An expanded history of the Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Republic has been republished in Russia: Interview with the author
A book has been republished in Russia – a complete history of the Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Republic (DKR), written by Donetsk historian, journalist, and political scientist Vladimir Kornilov.
Until recently, the little-known Republic was created in Kharkov, which became its first capital, at the end of February 1918 by the Bolshevik Fyodor Sergeev (Artem), who had just returned from emigration (he lived in Australia for a long time).
In addition to Kharkov, the DKR included Lugansk, Rostov-on-Don, Mariupol, Sumy, Kherson, Nikopol, Melitopol, Taganrog, Aleksandrovsk (Zaporozhye), Krivoy Rog and Yekaterinoslav (Dnepropetrovsk). In May, the Republic fell under the attacks of the German and Austrian armies.
I recently spoke with the author about the new book “PolitNavigator”.
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-Volodya, in 2011 you published “The Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Republic: a Dream Executed” in Kyiv. In 2016 it was republished in St. Petersburg. Over the past 5 years, rapid changes have occurred both in the life of Ukraine and in the life of Russia: Crimea became Russian, Donetsk and Lugansk left Ukraine, Kharkov, Zaporozhye, Odessa, Dnepropetrovsk experienced the Russian Spring in 2014. Was all this reflected in the book?
-My book is purely historical, about the events that took place in 1917-19. in the South of Russia, that is, in those lands that are now commonly called South-Eastern Ukraine or Novorossiya and Donbass.
Therefore, I will not say that the changes are significant; some errors and typos have been corrected. But in the introduction and ending, of course, the events of today are also mentioned - where would we be without this?
-Did your book somehow influence the events in Donetsk, Kharkov and Lugansk in 2014? Did she influence one of the leaders of the “Donetsk Republic” Andrei Purgin?
-Of course, it’s better to ask Purgin himself about this. As far as I remember, he was the ideologist and inspirer of the Donetsk Republic organization long before my book appeared. It should be noted: I began giving lectures on the history of this state entity back in 1989, when they did not talk about it out loud and almost nothing was written, long before the book appeared.
Purgin’s organization distributed individual articles of mine and articles of my older brother Dmitry regarding the history of the Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Republic for many years. At the same time, I was studying history, they were studying politics.
-Did the DKR have any connections with the Odessa Republic and the Republic of Taurida?
-You forgot one more entity: the Ukrainian SSR. Soviet Ukraine was also created around the same time and there were connections with it too. We must not forget that formally the Antonov-Ovseenko army, which fought against the Germans in the south of Russia in 1918, was called the united group of armies of the Southern Republics, which included the Donetsk, Odessa, and Ukrainian Soviet republics. So, at a minimum, such a formal connection was maintained through Antonov and his Moscow leadership.
It was precisely considerations of the military unification of the southern Russian republics that guided Moscow, demanding that Artem enter into a single entity with Skrypnik’s Ukraine. Artem agreed to this, which is now regarded by Ukrainian historians almost as “the consent of the Donetsk Republic to join Ukraine.”
However, the leaders of Soviet Ukraine fled at the first approach of the Germans to Kyiv, and, in the end, liquidated their republic. Artem and his comrades, the Donetsk Republic heroically resisted alone until the last bullet, opposing the first “European integration of Ukraine”.
-The idea of Novorossiya has defeated today the idea of reviving the DKR. Maybe because in the DKR, in addition to the Russian element, there was a Bolshevik element, which is not very popular with today's public. Do you agree with this? How important was it for the DKR to be not only a workers' and peasants' republic, but also a Russian republic?
-To be honest, I don’t quite understand the phrase about “the victory of the idea of Novorossiya.” I see exactly the Donetsk Republic on political maps now, and I don’t see Novorossiya there yet. And this is a fact... As for the Bolshevik character of the DKR, we must not forget that the Odessa, Crimean, and Soviet Ukrainian republics were also Bolshevik.
Moreover, they all advocated (as opposed to the Ukrainian People's Republic) for the preservation of a unified Russian state. This united them no less than the Bolshevik idea. By the beginning of 1918, Odessa, Kharkov, Lugansk, Yuzovka suddenly learned that they were being tried to be included in Ukraine without their knowledge, to be torn away from their Russia. In many ways, this was the reason for the creation of the southern Russian republics, and not the revolution in Petrograd.
