{"id":387,"date":"2026-07-19T09:08:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T09:08:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anarchistfaq.org\/anarcho\/?p=387"},"modified":"2026-07-19T09:08:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T09:08:25","slug":"black-flag-anarchist-review-summer-2026-issue-now-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anarchistfaq.org\/anarcho\/black-flag-anarchist-review-summer-2026-issue-now-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Flag: Anarchist Review Summer 2026 issue now out"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The new issue of Black Flag: Anarchist Review <\/em>is now available:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.blackflag.org.uk<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s second issue is a special to mark the 150th<\/sup> anniversary of the death of Michael Bakunin. This follows our Peter Kropotkin (Autumn 2025) and Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (Spring 2025) specials and has the same format \u2013 articles on Bakunin, by Bakunin and reviews of works by or on him. Many of the articles by Bakunin have been newly translated, some of them for the first time (as far as we are aware).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

While best known for his struggle against Marx in the (First) International and his correct prediction that the so-called workers’ State would generate a new ruling class, there is much more to Bakunin than that. He wrote on a wide range of subjects which activists today will find of interest \u2013 the nature of a social revolution, union organising, nationalism and national liberation, atheism, the need for a specific anarchist organisation, amongst others. This issue of Black Flag<\/em> includes writings on all these subjects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is important to stress that the conflict within the International was not a personal one. Bakunin was a champion of a tendency which had existed within it since the start, one which could be termed (to use a later word) syndicalist \u2013 one which argued for struggle on the economic terrain and favoured federalist socio-economic organisation which prefigured the socialist world desired. This inevitably brought the federalist-wing of the International into conflict with Marx who favoured political action (electioneering) and centralised political organisation (parties). Bakunin championed this tendency (which proved to be the majority of the International) and became its best-known advocate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As becomes clear from the writings included in this issue, Bakunin advocated syndicalist tactics and specific anarchist organisation. However, this is often ignored by commentators upon him and anarchism. Instead, Bakunin’s constructive ideas are replaced with suggestions that he was an advocate of pan-destruction and terrorism. Suffice to say, comparing hostile accounts of Bakunin to anarchist ones and the reader would not be condemned if they concluded that there were about two different people with the same name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Often criticism is based on works for which any actual evidence of Bakunin\u2019s authorship is lacking or, at best, limited, superficial or dubious. These date from his short association \u2013 and infatuation \u2013 with the Russian Nihilist Sergi Nechaev and many of the commentators seem blissfully unaware of any research conducted since Marx and Engels first made the assertion, research which shows that Bakunin had no role in the infamous works written during that short period and that Nechaev was their author. This explains why their content is so at odds with Bakunin’s other writings, whether public or private.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Distortion matters, however. The attacks by Marx and Engels seem to have lead John Most to conclude that terrorism was the anarchist strategy while the International Working People’s Association (IWPA) English-language journal The Alarm <\/em>in Chicago publishing Nechayev\u2019s Catechism of a Revolutionary<\/em> under Bakunin\u2019s name. This leads to the bizarre situation of some proclaiming the IWPA as non-anarchist because they were proto-syndicalists when, in reality, they were following Bakunin\u2019s actual (syndicalist) strategy within the International as we have discussed in previous issues of Black Flag Anarchist Review<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

