian forces in the Battle of Polotsk of December 18th, 1916. Even so, worse mutinies broke out as the French Army was gradually becoming a shell of its former self and some officers contemplated surrender to the German forces. Rumors of anarcho-syndicalist movements in Paris reached the ears of General Petain, who simply shrugged it off as a mere nuisance.

- Great Britain: The German Navy simply continued to sink so many Allied ships containing supplies to reach the British isles, but luckily they didn't sink the American liner the Lusitania. Even so, the Easter Rebellion broke out in Ireland over German success in the continent, and a British disaster at Vimy in late October of 1916 pretty much summed up the British portion of the Great War. In the end, while the Royal Navy reigned supreme in the high seas, Germany had to demand some British colonies as compensation.

- Germany: The German breakthrough in the spring of 1917 allowed Lundendorff's forces to lure the Allied forces into Vichy (instead of fighting in Cambrai) and inflict a serious defeat on an exhausted Anglo-French force. With Kaiser Wilhelm II's explicit orders to the German High Command NOT to do anything stupid that would attract American involvement, even going as far as to stop Zimmermann from sending his telegraph to the Mexican government. At the Treaty of Koenigsberg, Germany had acquired all of France's African colonies except for Algeria, which was instead awarded to the Ottoman Empire but they didn't enjoy it much because the Turkish Civil War broke out over frustrations among the Ottoman Army veterans. German Mittleafrika was enlarged to stretch from former French West Africa to former British East Africa (think Mittleafrika from In the Presence of Mine Enemies), reparations were to be paid to Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire from Great Britain and France but not the FSFT (due to Makhno's opposition to paying his future enemies).

However, from the years 1921 to 1931, Germany actually spent those ten year training anti-Makhno factions from all over the former Russian Empire. While Wilhelm II was not keen on letting Russia become a dominant power once again, the other prince of his namesake, Wilhelm of Prussia, was open to using former anarcho-syndicalists, disgruntled ex-Bolsheviks and radical White Russian emigres who sought to overthrow Makhno's regime. First and foremost, the Germans secretly arranged for Skoropadsky's Ukrainian faction to launch a rebellion against the Ukrainian anarcho-syndicalists while a Russian National Syndicalist Union was to be formed from amongst former leftists. However, the German Abwehr had trouble finding potential leaders. Stalin was a former Bolshevik, but even Wilhelm Canaris, who'd taken over the top post of the Abwehr in 1926, didn't trust Stalin that much. Same said to leaders like Kirov, Bukharin and Kaganovich. Finally in January 18th, 1927, Canaris finally found his man to lead a Russian National Syndicalist Union: Lavr Kornilov, who was forced to leave Russia after Makhno's men nearly captured him during a shootout in the FSFT border with Latvia.
 
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