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Title: Revolutionary Catechism Author: Michail Bakunin Date: 1866 Language: en Topics: classical, practice, revolution Source: From Bakunin on Anarchy, translated and edited by Sam Dolgoff, 1971. Retrieved on February 23rd, 2009 from http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/bakunin/works/1866/catechism.htm][www.marxists.org]]. Proofread online source [[http://www.revoltlib.com/?id=673, retrieved on July 15, 2020.
While there are many inclinations of the libertarian direction of
Bakunin’s thought before and after his escape from Siberia in 1861, it
was not until the period between 1864 and 1867, when he lived in Italy,
that his anarchist ideas took final shape. This period marks the last
step in Bakunin’s transition from revolutionary nationalism to the
mature revolutionary anarchism expounded by him toward the end of his
eventful life.
In 1864 Bakunin founded the secret International Revolutionary
Association (better known as the International Fraternity) which
published its program and statutes in 1865–66 in three related
documents: The International Family, the Revolutionary Catechism, and
the National Catechism, in which Bakunin outlined the basic tenets of
his doctrine. They are, as H. E, Kaminski writes, “the spiritual
foundation of the entire anarchist movement....” As Bakunin’s ideas
evolved, he modified some and elaborated others, but never departed from
the fundamental principles defined in these documents. They were
reproduced in the original French in Dr. Max Nettlau’s definitive
biography of Bakunin. Nettlau made fifty copies of them which he
deposited in the principal libraries of the world. They were then
included in the excellent anthology of the anarchist movement, Ni Dieu,
Ni Maître, edited by the noted libertarian-socialist historian and
sociologist Daniel Guérin. In his introduction Guérin remarks that these
texts are “...the least known and the most important of Bakunin’s
writings ... they should not be confused with the Rules That Should
Inspire a Revolutionist, written much later in 1869, during Bakunin’s
brief association with the young Russian nihilist Sergei Nechaev whose
credo was ‘the end justifies the means.’ ...The men who, in Italy,
founded the Fraternity with Bakunin were former disciples of the
republican nationalist Giuseppe Mazzini, from whom they acquired their
fondness for secret societies. They left their mentor because they
rejected his Deism and his purely ‘political’ conception of the
revolution as bourgeois and devoid of social content....”
It is necessary to point out that when dissent is outlawed,
revolutionaries are forced to organize secret societies. Bakunin was not
alone; everybody conspired — the Poles, the Italians, the Russians, the
Blanquists, and the nascent unions camouflaged as social clubs.
Like all radicals at that time, Bakunin believed that the fall or death
of Napoleon III would precipitate a new revolution, a new 1848. He
directed all his energy toward safeguarding the expected revolution from
the mistakes which had led to the collapse of the revolution of 1848.
Despite the encouraging revival of the socialist and labor movements,
Bakunin saw that the workers were still very far from attaining the
necessary revolutionary consciousness. To imbue the masses with this
consciousness and to prevent the deformation of the revolution, Bakunin
felt that the only alternative was to organize the secret International
Fraternity. Bakunin was convinced that this kind of vanguard movement
was indispensable to the success of the Social Revolution; that the
Revolution must simultaneously destroy the old order and take on a
federalist and anarchistic direction.
The Revolutionary Catechism is primarily concerned with the immediate
practical problems of the revolution. It was meant to sketch out for new
and prospective members of the International Fraternity both the
fundamental libertarian principles and a program of action. The
Revolutionary Catechism does not attempt to picture the perfect
anarchist society — the anarchist heaven. Bakunin had in mind a society
in transition toward anarchism. The building of a full-fledged anarchist
society is the work of future generations.
The Revolutionary Catechism indicates that Bakunin did not at first
favor the direct expropriation of those sectors of private industry
which did not employ hired labor. He expected that with the abolition of
the right of inheritance, private ownership would disappear within a
generation, to be gradually superseded by workers’ productive
associations. He feared that an immediate massive expropriation might
find the workers unprepared to take control. This would leave the way
open for a bureaucratic administrative apparatus. It would lead to a
worse evil, namely, the restoration of authoritarian institutions. The
fact that Bakunin called for the destruction of all oppressive
institutions does not mean that he favored premature changes in certain
areas. However, some years later he included expropriation in his
program when the workers demanded it.
