5.—PROPERTY

I.In the progress of mankind from its bestialexistence to a human existence, according to Bakunin, we must shortly come to the disappearance—not indeed of property, but—of property's present form, unlimited private property.

1. Private property, so far as it fastens upon all things without distinction, belongs to the same low stage of evolution as the State.

"Private property is at once the consequence and the basis of the State."[386]"Every government is necessarily based on exploitation on the one hand, and on the other hand has exploitation for its goal and bestows upon exploitation protection and legality."[387]In every State there exist "two kinds of relationship,—to wit, government and exploitation. If really governing means sacrificing one's self for the good of the governed, then indeed the second relationship is in direct contradiction to the first. But let us only understand our point rightly! From the ideal standpoint, be it theological or metaphysical, the good of the masses can of course not mean their temporal welfare: what are a few decades of earthly life in comparison to eternity? Hence one must govern the masses with regard not to this coarse earthly happiness, but to their eternal good. Outward sufferings and privations may even be welcomed from the educator's standpoint, since an excess of sensual enjoyment kills the immortal soul. But now the contradiction disappears. Exploiting and governing mean the same; the one completes the other, and serves as its means and its end."[388]

2. Private property, when it exists in all thingswithout distinction, has such characteristics as correspond to the low stage of evolution to which it belongs.

"On the privileged representatives of head-work (who at present are called to be the representatives of society, not because they have more sense, but only because they were born in the privileged class) such property bestows all the blessings and also all the debasement of our civilization: wealth, luxury, profuse expenditure, comfort, the pleasures of family life, the exclusive enjoyment of political liberty, and hence the possibility of exploiting millions of laborers and governing them at discretion in one's own interest. What is there left for the representatives of handwork, these numberless millions of proletarians or of small farmers? Hopeless misery, not even the joys of the family (for the family soon becomes a burden to the poor man), ignorance, barbarism, an almost bestial existence, and this for consolation with it all, that they are serving as pedestal for the culture, liberty, and depravity of a minority."[389]

The freer and more highly developed trade and industry are in any place, "the more complete is the demoralization of the privileged few on the one hand, and the greater are the misery, the complaints, and the just indignation of the laboring masses on the other. England, Belgium, France, Germany, are certainly the countries of Europe in which trade and industry enjoy greatest freedom and have made most progress. In these very countries the most cruel pauperism prevails, the gulf between capitalists andlandlords on the one hand and the laboring class on the other is greater than in any other country. In Russia, in the Scandinavian countries, in Italy, in Spain, where trade and industry are still embryonic, people but seldom die of hunger except on extraordinary occasions. In England starvation is an every-day thing. And not only individuals starve, but thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands."[390]

3. But mankind will soon have passed the low stage of evolution to which private property belongs.

As there has at all times been oppression of the nations by the State, so has there also always been "exploitation of the masses of slaves, serfs, wage-workers, by a ruling minority."[391]But this exploitation is no more "inseparably united with the existence of human society"[392]than is that oppression. "By the force of things themselves"[393]unlimited private property will be done away. Everybody feels already that this moment is approaching,[394]the transformation is already at hand,[395]it is to be expected within the nineteenth century.[396]

II.In the next stage of evolution, which mankind must speedily reach, property will be so constituted that there will indeed be private property in the objects of consumption, but in land, instruments of labor, and all other capital, there will be only social property. The future society will be collectivist.

In this way every laborer has the product of his labor guaranteed to him.

1. "Justice must serve as basis for the new world: without it, no liberty, no living together, no prosperity, no peace."[397]"Justice, not that of jurists, nor yet that of theologians, nor yet that of metaphysicians, but simple human justice, commands"[398]that "in future every man's enjoyment corresponds to the quantity of goods produced by him."[399]The thing is, then, to find a means "which makes it impossible for any one, whoever he may be, to exploit the labor of another, and permits each to share in the enjoyment of society's stock of goods (which is solely a product of labor) only so far as he has, by his labor, directly contributed to the production of this stock of goods."[400]

