Mikhail Bakunin
Russian revolutionary anarchist (1814 to 1876); author of God and the State.
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What they believe
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Human history, intellectual, moral and political, is a reflection of its economic history
Yes, the whole history of humanity, intellectual and moral, political and social, is but a reflection of its economic history.
gutenberg.orgSaid c. 1870–1876This on korrents
The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These one: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.
Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 17 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.
Each is a — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.
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Human history, intellectual, moral and political, is a reflection of its economic history
Yes, the whole history of humanity, intellectual and moral, political and social, is but a reflection of its economic history.
God and the State (written 1870-1876, published 1882; Benjamin Tucker translation) Said c. 1870–1876
All human development rests on three elements: animality, thought, and rebellion
Three elements or, if you like, three fundamental principles constitute the essential conditions of all human development, collective or individual, in history: (1) human animality; (2) thought; and (3) rebellion.
God and the State (written 1870-1876, published 1882; Benjamin Tucker translation) Said c. 1870–1876
Truth and justice are the youngest and least widespread features of human society
Nothing, in fact, is as universal or as ancient as the iniquitous and absurd; truth and justice, on the contrary, are the least universal, the youngest features in the development of human society.
God and the State (written 1870-1876, published 1882; Benjamin Tucker translation) Said c. 1870–1876
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The age of a belief should make us suspect it rather than trust it
Whence it results that the antiquity of a belief, of an idea, far from proving anything in its favor, ought, on the contrary, to lead us to suspect it.
God and the State (written 1870-1876, published 1882; Benjamin Tucker translation) Said c. 1870–1876
The idea of God means giving up human reason and justice and leads to enslavement
With all due respect, then, to the metaphysicians and religious idealists, philosophers, politicians, or poets: The idea of God implies the abdication of human reason and justice; it is the most decisive negation of human liberty, and necessarily ends in the enslavement of mankind, both in theory and practice.
God and the State (written 1870-1876, published 1882; Benjamin Tucker translation) Said c. 1870–1876
If God exists humans are slaves, and since they must be free, God does not exist
If God is, man is a slave; now, man can and must be free; then, God does not exist.
God and the State (written 1870-1876, published 1882; Benjamin Tucker translation) Said c. 1870–1876
If God really existed, he would have to be abolished for the sake of human liberty
A jealous lover of human liberty, and deeming it the absolute condition of all that we admire and respect in humanity, I reverse the phrase of Voltaire, and say that, if God really existed, it would be necessary to abolish him.
God and the State (written 1870-1876, published 1882; Benjamin Tucker translation) Said c. 1870–1876
Human freedom means obeying natural laws one has recognized oneself, not laws imposed from outside
The liberty of man consists solely in this: that he obeys natural laws because he has himself recognized them as such, and not because they have been externally imposed upon him by any extrinsic will whatever, divine or human, collective or individual.
God and the State (written 1870-1876, published 1882; Benjamin Tucker translation) Said c. 1870–1876
Every privileged position corrupts the mind and heart of the person who holds it
It is the characteristic of privilege and of every privileged position to kill the mind and heart of men. The privileged man, whether politically or economically, is a man depraved in mind and heart.
God and the State (written 1870-1876, published 1882; Benjamin Tucker translation) Said c. 1870–1876
Experts should be listened to freely but never allowed to impose their authority
But I allow neither the bootmaker nor the architect nor the savant to impose his authority upon me. I listen to them freely and with all the respect merited by their intelligence, their character, their knowledge, reserving always my incontestable right of criticism and censure.
God and the State (written 1870-1876, published 1882; Benjamin Tucker translation) Said c. 1870–1876
Authority should be a voluntary, temporary exchange rather than fixed and constant
Therefore there is no fixed and constant authority, but a continual exchange of mutual, temporary, and, above all, voluntary authority and subordination.
God and the State (written 1870-1876, published 1882; Benjamin Tucker translation) Said c. 1870–1876
All legislation and official authority, even from universal suffrage, can only serve a ruling minority
In a word, we reject all legislation, all authority, and all privileged, licensed, official, and legal influence, even though arising from universal suffrage, convinced that it can turn only to the advantage of a dominant minority of exploiters against the interests of the immense majority in subjection to them.
God and the State (written 1870-1876, published 1882; Benjamin Tucker translation) Said c. 1870–1876
Science should enlighten life, not govern it
It follows that the only mission of science is to enlighten life, not to govern it.
God and the State (written 1870-1876, published 1882; Benjamin Tucker translation) Said c. 1870–1876
Religious longing is a protest against a wretched life, and only social revolution can cure it
They are the instinctive and passionate protest of the human being against the narrowness, the platitudes, the sorrows, and the shame of a wretched existence. For this malady, I have already said, there is but one remedy—Social Revolution.
God and the State (written 1870-1876, published 1882; Benjamin Tucker translation) Said c. 1870–1876
Religion is a collective insanity made more powerful by tradition and antiquity
Well, religion is a collective insanity, the more powerful because it is traditional folly, and because its origin is lost in the most remote antiquity.
God and the State (written 1870-1876, published 1882; Benjamin Tucker translation) Said c. 1870–1876
No state can exist without religion
There is not, there cannot be, a State without religion.
God and the State (written 1870-1876, published 1882; Benjamin Tucker translation) Said c. 1870–1876
The despotism of doctrinaires and inspired religious believers is the worst of all
Of all despotisms that of the doctrinaires or inspired religionists is the worst.
God and the State (written 1870-1876, published 1882; Benjamin Tucker translation) Said c. 1870–1876
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