None of this means that Bakunin cannot be criticised. Like Proudhon, all too often he is better read in an edited form. Like Proudhon, he was anti-Semitic and his writings on Marx are sometimes marred by it. However, his bigotries are not fundamental to his critique \u2013 and he also rejects Proudhon\u2019s sexism, being a strong advocate of equality between the sexes and women\u2019s rights. He was also far too optimistic about the possibility of a social revolution \u2013 as one commentor rightly observed, Bakunin all too often acted like someone who mistook the second for the nineth month of pregnancy. Finally, his fascination for conspiracy and secrecy \u2013 while understandable given his personal history and the social context \u2013 was often taken too far while his term \u201cinvisible dictatorship\u201d was unfortunate because it is misleading when taken out of context (as it almost always is). However, this aspect of his ideas is all too often exaggerated and distorted while its useful aspects ignored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, we are anarchists and not \u201cBakuninists\u201d and do not blindly follow anyone, no matter how important their contributions are to the cause. We can recognise someone as being an important thinker and activist as well as a flawed individual (like everyone else). The writings included should show why Bakunin is still of interest to anarchists and other activists today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Original translations which appear in Black Flag: Anarchist Review<\/em> eventually appear on-line here:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/anarchistfaq.org\/translations\/index.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year we aim to continue to cover a range of people and subjects. These will hopefully include Guy Aldred, the Haymarket events, the Spanish Revolution, the founding of Freedom<\/em>, amongst others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, this work needs help otherwise at some stage it will end. Contributions from libertarian socialists are welcome on these and other subjects! We are a small collective and always need help in writing, translating and gathering material, so please get in touch if you want to see Black Flag Anarchist Review<\/em> continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This issue\u2019s editorial and contents are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Editorial<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Welcome to the second issue of Black Flag<\/em> in 2026!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following on from our Kropotkin (Volume 2, Number 3) and Proudhon (Volume 5, Number 1) specials, this issue is a Bakunin special to mark the 150th<\/sup> anniversary of his death in 1876. We include articles on and by Bakunin, including new translations as well as reprints of his writings from the anarchist press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Born into the Russian aristocracy in 1814, he became a left-Hegelian and republican. He met both Proudhon and Marx when he came to Western Europe to study. An advocate of pan-Slavism, he was a keen participant in the 1848 Revolution, taking to the barricades in Prague and Dresden. Imprisoned and sentenced to death, he was extradited multiple times before being handed to the Tsar and placed in solitary confinement in 1851. Exiled to Siberia in 1857, he escaped and returned to Western Europe. After the failure of the 1863 Polish revolt, Bakunin turned to socialism as he realised that the peasants were not interested in helping the Polish nobility to rule and exploit them. After failing to convince the League of Peace and Freedom<\/em> to embrace the social question, he joined the International<\/em> in 1868 and became a leading champion of collectivism within it \u2013 and became an anarchist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accounts of Bakunin\u2019s anarchist politics are a mixed bag. Many of the hostile ones base themselves on texts for which the evidence that Bakunin wrote them is lacking. Some mix his earlier ideas with his anarchist ones. The obvious problems with both these dubious activities rarely hinder their acceptance by non-anarchists. Unsurprisingly, such accounts begin with Marx and Engels in their diatribes seeking to combat Bakunin\u2019s rising influence within the International. Suffice to say, what anarchists take from Bakunin has little or no resemblance to such articles as the texts we include here show \u2013 both those on and by Bakunin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We start with articles on Bakunin, starting with two written to mark the 100th<\/sup> anniversary of his birth, followed by two written for the 100th<\/sup> anniversary of his death. We follow this with more recent accounts of his ideas, seeking to show the importance of Bakunin as both an activist and as a thinker to revolutionary anarchism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then we move onto Bakunin\u2019s own writings, grouped by theme. While best remembered for his struggle against, and prescient critique of, Marx within the International, Bakunin\u2019s legacy is far greater as this selection of writings show. We include texts on a range of subjects, including the labour movement, federalism, socialism, social revolution, the role of anarchist groups and libertarian education. We have decided to reprint some of Bakunin\u2019s articles which we have published in previous issues to make them easily accessible to readers and to present all the relevant writings in a single issue of Black Flag<\/em>. All should be of interest to anarchists and radicals today \u2013 particularly given that Bakunin has usually been proven correct in his analysis, not least as regards Marxism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Bakunin advocated what became known as revolutionary syndicalism (as noted by the French syndicalists themselves), as Max Nettlau suggests his ideas were wider than that and so he cannot be reduced to simply being a syndicalist. His advocacy of the importance of anarchists organising as anarchists to influence the labour movement from within is an obvious point of divergence. So as well as being a precursor of syndicalism, he was also a precursor of especifismo<\/em> \u2013 recognising the need, necessity, of a specific anarchist federation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We end with reviews of works about and by Bakunin which should be of interest to those seeking to discover more about Bakunin\u2019s life and ideas. Mark Leier\u2019s 2006 biography, Bakunin: The Creative Passion<\/em>, covers both well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want to contribute rather than moan at those who do, whether its writing new material or letting us know of on-line articles, reviews or translations, then contact us:    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

blackflagmag@yahoo.co.uk<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contents<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On Bakunin<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • M. Baginski, \u201cMichael Bakunin (1814-1914)\u201d, Mother Earth<\/em>, May 1914<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • N. [Max Nettlau], \u201cMichael Bakunin\u201d, Freedom: A Journal of Anarchist Communism<\/em>, June 1914<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • \u201cPutting the record straight on Mikhail Bakunin\u201d, Libertarian Communist Review<\/em> No. 2, 1976<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Sam Dolgoff, \u201cBakunin\u2019s Impact on Russian Anarchism\u201d, Freedom\u2019s Anarchist Review<\/em>, 6 November 1976<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Iain McKay, Will the real Bakunin please stand up?<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Andrew Flood, \u201cBakunin\u2019s idea of revolution & revolutionary organisation\u201d, Red and Black Revolution<\/em>, Number 6, Spring 2002<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Iain McKay, The Revolutionary Ideas of Bakunin<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Wayne Price, Bakunin on National Self-Determination<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Robert Graham, The Anarchist Bakunin<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    By Bakunin<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Introductory<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • Federalism, Socialism and Anti-Theologism<\/em>, 1868<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • \u201cThe Programme of La D\u00e9mocratie\u201d, La Voix de l\u2019Avenir<\/em>, 24 May 1868<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Truly Human Discipline<\/em>, 1870<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • The Capitalist System<\/em>, November-December 1870<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      The International<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      • To Karl Marx<\/em>, 22 December 1868<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cIntegral Education\u201d, L\u2019\u00c9galit\u00e9<\/em>, 31 July 1869 to 21 August 1869<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cPolicy of the International\u201d, L\u2019\u00c9galit\u00e9<\/em>, 7 to 28 August 1869<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • To Albert Richard<\/em>, 12 March 1870<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Protest of the Alliance<\/em>, 4 to 24 July 1871<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cThe Organisation of the International\u201d, L\u2019Almanach du Peuple pour 1872<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Protest of the Alliance (continued)<\/em>, 4 to 24 July 1871<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • To the editors of La Libert\u00e9<\/em>, 5 October 1872<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cTo the comrades of the Jura Federation\u201d, Bulletin de la F\u00e9d\u00e9ration Jurassienne<\/em>, 12 October 1873<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        The Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

