Peter Arshinov

Peter Arshinov first met and befriended Nestor Makhno in prison in 1911, a friendship that continued after their release following the February Revolution in 1917. In 1919 Arshinov became Makhno's secretary, and remained with the Makhnovists until 1921. The following year, 1922, he escaped into exile in Berlin where he published the Russian edition of the Makhno story. Arshinov's history of the Makhnovists is one of the most important primary sources on the life of the Ukrainian anarchist guerrilla leader.