Mikhail Bakunin

Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin (; 30 May [O.S. 18 May] 1814 – 1 July 1876) was a Russian revolutionary anarchist and founder of collectivist anarchism. He is considered among the most influential figures of anarchism and one of the principal founders of the social anarchist tradition. Bakunin's enormous prestige as an activist made him one of the most famous ideologues in Europe, gaining substantial influence amongst radicals throughout Russia and Europe. Bakunin grew up in Pryamukhino, a family estate in Tver Governorate, where he moved to study philosophy and began to read the French Encyclopédistes, leading to enthusiasm for the philosophy of Fichte. From Fichte, Bakunin went on to immerse himself in the works of Hegel, the most influential thinker among German intellectuals at the time. That led to his embrace of Hegelianism, bedazzled by Hegel's famous maxim: "Everything that exists is rational". In 1840, Bakunin traveled to Saint Petersburg and Berlin with the intention of preparing himself for a professorship in philosophy or history at the University of Moscow. In 1842, Bakunin moved from Berlin to Dresden. Eventually he arrived in Paris, where he met Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and Karl Marx. Bakunin's increasing radicalism—including staunch opposition to imperialism in east and central Europe by Russia and other powers—changed his life, putting an end to hopes of a professorial career. He was eventually deported from France for speaking against Russia's oppression of Poland. In 1849, Bakunin was apprehended in Dresden for his participation in the Czech rebellion of 1848 and turned over to Russia where he was imprisoned in the Peter-Paul Fortress in Saint Petersburg. In 1854 he was transferred to the Shlisselburg fortress, until 1857, when he was exiled to Siberia. Bakunin escaped to Japan, then made his way to the United States and eventually London, where he worked with Alexander Herzen on the journal Kolokol (The Bell). In 1863, he left to join the insurrectio