In touching on the constructive potentialities of cooperative workers’
associations, Bakunin speculated that in the future mankind would not be
politically organized into nations. National frontiers would be
abolished. Human society would be organized industrially according to
the needs of production. In view of the existing situation, it was not a
matter of immediate concern and he merely mentioned it in passing. Later
on, this idea occupied a key place in Bakunin’s anarcho-syndicalist
program for the International.
To avoid misunderstanding, the reader should know that before anarchism
became an organized movement, Bakunin and the anarchists in general used
the term “State” and allied expressions in a twofold sense: with
reference to the social collectivity or social order, and as designating
the complex of repressive institutions exercising intrusive political
authority over society and the individual. To avoid this confusion,
anarchists today use the word “State” only in the second, negative
sense.
...
II. Replacing the cult of God by respect and love of humanity, we
proclaim human reason as the only criterion of truth; human conscience
as the basis of justice; individual and collective freedom as the only
source of order in society.
III. Freedom is the absolute right of every adult man and woman to seek
no other sanction for their acts than their own conscience and their own
reason, being responsible first to themselves and then to the society
which they have voluntarily accepted.
IV. It is not true that the freedom of one man is limited by that of
other men. Man is really free to the extent that his freedom, fully
acknowledged and mirrored by the free consent of his fellowmen, finds
confirmation and expansion in their liberty. Man is truly free only
among equally free men; the slavery of even one human being violates
humanity and negates the freedom of all.
V. The freedom of each is therefore realizable only in the equality of
all. The realization of freedom through equality, in principle and in
fact, is justice.
VI. If there is one fundamental principle of human morality, it is
freedom. To respect the freedom of your fellowman is duty; to love,
help, and serve him is virtue.
VII. Absolute rejection of every authority including that which
sacrifices freedom for the convenience of the state. Primitive society
had no conception of freedom; and as society evolved, before the full
awakening of human rationality and freedom, it passed through a stage
controlled by human and divine authority. The political and economic
structure of society must now be reorganized on the basis of freedom.
Henceforth, order in society must result from the greatest possible
realization of individual liberty, as well as of liberty on all levels
of social organization.
VIII. The political and economic organization of social life must not,
as at present, be directed from the summit to the base — the center to
the circumference — imposing unity through forced centralization. On the
contrary, it must be reorganized to issue from the base to the summit —
from the circumference to the center — according to the principles of
free association and federation.
IX. Political organization. It is impossible to determine a concrete,
universal, and obligatory norm for the internal development and
political organization of every nation. The life of each nation is
subordinated to a plethora of different historical, geographical, and
economic conditions, making it impossible to establish a model of
organization equally valid for all. Any such attempt would be absolutely
impractical. It would smother the richness and spontaneity of life which
flourishes only in infinite diversity and, what is more, contradict the
most fundamental principles of freedom. However, without certain
absolutely essential conditions the practical realization of freedom
will be forever impossible.
These conditions are:
including those partially maintained or supported by state subsidies.
Absolute liberty of every religion to build temples to their gods, and
to pay and support their priests.
same political rights accorded to the productive associations; nor can
they be entrusted with the education of children; for they exist merely
to negate morality and liberty and to profit from the lucrative practice
of witchcraft.
political rights for all men and women; universal suffrage.[1]
of the all-pervasive, regimented, centralized State, the alter ego of
the Church, and as such, the permanent cause of the impoverishment,
brutalization, and enslavement of the multitude. This naturally entails
the following: Abolition of all state universities: public education
must be administered only by the communes and free associations.
Abolition of the State judiciary: all judges must be elected by the
people. Abolition of all criminal, civil, and legal codes now
administered in Europe: because the code of liberty can be created only
by liberty itself. Abolition of banks and all other institutions of
state credit. Abolition of all centralized administration, of the
bureaucracy, of all permanent armies and state police.
well as representatives (national, provincial, and communal delegates)
by the universal suffrage of both sexes.
absolute freedom of individuals, of the productive associations, and of
the communes. Necessity of recognizing the right of secession: every
individual, every association, every commune, every region, every nation
has the absolute right to self-determination, to associate or not to
associate, to ally themselves with whomever they wish and repudiate
their alliances without regard to so-called historic rights [rights
consecrated by legal precedent] or the convenience of their neighbors.