This means consists in the principle "that the land, the instruments of labor, and all other capital, as the collective property of the whole of society, shall exclusively serve for the use of the laborers,—that is, of their agricultural and industrial associations."[401]"I am not a Communist, but a Collectivist."[402]

2. The collectivism of the future society "by no means demands the setting up of any supreme authority. In the name of liberty, on which alone an economic or a political organization can be founded, we shall always protest against everything that looks even remotely similar to Communism or State Socialism."[403]"I would have the organization of society, and of the collective or social property, from below upward by the voice of free union, not from above downward by means of any authority."[404]

The change that is promptly to be expected in the course of mankind's progress from its bestial existence to a human existence,—the disappearance of the State, the transformation of law and property, and the appearance of the new condition,—will come to pass, according to Bakunin, by a social revolution; that is, by a violent subversion of the old order, which will be automatically brought about by the power of things, but which those who foresee the course of evolution have the task of hastening and facilitating.

I. "To escape its wretched lot the populace has three ways, two imaginary and one real. The two first are the rum-shop and the church, the third is the social revolution."[405]"A cure is possible only through the social revolution,"[406]—that is, through "the destruction of all institutions of inequality, and the establishment of economic and social equality."[407]The revolution will not be made by anybody. "Revolutions are never made, neither by individuals nor yet by secret societies. They come about automatically, in a measure; the power of things, the current of events and facts, produces them. They are long preparing in the depth of the obscure consciousness of the masses—then they break out suddenly, not seldom on apparently slight occasion."[408]The revolution is already at hand to-day;[409]everybody feels its approach;[410]we are to expect it within the nineteenth century.[411]

1. "By the revolution we understand the unchaining of everything that is to-day called 'evil passions,' and the destruction of everything that in the same language is called 'public order'."[412]

The revolution will rage not against men, but against relations and things.[413]"Bloody revolutions are often necessary, thanks to human stupidity; yet they are always an evil, a monstrous evil and a great disaster, not only with regard to the victims, but also for the sake of the purity and perfection of the purpose in whose name they take place."[414]"One must not wonder if in the first moment of their uprising the people kill many oppressors and exploiters—this misfortune, which is of no more importance anyhow than the damage done by a thunderstorm, can perhaps not be avoided. But this natural fact will be neither moral nor even useful. Political massacres have never killed parties; particularly have they always shown themselves impotent against the privileged classes; for authority is vested far less in men than in the position which the privileged acquire by any institutions, particularly by the State and private property. If one would make a thorough revolution, therefore, one must attack things and relationships, destroy property and the State: then there is no need of destroying men and exposing one's self to the inevitable reaction which the slaughtering of men always has provoked and always will provoke in every society. But, in order to have the right to deal humanely with men without danger to the revolution, one must be inexorable toward things and relationships, destroyeverything, and first and foremost property and its inevitable consequence the State. This is the whole secret of the revolution."[415]

"The revolution, as the power of things to-day necessarily presents it before us, will not be national, but international,—that is, universal. In view of the threatened league of all privileged interests and all reactionary powers in Europe, in view of the terrible instrumentalities that a shrewd organization puts at their disposal, in view of the deep chasm that to-day yawns between thebourgeoisieand the laborers everywhere, no revolution can count on success if it does not speedily extend itself beyond the individual nation to all other nations. But the revolution can never cross the frontiers and become general unless it has in it the foundations for this generality; that is, unless it is pronouncedly socialistic, and, by equality and justice, destroys the State and establishes liberty. For nothing can better inspire and uplift the sole true power of the century, the laborers, than the complete liberation of labor and the shattering of all institutions for the protection of hereditary property and of capital."[416]"A political and national revolution cannot win, therefore, unless the political revolution becomes social, and the national revolution, by the very fact of its fundamentally socialistic and State-destroying character, becomes a universal revolution."[417]

