Mikhail Bakunin

Mikhail Bakunin: God and the State

God and the State is an unfinished manuscript published after Bakunin's death. It is his only published book-length work. The manuscript was originally intended to be part of Bakunin's wider body of work. However, it remained unfinished at the time of his death in 1876.

In God and the State, Bakunin is very critical of religion, particularly Christianity. He argues that the state uses religion as a weapon and that the very nature of religion is one that can be equated to enslavement and impoverishment. Bakunin goes on to denounce all forms of religion and authoritarian tyranny in his work. In his view, for mankind to experience self-determination, religion must be overthrown.

Portrait of Mikhail Bakunin, Wikimedia Commons

In one of the more memorable lines in God and the State, Bakunin declares:

Mikhail Bakunin and Anarchism

Years after his death, Bakunin remains one of the world's most influential anarchist thinkers and is credited as being a pioneer of the tradition of revolutionary socialist and social anarchist thought. Bakunin is also known for his fierce opposition to Marxism. As an anarchist, Bakunin's beliefs ran counter to the Marxist revolutionary goal of establishing a ruling proletariat class, which Bakunin argued would be nothing more than a proletariat dictatorship.

Mikhail Bakunin's beliefs

Throughout his life, Bakunin maintained an unwavering faith in the transformative powers of revolution. He believed that revolution was required to cleanse society of all its wrongdoings. The revolution, according to Bakunin, would be ignited through direct action, in which there would be a series of actions (targeted violence, mass protest, and the refusal to pay taxes) in order to catalyze the revolution. Through widespread revolt and revolution, the oppressed would be freed from the coercive control of the state and authoritative hierarchies.

Bakunin stressed the importance of the need for a bottom-up revolution as he argued that it must be those who are being oppressed that rise up against the coercive forces in order for them to be successful.

In the aftermath of the revolution, Bakunin believed that society would be structured into a stateless society that aligned more accurately with the true nature of humans. These societies would be structured around federalism and would be made up of voluntary associations of free individuals who have been liberated from a state-controlled society.

Due to the collective nature of this post-revolution society, individuals would voluntarily express their true human nature, which would be both altruistic and cooperative, as there would be no coercive form of authority to force individuals into acting in a specific way. Bakunin believed this to be true freedom. This freedom would also enhance social solidarity which would, in turn, create a society that is both moral and just and has the capability to self-regulate.

Aside from federalism, Bakunin also called for the restructuring of society based on collectivist ideals with a particular focus on economic collectivisation. Bakunin believed that the means of production should have common ownership and all private property should be abolished. This would then result in the promotion of equality and freedom, washing away the traces of privilege and exploitation.

Bakunin’s rejection of the state

Mikhail Bakunin viewed the state as illegitimate. For him, the state hindered and encroached upon the personal freedoms of individuals. He believed that the state encouraged centralisation in society, in which there was a concentration of political power in the hands of the elites who ran the state. According to Bakunin, this concentration of power is used by the state to assert dominance over the non-elites. As a result of the state’s dominant and coercive nature, the liberties that should be afforded to each individual are then destroyed.

Bakunin argued that not only was there a concentration of power amongst societies' elites but that the state used this control to promote violence to preserve itself. Individuals who are exploited by the state are actively coerced into preserving this oppressive force through militarism, patriotism, and the nationalist propaganda that the state force-feeds the population. Bakunin called for the state to be replaced in favour of a society that is based on collective ownership.

Bakunin’s views on religion

In line with the majority of anarchist thinkers, Bakunin saw religion as a coercive force and an illegitimate form of authority. From Bakunin's perspective, religion uses concepts of hell and heaven to force people into obedience against their will. It also upholds class inequality by keeping the poor and working-class disillusioned and believing that despite their struggles on earth they would receive grandeur in heaven.

A nineteenth-century depiction of heaven and hell by Octave Tassaert, Wikimedia Commons.

Bakunin believed that this disillusion kept many people from uncovering the truly coercive nature of religion and subsequently rising up against this form of coercion and control. For Bakunin, religion also served to reinforce state control. He argued that a belief in God undercut the possibility of independent thought and encouraged the acceptance of divine authority.

In addition, Bakunin believed that religion promoted ignorance and a lack of rational questioning due to the nature in which it made individuals submit themselves wholeheartedly to the belief in divine authority. This submission meant that individuals became accustomed to being controlled, whether by the state or by religion. Bakunin was vehemently against religion and the church and even encouraged their abolition by any means necessary.

Bakunin and human nature

Bakunin believed in the sociability and cooperative nature of humans, arguing that they were also inherently autonomous and rational. Due to their sociable nature, he argued that it was only within a society that humans could experience liberation, and to live outside of society would deprive humans of fulfillment. To live within a society was important, as a society created ideas of justice and morality that are critical to the development of humans.

Bakunin also believed that through collectivism humans could liberate themselves from the constraints of the external world, as he firmly believed that individuals could attain autonomy and character development only in a social context. For Bakunin, the existence of social solidarity was critical to human nature. He echoes this sentiment in his work The Immorality of the State when he states ‘man is born into society, just as an ant is born into an ant-hill and a bee into its hive’.

Mikhail Bakunin: Quotes

On the state and government:

On church and religion:

On human nature and equality: