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The European Legacy
Toward New Paradigms
Volume 7, 2002 - Issue 1
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Original Articles

"Human Light": The Mystical Religion of Mikhail Bakunin

Pages 7-24 | Published online: 01 Jul 2010

  • Bakunin , Mikhail . 1970 . God and the State , 21 New York : Dover Publications .
  • Bakunin , Mikhail . 1868 . "Program and Object of the Secret Revolutionary Organization of the International Brethren" ” .
  • Guerin , Daniel , ed. 1998 . No Gods, No Masters: An Anthology of Anarchism , 2 vols , 155 Edinburgh : AK Press . Book One
  • Nettlau , Max . 1996 . A Short History of Anarchism , 45 – 51 . London : Freedom Press . for an explanation of the communitarian stream of anarchist thought, distinct from "individualist" anarchism
  • Bakunin . God and the State 14 – 28 . 46 – 7 .
  • Cole . "Bakunin," ” . 228 Bakunin, cited in
  • Lampert . 1957 . Studies in Rebellion , 120 London : Roudedge & Kegan Paul . Lampert concluded that Bakunin "retained throughout, in his atheist no less than in his theist (or pantheist) phase, a strong religious and mystical tendency … ." Ibid., 134
  • Bakunin , Mikhail . "Program and Object of the Secret Revolutionary Organization of the International Brethren," ” . In No Gods, No Masters Edited by: Guerin . 136 Bakunin did not exclude the freedom of women within "humanity." They were to become "equal [with men] in all political and social rights … ." See
  • Carr . Michael Bakunin 11 – 13 . 303 – 4 .
  • Bakunin , Mikhail . 1836 . "From a Letter of Bakunin to His Sisters" ” .
  • Lehning , ed. Bakunin: Selected Writings 33 – 5 . Bakunin stated there, for example, that 'The moral will of man is the will of God … ," and "Christ… is the Son of God for He belongs to all men, He is the Son of Man, and He is our pattern."
  • Nettlau . Short History 94 – 5 . The concentration on documents from the mid-1860s onwards is a reflection of Bakunin's work activity. It does not imply agreement with the common assertion in stories of Bakunin's life that he was not an anarchist before this time. Bakunin's ideas were substantially anarchistic from at least the mid-1840s. See
  • Samuel , Raphael . 1992 . "Reading the Signs II: Fact-grubbers and Mind-readers," . History Workshop Journal , 33 : 245 For a clear statement of the contingent and social nature of human thought
  • Dunn , John . 1980 . "The Identity of the History of Ideas," ” . In Political Obligation in its Historical Context: Essays in Political Theory , 15 16 Cambridge : Cambridge University Press .
  • Cole . "Bakunin," ” . 219
  • Morris , Brian . 1993 . Bakunin: the Philosophy of Freedom , Montreal Black Rose Books . Chapter10, "Social Philosophy." Moms' assessment, like Cole's, is fleeting, and is more a critical discussion than a thorough analysis
  • Saltman , Richard B. 1983 . The Social and Political Thought of Michael Bakunin , Connecticut : Greenwood Press . Chapter 2, "Bakunin's Theory of Freedom." Saltman's thesis strangely leans heavily on the assumed and "derived" influence of Lamarck on Bakunin's thought, yet there is no historical evidence to support his thesis. Saltman suggests that Bakunin "apparently never mentioned Lamarck at all," Ibid., 22
  • Berlin , Isaiah . 1955 . "Herzen and Bakunin on Individual Liberty," ” . In Continuity and Change in Russian and Soviet Thought , Edited by: Simmons , Ernest J. 493 496 Massachusetts : Harvard University Press .
  • Berlin , Isaiah . 1979 . Russian Thinkers , Harmondsworth .
