Among the Russian anarchists, communist anarchists who advocated replacing the state with a federation of communes prevailed (Apollon Karelin, Kazimir Kovalevich, Vladimir Barmash, Aleksander Atabekyan). There were also separate organizations of anarcho-syndicalists who considered the professional and industrial organizations of workers to be the basis of the future society (Aleksey Borovoy, Vsevolod Volin, Grigory Maksimov, Yefim Yarchuk). The individualist anarchists (Andrey Andreyev, Lev Chyorny) and pan-anarchists (brothers Vladimir and Aleksander Gordin) were less influential.

 

After the October Revolution, the wing of “Soviet Anarchists” (Aleksey Borovoy, Aleksander Ge, Juda Grossman, Apollon Karelin, Yakov Novomirsky, Aleksander Shapiro) took shape. It advocated cooperation with the Bolshevik Party and participation in the organs of Soviet power, which was considered transitional on the way to anarchy.

 

In the autumn of 1917 – spring of 1918, in several regions of the country, anarchists created combat detachments of the “Black Guard”, held power in some areas (the Cheremkhovsky basin in Siberia, several districts of the Tver region, the Huliaipole district in Ukraine). In the spring and summer of 1918, the Bolsheviks disarmed anarchist groups in several cities, which pushed some anarchists to adopt active opposition tactics. In the summer of 1919, the All-Russian Organization of Underground Anarchists was formed, whose members planned to blow up the government building and assassination attempt on Vladimir Lenin. In September 1919, they threw a bomb into the premises of the Moscow Committee of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) – RCP(b) (12 people were killed).

 

In 1919–1921, the anarchists gained great influence among the guerillas in Ukraine and Siberia. The guerilla movement gave birth to mass peasant movements led by Nestor Makhno and Grigory Rogov, who fought against both the Whites and the Reds at the same time.

 

Several anarchist organizations sought legal activity within the Soviet system framework. In 1918, the All-Russian Federation of Anarchist Communists was established. In 1919, the All-Russian Federation of Anarchist Youth emerged. In 1918–1919, two All-Russian conferences of anarcho-syndicalists were held. Anarchists held positions in the army and soviets, many of them later joined the RCP(b) (Juda Grossman, Yakov Novomirsky, Herman Sandomirsky, Vladimir Shatov, and others). After the death of Pyotr Kropotkin in Moscow in February 1921, the All-Russian Public Committee for the Perpetuation of the Memory of P. A. Kropotkin was established (it existed until 1939).

 

In March 1921, after the Kronstadt rebellion, many anarchist leaders were arrested (some were shot, others were expelled from the country). In the 1920s, a small number of anarchists continued their activities. Many anarchists who remained in the USSR were subjected to repression in the late 1920s–1930s. Anarchists in exile created committees and funds to help imprisoned anarchists in Russia.