Editing Mikhail Bakunin (section)

== Legacy ==

Bakunin was the leading anarchist revolutionary of the 19th century, active from the 1840s through the 1870s.{{sfn|Shatz|2003|p=35}} His foundational anarchist writings helped the movement stand in contrast to capitalism and Marxism and became more popular after his death, with some of his highest regarded works published posthumously and in new editions. His ''Statism and Anarchy'' influenced the growing Russian [[Narodnik]] movement of peasant socialism, and his anarchism influenced ideology in both the [[Russian Revolution]] and the [[Spanish Civil War]]. The 1960s [[New Left]] revived interest in his works and ideas of voluntary association and opposition to authoritarian socialism, with new editions and translations published.{{sfn|Shatz|2003|p=41}}

Bakunin's legacy reflects the paradox and ambivalence by which he lived. As historian [[Paul Avrich]] put it, Bakunin was "a nobleman who yearned for a peasant revolt, a libertarian with an urge to dominate others, an intellectual with a powerful anti-intellectual streak", who professed support for unfettered liberty while demanding [[unconditional obedience]] from his followers. Many of his actions put him closer to later authoritarian movements, even if his words were anti-authoritarian.{{sfn|Avrich|1988|p=14}}<!-- more to paraphrase in source -->

In particular, the antisemitic passages in Bakunin's writing have been the subject of extended interest, such that Bakunin biographer [[Mark Leier]] has said the question is raised every time he speaks on Bakunin. Both Leier and scholar of antisemitism Eirik Eiglad have commented that antisemitism was not essential to Bakunin's thought, nor was his thought valued for his antisemitism.{{sfn|Eiglad|2015|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ibfkCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA235 235–236]}} Sociologist Marcel Stoetzler argued the opposite, saying that the [[Antisemitic trope#World domination|antisemitic trope of Jewish world domination]] was at the centre of Bakunin's political thought.{{sfn|Stoetzler|2014|pp=139–140}} Bakunin's anti-Jewish and anti-German resentment are most visible in the context of his attacks on Marx, but his antisemitism predated these passages.{{sfn|Shatz|1990|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ffXU01KzRNQC&pg=PR30 xxx]}}<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ju7U83nRDt8C&pg=PA151 | title=Antisemitism: A Reference Handbook | isbn=9781576072097 | last1=Chanes | first1=Jerome A. | year=2004 |page=151| publisher=Bloomsbury Academic }}</ref> Scholar [[Marshall Shatz]] noted that there is a gap between Bakunin's egalitarian principles and his ethnic prejudices, even if this antisemitism and stereotyping was common among French radicals of the era{{sfn|Shatz|1990|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ffXU01KzRNQC&pg=PR30 xxx]}} and shared by Marx himself.{{sfn|Leier|2009|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=vSp6NmJvTswC&pg=PA276 276]}}

[[Noam Chomsky]] called Bakunin's prediction that Marxist regimes would become dictatorships "one of the few predictions in the social sciences that actually came true".<ref>{{Citation |title=Noam Chomsky - Lenin, the USSR, and the Predictions of Bakunin | date=31 March 2016 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfdnbMd9BiE |access-date=2023-07-08 |language=en}}</ref><!--Bakunin influenced Chomsky{{sfn|Eckhardt|2022|p=308}}-->

Bakunin archives are held in several places: the [[Pushkin House]], the [[State Archive of the Russian Federation]], the [[Russian State Library]], the [[Russian State Archive of Literature and Art]], the [[National Library of Russia]], and the [[International Institute of Social History]].{{sfn|Shatz|2003|p=41}}