  • Stock , P.-V. , ed. 1907-1913 . "Articles écrits pour Ie Journal 1'Égalité: Lettre à la Commission du Journal" (1868) ” . In Michel Bakounine: Oeuvres , 6 vols , Paris : Tress & Stock . Tome V, 15-6 for the polemical and positively argued context of this "jingle" nakedly cited by Berlin
  • Morris . Bakunin 71 – 7 . for a similar assertion. See also Saltman, Social and Political Thought, Chapter 1 for a discussion of the "Paradox school" as he labelled "most English-language studies of Bakunin." Marshall Shatz, for example, observed that there were apparendy in Bakunin's thought "riddles" which "puzzle biographers and historians," but which "seem to have left Bakunin himself serenely untroubled." See
  • Shatz , ed. "Introduction," ” . In Statism and Anarchy xxviii – xxix .
  • Kelly , Aileen . 1982 . Mikhail Bakunin: A Study in the Psychology and Politics of Utopianism , Oxford : Clarendon Press .
  • Morland , David . 1997 . Demanding the Impossible? Human Nature and Politics in Nineteenth-Century Social Anarchism , London : Cassell . for a continuation of the Berlin "tradition." For rare positive approaches to Bakunin's thought see Morris, Bakunin; Cole, "Bakunin"
  • Kenafick , K. J. 1948 . Michael Bakunin and Karl Marx , Melbourne : A. Mailer . As a consequence of the confusing state of historiography and the fragmentary locations of translated material related to Bakunin, a concerted effort has been made in this essay to identify the precise sources of Bakunin's writings where cited
  • Bakunin . 1867 . "Federalism, Socialism, and Anti-Theologism" ” .
  • Maximoif , ed. The Political Philosophy of Bakunin 58
  • Ibid.
  • Ibid.
  • Ibid., 95.
  • Bakunin . 1870 . "Philosophical Considerations" ” .
  • Maximoff , ed. The Political Philosophy of Bakunin 98
  • Plant , Raymond . 1973 . Hegel , 105 London : Alien and Unwin . Bakunin may have been echoing Hegel here. Hegel's logical argument was also "circular," with the self-consciousness of the world being built into it, yet the achievement of that self-consciousness "being made plain and intelligible in Hegel's own philosophy," through his assertion of harmony between thought and reality
  • Nettlau . "Mikhal Bakunin," ” . 33 – 4 . Bakunin had thoroughly studied the philosophy of Hegel, in Moscow and in Berlin
  • Bakunin . 1870 . "Philosophical Considerations" ” .
  • Maximoff , ed. The Political Philosophy of Bakunin 56
  • Reardon , Bernard M. G. 1977 . Hegel's Philosophy of Religion , 27 London : Macmillan . Ibid., 53. Hegel was also unconcerned regarding one's chosen labelling of the "Absolute," or "God," or "the Universal in and for itself."
  • Bakunin . 1870 . "Philosophical Considerations" ” .
  • Maximoff , ed. The Political Philosophy of Bakunin 54
  • Ibid.
  • Williams , Raymond . 1988 . Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society , 152 – 3 . 199 – 200 . London : Fontana Press . for historicized definitions of "idealism" and "materialism."
  • Bakunin . 1871 . "Réponse d'un International à Mazzini" ” .
  • Lehning , ed. Bakunin: Selected Writings 219 – 20 .
  • Marx , Karl and Engels , Frederick . 1968 . The German Ideology , 38 Moscow : Progress Publishers .
  • Dolgoff , Sam , ed. 1973 . Bakunin on Anarchy: Selected Works by the Activist-founder of World Anarchism , 310 London : Alien & Unwin . Bakunin, cited in
  • Stock , ed. 1872 . "Fragment formant une suite de L'Empire Knouto-Germanique" ” . In Oeuvres 456 – 7 . Emphasis in original. The precise source is not clear in Dolgoff s anthology, but it can be found in Tome IV
  • Stock , ed. 1870 . "Considérations Philosophiques sur le Fantome divin, sur le Monde réel et sur 1'Homme"; Translated by the writer ” . In Oeuvres 383 Tome III
  • Ibid. Translated by the writer. Emphasis in original.