2. "The revolution, as we understand it, must on its very first day completely and fundamentally destroy the State and all State institutions. This destruction will have the following natural andnecessary effects. (a) The bankruptcy of the State. (b) The cessation of State collection of private debts, whose payment is thenceforth left to the debtor's pleasure. (c) The cessation of the payment of taxes, and of the levying of direct or indirect imposts. (d) The dissolution of the army, the courts, the corps of office-holders, the police, and the clergy. (e) The stoppage of the official administration of justice, the abolition of all that is called juristic law and of its exercise. Hence, the valuelessness, and the consignment to anauto-da-fe, of all titles to property, testamentary dispositions, bills of sale, deeds of gift, judgments of courts—in short, of the whole mass of papers relating to private law. Everywhere, and in regard to everything, the revolutionary fact in place of the law created and guaranteed by the State. (f) The confiscation of all productive capital and instruments of labor in favor of the associations of laborers, which will use them for collective production. (g) The confiscation of all Church and State property, as well as of the bullion in private hands, for the benefit of the commune formed by the league of the associations of laborers. In return for the confiscated goods, those who are affected by the confiscation receive from the commune their absolute necessities; they are free to acquire more afterward by their labor."[418]

The destruction will be followed by the reshaping.Hence, (h) "The organization of the commune by the permanent association of the barricades and by its organ, the council of the revolutionary commune, to which every barricade, every street, every quarter, sends one or two responsible and revocable representatives with binding instructions. The council of the commune can appoint executive committees out of its membership for the various branches of the revolutionary administration. (i) The declaration of the capital, insurgent and organized as a commune, that, after the righteous destruction of the State of authority and guardianship, it renounces the right (or rather the usurpation) of governing the provinces and setting a standard for them. (k) The summons to all provinces, communities, and associations, to follow the example given by the capital, first to organize themselves in revolutionary form, then to send to a specified meeting-place responsible and revocable representatives with binding instructions, and so to constitute the league of the insurgent associations, communities, and provinces, and to organize a revolutionary power capable of defeating the reaction. The sending, not of official commissioners of the revolution with some sort of badges, but of agitators for the revolution, to all the provinces and communities—especially to the peasants, who cannot be revolutionized by scientific principles nor yet by the edicts of any dictatorship, but only by the revolutionary fact itself: that is, by the inevitable effects of the complete cessation of official State activity in all the communities. The abolition of the national State, not only in other senses, but in this,—that all foreign countries,provinces, communities, associations, nay, all individuals who have risen in the name of the same principles, without regard to the present State boundaries, are accepted as part of the new political system and nationality; and that, on the other hand, it shall exclude from membership those provinces, communities, associations, or personages, of the same country, who take the side of the reaction. Thus must the universal revolution, by the very fact of its binding the insurgent countries together for joint defence, march on unchecked over the abolished boundaries and the ruins of the formerly existing States to its triumph."[419]

II. "To serve, to organize, and to hasten"[420]"the revolution, which must everywhere be the work of the people"[421]—this alone is the task of those who foresee the course of evolution. We have to perform "midwife's services"[422]for the new time, "to help on the birth of the revolution."[423]

To this end we must, "first, spread among the masses thoughts that correspond to the instincts of the masses."[424]"What keeps the salvation-bringing thought from going through the laboring masses with a rush? Their ignorance; and particularly the political and religious prejudices which, thanks to the exertions of the ruling classes, to this day obscure the laborer's natural thought and healthy feelings."[425]"Hence the aim must consist in making him completely conscious of what he wants, evoking in him the thought that corresponds to his impulses. If oncethe thoughts of the laboring masses have mounted to the level of their impulses, then will their will be soon determined and their power irresistible."[426]

Furthermore, we must "form, not indeed the army of the revolution,—the army can never be anything but the people,—but yet a sort of staff for the revolutionary army. These must be devoted, energetic, talented men, who, above all, love the people without ambition and vanity, and who have the faculty of mediating between the revolutionary thought and the instincts of the people. No very great number of such men is requisite. A hundred revolutionists firmly and seriously bound together are enough for the international organization of all Europe. Two or three hundred revolutionists are enough for the organization of the largest country."[427]

Here, especially, is the field for the activity of secret societies.[428]"In order to serve, organize, and hasten the general revolution"[429]Bakunin founded theAlliance internationale de la démocratie socialiste. It was to pursue a double purpose: "(a) The spreading of correct views about politics, economics, and philosophical questions of every kind, among the masses in all countries; an active propaganda by newspapers, pamphlets, and books, as well as by the founding of public associations. (b) The winning of all wise, energetic, silent, well-disposed men who are sincerely devoted to the idea; the covering of Europe, and America too so far as possible, with a network of self-sacrificing revolutionists, strong by unity."[430]

