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#REDIRECT [[Mikhail Bakunin#Violence, revolution and invisible dictatorship]] {{R to section}} |
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An '''invisible dictatorship''' was a term coined by [[Mikhail Bakunin]] to describe clandestine revolutionary leadership. Bakunin also used the terms '''invisible legion''' and '''invisible network''' to describe his concept of invisible dictatorship. |
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==On invisible dictatorship== |
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In nineteenth century [[Europe]] the discussion of how a transitional revolutionary government might act took place since the days of [[Gracchus Babeuf]]. In 1828 [[Philippe Buonarroti]] published ''Conspiration pour l'Egalité dite de Babeuf, suivie du procès auquel elle donna lieu'' which proved to be very influential on [[Auguste Blanqui]] and the [[Revolution of 1848|revolutionaries of 1848]], from [[Louis Blanc]] to Bakunin. From this arose the concept of a small band of revolutionaries instituting an ''Educational Dictatorship'' which would raise the consciousness of the masses to the point that [[democracy]] could be introduced. |
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In the [[France|French]] [[Revolutions of 1848 in France|February Revolution of 1848]], the provisional government assumed power extralegally, through an announcement before a mass demonstration. Louis Blanc advocated that the provisional government should "regard themselves as dictators appointed by a revolution which had become inevitable and which was under no obligation to seek the sanction of universal suffrage until after having accomplished all the good which the moment required."<ref>[http://marxmyths.org/hal-draper/article2.htm#n10 The ‘Dictatorship of the Proletariat’ in Marx and Engels]</ref> He also reiterated the idea of the "dictatorship of Paris" over the country. Bakunin, having received funds from Blanc's provisional government, threw himself into the revolutionary movement in [[Bohemia]]. He subsequently described his aim as the establishment of a "government with unlimited dictatorial power," in which "all will be subjugated to a single dictatorial authority," through three secret societies based on "strict hierarchy and unconditional discipline." [[Hal Draper]] claims this was the first appearance of his concept of a "secret dictatorship" exercised by "Invisible Dictators." Bakunin also saw [[Prague]] playing the role of Paris: "The revolutionary government with unlimited dictatorial power must sit in Prague ... All clubs and journals, all manifestations of garrulous anarchy, will also be destroyed, and all will be subjugated to a single dictatorial authority."<ref>{{cite book |last=Draper |first=Hal |authorlink=Hal Draper |title=Karl Marx's Theory of Revolution |volume=vol. 3 |publisher=Monthly Review Press |location=[[New York City|New York]] |date=1986-01-01 |isbn=0-85345-674-7 |page=57}}</ref> Eddie Ford has described this as a '‘dual organisation’' principle, with a secret cadre of controllers manipulating a public front.<ref>[http://www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/398/bakunin.html Democracy or anarchism] by Eddie Ford, [[Weekly Worker]], September 6, 2001</ref> |
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In 1866 Bakunin abandoned the idea of state or centralized authority, and his ideas of what a secret society should be changed accordingly:<ref>[http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/ANARCHIST_ARCHIVES/worldwidemovements/anarchisminrussia1.html History of Anarchism in Russia] by E. Yaroslavsky</ref> |
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{{Cquote|"We are bitter foes of all official power, even if it were ultra-revolutionary power. We are enemies of all publicly acknowledged dictatorship; we are social-revolutionary anarchists. But you will ask, if we are anarchists, by what right do we wish to and by what method can we influence the people? Rejecting any power, by what power or rather by what force shall we direct the people's revolution? An invisible force--recognized by on one, imposed by no one--through which the collective dictatorship of our organization will be all the mightier, the more it remains invisible and unacknowledged, the more it remains without any official legality and significance.".<br> '' Bakunin's June 2, 1870 letter to Nechayev''<ref>[http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bakunin/bakuninnechayev.html Bakunin Rebukes Nechayev And His Chatechism For Vanguardism] by Jon Bekken (Anarchy Archives)</ref>}} |
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This theme is also to be found in a letter sent by Bakunin to Albert Richard, a fellow member of the [[International Alliance of Socialist Democracy|Alliance of Social Democracy]] during the turmoil surrounding the [[Paris Commune]]:<ref name="Letter to Albert Richard">{{cite web|last1=Bakunin|first1=Mikhail|title=Letter to Albert Richard|url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/bakunin/works/1870/albert-richard.htm|website=www.marxists.org|accessdate=30 August 2017}}</ref> |
