I was giving an interview yesterday, and the subject of Bakunin came up at one point. The general remarks I made were along the lines of recognizing Bakunin as an inspiring rhetorician and militant activist, but largely agreeing with the common view of Bakunin scholars that he actually added very little to intellectual pursuits beyond his role as  revolutionary, polemicist, and strategist. The standard view of Bakunin’s thought is that it is largely derivative, drawing from Proudhon, Marx, Hegel, Herzen, pan-Slavism, French anti-clericalism, etc. So afterwards I started thinking a bit about Bakunin’s theoretical contributions More…