In the Social Storm: Memoirs of the Russian Revolution By Boris Yelensky Chapter 14
Chapter 14
When I arrived in Kharkov, I discharged my official duties by turning over all my papers to the various Commissariats to which they were addressed. My last stop was at the place where I was to receive my instructions about when and how to report for the work assigned to me in connection with the White Army. When I entered the office, I found my friend Tolmachov already there. The chief commissar noted my cordial relations with Tolmachov, who told him that we had worked together for some time in Novorossiysk and asked about the nature of my assignment. The chief replied that I was to be dispatched to the area occupied by the White Army. Tolmachov leaped from his chair in surprise. “You don’t know what you are doing,” he shouted, “sending Comrade Boris to a sector of the White Army where he was so active and popular! I must confer with Comrade Rakovsky today to point out the absurdity of this action; he could be arrested by the Whites in very short order and they would surely liquidate him.” The chief commissar was taken somewhat aback by this reaction, and it was quite obvious he did not want the problem referred to Comrade Rakovsky, who was at that time chief of the Ukrainian Soviet government.
The commissar walked over to Tolmachov and said in a gentle voice: “You do not need to become agitated; the question of Comrade Yelensky’s work need not be taken up with Rakovsky – it can be settled right here. You know Comrade Yelensky well. What undertaking, in your opinion, should be entrusted to him?” Tolmachov replied: “Comrade Yelensky now holds the rank of diplomatic courier and is quite capable of performing his task. Let him retain that post, and when I have organized my mission, I will engage his services. To resolve the problem, I want you to promptly prepare a report containing the data I have given you, and recommend that, for the time being, he remain as a diplomatic courier. Later on, when we talk to Rakovsky, we shall request that he also sign the document.” The chief commissar assented and requested me to see him the next day in order to procure all the required papers to enable me to travel back to Moscow.
I had not planned to leave Kharkov immediately as I still had a mission to carry out for our Nabat movement. I assured the commissar that I would report to him the next day, but resorted to the ruse of telling him that I suspected I had caught a severe cold en route and should have a physician examine me while I rested for a couple of days. “Of course, of course, Comrade Yelensky,” replied the commissar, “you can travel when you are perfectly well.”
He summoned his secretary and directed him to obtain a room for me at the Dom Sovietov (House of the Soviets), and to provide me with the requisite papers to enable me to obtain what I needed. Then he added that if I needed anything else I should come to him and he would take care of me. I tool leave of Tolmachov and the commissar, walked into the office of the secretary and obtained all the necessary documentation and my room number. I went to the house immediately and was gratified to find an elegant room with a bath, and a fairly respectable restaurant. I availed myself of these luxuries and took a nap, since I had been unable to sleep during our nights in the railway coach. I now felt that the first step to further our movement had been taken, and I enjoyed peace of mind as I fell asleep.
It was already past noon when I awoke. The two young comrades who had accompanied me on the train had already passed the word of my arrival to the bookstore and several of the comrades could not understand what had happened to me. When I arrived with the two packs of books I had brought from Moscow, they welcomed this supply as a great treasure, because such books could not be obtained in Kharkov. My comrades were happy to see me and to hear my account of what had happened in Moscow. The two young women had already told them that I travelled on the train like a V.I.P. Above all, they were eager to know where I had procured the literature and whether more such books could be obtained in Moscow.
I reported briefly that I had obtained a post with the Commissariat for Foreign Affairs as a diplomatic courier; that they wanted to send me to a sector controlled by the White Army and that a good friend who had accompanied me from Moscow had decided such a mission would be unsafe and impractical and had prevailed on the Bolsheviks to retain me instead as a courier between Moscow and Kharkov. I also told them of the incident with Shatov and about our comrades in Moscow. I kept silent about the books; but later on Comrade Goodman questioned me privately about them and I told him that the fewer persons who knew about the literature matter, the better.
