To have thrown the peasants upon this primitive, savage, uncultivated level, through which the cultural development not only was stopped but set back, that is the work of those who lit the flame of. the world war. The blame for this brutalizing of men falls upon them.
The conditions under which the Machno army declared itself prepared to fight together with the Red Army against Wrangel were laid down in the form of a pact on October 16, 1920, which was signed by the former Hungarian People's Commissar Bela Kun and by a representative of the Machno army. It reads as follows :
AGREEMENT.
in regard to provisional co-operation in the military operations between the Ukrainian Soviet Republic and the revolutionary guerilla army of Ukraine, called "Machnovtzi" :
(1) The revolutionary guerilla army of the Machnovtzi joins the forces of the republican army as a guerilla army, which in its operations is subordinated to the supreme command of the Red Army. But it retains its previous organization, without adopting the principles and the fundamentals of the regular Red Army.
(2) The revolutionary guerilla army of the Machnovtzi, which is located o<n the territory of the Soviets along or across the front, shall not take up in its ranks such parts of the Red Army as wish to desert to it.
Note: The parts of the Red Army or the isolated red soldiers who in Wrangel's rear come together with the revolutionary guerilla army, shall again unite with the Red Army when they meet with it.
The guerilla Machnovtzi who are still in Wrangel's rear, as well as the population which in those parts of the country have entered the guerilla army, remain in the ranks of the latter, even if they have before been mobilized by the Red Army.
(3) The purpose of the argreement between the command of the Red Army and the revolutionary guerilla army "Machnovtzi," is to annihilate the common enemy, the white army. The Machnovtzi declare themselves in agreement with the request of the command of the Red Army to discontinue the hostilities of the population against the Red Army. At the same time the Soviet Government announces the agreements entered into, in order to obtain the greatest possible results in the tasks designated.
(4) The families of the soldiers of the revolutionary guerilla army "Machnoytzi," who live on the territory of the Soviet republic, are entitled to the same rights as the soldiers of the Red Army and shall receive from the Ukrainian Soviet Government the relief agreed upon.
AGREEMENTS
in regard to provisional co-operation in political questions between the Soviet Government of Ukraine and the revolutionary guerilla army of the Machnovtzi :
(1) The immediate liberation of all those persecuted and the discontinuance of all further persecution in the domain of the Soviet Republic against all Machnovtzi and anarchists, with the exception of those who have carried on an armed fight against the Soviet Government.
(2) Complete free agitation and propaganda in words as well as through the press for all Machnovtzi and anarchists and their ideas and principles, with observance of military censorship in military matters. For the issuing of all anarchist and Machnovtzi publications (books, magazines, papers, etc.), which are recognized by the Soviet Government as revolutionary organizations, the Soviet State places all the technical material at their disposition on the basis of the general rules which apply to publications.
(3) Free participation in the election to the Soviets, as well as right for Machnovtzi and anarchists to become members of the Soviets, and besides, free participation in the preparations for the next V. Soviet Congress of Ukraine, which will take place in December, 1920, is guaranteed.
Accepted by the representatives of both parties to the agreement at the conference on October 16, 1920.
Signed by
BELA KUN, POPOFF,
After these agreements were entered into, it became possible to conquer Wrangel's white armies, due to the co-operation between the Red Army and the Machnovtzi. But after the victory of the Red Army, the Soviet Government broke these agreements and started a merciless battle against the Machno detachment. And all anarchists of Ukraine were again put in prison.