  • Ibid., 389-90.
  • Bakunin . 1871 . "Réponse d'un International à Mazzini" ” .
  • Lehning , ed. Bakunin: Selected Writings 219 Emphasis in original
  • Smith , Denis Mack . 1994 . Mazzini , New Haven : Yale University Press . Mazzini had formed the "Young Italy" association in 1832 and fought thereafter for a republican Italy. The movement he founded spread rapidly and widely, as did Mazzini's writings and his influence in Italy. See
  • Ravindranathan , T. R. 1988 . Bakunin and the Italians , Kingston & Montreal : McGill-Queen's University Press . Chapter 7 for a detailed narrative of the relationship between Bakunin and Mazzini after 1870
  • Bakunin . God and the State 54
  • Ibid., 55.
  • Ibid., 59. Emphasis in original.
  • Bakunin . 1873 . "Statism and Anarchy" ” .
  • Shatz , ed. Statism and Anarchy 113
  • Bakunin . 1871 . "The Paris Commune and the Idea of the State" ” .
  • Lehning , ed. Bakunin: Selected Writings 208 – 9 .
  • Ibid., 208.
  • Ibid., 209.
  • Maximoif , ed. Political Philosophy of Bakunin 86 88 169 – 70 . Bakunin was aware of and had assimilated into his thinking at least the basic tenets of a "vulgar" Darwinian theory of evolution. See, for example
  • Cole . "Bakunin," ” . 222 Further, Bakunin had been in close collaboration with both Elie Reclus, a respected anthropologist, and his communitarian anarchist brother, Elisée Reclus, an internationally respected geographer. It is likely that Bakunin's anthropological and evolutionary thinking was enhanced and consolidated through these relationships. See
  • Fleming , Marie . 1979 . The Anarchist Way to Socialism: Elisée Reclus and Nineteenth Century European Anarchism , 67 – 8 . 155 193 London : Groom Helm .
  • Bakunin . 1870 . "Philosophical Considerations" ” .
  • Maximoff , ed. Political Philosophy of Bakunin 56
  • Maximoff , ed. Political Philosophy of Bakunin 73 – 4 . Bakunin, "Federalism, Socialism, and Anti-Theologism", cited in
  • Proudhon , P.-J. 1972 . System of Economical Contradictions or, The Philosophy of Misery , 433 New York : Amo Press . In an interesting parallel of beliefs, Proudhon had said that "Man … is at once spirit and matter, spontaneity and reflection, mechanism and life, angel and brute … ."
  • Bakunin . God and the State 13
  • Stock , ed. 1871 . "L'Empire KnoutoGermanique et la Révolution Sociale" ” . In Oeuvres 19 – 20 . Ibid., 9-10. Emphasis in original. Translation modified. See Tome HI
  • Dolgoif . Bakunin on Anarchy 272 Bakunin, "The Paris Commune," cited in
  • Stock , ed. "Préambule pour la Seconde Livraison," ” . In Oeuvres 269 Tome IV
  • Bakunin . God and the State 29
  • Kropotkin , Peter . 1972 . "Introduction", in Mutual Aid: A Factor in Evolution , New York : New York University Press . Bakunin, "Federalism, Socialism and Anti-Theologism," cited in Political Philosophy of Bakunin ed. Maximoff, 146. There is no direct connection implied here between Bakunin and Kropotkin regarding these notions, neither is it implied that they were unique to Bakunin nor that they originated with him. It is simply noted as a parallel of ideas between Bakunin and Kropotkin. With respect to the notion of "mutual aid," Kropotkin acknowledged an intellectual debt to others than Bakunin
  • Maximoif , ed. Political Philosophy of Bakunin 146 – 7 . Bakunin, "Federalism, Socialism and Anti-Theologism," cited in
  • Lehning , ed. Bakunin: Selected Writings 256 – 7 . Bakunin, cited in
  • Ibid, 261.
