Mikhail Bakunin: Philosophy
One of the most perplexing and interesting anarchist philosophies to read are those of Russian revolutionary Mikhail Bakunin, considered by many to be the most radical of all anarchists (also one of the angriest people who ever lived). Most of his life was spent around revolutionary causes, either in trying to organize workers and peasants into revolution or participating in insurrections himself. Much of his theory is detailedly discussed in Revolutionary Catechism (1865). It the book, Bakunin begins by rejecting the value of the centralized state and organized religion, calling them false and referring to them as products of myth and superstition. Much like Proudhon, Bakunin advocated communal autonomy, or freedom of action inependent of government at the local community level. Believing that power was rightfully exercised from "the bottom up" rather than in a hierarchial and centralized manner (as was traditionally done), Bakunin stated that "labor must be the sole base of human right and the economic organization of the state." It was because of the current government's entrenched position and reluctance to give up power that social revolution could not be accomplished peacefully, for such a government required a violent and sudden end to be eliminated. He believed that amidst the ruins of the old government would form a new society in which anarchy would reign peacefully, which he implied in the famous anarchist saying: "The urge to destroy is a also a creative urge."
Bakunin also had pan-Slavic and anti-German leanings by virtue of being Russian and interpreting Germanic action as being completely against nationalistic Slavic action, in which the Germans usually came out the imperialistic victors. This feeling was most enunciated in his Appeal to the Slavs (1848). Associating the capitalistic system as one imposed by Germanic ideas on the Slavs as well, Bakunin denounced the bourgeoisie (moneyed/intellectual class), an entity which peasants had to overthrow to loosen their oppressive grip on power. He also called for the overthrow of government in general, particularly in the oppressed East of Europe. Advocating a free association of Slavic peoples, Bakunin thought of revolution as in the hands of the peasantry, the peasant being the core unit of any violent overthrow of power. Bakunin was also the creator of the exact antithesis of Marxian communism since he wanted none of the political control of the state imposed on individuals or any centralization of and subordination to any organized authority. In creating his radical philosophies, Bakunin created what is now termed Russian nihilism, a movement which "believed in nothing" of the past, denounced social institutions like the church and state as entities created on superstition and myth, and placed blind faith in the power of science and reason. His influence was also felt in many of the popular European anarchist movements he helped to found or participated in, most particularly in Spain, where followers of his philosophy tried to create their own anarchistic system during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939).