Mikhail Bakunin (1814-1876), a famous Russian revolutionary and theorist of collectivist anarchism, was born into the Russian nobility. He spent his youth as a junior officer in the Russian army. After resigning his commission in 1835, he studied philosophy and frequented radical circles in Moscow.
In 1842 he left Russia, eventually arriving in Paris, where he met George Sand, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and Karl Marx. Later, as a member of the International Workingman’s Association, he was a vigorous opponent of Marx and Marxism. This led to his expulsion from the International in 1872.
In 1873, Bakunin wrote Statism and Anarchy. In it Bakunin attacks the Marxist theory of the state, and discusses the preconditions for a social revolution by the Slavic peoples and in Russia. He died in Berne, Switzerland in 1876. The following are three lengthy excerpts from Statism and Anarchy.
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