Mikhail Bakunin (1814 - 1876)
Mon May 30, 1814
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Mikhail Bakunin, born on this day in 1814, was a Russian revolutionary, foundational thinker of collectivist anarchism, and contemporary political rival of Karl Marx within the First International.
Bakunin is considered to be among the most influential figures of anarchism and a major founder within the social anarchist tradition. Bakunin's prestige as an activist also made him one of the most famous ideologues in Europe, gaining substantial influence among radicals throughout the continent.
Bakunin is also notable as a vehement opponent of Marxism, especially of the dictatorship of the proletariat, predicting that Marxist governments would become one-party dictatorships over the proletariat, not by the proletariat. On this matter, he stated "Either one destroys the State or one must accept the vilest and most fearful lie of our century: the red bureaucracy."
Bakunin also espoused anti-Semitic views in some of his works, writing "...and where there is centralization of the state, there must necessarily be a central bank, and where such a bank exists, the parasitic Jewish nation, speculating with the labor of the people, will be found."
Bakunin biographer Mark Leier wrote that "Bakunin had a significant influence on later thinkers, ranging from Peter Kropotkin and Errico Malatesta to the Wobblies and Spanish anarchists in the Civil War to Herbert Marcuse, E.P. Thompson, Neil Postman, and A.S. Neill, down to the anarchists gathered these days under the banner of 'anti-globalization.'"
"Freedom without socialism is privilege and injustice, and socialism without freedom is slavery and brutality."
- Mikhail Bakunin
- Date: 1814-05-30
- Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, theanarchistlibrary.org, www.marxists.org, theanarchistlibrary.org.
- Tags: #Socialism, #Marxism, #Birthdays, #Anarchism.
- Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org