Avrich consulted material in five languages and archives worldwide to present a picture of the philosophers, bomb throwers, peasants and soldiers who fought and died for the freedom of "Mother Russia." Including the influence and ideas of Bakunin and Kropotkin, the armed uprisings of Makhno, the activities of Volin, Maximoff, and the attempted aid of Berkman and Emma Goldman. In the turmoil of Russian insurrection in 1905 and civil war of 1917, the anarchists attempted their program of "direct action"—workers' control of production, the creation of free rural and urban communes, and partisan warfare against the enemies of a free society.