  • Ibid., 258. Lampert interestingly suggests that Bakunin's "materialism" was most influenced by "the school of natural anthropology which began to emerge in the sixties … and of which Elisée Reclus (1830-1905) was a leading spokesman." Lampert, Studies in Rebellion, 276, note 31.
  • Bakunin, cited in Bakunin: Selected Writings, ed. Lehning.
  • Kelly . Mikhail Bakunin 186 Bakunin's "anthropological" belief in the existence of an "instinct of rebellion" in human beings throws a substantial question over theses which accuse him of devising, for example, "the cult of the spirit of revolt" or which assert that he was a psychological victim of, for example, "the irrational impetus to rebellion." See
  • Lampert . Studies in Rebellion 168
  • Bakunin . 1871 . "Protestation of the Alliance" ” .
  • Maximoff , ed. The Political Philosophy of Bakunin 248 For the original text, see "Protestation de 1'Alliance (Juillet 1871)" in Oeuvres ed. Stock, Tome VI, 16-8. Translation modified
  • Ibid., 16-7. Translation modified.
  • Ibid., 17. Translation modified.
  • Bakunin . 1867 . "Federalism, Socialism, and Anti-Theologism" ” .
  • Maximoff , ed. Political Philosophy of Bakunin 166
  • Ibid., 75.
  • Lehning , ed. "L'Empire knouto-germanique" ” . In Archives Bakounine 111
  • Bakunin . God and the State 42
  • Bakunin . 1868 . "Program and Object of the Secret Revolutionary Organization of the International Brethren" ” .
  • Guerin , ed. No Gods, No Masters 152 – 3 . Book One
  • Bakunin . 1870 . "Philosophical Considerations" ” . Bakunin's use of the word "liberté", can be freely translated as either "freedom" or "liberty" in English. See
  • Maximoff , ed. Political Philosophy of Bakunin 265 for Bakunin's "rational meaning of the word liberty." The original text is in Stock, d., Oeuvres, Tome HI, 246 where he refers to "l'unique sens rationnel de ce mot liberté." It will be seen to closely agree with his understanding of "freedom" which will be defined in detail shortly. This flexibility in translation also applies to Proudhon's use of the word "liberté." See
  • Proudhon , P.-J. 1970 . What is Property?: An Inquiry into the Principle of Right and of Government , 49 281 – 2 . New York : Dover Publications . for details of his own definition
  • Bakunin . 1866 . "Principles and Organization of the International Brotherhood" ” .
  • Lehning , ed. Bakunin: Selected Writings 76 – 7 .
  • Proudhon . What is Property? 281 All emphasis is in the originals
  • Bakunin . 1868 . "The Program of the Alliance of International Revolution" ” . cited in Political Philosophy of Bakunin ed. Maximoff, 156-7. Bakunin's implicit denial here that solidarity and inequality can co-exist can be explained by recalling that, as a principle, Bakunin was demanding equality for all. For Bakunin, any inequality implied hierarchy, and he sought the absence of all authority over the individual. The way in which he argued this will be seen shortly
  • Bakunin . 1867 . "Federalism, Socialism and Anti-Theologism" ” .
  • Lehning , ed. Bakunin: Selected Writings 107 – 8 . Translation modified. For the original text, see Oeuvres ed. Stock, Tome I, 54
  • Proudhon . What is Property? 227 – 30 . 242 – 3 . Emphasis in original
  • Fichte , Johann Gottlieb . 1977 . "The Way towards the Blessed Life or The Doctrine of Religion," ” . In Significant Contributions to the History of Psychology 1750-1920 , Edited by: Robinson , Daniel N. VoL II , Washington, DC : University Publications of America . It is also possible that elements of Bakunin's philosophical studies could have congealed here, even if through "a process of osmosis."
