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of Ushomir asked the agent of the Red Cross not to establish a kitchen after the model of the one in Iskorost, so that they might not be exposed to the danger of being regarded as communists.
^ The attitude of opposition toward the "city power" I led to a rejection of "State power" in general. The I anarchistic village needs no government. Of what good is it? The village has its leaders, viz. its "Elders" / (Batki). The government is never constant, it always changes. Since the March Revolution the Ukraine has had too many governments to be able to believe in the durability of any kind of State order (the Provisional Government, the Central Rada and its Secretariat, the first period of the Soviet power, the German Occupation, the rule of the Germans, the Directory, the Soviet power again and the armies pressing it from two sides, the army of Petlura and that of the volunteers). Their Ataman (leader), however, their Batko, they always have. He is one of them and they believe in the firmness and unshakenness of the armed regime of the peasants with the Batko at their head. The village rejects every thought of the possibility of an attack on the peasants and their "eternal rights to the land and its products" by the landed proprietors of the White Guard. But in so far as the village sees a danger on the right, in so far as danger threatens the interests of the village and the right of the peasants to the land, they will support the left including the Soviet power, which favors them in this matter.
A characteristic episode will make clear the attitude of the village to the Soviet power when there is a danger threatening from the right. In the last months of the Soviet government in the Ukraine (July, 1919),
there were frequent uprisings among those Soviet troops which consisted of peasant freebooters. Such a regiment stationed near Kiev resolved to march to Kiev, "to slit the bellies of the Jewish commissars, to set aside the commune and re-establish the 'true Bolshevist order I' ' They allowed a representative of the Soviet power to have his say, and after hearing him they deliberated and persisted in their former resolution. In full fighting form the regiment marched to Kiev. The political commissar, who was in this case the principal agitator, resolved to hold another meeting in order to heighten the temper of the regiment, for there were a few who hesitated under the impression of the speech of the Soviet representative. The political commissar made a long speech, pointed to the harm that would come from the "commune" and said that the war must be ended altogether. "Let us remove the commune, make peace with Denikin and go home." These words acted like an electric spark, "He invites us to make peace with the landed proprietors, he is a traitor!" The unfortunate speaker was put in chains, handed over to the representatives of the Soviet government, and the regiment was ordered to the Denikin front.
The Batko — flesh of the flesh and blood of the blood of the village — stands close to the village in his temper, thought, life and character. The Batko is not always an ordinary peasant. As we shall see later, the most important Batki are highly developed persons with European education. But they can put themselves in the position of the village, think its thoughts and ideals, make its desires and moods their own and embody the will of the Ukrainian peasant. They are able to lead the peasant masses, who yield them respect
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and obedience so long as they give expression to the will of the village. The Batko understands how to take the peasant, and knows how to win him over by social or national motives. The Batko is perfectly familiar with the revolutionary phraseology and adapts it successfully to the level of the peasant. He is primarily a demagogue. In his speeches and proclamations, the Batko expresses himself in favor of the Soviet power without the communists. He demands besides that the Rada be controlled by the village. He is against the bourgeoisie and against the communists, but for the Bolsheviki. Often he expresses himself to the effect that the communists treat the bourgeoisie too gently. The Batko is opposed to a centralized government and its apparatus. He demands a free association of anarchistic peasant communities with the Batki at the head. Socially the program of the Batki is primitively anarchistic: "Rob, requisition, take possession of the cities, take Yekaterinoslav, take Kiev, take Kharkov, — the cities belong to you, take away the property of the wealthy classes."