# Michel Bakunin — Roads to Freedom character guide

> Michel Bakunin in Roads to Freedom by Bertrand Russell.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Bakunin, Meanwhile Bakunin

**First appearance:** 0006-ii-bakunin-and-anarchism

## Snapshot

Restless Russian agitator whose bitter feud with Marx split the revolutionary movement and gave anarchism its most combustible voice.

## Who they are

Bakunin is Marx's great antagonist, a man expelled from country after country for speeches and conspiracies, dogged by a false rumor that he had been a tsarist agent. His letter from Brussels drips with contempt for Marx and Engels — 'vanity, spite, gossip, theoretical overbearingness and practical pusillanimity' — and the hatred ran both ways, with Marx attacking his pan-Slav ambitions in print. Their quarrel over revolutionary strategy matters because it exposes the fault line between centralized socialism and anarchist revolt that runs through the rest of the book.

## In the story

### [Roads to Freedom](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/roads_to_freedom_se/chapters/roads-to-freedom)

Presented as a leading anarchist thinker who criticized state authority and advocated for decentralized freedom.

### [Part I: Historical](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/roads_to_freedom_se/chapters/part-i-historical)

Bakunin is highlighted as a leading anarchist thinker who opposed Marx's statist approach and championed decentralized, voluntary associations.

### [Bakunin and Anarchism](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/roads_to_freedom_se/chapters/ii-bakunin-and-anarchism)

Discussed as a key anarchist thinker; his writings are described as chaotic, metaphysical, and focused on current politics, with a hatred of German imperialism.

### [The Syndicalist Revolt](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/roads_to_freedom_se/chapters/iii-the-syndicalist-revolt)

Referenced in the discussion of Anarchism's relationship to Syndicalism, particularly the Anarchist Congress's stance on direct action.

### [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/roads_to_freedom_se/chapters/endnotes)

Mentioned in the context of the struggle between Marx and Bakunin and the revival of his ideas.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/roads_to_freedom_se/characters/bakunin
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/roads_to_freedom_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/roads_to_freedom_se/characters