Mikhail Bakunin

From ProleWiki, the proletarian encyclopedia
Mikhail Bakunin

Михаил Бакунин
Born30 May 1814
Pryamukhino, Russian Empire
Died1 July 1876
Bern, Switzerland
NationalityRussian
Political orientationAnarchism
Political partyFirst International


Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin (30 May 1814 – 1 July 1876) was a Russian anarchist and member of the First International.

Political beliefs

Bakunin rejected the existence of the state, including a workers' state. He advocated for complete abstention from bourgeois politics while Marx believed reforms could be useful in some cases to raise class consciousness. Bakunin believed the peasantry would lead the revolution while Marx believed the proletariat would lead it. He believed in revolutionary spontaneity and thought secret societies would start the revolution.[1]

Philosophical beliefs

Bakunin defined freedom as the ability of individuals to act according to one's natural impulses. He believed human nature was fixed and not developing dialectically.[1]

Antisemitism

Bakunin believed that Jews controlled the banks and exploited workers.[2]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Ann Robertson (2022-11-27). "The Philosophical Roots of the Marx-Bakunin Conflict (2003)" Red Sails. Archived from the original on 2022-11-27. Retrieved 2022-12-04.
  2. “The Communism of Marx seeks enormous centralization in the state, and where such exists, there must inevitably be a central state bank, and where such a bank exists, the parasitic Jewish nation, which speculates on the work of the people, will always find a way to prevail.”

    Mikhail Bakunin (1871). Bakunin on Marx and Rothschild.