Once the right to secede is established, secession will no longer be
necessary. With the dissolution of a “unity” imposed by violence, the
units of society will be drawn to unite by their powerful mutual
attraction and by inherent necessities. Consecrated by liberty, these
new federations of communes, provinces, regions, and nations will then
be truly strong, productive, and indissoluble.
adulthood, to complete upkeep, clothes, food, shelter, care, guidance,
education (public schools, primary, secondary, higher education,
artistic, industrial, and scientific), all at the expense of society.The
equal right of adolescents, while freely choosing their careers, to be
helped and to the greatest possible extent supported by society. After
this, society will exercise no authority or supervision over them except
to respect, and if necessary defend, their freedom and their rights.The
freedom of adults of both sexes must be absolute and complete, freedom
to come and go, to voice all opinions, to be lazy or active, moral or
immoral, in short, to dispose of one’s person or possessions as one
pleases, being accountable to no one. Freedom to live, be it honestly,
by one’s own labor, even at the expense of individuals who voluntarily
tolerate one’s exploitation.Unlimited freedom of propaganda, speech,
press, public or private assembly, with no other restraint than the
natural salutary power of public opinion. Absolute freedom to organize
associations even for allegedly immoral purposes including even those
associations which advocate the undermining (or destruction) of
individual and public freedom.Freedom can and must be defended only by
freedom: to advocate the restriction of freedom on the pretext that it
is being defended is a dangerous delusion. As morality has no other
source, no other object, no other stimulant than freedom, all
restrictions of liberty in order to protect morality have always been to
the detriment of the latter. Psychology, statistics, and all history
prove that individual and social immorality are the inevitable
consequences of a false private and public education, of the
degeneration of public morality and the corruption of public opinion,
and above all, of. the vicious organization of society. An eminent
Belgian statistician [Quételet] points out that society opens the way
for the crimes later committed by malefactors. It follows that all
attempts to combat social immorality by rigorous legislation which
violates individual freedom must fail. Experience, on the contrary,
demonstrates that a repressive and authoritarian system, far from
preventing, only increases crime; that public and private morality falls
or rises to the extent that individual liberty is restricted or
enlarged. It follows that in order to regenerate society, we must first
completely uproot this political and social system founded on
inequality, privilege, and contempt for humanity. After having
reconstructed society on the basis of the most complete liberty,
equality, and justice — not to mention work — for all and an enlightened
education inspired by respect for man — public opinion will then reflect
the new humanity and become a natural guardian of the most absolute
liberty [and public order. Ed.].Society cannot, however, leave itself
completely defenseless against vicious and parasitic individuals. Work
must be the basis of all political rights. The units of society, each
within its own jurisdiction, can deprive all such antisocial adults of
political rights (except the old, the sick, and those dependent on
private or public subsidy) and will be obliged to restore their
political rights as soon as they begin to live by their own labor.The
liberty of every human being is inalienable and society will never
require any individual to surrender his liberty or to sign contracts
with other individuals except on the basis of the most complete equality
and reciprocity. Society cannot forcibly prevent any man or woman so
devoid of personal dignity as to place him- or herself in voluntary
servitude to another individual; but it can justly treat such persons as
parasites, not entitled to the enjoyment of political liberty, though
only for the duration of their servitude.Persons losing their political
rights will also lose custody of their children. Persons who violate
voluntary agreements, steal, inflict bodily harm, or above all, violate
the freedom of any individual, native or foreigner, will be penalized
according to the laws of society....Individuals condemned by the laws of
any and every association (commune, province, region, or nation) reserve
the right to escape punishment by declaring that they wish to resign
from that association. But in this case, the association will have the
equal right to expel him and declare him outside its guarantee and
protection.
