Mikhail Bakunin

1814 – 1876

Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin was a Russian revolutionary and political philosopher who became one of the most influential figures of 19th-century anarchism and the founder of collectivist anarchism. Imprisoned for years in tsarist fortresses and exiled to Siberia before escaping to Western Europe via Japan and the United States, he engaged in lifelong polemic with Karl Marx over the dangers of state power, arguing that any revolutionary state would inevitably reproduce tyranny. His writings, particularly God and the State and Statism and Anarchy, remain foundational texts in libertarian socialist thought.

Last checked: May 10, 2026, 1:06 PM