Full text : The Socialism of to-day

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THE  SOCIALISM  OF  TO-DAY.

factor  of  ethnographical  units  which,  far  from  being  played  out,
is  in  full  activity  to-day,  the  regime  here  proposed  by  Bakunin
is  no  other  than  that  which  is  in  full  force  in  Switzerland  and  in
the  United  States.  By  a  singular  change,  the  revolutionaries
of  to-day  desire  to  push  federalism  even  to  the  subdivision  of
a  country,  the  very  crime  against  “  France  one  and  indivisible  ”
which  sent  the  Girondists  to  the  guillotine.
As  we  have  seen,  in  1872  Marx  caused  Bakunin  to  be
expelled  from  the  International.  The  next  year,  when  the  Federation ­
  of  the  Jura  had  constituted  a  new  universal  association,
Bakunin  retired  from  militant  life  and  lived  near  Locarno,  in  a
little  villa  given  to  him  by  his  old  friend  Cañero.  His  health
was  thoroughly  shattered.  He  went  to  Berne  so  as  to  be  under
the  care  of  his  friend  Vogt,  a  physician,  and  on  the  2nd  of  July,
1876,  he  died  there.  His  writings  are  neither  numerous  nor
important.  The  two  principal  ones  are  entitled  LEmpire
Knouto-germanique  ct  la  Révolution  Sociale,  and  La  Théologie
politique  de  Mazzini  et  VInternationale.  Like  all  apostles,  it
was  by  oral  propaganda,  by  the  enthusiastic  disciples  which  he
made,  and  by  the  institutions  which  he  created,  that  his  influence
made  itself  felt.  Let  us  see  what  were  these  institutions,  and
what  were  the  doctrines  they  were  to  spread.
The  Alliance  of  the  Socialist  Democracy,  founded  by
Bakunin  in  1869,  was  a  society  half  public,  like  the  International, ­
  and  half  secret,  like  Carbonarism.  It  was  composed  of
three  sections.  The  first  was  formed  by  the  “  International
brothers”  to  the  number  of  one  hundred.  They  were  the
leaders  of  the  movement  ;  they  were  known  to  each  other,  but
they  were  not  made  known  to  the  uninitiated.  “Their  only
country  was  the  universal  revolution,  their  only  enemies  the
reaction.”  They  must  accept  the  programme  in  all  its  conquences,
  theoretical  and  practical,  unite  with  intelligence  and
discretion  the  most  absolute  revolutionary  passion,  and  be
regular  “dare-devils.”  The  second  section  was  composed  of
the  “  National  brothers,”  who  were  appointed  by  the  International ­
  brothers,  whose  duty  was  to  prepare  the  revolution  in
their  respective  countries,  independently,  and  who  were  to  be
kept  in  ignorance  of  the  very  existence  of  an  International
            
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