warning this gets weird

Here’s a bio: Leah Feldman who worked with Nestor Makhno. He stole my rellie’s watch, he won’t get his own page even if I read that dreffle book. (History of the Makhnovist movement.) (ALSO THIS ***IS*** HIS OWN PAGE, THIS POST IS ALMOST A THOUSAND WORDS LONG AND I HARDLY MENTION LEAH FELDMAN, WHO WAS A MENSCH.)

I almost want to translate it (History of the Makhnovist movement) into internet-friendly contemporary English ’cause the translation verbs the galactic noun into a state of noun. Why am I compelled to pay attention to him? is it because he was one of John’s special favourites?

check out the turgid first three paragraphs, administered first aid by yours truly in italics.

As the reader approaches this book (When you first pick up this book you’ll want to know, is this serious shit, or serious horseshit?) he will first of all want to know what kind of work this is: is it a serious and conscientious analysis, or a fantastic and irresponsible fabrication? Can the reader have confidence in the author, (Is the author tripping balls, or are the dates, facts and maps straight?) at least with respect to the events, the facts and the materials? Is the author sufficiently impartial, (Is he telling the truth with some understanding of his own biases) or does he distort the truth in order to justify his own ideas (and piss on his opponents?) – I went a bit off the rails there but I hope you can see why I’d want to rewrite the book in a light hearted and humorous vein.

These are not irrelevant questions. (This subject is important enough in terms of anarchist and world history that you should care if the author got it right. which is not a direct translation and couldn’t possibly be, this is a gloss.)

It is important to examine the documents on the Makhnovist movement with great discretion. (Good luck with that they’re all in Russian and Ukrainian and did anyone ever tell you that translations are political? yes they are.) The reader will understand this if he considers some of the characteristics of the movement. (THE READER IS A FUCKING GIRL and I’ll understand more if you blow less.)

a hunnert pages of this…. I have to finish Moloch and UPSUN’s HOTM before I even touch that as a side project, that seriously would be something I’d do in jail.

So I continued anyway…..

On the one hand, the Makhnovshchina (Mack NOV shin a)  [Makhnovist Movement.]  – an event of extraordinary breadth, grandeur and importance, which unfolded with exceptional force and played a colossal and extremely complicated role in the destiny of the revolution, undergoing a titanic struggle against all types of reaction, more than once saving the revolution from disaster, extremely rich in vivid and colourful episodes – has attracted widespread interest not only in Russia but also abroad.

EXCUSE ME while I enjoy someone who can put titanic and colossal in the same paragraph without even a hint of jocularity!

 

The story of the Macknovshchina is so powerful, colourful and historically important that interest in the story is not confined to Russia. Fascists and reactionaries hate its truths, deride its outlandish tales of luck, betrayal, revolutionary fervour and derring-do, and cast doubt on its morality, as well as that of Makhnov himself, in an effort to dislodge him and it from the collective memory. That’s mostly because he kept the fucking revolution alive along with his anarchist principles and when he diverged organizationally from the soviets, they didn’t want to be beholden or get into it ideologically so he had to go — and to the horror of those who loved him he ended up drinking himself to death in exile. But we’re not going to talk about that part of his life in this book, that’s for the Netflix series. NOW THEN, IS THAT NOT BETTER AND MORE USEFUL THAN THE TWO PARAGRAPHS I COMBINED INTO ONE ??? (ie the foregoing paragraph and this next one, which is clunkier than a 30 year old Corolla.)

The Makhnovshchina has given rise to the most diverse feelings in reactionary as well as revolutionary circles: from feelings of fierce hatred and hostility, of astonishment, distrust and suspicion, all the way to profound sympathy and admiration. The monopolization of the revolution by the Communist Party and the “Soviet” power forced the Makhnovshchina, after long hesitation, to embark on a struggle – as bitter as its struggle against the reaction – during which it inflicted on the Party and the central power a series of palpable physical and moral blows. And finally, the personality of Makhno himself – as complex, vivid and powerful as the movement itself – has attracted general attention, arousing simple curiosity or surprise among some, witless indignation or thoughtless fright among others, implacable hatred among still others, and among some, selfless devotion.

 

 

anyway you can understand why the project has some appeal, it’s essentially a complete gloss / rewrite, but it could really be fun. It’s also fanfic in a really hilarious way. Oh, oh, oh I just had a story idea.

I posted this in early January, and on the 18th I woke up from a sound sleep with THIS in my head

TTTO Battle Hymn of the Republic

Nestor Makhno stole my great great uncle’s watch
Nestor Makhno stole my great great uncle’s watch
Nestor Makhno stole my great great uncle’s watch
He sold it to buy beer (or guns, that works too)