associations are a new fact in history. At this time we can only
speculate about, but not determine, the immense development that they
will doubtlessly exhibit in the new political and social conditions of
the future. It is possible and even very likely that they will some day
transcend the limits of towns, provinces, and even states. They may
entirely reconstitute society, dividing it not into nations but into
different industrial groups, organized not according to the needs of
politics but to those of production. But this is for the future. Be that
as it may, we can already proclaim this fundamental principle:
irrespective of their functions or aims, all associations, like all
individuals, must enjoy absolute freedom. Neither society, nor any part
of society — commune, province, or nation — has the right to prevent
free individuals from associating freely for any purpose whatsoever:
political, religious, scientific, artistic, or even for the exploitation
or corruption of the naive or alcoholics, provided that they are not
minors. To combat charlatans and pernicious associations is the special
affair of public opinion. But society is obliged to refuse to guarantee
civic rights of any association or collective body whose aims or rules
violate the fundamental principles of human justice. Individuals shall
not be penalized or deprived of their full political and social rights
solely for belonging to such unrecognized societies. The difference
between the recognized and unrecognized associations will be the
following: the juridically recognized associations will have the right
to the protection of the community against individuals or recognized
groups who refuse to fulfill their voluntary obligations.’ The
juridically unrecognized associations will not be entitled to such
protection by the community and none of their agreements will be
regarded as binding.
communes, as in France, will naturally depend on the traditions, the
specific circumstances, and the particular nature of each country. We
can only point out here the two fundamental and indispensable principles
which must be put into effect by any country seriously trying to
organize a free society. First: all organizations must proceed by way of
federation from the base to the summit, from the commune to the
coordinating association of the country or nation. Second: there must be
at least one autonomous intermediate body between the commune and the
country, the department, the region, or the province. Without such an
autonomous intermediate body, the commune (in the strict sense of the
term) would be too isolated and too weak to be able to resist the
despotic centralistic pressure of the State, which will inevitably (as
happened twice in France) restore to power a despotic monarchical
regime. Despotism has its source much more in the centralized
organization of the State, than in the despotic nature of kings.
the completely autonomous commune, constituted by the majority vote of
all adults of both sexes. No one shall have either the power or the
right to interfere in the internal life of the commune. The commune
elects all functionaries, law-makers, and judges. It administers the
communal property and finances. Every commune should have the
incontestable right to create, without superior sanction, its own
constitution and legislation. But in order to join and become an
integral part of the provincial federation, the commune must conform its
own particular charter to the fundamental principles of the provincial
constitution and be accepted by the parliament of the province. The
commune must also accept the judgments of the provincial tribunal and
any measures ordered by the government of the province. (All measures of
the provincial government must be ratified by the provincial
parliament.) Communes refusing to accept the provincial laws will not be
entitled to its benefits.
communes. The provincial parliament could be composed either of a single
chamber with representatives of each of the communes or of two chambers,
the other representing the population of the province, independent of
the communes. The provincial parliament, without interfering in any
manner whatsoever in the internal decisions of the communes will
formulate the provincial constitution (based on the principles of this
catechism). This constitution must be accepted by all communes wishing
to participate in the provincial parliament. The provincial parliament
will enact legislation defining the rights and obligations of
individuals, communes, and associations in relation to the provincial
federation, and the penalties for violations of its laws. It will
reserve, however, the right of the communes to diverge on secondary
points, though not on fundamentals.The provincial parliament, in strict
accordance with the Charter of the Federation of Communes, will define
the rights and obligations existing between the communes, the
parliament, the judicial tribunal, and the provincial administration. It
will enact all laws affecting the whole province, pass on resolutions or
measures of the national parliament, without, however, violating the
autonomy of the communes and the province. Without interfering in the
internal administration of the communes, it will allot to each commune
its share of the provincial or national income, which will be used by
the commune as its members decide. The provincial parliament will ratify
or reject all policies and measures of the provincial administration
which will, of course, be elected by universal suffrage. The provincial
tribunal (also elected by universal suffrage) will adjudicate, without
appeal, all disputes between communes and individuals, communes and
communes, and communes and the provincial administration or parliament.
[These arrangements will thus] lead not to dull, lifeless uniformity,
but to a real living unity, to the enrichment of communal life. A unity
will be created which reflects the needs and aspirations of the
communes; in short, we will have individual and collective freedom. This
unity cannot be achieved by the compulsion or violence of provincial
power, for even truth and justice when coercively imposed must lead to
falsehood and iniquity.
