The watchwords of the bands of the Batki are the same as those of Petlura's men, with variations now and then. In Matusovo the Jews were attacked by the bandits under the motto, "Will you, Jewish rabble, still keep ruling over us?" In Slovechno the massacre was accompanied by the words, "Here is your commune for you, here is your Jewish Empire!" In Chernobyl, Struk's bands rushed into the Jewish houses, shouting and shrieking, "Open, you communist Jews, or we will beat you to death, we will slit your bellies and drown you!" Struk's chieftains explained to their bandits the purpose of their coming as being to plunder and drown the low communists who rob the workmen and peasants. "Low communists" means the Jews. In his proclamations Struk always spoke of the communists and the capitalistic defenders of the Jews. Now and then the motto was enlarged by adding the motive of the independence of the Ukraine. In a popular assembly in Chernobyl, Struk called out to the crowd, "Kill the Jews and save the Ukraine!" In Radomysl Sokolovsky's band forced the Jews, before they were shot, to sing, "The Ukraine is not yet lost."
As stated before, the activity of the bands and of their Batki had terrible consequences for the Jewish population of the Ukraine. The question arises what were the relations between the Batko institution and the Directory. As said before, a whole line of Batki were followers of Petlura. In the school of Petlura and of the Directory they learned the custom and the practice, the inclination and the political wisdom of carrying on the fight against Bolshevism by means of Jewish persecutions. The institution of the Batko supplements the pogrom activity of the Directory. As long as the Batki carried on it was not neccessary, except occasionally, to have recourse to military pogroms. The latter demoralize the army, undermine discipline and change the troops into a band of robbers and murderers, which naturally is highly undesirable for the state force. The institution of the Batko is a local phenomenon, which affects mainly the local peasant population and appears irresponsible in respect to public opinion in western Europe. The Batki need not put any restraint upon their activities in persecuting the Jews, in the interest of high politics. Before the Entente the Batki could be designated as "local robbers." At the same time they carry out in splendid fashion the dirty work of intimidating the Jewish population, disorganizing the cities and towns and in this way fighting the Soviet power. The Directory enjoyed the fruit of the Batko institution. The former tried there-
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fore to organize the uprisings, to centralize the efforts of the insurrectionists and to guide their activity in a definite direction. In the army reports are found not only communications concerning the movements on Petlura's front, but also data concerning the aims on the front of the insurrectionists. In August, 1919, Petlura and Denikin approached Kiev simultaneously under cover of the bands of Zeleny and other Batki who had forced their way into the city.
The Batko of all Batki, Mazurenko, stood very near to the Directory, and it is very probable that he was the connecting link between it and the insurrectionists. There is evidence that the Directory sent special emissaries to the points of insurrection for the purpose of maintaining proper connection between itself and the Batki. But even apart from this, the Directory showed the bloody example and by the political utilization of the terrible weapon, created the conviction throughout the Ukraine that Jewish pogroms were not punished, that the possessions of the Jews might be plundered, that Jewish women might be violated and that there was no prohibition against the annihilation of the Jews.