FOOTNOTES:[317]Printed in "Œuvres de Michel Bakounine" (1895) pp. 1-205, under the title "Fédéralisme, socialisme et antithéologisme."[318]Printed in "L'Alliance de la démocratie socialiste et l'Association internationale des travailleurs" (1873) pp. 118-35.[319]Only fragments have been printed: one under the title "L'Empire knoutogermanique et la Révolution sociale" (1871), a second under the title "Dieu et l'Etat" (1882), a third under the same title in "Œuvres de Michel Bakounine" (1895) pp. 261-326.[320]Printed in Dragomanoff, "Michail Bakunins sozial-politischer Briefwechsel mit Alexander Iw. Herzen und Ogarjow," German translation by Minzès (1895) pp. 358-64.[321]A part is printed in French translation, in "L'Alliance de la démocratie socialiste et l'Association internationale des travailleurs" (1873) pp. 90-95, the rest in Dragomanoff pp. 371-83.[322]"L'Alliance de la démocratie socialiste et l'Association internationale des travailleurs" p. 89; Dragomanoff p. IX.[323]Ba. "Briefe" pp. 223, 233, 266, 272.[324]Ba. "Dieu" p. 34.[325]Ib.p. 33.[326]Ib.p. 3.[327]Ib.p. 52.[328]Ba. "Proposition" p. 104.[329]Ba. "Dieu" p. 52.[330]Ib.p. 7.[331]Ib.p. 16.[332]Ib.p. 16.[333]Ib.p. 16.[334]Ba. "Proposition" p. 155.[335]Ba. "Dieu" p. 16.[336]Ib.pp. 27-8.[337]Ba. "Programme" p. 382.[338]Ba. "Dieu" p. 30.[339]Ba. "Dieu"Œuvresp. 287.[340]Ib.p. 285.[341]Ba. "Programme" p. 382.[342]Ba. "Articles" p. 113.[343]Ba. "Statuts" p. 125.[344]Ib.p. 125.[345]Ba. "Dieu"Œuvresp. 281.[346]Ba. "Statuts" pp. 129-31.[347]Ba. "Proposition" pp. 17-18.[348]Ba. "Dieu"Œuvresp. 281.[349]Ba. "Proposition" pp. 17-18.[350]Ba. "Proposition" p. 18.[351]Ba. "Statuts" p. 133.[352]Ba. "Dieu"Œuvresp. 285.[353]Ba. "Proposition" p. 134.[354]Ba. "Dieu" p. 19.[355]Ib.p. 87.[356]Ba. "Dieu"Œuvresp. 287.[357]Ba. "Dieu" p. 20.[358]Ib.p. 97.[359]Ib.p. 9.[360]Ib.p. 11.[361]Ba. "Dieu"Œuvresp. 288.[362]Ba. "Dieu" pp. 29-30.[363]Ba. "Proposition" p. 154[364]Ib.p. 10.[365]Ba. "Dieu"Œuvrespp. 287-8.[366]Ba. "Dieu" p. 14.[367]Ib.p. 65.[368]Ib.p. 53[369]Ba. "Dieu"Œuvresp. 287.[370]Ba. "Articles" p. 113.[371]Ba. "Statuts" p. 125.[372]Ba. "Statuts" p. 125.[373]Ba. "Dieu" p. 11.[374]Ba. "Dieu"Œuvrespp. 277-8.[375]Ib.p. 281.[376]Ib.p. 279.[377]Ib.p. 281.[378]Ib.p. 283.[379]Ba. "Proposition" pp. 16-18.[380]Ib.p. 20.[381]Ba. "Proposition" p. 16.[382]Ib.pp. 16-17.[383]Ib.pp. 17-18.[384]Ib.p. 17.[385]Ib.p. 18.[386]Ba. "Statuts" p. 128.[387]Ba. "Dieu"Œuvresp. 324.[388]Ib.pp. 323-4.[389]Ba. "Proposition" pp. 32-3.[390]Ba. "Proposition" pp. 26-7.[391]Ba. "Dieu" p. 14.[392]Ib.p. 14.[393]Ba. "Programme" p. 382.[394]Ba. "Articles" p. 113.[395]Ba. "Statuts" p. 125.[396]Ib.p. 125.[397]Ba. "Proposition" pp. 54-5.[398]Ib.p. 59.[399]Ba. "Statuts" p. 133.[400]Ba. "Proposition" p. 55.[401]Ba. "Statuts" p. 133.[402]Ba. "Discours" p. 27.[403]Ba. "Proposition" p. 56.[404]Ba. "Discours" p. 28.[405]Ba. "Dieu" p. 10.[406]Ib.p. 18.[407]Ib.p. 45.[408]Ba. "Statuts" p. 132.[409]Ib.p. 125.[410]Ba. "Articles" p. 113.[411]Ba. "Statuts" p. 125.[412]Ba. "Statuts" p. 129.[413]Ib.p. 126.[414]Ba. "Volkssache" p. 309.[415]Ba. "Statuts" pp. 127-8.[416]Ib.p. 125.[417]Ib.p. 131.[418]Ba. "Statuts" pp. 129-30. [Bakunin is writing in a world where the Church is everywhere part of the State machine. Would his words about Church property apply equally, according to him, in the United States, where the Church property is in general made up of the free gifts of individual believers? Perhaps; for he would have no love for the Church even here, and he is obviously hostile to anything in the nature of mortmain. If so, how about college property?][419]Ba. "Statuts" pp. 130-31.[420]Ib.p. 125.[421]Ib.p. 131.[422]Ba. "Volkssache" p. 309.[423]Ba. "Statuts" p. 132.[424]Ib.p. 132.[425]Ba. "Articles" p. 103.[426]Ba. "Articles" p. 103.[427]Ba. "Statuts" p. 132.[428]Ib.p. 132.[429]Ib.p. 125.[430]Ib.pp. 125-6.

