Mikhail Bakunin

Russian revolutionary anarchist and philosopher (1814-1876) · France · Activists · Died at 62 · also Russia

Mikhail Bakunin is read about 1,516 times a day, in 97 languages.

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The Russian revolutionary who spent decades dodging empires, prison cells, and Karl Marx - Bakunin built the intellectual foundation for anarchism as a mass movement, then lost the fight for its soul at a conference he couldn't reach.

Academics Academic Philosophy Literature Politics 19th Century

A life in dates

1876Died1 July 18761872“To revolt is a natural tendency of life. Even a worm turns against the foot that crushes it.”In their words"On the International Workingmen's Association and Karl Marx" (1872)Read the whole statement

1871“If there is a devil in human history, that devil is the principle of command.”In their words"On the Program of the Alliance" (1871), in Bakunin on Anarchy (1971), translated and edited by Sam DolgoffRead the whole statement

1870“Political Freedom without economic equality is a pretense, a fraud, a lie; and the workers want no lying.”In their words"The Red Association" (1870)Read the whole statement

1867“What all other men are is of the greatest importance to me.”In their wordsSolidarity in Liberty: The Workers' Path to Freedom (1867)Read the whole statement

1861“I eagerly await tomorrow's mail to have news of Russia and Poland. For now, I have to content myself with a few vague rumors which float around.”In their words3 October 1861Letter to Aleksandr Ivanovich Herzen and Ogareff from San Francisco (3 October 1861); published in Correspondance de Michel BakounineRead the whole statement

1842“FREEDOM, the realization of freedom: who can deny that this is what today heads the agenda of history?”In their words"The Reaction in Germany" (1842), Bakunin's first political writings, under the pseudonym "Jules Elysard"; it was not until 1860 that heRead the whole statement

1814Born30 May 1814

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

Bakunin Nadar

RS(1872) p2.0829 BAKUNIN

19th century anarchists, Proudhon, Bakunin, Kropotkin (1)

19th century anarchists, Proudhon, Bakunin, Kropotkin (2)

19th century anarchists, Proudhon, Bakunin, Kropotkin

2 U 707 - Perquisition Briut 19 11 1884 01

Bakunin & Marx (color) 1

Bakunin & Marx (color) 2

In their own words 10

Mikhail Bakunin

10 statements, newest first

To revolt is a natural tendency of life. Even a worm turns against the foot that crushes it.
1872, "On the International Workingmen's Association and Karl Marx" (1872), Own words
If there is a devil in human history, that devil is the principle of command.
1871, "On the Program of the Alliance" (1871), in Bakunin on Anarchy (1971), translated and edited by Sam Dolgoff, Own words
Political Freedom without economic equality is a pretense, a fraud, a lie; and the workers want no lying.
1870, "The Red Association" (1870), Own words

Wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0

Family

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Mikhail Bakunin

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Spouse Antonia Kwiatkowska

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About this person

Bakunin grew up on a Tver estate, studied in Moscow and Berlin with academic ambitions, then met Marx and Proudhon in Paris and turned irreversibly radical. He was expelled from France, fought in the 1848 Prague and 1849 Dresden uprisings, was sentenced to death, extradited multiple times, and exiled to Siberia in 1857 before escaping via Japan to London. In 1868 he joined the International Workingmen's Association and led its anarchist wing to rapid growth, but the 1872 Hague Congress became a showdown with Marx over whether socialism required state power or its abolition - Bakunin couldn't reach the Netherlands, lost the vote in absentia, and was expelled for allegedly running a secret faction. He founded the Anti-Authoritarian International, kept writing (God and the State, Statism and Anarchy), kept joining insurrections (Lyon in 1870, nearly Bologna), but his health gave out. He died in Switzerland in 1876, having warned that Marxist revolutions would produce one-party dictatorships over the proletariat - a prediction that outlived him.

Country

France

Activists from France 6

Maximilien Robespierre78.0

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