Mikhail Bakunin

Who was Mikhail Bakunin?

Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin was a Russian revolutionary, libertarian socialist, and founder of "collectivist anarchism" philosophy. He is considered among the most influential figures of anarchism, and one of the principle founders of the "social anarchist" tradition of anarchism. Bakunin's enormous prestige as an activist, made him one of the most famous ideologues in Europe; during his lifetime, he was arguably more infamous than Karl Marx. He gained substantial influence among radicals throughout Russia and Europe.

Bakunin grew up in Premukhino, a family estate near Moscow, where he moved to study philosophy and began to read the French encyclopédistes, leading to enthusiasm for the philosophy of Fichte. From Fichte, Bakunin went on to immerse himself in the works of Hegel, the most influential thinker among German intellectuals at the time. That led to his embrace of Hegelianism, bedazzled by Hegel's famous maxim, "Everything that exists is rational." In 1840, Bakunin traveled to St. Petersburg and Berlin, aiming at preparing himself for a professorship in philosophy or history at the University of Moscow. Bakunin moved from Berlin, in 1842, to Dresden. Eventually he arrived in Paris, where he met the likes of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and Karl Marx. Bakunin's increasing radicalism - including staunch opposition to imperialism in east and central Europe by Russia and other powers - changed his life, putting paid to hopes of a professorial career. He was eventually deported from France for speaking against Russia's oppression of Poland.