Anarchism vs Marxism: Bakunin's Critique of Marx

Historical Context of Bakunin's Letter

This document draws a distinction between two major ideologies: Marxism and Anarchism. It was written by Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin, a preeminent anarchist philosopher often considered one of the movement's founding fathers. The recipient of this letter was Rubicone Nabruzzi, Vice President of the AIT (International Workingmen's Association) and a close associate of Bakunin.

This private political document was an attempt to influence the participants of the First International. Written in July 1872, the letter emerged during the height of the Second Industrial Revolution and shortly after the pivotal Hague Congress held that same year.

A Critique of Marxist Authoritarianism

The letter serves as a sharp critique of the authoritarianism, absolutism, and centralism associated with Karl Marx. While both Bakunin and Marx sought the triumph of economic equality, they proposed radically different paths to achieve it. Bakunin's primary arguments include:

• The necessity of abolishing the state and all legal rights.
• The reconstruction of society through a federation of workers' associations of all kinds.
• A rejection of centralized authority and social control imposed on the individual.

Bakunin also highlights the personal friction between the two thinkers, mentioning Marx's contempt for Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, whose influence Marx perceived as a threat to his own reputation.

Key Differences in Socialist Doctrine

Historical Materialism and the State

Socialist doctrine is defined by several core concepts, most notably Marx's theory of Historical Materialism. This approach scientifically analyzes human history through the lens of social production. According to Marx, in the social production of their lives, men establish certain necessary relations independent of their will. These relations of production correspond to a specific stage of development of material productive forces.

The totality of these relations constitutes the economic structure of society—the real foundation on which a legal and political superstructure rises, and to which definite forms of social consciousness correspond. The mode of production of material life conditions the social process of political and spiritual life in general.

The Anarchist Vision of Social Reconstruction

The most significant divergence between the two schools of thought lies in their view of authority. Anarchism is a political and social philosophy that calls for the total abolition of the state, viewing government, hierarchy, and social control as inherently harmful, undesirable, and unnecessary. In contrast, Marxism—derived from the works of the German philosopher and revolutionary journalist Karl Marx and his collaborator Friedrich Engels—utilizes a framework of sociology, economics, and history to drive revolutionary change through organized political doctrines.