[2]
comprising the International Federation will be based on the principles
outlined above. It is probable, and strongly desired as well, that when
the hour of the People’s Revolution strikes again, every nation will
unite in brotherly solidarity and forge an unbreakable alliance against
the coalition of reactionary nations. This alliance will be the germ of
the future Universal Federation of Peoples which will eventually embrace
the entire world. The International Federation of revolutionary peoples,
with a parliament, a tribunal, and an international executive committee,
will naturally be based on the principles of the revolution. Applied to
international polity these principles are:Every land, every nation,
every people, large or small, weak or strong, every region, province,
and commune has the absolute right to self-determination, to make
alliances, unite or secede as it pleases, regardless of so-called
historic rights and the political, commercial, or strategic ambitions of
States. The unity of the elements of society, in order to be genuine,
fruitful, and durable, must be absolutely free: it can emerge only from
the internal needs and mutual attractions of the respective units of
society....Abolition of alleged historic right and the horrible right of
conquest.Absolute rejection of the politics of aggrandizement, of the
power and the glory of the State. For this is a form of politics which
locks each country into a self-made fortress, shutting out the rest of
humanity, organizing itself into a closed world, independent of all
human solidarity, finding its glory and prosperity in the evil it can do
to other countries. A country bent on conquest is necessarily a country
internally enslaved.The glory and grandeur of a nation lie only in the
development of its humanity. Its strength and inner vitality are
measured by the degree of its liberty.The well-being and the freedom of
nations as well as individuals are inextricably interwoven. Therefore,
there must be free commerce, exchange, and communication among all
federated countries, and abolition of frontiers, passports, and customs
duties [tariffs]. Every citizen of a federated country must enjoy the
same civic rights and it must be easy for him to acquire citizenship and
enjoy political rights in all other countries adhering to the same
federation. If liberty is the starting point, it will necessarily lead
to unity. But to go from unity to liberty is difficult, if not
impossible; even if it were possible, it could be done only by
destroying a spurious “unity” imposed by force.......No federated
country shall maintain a permanent standing army or any institution
separating the soldier from the civilian. Not only do permanent ,armies
and professional soldiers breed internal disruption, brutalization, and
financial ruin, they also menace the independence and well-being of
other nations. All able-bodied citizens should, if necessary, take up
arms to defend their homes and their freedom. Each country’s military
defense and equipment should be organized locally by the commune, or
provincially, somewhat like the militias in Switzerland or the United
States of America [circa 1860–7].The International Tribunal shall have
no other function than to settle, without appeal, all disputes between
nations and their respective provinces. Differences between two
federated countries shall be adjudicated, without appeal, only by the
International Parliament, which, in the name of the entire revolutionary
federation, will also formulate common policy and make war, if
unavoidable, against the reactionary coalition.No federated nation shall
make war against another federated country. If there is war and the
International Tribunal has pronounced its decision, the aggressor must
submit. If this doesn’t occur, the other federated nations will sever
relations with it and, in case of attack by the aggressor, unite to
repel invasion.All members of the revolutionary federation must actively
take part in approved wars against a nonfederated state. If a federated
nation declares unjust war on an outside State against the advice of the
International Tribunal, it will be notified in advance that it will have
to do so alone.It is hoped that the federated states will eventually
give up the expensive luxury of separate diplomatic representatives to
foreign states and arrange for representatives to speak in the name of
all the federated States.Only nations or peoples accepting the
principles outlined in this catechism will be admitted to the
federation.
X. Social Organization. Without political equality there can be no real
political liberty, but political equality will be possible only when
there is social and economic equality.
that individuals should be made physically, morally, or mentally
identical. Diversity in capacities and powers — those differences
between races, nations, sexes, ages, and persons — far from being a
social evil, constitutes, on the contrary, the abundance of humanity.
Economic and social equality means the equalization of personal wealth,
but not by restricting what a man may acquire by his own skill,
productive energy, and thrift.
single human being will — from birth through adolescence and maturity —
find therein equal means, first for maintenance and education, and
later, for the exercise of all his natural capacities and aptitudes.
