Europe, mid-1800s: Two men stood at the center of a storm that would shape socialism’s future.
Karl Marx, a German-born philosopher, believed in seizing the state (central government) and wielding its machinery to crush the ruling class. To him, power was a tool, not a curse.
Mikhail Bakunin, a Russian anarchist strategist, saw it differently. According to him, every possible state was a prison. Even one run by the workers’ representatives would quickly become a cage. Bakunin dreamed of freedom built from the ground up: local councils, voluntary federations, no hierarchy.
They met in the First International, and tension simmered immediately. Marx suspected secret plotting; Bakunin saw creeping authoritarianism. Arguments heated up, and words became accusations.
At the Hague Congress of 1872, the storm broke. Marx expelled Bakunin. Bakunin left, defiant, warning of new tyranny.
What follows is history: Marxists built parties and seized state power. Anarchists organized strikes, formed collectives, refused all authority. Both still claim the working class. Both dream of freedom, but not the same kind. Different paths entirely.
The clash has become more than ideology. It’s about the allure and danger of power, whether freedom can be handed down or must be built, fiercely and locally, from below. Even today, their shadow lingers: revolution is never just ideas. It’s people, personalities, and choices made when the future hangs in the balance.