Mikhail Bakunin
Mikhail Bakunin
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Full Name and Common Aliases
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Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin was a Russian philosopher, anarchist, and revolutionary. He is commonly known as Mikhail Bakunin.
Birth and Death Dates
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Bakunin was born on May 18, 1814, in Preobrazhenskoye, Russia (now part of Belarus), and died on June 1, 1876, in Berne, Switzerland.
Nationality and Profession(s)
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Nationality: Russian
Profession(s): Philosopher, Anarchist, Revolutionary, Writer
Early Life and Background
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Mikhail Bakunin was born into a noble family of Russian aristocrats. His father, Alexander Bakunin, was a military officer and his mother, Sofia Andreyevna Neelidova, came from an old nobility family. From an early age, Mikhail showed a strong interest in philosophy and literature. He studied at the University of Moscow, where he became acquainted with the works of Immanuel Kant, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and other prominent philosophers.
In 1840, Bakunin traveled to Germany to study philosophy further. During this period, he was deeply influenced by the ideas of German idealism and began to develop his own philosophical views. He also became interested in the revolutionary movements of Europe, particularly the French Revolution.
Major Accomplishments
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Bakunin's most significant contributions were in the field of anarchism. He is considered one of the founders of modern anarchism, along with Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and Peter Kropotkin. Bakunin's ideas on individual freedom, collective ownership, and the abolition of authority greatly influenced the development of anarchist theory.
Bakunin was also a skilled writer and published numerous articles and books on philosophy, politics, and social issues. His most notable works include "The Reaction in Germany" (1842), "God and the State" (1882), and "Statism and Anarchy" (1873).
Notable Works or Actions
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Bakunin's life was marked by his involvement in various revolutionary movements across Europe. In 1848, he participated in the German Revolution, advocating for democratic reforms and workers' rights. However, his activities were deemed too radical, and he was arrested and imprisoned.
After his release from prison, Bakunin continued to advocate for anarchist principles. He became a key figure in the First International, an organization formed by Karl Marx's communist supporters. However, Bakunin's disagreements with Marx over issues of authority and individual freedom led to a bitter split within the movement.
Impact and Legacy
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Mikhail Bakunin's ideas on anarchism have had a lasting impact on modern thought. His emphasis on individual freedom, collective ownership, and voluntary association has influenced generations of socialists, anarchists, and libertarians. Today, his writings remain widely read and studied by scholars and activists around the world.
Bakunin's legacy is also reflected in the numerous organizations and movements inspired by his ideas. From the Spanish Civil War to the anti-globalization protests of the 1990s and 2000s, anarchist principles have played a significant role in shaping social and political movements worldwide.
Why They Are Widely Quoted or Remembered
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Mikhail Bakunin's writings on anarchism are widely quoted because they articulate the fundamental values of individual freedom and collective empowerment. His emphasis on voluntary association, mutual aid, and decentralized power has inspired countless individuals to challenge authority and promote social change.
Bakunin's legacy serves as a reminder that true freedom can only be achieved by liberating ourselves from all forms of coercion and oppression. As he so eloquently stated in his book "God and the State", "The passion for liberty is the most powerful, and it alone has always been the source of all human progress."
Quotes by Mikhail Bakunin
Mikhail Bakunin's insights on:
I listen to them freely and with all the respect merited by their intelligence, their character, their knowledge, reserving always my incontestable right of criticism and censure.
If there is an undeniable fact, attested to a thousand times by experience, it is the corrupting effect produced by authority on those who manipulate it It is absolutely impossible for a man who wields power to remain a moral man...
There is not, there cannot be, a State without religion. Take the freest States in the world – the United States of America or the Swiss Confederation, for instance – and see what an important part is played in all official discourses by divine Providence, that supreme sanction of all States.
The general idea is always an abstraction and, for that very reason, in some sort a negation of real life. And every time that scientific men, emerging from their abstract world, mingle with living creation in the real world, all that they propose or create is poor, ridiculously abstract, bloodless and lifeless, still-born, like the homunculus created by Wagner, the pedantic disciple of the immortal Doctor Faust.
Bloody revolutions are often necessary, thanks to human stupidity; yet they are always an evil, a monstrous evil and a great disaster, not only with regard to the victims, but also for the sake of the purity and perfection of the purpose in whose name they take place.
All religions, with their gods, their demigods, and their prophets, their messiahs and their saints, were created by the credulous fancy of men who had not attained the full development and full possession of their faculties.
