Leiden University Student Repository

Raalte, Jeroen van (2014)

The Marx-Bakunin conflict and the Paris Commune. From March 1871 to September 1872

Bachelor thesis | Geschiedenis (BA)

In this thesis, I demonstrate the influence of the events of the Paris Commune on the ideological and personal conflict between Karl Marx and Mikhail Bakunin within the First International. In their writings, both Marx and Bakunin depicted the Commune as a historical phenomenon that confirmed their own ideas about socialist revolution. To Marx, the Commune figured as an example of a strong, central workers’ government. To Bakunin, the Parisians’ insurrection was initially an anarchist revolution, until Jacobins took over control and tried to organize Paris politically, thereby denying its anarchist origins. These conflicting interpretations of the Commune intensified the ideological and personal rivalry between the Marxist and Bakuninist factions inside the First International. Marx and the General Council increasingly acted authoritarian while the Bakuninists openly defied their legitimacy. In this strife, both factions claimed the Paris Commune on their side. Finally, at the...Show moreIn this thesis, I demonstrate the influence of the events of the Paris Commune on the ideological and personal conflict between Karl Marx and Mikhail Bakunin within the First International. In their writings, both Marx and Bakunin depicted the Commune as a historical phenomenon that confirmed their own ideas about socialist revolution. To Marx, the Commune figured as an example of a strong, central workers’ government. To Bakunin, the Parisians’ insurrection was initially an anarchist revolution, until Jacobins took over control and tried to organize Paris politically, thereby denying its anarchist origins. These conflicting interpretations of the Commune intensified the ideological and personal rivalry between the Marxist and Bakuninist factions inside the First International. Marx and the General Council increasingly acted authoritarian while the Bakuninists openly defied their legitimacy. In this strife, both factions claimed the Paris Commune on their side. Finally, at the congress in The Hague in September 1872, the Marxists enforced their doctrines of political action and enhanced powers of the General Council, and overcame the Bakuninist minority by expelling its spiritual leaders, including Bakunin.Show less

Karl Marx

Mikhail Bakunin

Paris Commune

First International

The Hague Congress

socialism

Author

Raalte, Jeroen van

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Supervisors

Bos, Dennis

ECTS Credits

15

Language

en