This equality from birth that justice demands for everyone will be
impossible as long as the right of inheritance continues to exist.
of classes, privileges, and wealth — not by right but in fact. will
continue to exist until such time as the right of inheritance is
abolished. It is an inherent social law that de facto inequality
inexorably produces inequality of rights; social inequality leads to
political inequality. And without political equality — in the true,
universal, and libertarian sense in which we understand it — society
will always remain divided into two unequal parts. The first. which
comprises the great majority of mankind, the masses of the people, will
be oppressed by the privileged, exploiting minority. The right of
inheritance violates the principle of freedom and must be abolished.
there will still remain inequalities [of wealth] — due to the diverse
amounts of energy and skill possessed by individuals. These inequalities
will never entirely disappear, but will become more and more minimized
under the influence of education and of an egalitarian social
organization, and, above all, when the right of inheritance no longer
burdens the coming generations.
hunger, or to live in the deserts or the forests among savage beasts,
but whoever wants to live in society must earn his living by his own
labor, or be treated as a parasite who is living on the labor of others.
by free and intelligent labor that man, overcoming his own bestiality,
attained his humanity and sense of justice, changed his environment, and
created the civilized world. The stigma which, in the ancient as well as
the feudal world, was attached to labor, and which to a great extent
still exists today, despite all the hypocritical phrases about the
“dignity of labor” — this stupid prejudice against labor has two
sources: the first is the conviction, so characteristic of the ancient
world, that in order to give one part of society the opportunity and the
means to humanize itself through science, the arts, philosophy. and the
enjoyment of human rights, another part of society, naturally the most
numerous, must be condemned to work as slaves. This fundamental
institution of ancient civilization was the cause of its downfall.The
city, corrupted and disorganized on the one hand by the idleness of the
privileged citizens, and undermined on the other by the imperceptible
but relentless activity of the disinherited world of slaves who, despite
their slavery, through common labor developed a sense of mutual aid and
solidarity against oppression, collapsed under the blows of the
barbarian peoples.Christianity, the religion of the slaves, much later
destroyed ancient forms of slavery only to create a new slavery.
Privilege, based on inequality and the right of conquest and sanctified
by divine grace, again separated society into two opposing camps: the
“rabble” and the nobility, the serfs and the masters. To the latter was
assigned the noble profession of arms and government; to the serfs, the
curse of forced labor. The same causes are bound to produce the same
effects; the nobility, weakened and demoralized by depraved idleness,
fell in 1789 under the blows of the revolutionary serfs and workers. The
[French] Revolution proclaimed the dignity of labor and enacted the
rights of labor into law. But only in law, for in fact labor remained
enslaved. The first source of the degradation of labor, namely, the
dogma of the political inequality of men, was destroyed by the Great
Revolution. The degradation must therefore be attributed to a second
source, which is nothing but the separation which still exists between
manual and intellectual labor, which reproduces in a new form the
ancient inequality and divides the world into two camps: the privileged
minority, privileged not by law but by capital, and the majority of
workers, no longer captives of the law but of hunger.The dignity of
labor is today theoretically recognized, and public opinion considers it
disgraceful to live without working. But this does not go to the heart
of the question. Human labor, in general, is still divided into two
exclusive categories: the first — solely intellectual and managerial —
includes the scientists, artists, engineers, inventors, accountants,
educators, governmental officials, and their subordinate elites who
enforce labor discipline. The second group consists of the great mass of
workers, people prevented from applying creative ideas or intelligence,
who blindly and mechanically carry out the orders of the
intellectual-managerial elite. This economic and social division of
labor has disastrous consequences for members of the privileged classes,
the masses of the people, and for the prosperity, as well as the moral
and intellectual development, of society as a whole.For the privileged
classes a life of luxurious idleness gradually leads to moral and
intellectual degeneration. It is perfectly true that a certain amount of
leisure is absolutely necessary for the artistic, scientific, and mental
development of man; creative leisure followed by the healthy exercise of
daily labor, one that is well earned and is socially provided for all
according to individual capacities and preferences. Human nature is so
constituted that the propensity for evil is always intensified by
external circumstances, and the morality of the individual depends much
more on the conditions of his existence and the environment in which he
lives than on his own will. In this respect, as in all others, the law
of social solidarity is essential: there can be no other moralizer for
society or the individual than freedom in absolute equality. Take the
most sincere democrat and put him on the throne; if he does not step
down promptly, he will surely become a scoundrel. A born aristocrat (if
he should, by some happy chance, be ashamed of his aristocratic lineage
and renounce privileges of birth) will yearn for past glories, be
useless in the present, and passionately oppose future progress. The
same goes for the bourgeois: this dear child of capital and idleness
will waste his leisure in dishonesty, corruption, and debauchery, or
serve as a brutal force to enslave the working class, who will
eventually unleash against him a retribution even more horrible than
that of 1793.The evils that the worker is subjected to by the division
of labor are much easier to determine: forced to work for others because
he is born to poverty and misery, deprived of all rational upbringing
and education, morally enslaved by religious influence. He is catapulted
into life, defenseless, without initiative and without his own will.