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{{Cquote|They appeal for order, for trust in, for submission to those who, in the course and in the name of the Revolution, seized and legalized their own dictatorial powers; this is how such political revolutionaries reconstitute the State. We, on the contrary, must awaken and foment all the dynamic passions of the people. We must bring forth anarchy, and in the midst of the popular tempest, we must be the invisible pilots guiding the Revolution, not by any kind of overt power but by the collective dictatorship of all our allies [members of the anarchist vanguard organization International Alliance of Social Democracy], a dictatorship without tricks, without official titles, without official rights, and therefore all the more powerful, as it does not carry the trappings of power. This is the only dictatorship I will accept, but in order to act, it must first be created, it must be prepared and organized in advance, for it will not come into being by itself, neither by discussions, nor by theoretical disputations, nor by mass propaganda meetings...}} |
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==Invisible network== |
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Anarchist theorist [[George Woodcock]] developed the idea of what he called a "pure anarchism", defining it as "the loose and flexible affinity group which needs no formal organization and carries on anarchist propaganda through an invisible network of personal contacts and intellectual influences." However he argued that this was incompatible with mass movements like [[anarcho-syndicalism]] as they "make compromises with day-to-day situations" and because they have to "maintain the allegiance of masses of [workers] who are only remotely conscious of the final aim of anarchism."<ref>''Anarchism'', World Publishing, [[Cleveland]], 1962 pp. 273-4</ref> However this viewpoint has been rejected by other anarchists such as [[Sam Dolgoff]], who countered "There is no "pure" anarchism. There is only the application of anarchist principles to the realities of social living."<ref>[http://libcom.org/library/relevance-dolgoff The Relevance of Anarchism to Modern Society] accessed 12 September 2006</ref> |
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==Criticism== |
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Bakunin's use of the term 'invisible dictatorship' has been criticised from a number of view points, sometimes in an attempt to discredit anarchism by associating it with this term. For example [[Red Action]] published an article of this nature, "Anarchism and the Invisible Legions" in 1990.<ref name="RA 56">{{cite news |title=Anarchism and the Invisible Legions |url=https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/red-action/Red%20Action%20n56.pdf |issue=No.59 |publisher=Red Action |date=1990}}</ref> Some anarchists have rejected these criticisms with the claim that anarchism is innately incompatible with the concept of coercion, quoting Bakunin himself on this. For example, John Farthing II argues that the 'invisible dictatorship' constitutes "A will towards libertarian conspiracy diffused horizontally throughout the population of an autonomous zone, and practiced by those willing to volunteer for the responsibility of sabotaging aspiring oligarchies and other authoritarian tendencies as they emerge", concluding that "the only legitimate dictatorship is silent, subtle, and unseen".<ref name="JF">{{cite web |last1=Farthing II |first1=John |title=The Lady or the Tiger |url=https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/john-farthing-ii-the-lady-or-the-tiger-anarcha-councilism-and-invisible-dictatorship-in-autonom |website=The Anarchist Library |accessdate=13 February 2019}}</ref> |
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==See also== |
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*[[Dictatorship of the Proletariat]] |
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*[[Invisible College]] |
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*[[Invisible Theatre]] |
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==References== |
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{{Reflist|2}} |
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==External links== |
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* [http://www.peacenews.info/issues/2398/pn239815.htm Auto-cracy: an invisible dictatorship by Eduardo Galeano] |
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* [http://anarchism.ws/writers/anarcho/anarchism/bakunindictator.html Bakunin and the Invisible Legions, revisited] |
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[[Category:Anarchist theory]] |
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[[Category:Dictatorship]] |
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[[Category:Political philosophy]] |
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[[Category:Positions of authority]] |
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Latest revision as of 10:57, 23 May 2019
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