Three years ago, the full-scale invasion of the fascist Russian state into Ukraine began. For the entire modern anarchist and revolutionary left movement in the post-Soviet region, including the Combat Organization of Anarcho-Communists (B.O.A.K), this has likely become the most serious test of our existence. We accepted the challenge of history and joined the fight.
Unfortunately, it is already possible to see how the struggle of anarchists in the region over these three difficult years is beginning to be forgotten. This must not happen. We must remember the martyrs and critically analyze the experiences gained in the struggle — only in this way can we achieve our revolutionary goals.
Socio-Political Situation
What did we have to face on February 24, 2022, and what was the socio-political situation? In the preceding years, the Russian state, through repression, nearly completely crushed all sprouts of independent social self-organization in the territories it controlled. Within the framework of this policy of state terror, a serious blow was dealt to the anarchist movement. We remember the “Network case” and other persecutions of comrades. We also remember the young hero and martyr Mikhail Zhlobitsky, who embarked on the path of selfless struggle against the state’s repressive machine. Despite Misha’s heroic act and other attempts to resist, state control over society was extremely strong and only intensified with each passing day.
We also saw how Putin, after a period of cooling in relations between the two dictators, ultimately provided political support to Lukashenko’s regime at a critical moment. This played a significant role in suppressing the popular uprising that began in Belarus in August 2020. The defeat of Ukraine, its occupation, or the establishment of a pro-Russian puppet government in Kyiv would inevitably lead to a regime of state terror in that country as well.
We had no illusions about the Ukrainian neoliberal state, and we saw the repressions it was carrying out — these repressions were directed, among other things, specifically against us. Nevertheless, the level of independence of society from the state and the opportunities for social self-organization were significantly higher in Ukraine at the beginning of 2022 than in Russia and Belarus. Therefore, for us, as anarchists and revolutionaries, it was obvious that we needed to stand in defense of society when it faced fascist imperial aggression.
It was also clear that Russia’s war against Ukraine has a genocidal character. This is manifested not only in the mass killing of civilians, although in Mariupol and other places, the Russian army has been quite ‘successful’ in such atrocities.
The genocidal policy is also expressed in the desire to subordinate Ukrainian society, which has historically already undergone Russian colonization, to an imperial narrative and imperial hegemony (including cultural), in paralyzing any collective actions through state terror, and in eradicating the very collective memory of resistance. The Russian regime aims not only to conquer new lands but also to deprive the surviving Ukrainians of their will, dignity, and any sense of community, mentally imposing on them the role of powerless slaves of the imperial metropolis. This aligns the Russian invasion of Ukraine with the genocidal policies of the Turkish state in Kurdistan and the genocide being carried out by the state of Israel in Palestine.
Partisan Struggle in Russia
In the first six months of the full-scale war, the partisan actions of B.O.A.K. received enormous resonance both in Russia and Ukraine, as well as beyond the post-Soviet region. Our attacks resonated so loudly because they were carried out by an organization of revolutionaries. In place of the combat actions of brave individuals or spontaneously formed small groups that characterized the very first months of the full-scale invasion appeared organized revolutionary struggle.
It is also important to note that the partisan resistance of B.O.A.K. was accompanied by a deep ideological analysis of our actions and propaganda work. This served to achieve revolutionary goals and prevented the instrumentalization of our struggle by any state-oriented forces. Our partisan resistance was not only effective and loud; it was and remains autonomous, independent of any state actors.
Attempts were also made to expand the partisan resistance and involve new friends in it. One of the methods we used for this was the creation of the Revolutionary Anarchist Fund. Interaction with new comrades is carried out on the principles of maximum transparency in the conditions of brutal state repression, and, if necessary, training in the essential skills of conspiracy takes place. We consider deception and a consumerist attitude towards friends to be unacceptable. On this foundation, we will continue to work towards creating an organized anarchist partisan movement on the territory of the Russian Federation.
Struggle for Autonomy in Conditions of War
From the very beginning of the full-scale war, one of the founders of our organization, Dmitry Petrov, and other comrades worked on creating a separate anti-authoritarian combat unit in Ukraine. Such a unit could become a platform for organized revolutionary activity in the post-Soviet space and an autonomous military-political entity, an alternative to state-oriented, reactionary, and capitalist forces. The leitmotif of our struggle was not the preservation of the ‘territorial integrity’ of the Ukrainian state or the defense of post-Soviet neoliberal ‘democracy’ from the post-Soviet fascist empire. As noted earlier, we recognized the relative independence of Ukrainian society and its potential for social self-organization — something that has been suppressed by dictatorial regimes in Russia and Belarus. We stood in defense of society against the state-oriented force that came to Ukraine with fire and sword to eradicate any manifestations of independence.