Driven to despair by misery, he sometimes revolts, but lacking that
unity with his fellow workers and that enlightened thought upon which
power depends, he is often betrayed and sold out by his leaders, and
almost never realizes who or what is responsible for his sufferings.
Exhausted by futile struggles, he falls back again into the old
slavery.This slavery will last until capitalism is overthrown by the
collective action of the workers. They will be exploited as long as
education (which in a free society will be equally available to all) is
the exclusive birthright of the privileged class; as long as this
minority monopolizes scientific and managerial work and the people —
reduced to the status of machines or beasts of burden — are forced to
perform the menial tasks assigned to them by their exploiters. This
degradation of human labor is an immense evil, polluting the moral,
intellectual, and political institutions of society. History shows that
an uneducated multitude whose natural intelligence is suppressed and who
are brutalized by the mechanical monotony of daily toil, who grope in
vain for any enlightenment, constitutes a mindless mob whose blind
turbulence threatens the very existence of society itself.The artificial
separation between manual and intellectual labor must give way to a new
social synthesis. When the man of science performs manual labor and the
man of work performs intellectual labor, free intelligent work will
become the glory of mankind, the source of its dignity and its rights.
person will, of course, be free to work alone or collectively. But there
is no doubt that (outside of work best performed individually) in
industrial and even scientific or artistic enterprises, collective labor
will be preferred by everyone. For association marvellously multiplies
the productive capacity of each worker; hence, a cooperating member of a
productive association will earn much more in much less time. When the
free productive associations (which will include members of cooperatives
and labor organizations) voluntarily organize according to their needs
and special skills, they will then transcend all national boundaries and
form an immense worldwide economic federation. This will include an
industrial parliament, supplied by the associations with precise and
detailed global-scale statistics; by harmonizing supply and demand the
parliament will distribute and allocate world industrial production to
the various nations. Commercial and industrial crises, stagnation
(unemployment), waste of capital, etc., will no longer plague mankind;
the emancipation of human labor will regenerate the world.
everyone, but will be used only by those who cultivate it by their own
labor. Without expropriation, only through the powerful pressure of the
worker’s associations, capital and the tools of production will fall to
those who produce wealth by their own labor.[3]
obligations for women.
law and property. Religious and civil marriage to be replaced by free
marriage. Adult men and women have the right to unite and separate as
they please, nor has society the right to hinder their union or to force
them to maintain it. With the abolition of the right of inheritance and
the education of children assured by society, all the legal reasons for
the irrevocability of marriage will disappear. The union of a man and a
woman must be free, for a free choice is the indispensable condition for
moral sincerity. In marriage, man and woman must enjoy absolute liberty.
Neither violence nor passion nor rights surrendered in the past can
justify an invasion by one of the liberty of another, and every such
invasion shall be considered a crime.
be subsidized by the communal organization. Women who wish to nurse and
wean their children shall also be subsidized.
their children, under the ultimate control of the commune which retains
the right and the obligation to take children away from parents who, by
example or by cruel and inhuman treatment, demoralize or otherwise
hinder the physical and mental development of their children.
to themselves and to their own future liberty. Until old enough to take
care of themselves, children must be brought up under the guidance of
their elders. It is true that parents are their natural tutors, but
since the very future of the commune itself depends upon the
intellectual and moral training it gives to children, the commune must
be the tutor. The freedom of adults is possible only when the free
society looks after the education of minors.
while religious indoctrination perpetuates superstition and divine
authority, the sole purpose of secular public education is the gradual,
progressive initiation of children into liberty by the triple
development of their physical strength, their minds, and their will.