[317]Printed in "Œuvres de Michel Bakounine" (1895) pp. 1-205, under the title "Fédéralisme, socialisme et antithéologisme."

[318]Printed in "L'Alliance de la démocratie socialiste et l'Association internationale des travailleurs" (1873) pp. 118-35.

[319]Only fragments have been printed: one under the title "L'Empire knoutogermanique et la Révolution sociale" (1871), a second under the title "Dieu et l'Etat" (1882), a third under the same title in "Œuvres de Michel Bakounine" (1895) pp. 261-326.

[320]Printed in Dragomanoff, "Michail Bakunins sozial-politischer Briefwechsel mit Alexander Iw. Herzen und Ogarjow," German translation by Minzès (1895) pp. 358-64.

[321]A part is printed in French translation, in "L'Alliance de la démocratie socialiste et l'Association internationale des travailleurs" (1873) pp. 90-95, the rest in Dragomanoff pp. 371-83.

[322]"L'Alliance de la démocratie socialiste et l'Association internationale des travailleurs" p. 89; Dragomanoff p. IX.

[323]Ba. "Briefe" pp. 223, 233, 266, 272.

[324]Ba. "Dieu" p. 34.

[325]Ib.p. 33.

[326]Ib.p. 3.

[327]Ib.p. 52.

[328]Ba. "Proposition" p. 104.

[329]Ba. "Dieu" p. 52.

[330]Ib.p. 7.

[331]Ib.p. 16.

[332]Ib.p. 16.

[333]Ib.p. 16.

[334]Ba. "Proposition" p. 155.

[335]Ba. "Dieu" p. 16.

[336]Ib.pp. 27-8.

[337]Ba. "Programme" p. 382.

[338]Ba. "Dieu" p. 30.

[339]Ba. "Dieu"Œuvresp. 287.

[340]Ib.p. 285.

[341]Ba. "Programme" p. 382.

[342]Ba. "Articles" p. 113.

[343]Ba. "Statuts" p. 125.

[344]Ib.p. 125.

[345]Ba. "Dieu"Œuvresp. 281.

