The Paris Commune and the Idea of the State by Mikhail Bakunin

“The message which Bakunin tried to preach was that only the workers could free the workers; in other words, he desired to stimulate the self-activity of the working-class. He was never tired of quoting the celebrated slogan of the First International: “The emancipation of the toilers must be the work of the toilers themselves,” and he expressly excluded from the concept of ‘toilers’ those ex-workers who, having gained the leadership of a working-class movement, endeavour to make themselves masters of it and lead it where they are determined that it shall go. To Bakunin that was not emancipation, it was merely a change of masters. But he wanted the triumph of humanity – a full human development of all in conditions of liberty and equality.” Bakunin's essay is presented with a short biography by K J Kenafick.