We are anarchists and revolutionaries, and participating in the war on one side with the state, in the ranks of state-controlled armed forces, is an obvious significant contradiction. The discussion of this contradiction is somewhat addressed in the article by our heroically fallen comrade Dmitry Petrov, ‘Four Months in the Anti-Authoritarian Platoon in Ukraine.’ Dima wrote:
“Obviously, taking a place in a vertical hierarchy is problematic from an anti-authoritarian perspective. However, we consciously took this step. I think everyone in the platoon would agree that participating in the resistance is valuable even if it means temporary inclusion in the framework of the army.
Could we resist the invasion with arms independently from the state army under the current conditions? The answer is definitely no. Most ideas like this are being proposed far away from the country, by people who are cut off from this local context. First of all, there is not enough structure or resources on our side at the moment to seriously apply to form an independent armed force. At the same time, the Ukrainian state has enough force and will to suppress any fully autonomous force. In this situation, non-state guerrilla struggle is possible only in the territories occupied by the Russian army.
However, the most important reason is that the interests of Ukrainian society and the Ukrainian state currently overlap on one point, repelling the brutal invasion, though not on myriad other points. Because of this, any attempt to separately organize resistance doesn’t seem to find any understanding from the people at the current time. But we see that the current situation in the Ukrainian armed forces still provides a lot of space for different political groups eager to fight the occupiers”.
It is important to emphasize once again that our participation in the defense of society in this format was not a spontaneous decision, and even less an assimilation into alien structures, but rather a part of a well-considered revolutionary strategy.
All revolutionary movements have had to confront contradictions in their struggle and overcome them. The presence of contradictions cannot be a reason for inaction and dogmatism. At the same time, it is essential to constantly analyze our actions and how well they align with our revolutionary goals. This is what the martyr Dmitry Petrov taught us, and we have learned the lesson.
Aside from fundamental ideological contradictions, interaction with state armed structures entails a number of other difficulties. This includes the necessity to obey superiors who are far removed from anarchist ideas, to interact with command that sometimes has a questionable level of competence and is not accountable to any democratic structures, and much more.
Dmitry PetrovAnd yet, during the time of the full-scale war, several attempts were made to organize military entities with a certain level of autonomy. The most well-known and successful of these projects was the Anti-Authoritarian Platoon, which operated in the territorial defense of the Kyiv region during the first months of the full-scale invasion. It ceased to exist in the summer of 2022, but the struggle for autonomy in wartime did not end. In the spring of 2023, Dmitry Petrov and several other comrades received permission to create their anarchist unit. The project came to an end with the heroic death of Dima, as well as the internationalists Finbar Cafferky and Cooper Andrews, near Bakhmut on April 19, 2023.
In 2023-2024, comrades associated with B.O.A.K. fought as part of the ‘Siberian Battalion’ of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which was primarily composed of opposition-minded citizens of the Russian Federation. The comrades had no autonomy within this structure. Nevertheless, they managed to convey their views to a relatively wide audience through contacts with major Russian opposition and Ukrainian mainstream media. This interaction with the media served to increase the visibility of the anarchist movement and also acted as a form of ideological self-defense, preventing ideological assimilation. Our comrade, a supporter of B.O.A.K. and a fighter in the ‘Siberian Battalion,’ Vladislav Yurchenko, heroically fell on August 9, 2024, during the landing of Ukrainian sabotage-reconnaissance groups on the Kinburn Spit in the Mykolaiv region.
Vladislav JurchenkoWhat to Do Now?
The capitalist forces, which are increasingly led by overt fascists like Donald Trump, are joining the colonial division of Ukraine initiated by Putin. Therefore, we will continue the struggle against the state and capitalism — on both local and global levels. This includes organizing partisan resistance on the territory of the Russian Federation.
Equally important is to critically analyze and share the experiences gained over the past three years with comrades both in the post-Soviet space and in other countries. We see that there is still very little known about revolutionary resistance in Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia, although there is international interest in it. It is necessary to engage in ideological discussion and build bridges with revolutionaries around the world.
Keeping the memory of the martyrs in our hearts, we will continue the struggle!
Combat Organization of Anarcho-Communists
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