đŸ Archived View for library.inu.red âș file âș joe-king-mikhail-bakunin.gmi captured on 2023-01-29 at 11:23:00. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
âĄïž Next capture (2024-07-09)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Title: Mikhail Bakunin Author: Joe King Date: 1996 Language: en Topics: Mikhail Bakunin, Workers Solidarity, biography Source: Retrieved on 5th December 2021 from http://struggle.ws/ws/bak47.html][struggle.ws]] and [[http://struggle.ws/ws/bbook47.html Notes: Published in Workers Solidarity No. 47 â Spring 1996.
The anarchist movement throws up many men and women, who become famous
because of their actions, ideas and writings. Perhaps the best known of
them all was a Russian, Mikhail Bakunin.
Anarchists do not have god-like leaders, nor all-knowing prophets.
Nobody gets it right all the time and nobody is above criticism. Whoever
does not make mistakes is either (a) not human, or (b) someone who never
does anything at all. It is possible to take inspiration from the
actions and ideas of others without falling into the trap of uncritical
hero-worship.
Born in 1814 in Tsarist Russia, Bakunin quickly developed a burning
hatred of injustice. At age 21, after a couple of years in uniform, he
resigned from the army and began to mix in democratic circles. Nine
years later he met up with radicals like Proudhon and Marx in Paris. By
this stage he had formulated a theory which saw freedom being achieved
by a general rising, linked to revolutions in the subject nations.
His passionate campaigning for democracy and anti-colonialism made him
âpublic enemy number oneâ in the eyes of most European monarchies. In
1848 he was expelled from France for making a speech in support of
independence for Poland. His passion for liberty and equality, and his
condemnations of privilege and injustice gave him an enormous appeal in
the radical movement of the day.
The following year Bakunin rushed to Dresden where he played a leading
role in the May insurrection. This led to his arrest and he was
sentenced to death. The Austrian monarchy also wanted him, so he was
extradited and again sentenced to death. But before the hangman could
put the noose around his neck, Russia demanded his extradition and he
spent the following six years jailed without trial in the Peter and Paul
Fortress. Release from jail was followed by exile in Siberia.
In 1861 he made a dramatic escape and returned to Europe by way of
Japan, the Panama Canal and San Francisco! For the next three years he
threw himself into the struggle for Polish independence. Then he began
to rethink his ideas. Would national independence, in itself, lead to
liberty for working people? This took him away from nationalism and
towards anarchism.
In 1868 he joined the International Working Menâs Association (also
known as the First International), a federation of radical and trade
union organisations with sections in most European countries. Very
rapidly his ideas developed and he became a famous exponent of
anarchism. While agreeing with much of Marxâs economic theory, he
rejected his authoritarian politics and the major division within the
International was between the anarchists and the Marxists.
While Marx believed that socialism could be built by taking over the
state, Bakunin looked forward to its destruction and the creation of a
new society based on free federations of free workers. This soon became
the policy of the International in Italy and Spain, and grew in
popularity in Switzerland, Belgium and France. After failing to defeat
the anarchist idea, Marx and his followers resorted to a campaign of
smears and lies against Bakunin.
A committee set up to investigate the charges found, by a majority,
Bakunin guilty and voted to expel him. The Swiss section called a
further congress, where the charges were found to be false. An
international conference also vindicated Bakunin, and went on to adopt
the anarchist position of rejecting any rule by a minority.
Defeated, Marx and his followers moved the General Council of the
International to New York where it faded into irrelevance. The ideas
developed by Bakunin in the last decade of his life went on to form the
basis of the modern anarchist movement. Worn out by a lifetime of
struggle, Bakunin died in Switzerland on July 1^(st) 1876.
His legacy is enormous. Although he wrote manifestos, articles and books
he never finished a single sizable work. Being primarily an activist he
would stop, sometimes literally in mid-sentence, to play his part in
struggles, strikes and rebellions. What he left to posterity is a
collection of fragments. Even so, his writings are full of insights that
are as relevant today as they were in his time.
While understanding that ideas and intellectuals have an important role
to play in the revolution, a role of education and articulating peoplesâ
needs and desires, he issued a warning. He cautioned them against trying
to take power and create a dictatorship of the proletariat. The notion
that a small group of people, no matter how well meaning, could execute
a coup dâetat for the benefit of the majority was a heresy against
common sense. Long before the Russian revolution he warned that a new
class of intellectuals and semi-intellectuals might seek to step into
the shoes of the landlords and bosses, and deny working people their
freedom.
In 1873 he foretold, with great accuracy, that under the
dictatorship of the proletariat of the Marxists the party leaders would
concentrate the reins of government in a strong hand and divide the
masses into two great armies â industrial and agricultural â under the
direct command of state engineers who will constitute a new privileged
scientific and political class.
Bakunin understood that government is the means by which a minority
rules. In so far as âpolitical powerâ means the concentration of
authority in a few hands, he declared, it must be abolished. Instead
there must be a âsocial revolutionâ which will change the relationship
between people and place power in the hands of the masses through their
own federation of voluntary organisations.
It is necessary to abolish completely and in principle and in practice,
everything that may be called political power, for as long as political
power exists there will always be rulers and ruled, masters and slaves,
exploiters and exploited.
Who now can say he was not right?
---
Bakunin on Anarchy (edited by Sam Dolgoff) A huge and comprehensive
anthology of his writings. By far the best collection available in the
English language.
Basic Bakunin (edited by Robert M Cutler) Writings from his time in the
International Workingmensâ Association; covering revolutionary
socialism, the general strike, co-operation, all-round education, and
more. Only one of these articles has previously appeared in a complete
English translation.
and a few pamphlets...
God and the State by Michael Bakunin Cheap version of his book; which
combines an introduction to anarchism, a manifesto of atheism and a
summing up of his thoughts.
Marxism, Freedom and the State by Michael Bakunin In the more than a
century since these passages were written the worship of the state has
become a religion over a very large part of the globe, and we have seen
in practice the fulfilment of Bakuninâs gloomy forbodings on the
destination of Marxist socialism. History itself has shown the relevance
of his arguments.
The Paris Commune and the Idea of the State by Michael Bakunin For a few
weeks in 1871 the workers of Paris took control of their city.
On Violence by Michael Bakunin His letter to Sergei Nechaev (infamous
Russian terrorist) where he tackles the subject by expressing his faith
in humanity and in the process rejecting the option of terrorism
Bakunin and Nechaev by Paul Avrich What exactly was the relationship
between Bakunin and Nechaev? Are Marxists correct to say Bakunin was an
advocate of terrorism?