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MIKHAIL BAKUNIN (1814-1876)

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 231 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MIKHAIL See also:

BAKUNIN (1814-1876)  , See also:Russian anarchist, was See also:born of an aristocratic See also:family at Torjok, in the See also:government of See also:Tver, in 1814 . As an officer of the Imperial Guard, he saw service in See also:Poland, but resigned his See also:commission from a disgust of despotism aroused by witnessing the repressive methods employed against the Poles . He proceeded to See also:Germany, studied See also:Hegel, and soon got into See also:touch with the leaders of the See also:young See also:German See also:movement in See also:Berlin . Thence he went to See also:Paris, where he met See also:Proudhon and See also:George See also:Sand, and also made the acquaintance of the See also:chief See also:Polish exiles . From Paris he journeyed to See also:Switzerland, where he resided for some See also:time, taking an active See also:share in all socialistic movements . While in Switzerland he was ordered by the Russian government to return to See also:Russia, and on his refusal his See also:property was confiscated . In 1848, on his return to Paris, he published a violent tirade against Russia, which caused his See also:expulsion from See also:France . The revolutionary movement of 1848 gave him the opportunity of entering upon a violent See also:campaign of democratic agitation, and for his participation in the See also:Dresden insurrection of 1849 he was arrested and condemned to See also:death . The death See also:sentence, however, was commuted to imprisonment for See also:life, and he was eventually handed over to the Russian authorities, by whom he was imprisoned and finally sent to eastern See also:Siberia in 1855 . He received permission to remove to the See also:Amur region, whence he succeeded in escaping, making his way through See also:Japan and the See also:United States to See also:England in 186x . He spent the See also:rest of his life in See also:exile in western See also:Europe, principally in Switzerland . In 1869 he founded the Social Democratic See also:Alliance, which, how-ever, dissolved in the same See also:year, and joined the See also:International (q.v.) .

In 1870 he attempted a rising at See also:

Lyons on the principles afterwards exemplified by the Paris See also:Commune . At the See also:Hague See also:congress of the International in 1872 he was outvoted and expelled by the See also:Marx party . He retired to See also:Lugano in 1873 and died at See also:Bern on the 13th of See also:June 1876 . Nothing can be clearer or more See also:frank and comprehensive in its destructiveness than the revolutionary See also:anarchism of See also:Bakunin . He rejects all the ideal systems in every name and shape, from the See also:idea of See also:God downwards; and every See also:form of See also:external authority, whether emanating from the will of a See also:sovereign or from universal See also:suffrage . " The See also:liberty of See also:man," he says in his Dieu et l Etat (published posthumously in 1882) " consists solely in this, that he obeys the See also:laws of nature, because he has himself recognized them as such, and not because they have been imposed upon him externally by any See also:foreign will whatsoever, human or divine, collective or individual." In this way will the whole problem of freedom be solved. that natural laws be ascertained by scientific See also:discovery, and the knowledge of them be universally diffused among the masses . Natural laws being thus recognized by every man for himself, he cannot but obey them, for they are the laws also of his own nature; and the need for See also:political organization,See also:administration and legislation will at once disappear . Nor will he admit of any privileged position or class, for " it is the peculiarity of See also:privilege and of every privileged position to kill the See also:intellect and See also:heart of man . The privileged man, whether he be privileged politically or economically, is a man depraved in intellect and heart." " In a word, we See also:object to all legislation, all authority, and all See also:influence, privileged, patented, See also:official and legal, even when it has proceeded from universal suffrage, convinced that it must always turn to the profit of a dominating and exploiting minority, against the interests of the immense See also:majority enslaved." Bakunin's methods of realizing his revolutionary See also:programme are not less frank and destructive than his principles . The revolutionist, as he would recommend him to be, is a consecrated man, who will allow no private interests or feelings, and no scruples of See also:religion, patriotism or morality, to turn him aside from his See also:mission, the aim of which is by all available means to overturn the existing society . (See ANARCHISM.) BA-KWIRI, a See also:Bantu nation of German Cameroon, See also:West See also:Africa . According to tradition they are migrants from the eastward .

The " Brushmen," for that is the meaning of their name, are grouped in about sixty See also:

separate clans . They are a lively intelligent See also:people, brave fighters and daring hunters, and in their love of songs, See also:music and elocution are See also:superior to many See also:negro races . Their domestic affections are strongly See also:developed . Their chief See also:physical peculiarity is the See also:great disparity between the See also:size and complexion of the sexes, most of the See also:women being much shorter and far lighter in See also:colour than the men . The Ba-Kwiri are generous and open-handed among themselves; but the See also:law of See also:blood for blood is mercilessly fulfilled, even in cases of accidental See also:homicide . Their religion is ancestor-See also:worship blended with See also:witchcraft and magic . They believe in See also:good and evil See also:spirits, those of the forests and seas being especially feared . In See also:common with their neighbours the See also:Dualla (q.v.) the Ba-Kwiri possess a curious See also:drum See also:language . By drum-tapping See also:news is conveyed from See also:clan to clan . Slaves and women are not allowed to See also:master this language, but all the initiated are See also:bound to repeat it so as to pass the messages on . The Ba-Kwiri have also a See also:horn language See also:peculiar to themselves .

End of Article: MIKHAIL BAKUNIN (1814-1876)
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