A Critique of State Socialism by Mikhail Bakunin

How did the leading thinkers of what became known as the 'libertarian' wing start with freedom and end up with socialism? How did their approach differ from that of the 'authoritarian' wing of socialism -Marxists in general and Karl Marx in particular? The point of considering these questions is not to convert anyone to Proudhonism, Bakuninism, or Kropotkinism. And it is important to remember that out of the five most prominent socialist leaders of that era -Marx, Engels, Proudhon, Bakunin, and Kropotkin -three were anarchists. Today, factions of socialists are at odds over how much State power there should be or what means are to be used to seize State power but over 100 years ago, when the anarchist-socialist Mikhail Bakunin was ousted from the First International, the antistatist socialists and authoritarian socialists were strong contenders for the leadership of their crusade. It is well known that the Left has always been torn by dissension. A sizable faction of the 19th-century socialist movement rejected not only State power but the State itself. In the previous century, however, socialism was no more automatically and intrinsically bound to statism than to, say, vegetarianism. Whether the more radical and rigid kind of socialism usually denoted as communism or the milder variety found in Sweden and the United Kingdom and called democratic socialism, it is usually thought of in terms of expanding State power: nationalization of industries, widespread bureaucracy, high taxation -governmental controls on society and the individual. In the 20th century, socialism appears inextricably linked to statism.

A Critique of State Socialism by Mikhail Bakunin