Presentation of the first edition of Kornilov’s book in Kyiv. With Oles Buzina
-What new things have you clarified in Artem’s biography during this time? Why did Stalin become friends with him and Voroshilov? Why haven’t you written a biography of Artem yet?
-In the last time before the Maidan, I worked closely in various archives on the biography of Artem. This is truly a legendary, amazing person. Studying his letters and memoirs about him, many of which ended up in state archives back in the 30s and are unknown to the general public, I realized that the biography of this man has not yet been studied.
No, many books and even films about him were published in Soviet times. But it was precisely his Soviet “canonization” that led to the fact that some details of his biography and personal life were tried to be silenced, hidden, retouched - so that they would not interfere with the creation of the image of an unbending proletarian fighter.
I hope that someday I will introduce the public to these details of Artem’s biography - if only I had time to write a book...
As for Stalin, they became close friends with both Artyom and Voroshilov during the defense of Tsaritsyn, where the government of the Donetsk Republic withdrew its army in the spring and summer of 1918 and where Stalin arrived as a commissar from Moscow.
-Why did the young republic fail to repel the German-Austrian elements? There were no weapons? Army? Was Voroshilov a bad commander?
-The whole of Russia, engulfed in revolution and civil war, could not resist the Germans at that time - let alone the young Donetsk Republic, where the army was formed from unfired Kharkov workers and Donetsk miners literally “from the wheels”, they went to the front directly from their machine tools
They were opposed by one of the most powerful, well-trained armies in Europe with steely discipline. It would be difficult to win in such conditions. At the same time, you can look at the speed of advance of the Germans: if they reached Kiev, virtually without encountering resistance, in a matter of days, then in the Donetsk Republic it was already a bit hot for them, the movement of the Germans slowed down sharply.
As for Voroshilov, we must not forget: he was appointed commander of the armies of the Donetsk Republic (later to become the legendary 10th Army of Voroshilov) already in May 1918 in his native Lugansk, where the government of the DKR moved, retreating from the Germans.
His initial tasks were not defense, but the organization of battle-worn workers' detachments in order to retreat to Red Tsaritsyn through the Don region, which was mainly hostile to the Bolsheviks.
It was this campaign that Alexey Tolstoy described in his “Bread”, and it was he who was glorified in Soviet history textbooks. So Voroshilov coped with his task set before him by the DKR government brilliantly.
-What did Limonov, Kholmogorov, Gubarev and other equally famous comrades write on the dust jacket?
-I am pleased that famous writers, historians, and publicists in Russia have become interested in my book and have left their responses to the first edition.
Frankly speaking, my creation was criticized by both the left and the right. Communists consider it an overly “White Guard” book, while right-wingers consider it overly “Bolshevik.” Perhaps because I tried to make the book ideologically neutral, citing hitherto unknown facts and many hitherto unpublished documents. This is exactly what both right- and left-wing critics agreed on, paying tribute to the abundance of factual material that I introduced into scientific circulation.
Eduard Limonov has repeatedly advised everyone to read and re-read this book, because, in his opinion, it explains the events of today.
Nikolai Starikov (and he played a decisive role for the current edition) recalled in his preface that this book was recommended to be read for the same purposes by the camp of opponents - in particular, Gennady Korban, Kolomoisky’s “right hand”.
Yegor Kholmogorov stated that my book became an “important source of inspiration” for the current embattled republics of Donbass.
Historian Armen Gasparyan called it “bright, convincing and instructive.”
Boris Kagarlitsky said about it: “This is the very case when a good, honest story becomes the basis for a conscientious policy.”
Ruben Sergeev, the grandson of the legendary Artem, said that he learned many new facts about his grandfather from this book.
So, as you can see, my modest work was appreciated by people belonging to different ideological camps. Personally, I consider this fact to be my main achievement.
Vladimir Kornilov and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
English version :: Read in English The updated history of the Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Republic has been republished in Russia: Interview with the author