Mikhail Aleksandrovich Bakunin

Born into a noble Russian family in 1814, Bakunin first trained for a military career, but he left that path and moved into philosophy and radical politics. Over time he became deeply involved in the revolutionary movements of nineteenth-century Europe, taking part in the upheavals of 1848 and spending years in prison and exile after his arrest by the authorities.

Bakunin is widely known as a founder of collectivist anarchism and as one of the most influential figures in the early anarchist tradition. He argued passionately against centralized state power and believed ordinary people should organize themselves freely from below rather than be ruled from above.

His clashes with other socialist thinkers, especially over authority and the future of revolution, made him a defining voice in the political arguments of his age. Even long after his death in 1876, his writings and example continued to influence anarchist, socialist, and anti-authoritarian movements around the world.