  • Wood , Alien W. 1990 . Hegel's Ethical Thought , 89 Cambridge : Cambridge University Press . J.G. Fichte, 474. Nettlau has stated that in 1836 Bakunin was "entirely absorbed in the philosophical ideas of Fichte" and The Way to a Blessed Life "fascinated him, and became his favorite book." Nettlau, "Mikhail Bakunin," 33. For example, Fichte argued that "the love of his fellow-man reveals itself in the Religious Man … he never, under any condition, ceases to labour for their ennoblement, and consequently never, under any condition, gives up his Hope in them." Note also that Hegel had asserted that "I win freedom for myself not by subjugating others but by liberating them; granting them the same free status I claim for myself." Hegel
  • Samuel , Raphael . 1991 . "Reading the Signs," . History Workshop Journal , 32 : 88 – 9 . The allusion to "a process of osmosis" reflects the historiographical insight of
  • Bakunin . 1870 . "Philosophical Considerations" ” .
  • Maximoff , ed. Political Philosophy of Bakunin 91
  • Bakunin . 1871 . "The Knouto-Germank Empire and the Social Revolution" ” .
  • Maximoff , ed. Political Philosophy of Bakunin 266
  • Bakunin . 1870 . "Philosophical Considerations" ” .
  • Maximoff , ed. Political Philosophy of Bakunin 91
  • "A Last Word on Bakunin's 'Confession' " ” . In Nettlau, Writings on Bakunin 42 – 3 . Bakunin was in prison or Siberian exile from 1849 until his escape in 1861. For a glimpse of Bakunin's prison experiences, see extracts from Bakunin's letter which was smuggled from prison to his sister in 1854, cited in
  • Netdau . "Mikhail Bakunin," ” . 33 – 4 . 41
  • Carr . Michael Bakunin 219 – 21 . for an exceptional description
  • Bakunin . 1870 . "Philosophical Considerations" ” .
  • Maximoff , ed. Political Philosophy of Bakunin 91
  • Kelly . Mikhail Bakunin 145 for a citation from an 1849 letter from prison in which Bakunin "reflected" that "Religion is necessary to us all… ."
  • Bakunin . 1868 . "The Program of the Alliance of International Revolution" ” .
  • Maximoff , ed. Political Philosophy of Bakunin 339 Emphasis in original
  • Bakunin . 1871 . "The Knouto-Germank Empire and the Social Revolution" ” .
  • Maximoff , ed. Political Philosophy of Bakunin 267
  • Ibid., 268.
  • Ibid.
  • Ibid. Translation modified. See "Dieu et l'État" (1871), Oeuvres, ed. Stock, Tome I, 282.
  • Bakunin . 1871 . "The Knouto-Germank Empire and the Social Revolution" ” . cited in Political Philosophy of Bakunin, ed. Maximoff
  • Bakunin . 1871 . God and the State
  • Dolgoff , ed. Bakunin on Anarchy 239
  • Ibid.
  • Ibid.
  • Bakunin . God and the State 43 Note
  • Rocker , Rudolf . "Introduction," ” . In The Political Philosophy of Bakunin Edited by: Maximoff . 23
  • Dolgoff , ed. "Michael Bakunin: A Biographical Sketch by James Guillaume 1844-1916" ” . In Bakunin on Anarchy 51 For a clear statement of the meaning of "collectivism" as used here by Bakunin, see
  • Nettlau . Short History 141 – 2 . It is interesting to note that the seminal anarchist theorist Peter Kropotkin's last work was an (unfinished) "ethics" of anarchism
  • Kropotkin , Peter . 1968 . Ethics: Origin and Development , New York : Benjamin Blom Inc .
  • Dolgoff , ed. Bakunin on Anarchy 51
  • Rocker . "Introduction," ” . 17 – 18 . 23
  • Kenafick . Bakunin and Marx 303 – 4 .

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