[346]Ba. "Statuts" pp. 129-31.

[347]Ba. "Proposition" pp. 17-18.

[348]Ba. "Dieu"Œuvresp. 281.

[349]Ba. "Proposition" pp. 17-18.

[350]Ba. "Proposition" p. 18.

[351]Ba. "Statuts" p. 133.

[352]Ba. "Dieu"Œuvresp. 285.

[353]Ba. "Proposition" p. 134.

[354]Ba. "Dieu" p. 19.

[355]Ib.p. 87.

[356]Ba. "Dieu"Œuvresp. 287.

[357]Ba. "Dieu" p. 20.

[358]Ib.p. 97.

[359]Ib.p. 9.

[360]Ib.p. 11.

[361]Ba. "Dieu"Œuvresp. 288.

[362]Ba. "Dieu" pp. 29-30.

[363]Ba. "Proposition" p. 154

[364]Ib.p. 10.

[365]Ba. "Dieu"Œuvrespp. 287-8.

[366]Ba. "Dieu" p. 14.

[367]Ib.p. 65.

[368]Ib.p. 53

[369]Ba. "Dieu"Œuvresp. 287.

[370]Ba. "Articles" p. 113.

[371]Ba. "Statuts" p. 125.

[372]Ba. "Statuts" p. 125.

[373]Ba. "Dieu" p. 11.

[374]Ba. "Dieu"Œuvrespp. 277-8.

[375]Ib.p. 281.

[376]Ib.p. 279.

[377]Ib.p. 281.

[378]Ib.p. 283.

[379]Ba. "Proposition" pp. 16-18.

[380]Ib.p. 20.

[381]Ba. "Proposition" p. 16.

[382]Ib.pp. 16-17.

[383]Ib.pp. 17-18.

[384]Ib.p. 17.

[385]Ib.p. 18.

[386]Ba. "Statuts" p. 128.

[387]Ba. "Dieu"Œuvresp. 324.

[388]Ib.pp. 323-4.

[389]Ba. "Proposition" pp. 32-3.

[390]Ba. "Proposition" pp. 26-7.

[391]Ba. "Dieu" p. 14.

[392]Ib.p. 14.

[393]Ba. "Programme" p. 382.

[394]Ba. "Articles" p. 113.

[395]Ba. "Statuts" p. 125.

[396]Ib.p. 125.

[397]Ba. "Proposition" pp. 54-5.

[398]Ib.p. 59.

[399]Ba. "Statuts" p. 133.

[400]Ba. "Proposition" p. 55.

[401]Ba. "Statuts" p. 133.

[402]Ba. "Discours" p. 27.

[403]Ba. "Proposition" p. 56.

[404]Ba. "Discours" p. 28.

[405]Ba. "Dieu" p. 10.

[406]Ib.p. 18.

[407]Ib.p. 45.

[408]Ba. "Statuts" p. 132.

[409]Ib.p. 125.

[410]Ba. "Articles" p. 113.

[411]Ba. "Statuts" p. 125.

[412]Ba. "Statuts" p. 129.

[413]Ib.p. 126.

[414]Ba. "Volkssache" p. 309.

[415]Ba. "Statuts" pp. 127-8.

[416]Ib.p. 125.

[417]Ib.p. 131.

[418]Ba. "Statuts" pp. 129-30. [Bakunin is writing in a world where the Church is everywhere part of the State machine. Would his words about Church property apply equally, according to him, in the United States, where the Church property is in general made up of the free gifts of individual believers? Perhaps; for he would have no love for the Church even here, and he is obviously hostile to anything in the nature of mortmain. If so, how about college property?]

[419]Ba. "Statuts" pp. 130-31.

[420]Ib.p. 125.

[421]Ib.p. 131.

[422]Ba. "Volkssache" p. 309.

[423]Ba. "Statuts" p. 132.

[424]Ib.p. 132.

[425]Ba. "Articles" p. 103.

[426]Ba. "Articles" p. 103.

[427]Ba. "Statuts" p. 132.

[428]Ib.p. 132.

[429]Ib.p. 125.

[430]Ib.pp. 125-6.

Back to Index Next