God and the State
Encyclopedia
God and the State is the best-known literary work of Russian anarchist
, Mikhail Bakunin
.
and a general history of European resistance to imperialism
. God and the State, like most of Bakunin's work, is unfinished and disjointed. This is not surprising, especially since none of Bakunin's written work is in fact complete. When Bakunin was criticized on this he said, "My life is a fragment." God and the State is indeed a fragment; the book has paragraphs that drop out and pick up in mid-sentence, footnotes that are four or five paragraphs long, and the book itself stops abruptly in mid-sentence.
and Élisée Reclus
, two prominent anarchists at the time, and close friends of Bakunin around the time of his death. The two looked tirelessly for the missing parts of the book, but had no success. They translated the book into French and distributed it as a pamphlet in Geneva
in 1882. Cafiero and Reclus titled the book Dieu et l'état (God and the State) although Bakunin originally titled the book The Historical Sophisms of the Doctrinaire School of Communism
. The book's original title was not discovered in Bakunin's diary until after Cafiero and Reclus's deaths.
In 1883, the American anarchist Benjamin Tucker
translated the book into English and distributed it in pamphlet form throughout Boston. He ran into many problems, however, because when Cafiero and Reclus translated the original manuscript into French, they sometimes changed words around to give the French a more literary quality, and often misread Bakunin's handwriting. A correct French translation was released in 1908, and a new English edition was released in London in 1910. In 1916, the Lithuanian-born anarchist Emma Goldman
released a re-print of the 1910 London edition for the radical journal, Mother Earth. Since God and the State's first publication it has been one of Bakunin's greatest known works. It has been translated into many languages including English, German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Russian,Serbo-Croatian, Polish, Greek, Czech, Romanian, Turkish and Yiddish.
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
, Mikhail Bakunin
Mikhail Bakunin
Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin was a well-known Russian revolutionary and theorist of collectivist anarchism. He has also often been called the father of anarchist theory in general. Bakunin grew up near Moscow, where he moved to study philosophy and began to read the French Encyclopedists,...
.
Composition
God and the State was written between February and March 1871. It was originally written as Part II of a greater work that was going to be called The Knouto-Germanic Empire and the Social Revolution. Part I was to deal with the background of the Franco-Prussian WarFranco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
and a general history of European resistance to imperialism
Imperialism
Imperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...
. God and the State, like most of Bakunin's work, is unfinished and disjointed. This is not surprising, especially since none of Bakunin's written work is in fact complete. When Bakunin was criticized on this he said, "My life is a fragment." God and the State is indeed a fragment; the book has paragraphs that drop out and pick up in mid-sentence, footnotes that are four or five paragraphs long, and the book itself stops abruptly in mid-sentence.
Discovery and publication history
God and the State was discovered by Carlo CafieroCarlo Cafiero
Carlo Cafiero was an Italian anarchist and champion of Mikhail Bakunin during the second half of the 19th century.-Early years:...
and Élisée Reclus
Élisée Reclus
Élisée Reclus , also known as Jacques Élisée Reclus, was a renowned French geographer, writer and anarchist. He produced his 19-volume masterwork La Nouvelle Géographie universelle, la terre et les hommes , over a period of nearly 20 years...
, two prominent anarchists at the time, and close friends of Bakunin around the time of his death. The two looked tirelessly for the missing parts of the book, but had no success. They translated the book into French and distributed it as a pamphlet in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
in 1882. Cafiero and Reclus titled the book Dieu et l'état (God and the State) although Bakunin originally titled the book The Historical Sophisms of the Doctrinaire School of Communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
. The book's original title was not discovered in Bakunin's diary until after Cafiero and Reclus's deaths.
In 1883, the American anarchist Benjamin Tucker
Benjamin Tucker
Benjamin Ricketson Tucker was a proponent of American individualist anarchism in the 19th century, and editor and publisher of the individualist anarchist periodical Liberty.-Summary:Tucker says that he became an anarchist at the age of 18...
translated the book into English and distributed it in pamphlet form throughout Boston. He ran into many problems, however, because when Cafiero and Reclus translated the original manuscript into French, they sometimes changed words around to give the French a more literary quality, and often misread Bakunin's handwriting. A correct French translation was released in 1908, and a new English edition was released in London in 1910. In 1916, the Lithuanian-born anarchist Emma Goldman
Emma Goldman
Emma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century....
released a re-print of the 1910 London edition for the radical journal, Mother Earth. Since God and the State's first publication it has been one of Bakunin's greatest known works. It has been translated into many languages including English, German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Russian,Serbo-Croatian, Polish, Greek, Czech, Romanian, Turkish and Yiddish.
See also
- Anarchism and religionAnarchism and religionAnarchists have traditionally been skeptical of and opposed to organized religion. Nevertheless some anarchists provided religious interpretations and approaches to anarchism.-Anarchist clashes with religion:...
- Anarchism in RussiaAnarchism in RussiaRussian anarchism is anarchism in Russia or among Russians. The three categories of Russian anarchism were anarchist communism, anarcho-syndicalism and anarchist individualism...
- Criticism of ChristianityCriticism of ChristianityThroughout the history of Christianity, many have criticized Christianity, the church, and Christians themselves. Some criticism specifically addresses Christian beliefs, teachings and interpretation of scripture...
- Criticism of Marxism