Mikhail Aleksandrovich Bakunin

Mikhail Bakunin’s (1814-1876) contribution to anarchism is frequently presented as a matter of spirit rather than intellect. In such readings, his ferocious appetites and bold passions, his chaotic lifestyle and scattered, undisciplined writing, are held up as the embodiment of anarchism’s defining and unyielding fixation on freedom. This obscures the scale of Bakunin’s contributions to anarchist theory, especially his mature work written between 1866 and 1874, which helped establish core anarchist principles: a critique of domination manifest in the modern state and supported by capitalism and religion; a dissection of Marxist authoritarianism; and a theory of anarchist social revolution. While incomplete, Bakunin’s ideas, and his practical example, would define the development of the anarchist tradition after his death.