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“One Aim -- Merciless Destruction”. Nechaev, Bakunin, and the Origins of Russian Anarchism. Mikhail Bakunin (1814-1876): “The Passion for Destruction is a Creative Passion”. Aristocratic family, arcadian childhood
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“One Aim -- Merciless Destruction” Nechaev, Bakunin, and the Origins of Russian Anarchism
Mikhail Bakunin (1814-1876): “The Passion for Destruction is a Creative Passion” • Aristocratic family, arcadian childhood • “Man of the Forties,” influenced by German Romanticism, Idealism, Left Hegelianism • Legendary martyrdom • Center of circle of exiled radicals in Zurich, opponent of Marxism • Destruction of state, all artificial institutions, return to primeval freedom
Sergei Nechaev (1847-1882): The End Justifies the Means • Serf origins in industrial hole of Ivanovo • Founder of The People’s Vengeance • Instigated the murder of the student, Ivanov • Nechaev Affair served as inspiration for Dostoevsky’s Demons • Created the image of the modern revolutionary, sketched the organization and tactics of terrorist conspiracy
Questions for Discussion • 1.Consider the revolutionary and the revolutionary group as described/prescribed by Nechaev in his Catechism. What analogous behaviors/attitudes/mentalities have we encountered in our study of psychological disorders and behavioral deviance? • 2.Look at Post’s analysis of individual and group terrorist psycho-logic. Do we find it in evidence in the Karakozov case? In Nechaev’s catechism? • 3.Do you find Post’s argument compelling? What counter-arguments can you offer?