After the death of the Tsar Nicholas many political prisoners were amnested, but Alexander II with his own hand erased Bakunin's name from the list.When Bakunin's mother succeeded in obtaining an interview with the new Tsar, he said to her, ``Know, Madame, that so long as your son lives, he can never be free.'' However, in 1857, after eight years of captivity, he was sent to the comparative freedom of Siberia.From there, in 1861, he succeeded in escaping to Japan, and thence through America to London.He had been imprisoned for his hostility to governments, but, strange to say, his sufferings had not had the intended effect of making him love those who inflicted them.From this time onward, he devoted himself to spreading the spirit of Anarchist revolt, without, however, having to suffer any further term of imprisonment.For some years he lived in Italy, where he founded in 1864 an ``International Fraternity'' or``Alliance of Socialist Revolutionaries.'' This contained men of many countries, but apparently no Germans.It devoted itself largely to combating Mazzini's nationalism.In 1867 he moved to Switzerland, where in the following year he helped to found the ``International Alliance of So- cialist Democracy,'' of which he drew up the program.This program givesa good succinct resume of his opinions:--The Alliance declares itself atheist; it desires the definitive and entire abolition of classes and the political equality and social equalization of individuals of both sexes.It desires that the earth, the instrument of labor, like all other capital, becoming the collective property of society as a whole, shall be no longer able to be utilized except by the workers, that is to say, by agricultural and industrial associations.It recognizes that all actually existing political and authoritarian States, reducing themselves more and more to the mere administrative functions of the public services in their respective countries, must disappear in the universal union of free associations, both agricultural and industrial.
The International Alliance of Socialist Democracy desired to become a branch of the International Working Men's Association, but was refused admission on the ground that branches must be local, and could not themselves be international.The Geneva group of the Alliance, however, was admitted later, in July, 1869.
The International Working Men's Association had been founded in London in 1864, and its statutes and program were drawn up by Marx.Bakunin at first did not expect it to prove a success and refused to join it.But it spread with remarkable rapidity in many countries and soon became a great power for the propagation of Socialist ideas.Originally it was by no means wholly Socialist, but in successive Congresses Marx won it over more and more to his views.At its third Congress, in Brussels in September, 1868, it became definitely Socialist.Meanwhile Bakunin, regretting his earlier abstention, had decided to join it, and he brought with him a considerable following in French-Switzerland, France, Spain and Italy.At the fourth Congress, held at Basle in September, 1869, two currents were strongly marked.The Germans and English followed Marx in his belief in the State as it was to become after the abolition of private property; they followed him also in his desire to found Labor Parties in the various countries, and to utilize the machinery of democracy for the election o* representatives of Labor to Parliaments.On the other hand, the Latin nations in the main followed Bakunin in opposing the State and disbelieving in the machinery of representative government.The conflictbetween these two groups grew more and more bitter, and each accused the other of various offenses.The statement that Bakunin was a spy was repeated, but was withdrawn after investigation.Marx wrote in a confidential communication to his German friends that Bakunin was an agent of the Pan-Slavist party and received from them 25,000 francs a year.Meanwhile, Bakunin became for a time interested in the attempt to stir up an agrarian revolt in Russia, and this led him to neglect the contest in the International at a crucial moment.During the Franco-Prussian war Bakunin passionately took the side of France, especially after the fall of Napoleon III.He endeavored to rouse the people to revolutionary resistance like that of 1793, and became involved in an abortive attempt at revolt in Lyons.The French Government accused him of being a paid agent of Prussia, and it was with difficulty that he escaped to Switzerland.The dispute with Marx and his followers had become exacerbated by the national dispute.Bakunin, like Kropotkin after him, regarded the new power of Germany as the greatest menace to liberty in the world.He hated the Germans with a bitter hatred, partly, no doubt, on account of Bismarck, but probably still more on account of Marx.To this day, Anarchism has remained confined almost exclusively to the Latin countries, and has been associated with, a hatred of Germany, growing out of the contests between Marx and Bakunin in the International.
The final suppression of Bakunin's faction occurred at the General Congress of the International at the Hague in 1872.The meeting-place was chosen by the General Council (in which Marx was unopposed), with a view--so Bakunin's friends contend-- to making access impossible for Bakunin (on account of the hostility of the French and German governments) and difficult for his friends.Bakunin was expelled from the International as the result of a report accusing him inter alia of theft backed; up by intimidation.
