Dmitry Petrov, also known as Ilya Leshy, was a Russian anarchist, antifascist, anthropologist and historian. In April 2023, he died fighting Russian imperialist aggression in the battle of Bakhmut. He was 33 years old.
The best memory for me is if you continue to actively struggle, overcoming personal ambitions and unnecessary harmful strife. If you continue to fight actively to achieve a free society based on equality and solidarity. For you and for me and for all our comrades. Risk, deprivation and sacrifice on this path are our constant companions. But be sure – they are not in vain. – Dmitry Petrov’s final message
Dmitry was active in the Russian anarchist movement from 2004. Initially focusing on housing and environmental activism, he gained the nickname “Ecologist” amongst his circle, whilst also becoming an active antifascist and engaging in street fights against Nazis across Moscow. He was also engaged in publishing, Food Not Bombs, and more.
Dima, as Dmitry was known by many of his friends, was a co-founder of blackblocg.info, a media collective whose team participated in and reported on anarchist actions.
The killings of our comrades Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova in the centre of Moscow by neo-Nazis was a turning point. We felt strongly that it was not just Nazi aggression, but a direct attack by the state, which was fostering and supporting our enemies – Dmitry Petrov, A Life in Combat
He was a participant in the Snow Revolution in Russia, the Slipper Revolution in Belarus, and the Maidan Revolution in Ukraine, of which Dmitry wrote a diary.
He also wrote about the experiences of the anarchist and antifascist movements in Russia as they began to experience unprecedented repression from 2017 onwards. Repression that continues to this day.
Dmitry also spent six months in Rojava, where he co-authored and edited the books Life Without a State: The People’s Revolution in Kurdistan and Desert Flowers: 10 years of the Rojava Revolution, and was the co-founder of Hevale, a media project on direct democracy and cooperative economics in the Middle East. Dmitry also participated in Kurdish self-defense units, and wrote extensively about his experiences, again often under a pseudonym.
When departing Rojava, and discovering that he had attracted the attention of the FSB, and that he was at risk of prison or worse, Dmitry was faced with a difficult choice; he eventually chose not to return to Russia and his family and friends. He moved to Ukraine and became a resident of Kyiv.
We want to remind all pessimists that there are no “objective” reasons for considering the social revolution and the triumph of libertarian ideas to be a matter of an indefinitely distant future. The speed and unpredictability of social changes in the modern world teach us one important lesson: everything is possible. Including freedom and justice. – Dmitry Petrov, to be a Revolutionary
Dmitry chose to fight alongside the Ukrainians against the Russian invasion, and was involved in the creation of the anti-authoritarian platoon, containing anarchists and antifascists from across the world.
Dmitry was articulate in multiple languages, and videos and accounts of his time fighting in Ukraine are essential for anyone that wishes to understand that conflict from an antifascist perspective.
After his death, Dmitry’s comrades revealed that he had been involved in many of the most significant anarchist initiatives in 21st century Russia, including the founding of the Combat Organization of Anarcho-Communists.
There is an urgent need for radical change on the broadest possible territorial scale. We need a new world. Almost everything that exists in society is unacceptable and cannot serve as a framework for the present and the future. – Dmitry Petrov, The Mission of Anarchism in the Modern World
Further reading:
Leshy.Info – Website dedicated to the memory of Dmitry Petrov
Crimethinc: In Memory of Dmitry Petrov
Active Distribution: A Life in Combat, a collection of Dmitry’s writing
Dmitry Petrov at the Anarchist Memorial Project