          \n
        • To Albert Richard<\/em>, 1 April 1870<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Letters to a Frenchman on the current crisis<\/em>, September 1870<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • French Republic Revolutionary Federation of Communes<\/em>, 27 September 1870<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • The Paris Commune and the Idea of the State<\/em>, 5-23 June 1871<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

          The Critique of Mazzini<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \n
          • Circular to my Friends in Italy<\/em>, 19-28 October 1871<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • To the Editors of Proletario Italiano<\/em>, 16-28 November 1871<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • The Political Theology of Mazzini and the International<\/em>, December 1871<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • To Celso Cerretti<\/em>, 13-27 March 1872<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

            Revolutionary Groups<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

              \n
            • Principles and Organisation of the Revolutionary International Society<\/em>, March 1866
              • Programme and Aim of the Revolutionary Organisation of the International Brothers<\/em>, Autumn 1868<\/li><\/ul>
                • Programme of the Russian Socialist Democracy<\/em>, September 1868<\/li><\/ul>
                  • Programme of the International Alliance of Socialist Democracy<\/em>, 17 April 1869<\/li><\/ul>
                    • To Albert Richard<\/em>, 7 February 1870<\/li><\/ul>
                      • To Paulo<\/em>, 21 May 1872<\/li><\/ul>
                        • Programme of the Polish Social-Revolutionary Society of Zurich<\/em>, 8 June 1872<\/li><\/ul>\n
                            \n
                          • To the Brothers of the Alliance in Spain<\/em>, 12-13 June 1872<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                            From the Anarchist Press<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                              \n
                            • “False Idealism”, Liberty<\/em>, June 1896<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                            • \u201cBakunin on Universal Suffrage\u201d, Freedom: A Journal of Anarchist Communism<\/em>, January 1910<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                            • \u201cThe State and German Social Democracy\u201d, Freedom: A Journal of Anarchist Communism<\/em>, July 1914<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                            • \u201cBourgeois Socialism\u201d, Freedom: A Journal of Anarchist Communism<\/em>, February 1915<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                            • \u201cGod or Freedom?\u201d, Freedom<\/em>, December 1920<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                            • \u201cDirect Action\u201d, Why?<\/em>, August-September 1942<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                              Reviews<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                                \n
                              • Albert Meltzer, \u201cMichael Bakunin: Roots of Apocalypse\u201d, Black Flag<\/em>, October 1982<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                              • Iain McKay, Critique of State Socialism<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
                              • Iain McKay, Statism and Anarchy<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
                              • Jos\u00e9 Antonio Guti\u00e9rrez D., Bakunin: Selected Texts 1868\u20131875<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
                              • Wayne Price, Bakunin\u2019s Anarchism Reconsidered<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                                Michael Bakunin, \u201cOrganisation and General Strike\u201d, \u00c9galit\u00e9<\/em>, 3 April 1869<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                                <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                                The new issue of Black Flag: Anarchist Review is now available: https:\/\/www.blackflag.org.uk This year\u2019s second issue is a special to mark the 150th anniversary of the death of Michael Bakunin. This follows our Peter Kropotkin (Autumn 2025) and Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (Spring 2025) specials and has the same format \u2013 articles on Bakunin, by Bakunin and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blackflag","category-michael-bakunin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anarchistfaq.org\/anarcho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anarchistfaq.org\/anarcho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anarchistfaq.org\/anarcho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anarchistfaq.org\/anarcho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anarchistfaq.org\/anarcho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/anarchistfaq.org\/anarcho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":388,"href":"https:\/\/anarchistfaq.org\/anarcho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387\/revisions\/388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anarchistfaq.org\/anarcho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anarchistfaq.org\/anarcho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anarchistfaq.org\/anarcho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}