Reason, truth, justice, respect for fellowmen, the sense of personal
dignity which is inseparable from the dignity of others, love of
personal freedom and the freedom of all others, the conviction that work
is the base and condition for rights — these must be the fundamental
principles of all public education. Above all, education must make men
and inculcate human values first, and then train specialized workers. As
the child grows older, authority will give way to more and more liberty,
so that by adolescence he will be completely free and will forget how in
childhood he had to submit unavoidably to authority. Respect for human
worth, the germ of freedom, must be present even while children are
being severely disciplined. The essence of all moral education is this:
inculcate children with respect for humanity and you will make good
men....
autonomous and free to act as he deems best. In exchange, society will
expect him to fulfill only these three obligations: that he remain free,
that he live by his own labor, and that he respect the freedom of
others. And, as the crimes and vices infecting present society are due
to the evil organization of society, it is certain that in a society
based on reason, justice, and freedom, on respect for humanity and on
complete equality, the good will prevail and the evil will be a morbid
exception, which will diminish more and more under the pervasive
influence of an enlightened and humanized public opinion.
and be bountifully supported at the expense of society.
XI. Revolutionary policy. It is our deep-seated conviction that since
the freedom of all nations is indivisible, national revolutions must
become international in scope. just as the European and world reaction
is unified, there should no longer be isolated revolutions, but a
universal, worldwide revolution. Therefore, all the particular
interests, the vanities, pretensions, jealousies, and hostilities
between and among nations must now be transformed into the unified,
common, and universal interest of the revolution, which alone can assure
the freedom and independence of each nation by the solidarity of all. We
believe also that the holy alliance of the world counterrevolution and
the conspiracy of kings, clergy, nobility, and the bourgeoisie, based on
enormous budgets, on permanent armies, on formidable bureaucracies, and
equipped with all the monstrous apparatus of modern centralized states,
constitutes an overwhelming force; indeed, that this formidable
reactionary coalition can be destroyed only by the greater power of the
simultaneous revolutionary alliance and action of all the people of the
civilized world, that against this reaction the isolated revolution of a
single people will never succeed. Such a revolution would be folly, a
catastrophe for the isolated country and would, in effect, constitute a
crime against all the other nations. It follows that the uprising of a
single people must have in view not only itself, but the whole world.
This demands a worldwide program, as large, as profound, as true, as
human, in short, as all-embracing as the interests of the whole world.
And in order to energize the passions of all the popular masses of
Europe, regardless of nationality, this program can only be the program
of the social and democratic revolution.
Briefly stated, the objectives of the social and democratic revolution
are: Politically: the abolition of the historic rights of states, the
rights of conquest, and diplomatic rights [statist international law.
Tr.]. It aims at the full emancipation of individuals and associations
from divine and human bondage; it seeks the absolute destruction of all
compulsory unions, and all agglomerations of communes into provinces and
conquered countries into the State. Finally, it requires the radical
dissolution of the centralized, aggressive, authoritarian State,
including its military, bureaucratic, governmental, administrative,
judicial, and legislative institutions. The revolution, in short, has
this aim: freedom for all, for individuals as well as collective bodies,
associations, communes, provinces, regions, and nations, and the mutual
guarantee of this freedom by federation.
Socially: it seeks the confirmation of political equality by economic
equality. This is not the removal of natural individual differences, but
equality in the social rights of every individual from birth; in
particular, equal means of subsistence, support, education, and
opportunity for every child, boy or girl, until maturity, and equal
resources and facilities in adulthood to create his own well-being by
his own labor.
[1] Not in the state, but in the units of the new society. Note by Max
Nettlau
[2] The organizational relations between the provinces and the nation
will, in general, be the same as those between the communes and the
province. Note by Max Nettlau
[3] Bakunin means that private ownership of production will be permitted
only if the owners do the actual work and do not employ anyone. He
believed that collective ownership would gradually supersede private
ownership.