Union for the Defense of the Motherland and Freedom

Union for the Defense of the Motherland and Freedom
Союз защиты Родины и Свободы
Leaders	Boris Savinkov
Dates of operation	March 1918 – July 1918
Headquarters	Moscow, then Rybinsk, then Yaroslavl
Active regions	Moscow, Rybinsk, Yaroslavl, Murom, Kazan and other cities
Ideology	Anti-Bolshevism
Political position	Big Tent
Size	c. 5,000
Battles and wars	Civil War in Russia: Yaroslavl Uprising Rybinsk Uprising Murom Uprising

The Union for the Defense of the Motherland and Freedom was a military anti-Bolshevik organisation. It was founded by Boris Savinkov in March 1918, and sanctioned by the command of the Volunteer Army led by Generals Lavr Kornilov and Mikhail Alekseev.

In July 1918, it organized the Yaroslavl, Rybinsk and Murom revolts. Uprisings in Moscow and Kazan were also in preparation, but, in May 1918, the arrests of some members of the union thwarted them both. After the suppression of the uprisings, the organization broke up. It had branches in Moscow, Rybinsk, Yaroslavl, Murom, Kazan and other cities.

In January 1921, the organisation was reinstated at a meeting of Russian emigrants in Warsaw under the name People's Union for the Defense of the Motherland and Freedom. From 1921 to 1923, the organisation made attempts to fight and undertake subversive operations against the Bolshevik regime. Volunteers from the People's Union were sent to the Soviet Union to organise military units and underground groups to counter Bolshevik power, recruit supporters, and attempt to raise a popular uprising to overthrow Bolshevism.

The Information Bureau of the People's Union for the Defense of the Motherland and Freedom published every ten days a 6–8 page bulletin called the "Bulletin of the Information Bureau of the People's Union for the Defense of the Motherland and Freedom". No. 22 is the last known, and was published on 17 November, 1922.

In early 1924, the main contingent of the People's Union operating on the territory of the Soviet Union was destroyed by the OGPU during Operation Syndicate–2. The leader of the People's Union for the Defense of the Motherland and Freedom, Boris Savinkov, died in the prison of the Joint State Political Directorate in the same year.

Structure

The headquarters of the organisation comprised the following structure:

• Boris Savinkov led the organisation and, on its behalf, negotiated with representatives of the Entente;
  • Phlegont Klepikov was his secretary and treasurer (coterminously);
  • Lyubov Dikhof was also secretary to Boris Savinkov;
• Colonel Gopper was in overall charge of military personnel;
  • Colonel Perkhurov held the role of Chief of Staff;
  • Captain Alexander Vilenkin of the Sumy Hussar Regiment was their cavalry commander;
  • Captain Schroeder of the Life Guards of the 3rd Artillery Brigade was the artillery commander;
  • Colonel Stradetsky was responsible for communications with the Volunteer Army on all fronts;
  • Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Briedis was responsible for intelligence, counterintelligence, and anti-Bolshevik propaganda in the Latvian rifle units;
• Doctor Nikolai Grigoriev was the head of the provincial department and the main propaganda function, and
• Alexander Dikgof-Derenthal helped maintain contacts with foreign missions.

Sources

• Bulletins of the Information Office of the People's Union for the Defense of the Homeland and Freedom
• Boris Savinkov. The Fight Against the Bolsheviks // Russian Foreign Literature. Anthology in Six Volumes – Moscow: Book, 1990 – Volume 1 – Book 2. 1920–1925
• The Union for the Defense of the Homeland and Freedom and the Yaroslavl Rebellion of 1918 // Proletarian Revolution, 1923 – No. 10
• Korovin V.V., Rusanov E.P. Boris Savinkov's Сase // History of the Soviet Union, 1967 – No. 6 – Pages 143–155
• David Golinkov. The Collapse of the Enemy Underground – Moscow, 1971 – Pages 99–108, 266–274, 357–364