The Gordin brothers had quite a supply of Peter Kropotkin’s books but they had imposed the condition that, along with the Kropotkin literature, we must also take their volumes on “socio-technology.” Material of this nature could be obtained almost everywhere. I told Comrade Goodman that I could probably not remain there longer than two weeks and only that long because I had told my superiors that I was not feeling well. In the meantime, Goodman should prepare the needed funds and locate a comrade who could be entrusted to accompany me to Moscow. On our arrival in Moscow, I would find ways and means of transferring the literature to Kharkov.
While I was talking with Goodman, he told me it was well that I had come to Kharkov at this particular time, since the following Saturday and Sunday the Nabat Confederation would be holding its illegal conference. The conference had been summoned especially because Comrade Aron Baron had come from Nestor Makhno’s front highly dissatisfied and with grievances and was demanding that the confederation take a stand on his complaints. This was naturally communicated to the staff of Makhno’s forces, which was requested to send several spokesmen to participate in the general Ukrainian Nabat Confederation.
It was no easy task to organize a general Nabat conference at a time when the Bolsheviks were beginning to show their teeth. To begin with, the conference had to be clandestine, since many of our comrades were not on the friendliest of terms with the Bolsheviks. In the second place, it was necessary to guard the delegation from Nestor Makhno’s army staff. There was also the question of finding a place big enough to accommodate a large number of our co-workers without attracting the attention of the Cheka or of the Bolshevik militants. Joseph Goodman contrived to find such a place.
There was a man in Kharkov at that time who had been active in our movement in the United States. After the October revolution, he withdrew from active participation and obtained a post which brought him into contact with the highest cadres of the Bolshevik hierarchy. In the vicinity of Kharkov, behind the city, there were groves of oak trees near which summer homes were located. This American emigre, as an official of some prestige, was given on of these summer homes for his family, located off the highway in the depths of the woods. Joseph Goodman persuaded the man to yield his summer home for the conference for two days, since the conference was to take place on Saturday and Sunday and the Kharkov residents would be having picnics in the woods so that extra persons in the area would not be noticed. Good-man guaranteed that our people would come and go from the other side of the home so that none of the neighbors would suspect anything unusual.
The man finally yielded to Goodman’s importunities and, in addition, undertook to furnish meals for the two days. Since five days remained until the conference, I interested myself in becoming acquainted a bit more with some of the comrades who were previously unknown to me. As might be expected among a large group of people, I intuitively became more closely attached to some than others. I shall endeavor therefore, to sketch some of my closest companions, with whom I maintained a more cordial relationship:
Joseph Goodman, I believe, but am not positive, was an emigre from America ( probably from Detroit). I have already spoken of him but I must reiterate that he was the heart and soul of the Kharkov group. I sometimes fancied that he could quite possibly get work out of a corpse. He would never take no for an answer. We became close friends and he held our accomplishments in Novorossiysk in high esteem. At times he expressed a regret that he had not been able to take part in our efforts there.
I styled them the “Holy Troika” (Three); Katya, a returnee from Philadelphia, a deeply devoted and likeable comrade; her husband Abraham Christos, who, with his beard and long hair bore a remarkable resemblance to the Christ as he is pictured. The third was an emigre from Paris by the name of Ivan Apolon, a giant of a man, but ever with a ready smile and, in general, very genial. These three had always remained together, having fled from Yekaterinoslav when the White Army entered.
Lea and Yasha Gotman were from Detroit and were quite active in the Kharkov group of Nabat. Mark Mrochne, a student who had only recently joined our movement, was a member of the editorial staff of the Nabat journal. Vanya Tarasyuk-Kobos was another dedicated and congenial comrade who was active in this group.
Voline was the intellectual creator of the concept of unitary anarchism. He contributed to the Kharkov Nabat and for some time had been active with Nestor Makhno’s partisan army. He served as editor of the periodical and as intellectual guide for the army.
There were, of course, other comrades affiliated with the Kharkov group, but unhappily I no longer recall their names. Aside from the permanent members of the Nabat group, comrades would visit us for a short time and then leave for other cities. At times, it seemed that most of our comrades spent most of their time on the road – they appeared to be missing something or in search of something.