Fragment of a letter (c. 1835-1840)

Letter to “La Réforme” (January 1845) Monsieur! The Gazette des Tribunaux has announced, together with other Paris newspapers, the ukase issued against Mr. Golowine and myself. I regard the proceedings, certainly not so delicate, of the Russian government against us as something so natural and above all so insignificant, in comparison with the enormous iniquities which it commits each day in our unfortunate homeland, that I certainly would not allow myself, Monsieur, to speak to you of myself, if I did not find myself forced to it by a letter that Mr. Golowine thought he should address to the Gazette […]

[Parts of this letter have appeared in a variety of places, including James Guillaume’s history of the International, and a comrade was curious to see the rest of the text. Bakunin’s use of the term “anarchy” towards the end is very interesting.] Letter from Bakunin to Albert Richard, March 12, 1870 March 12, 1870, Geneva Dear friend and brother, Circumstances beyond my control prevent me from coming to take part in your great Assembly of March 13. But I would not want to let it pass without expressing my thoughts and wishes to my brothers in France. If I could […]

To be free and to liberate others, that is the secret of life. Women have this vocation just as much as men. I would even add, contrary to the generally accepted idea that only a subordinate position and activity, that they have this calling even more than men, for their life and their acts are neither abstract, nor simplistic; on the contrary, they constitute a living fullness that needs the free air to blossom in all its beauty, and because they understand and feel much more deeply than men the misfortune and the humiliation of their brothers. I have long […]