10.8- The Red And The Black

Episode Summary

Executive Summary: The episode closes the podcast’s prologue to the Russian Revolution by tracing the Marx–Bakunin split inside the International. It contrasts their shared anti-capitalist goals with their decisive disagreement over the state, tactics, and revolutionary organization, then follows the collapse of the International and ends with their deaths, setting up the move into Tsarist Russian history.

Main Topics: Marx and Bakunin’s shared revolutionary goals (Priority: 5/5): The host emphasizes that both thinkers opposed gradual reform, supported mass class-based struggle, and imagined a post-revolutionary society beyond exploitation and class conflict. The state and the 'dictatorship of the proletariat' (Priority: 5/5): Marx saw state seizure as a temporary phase needed to transform society; Bakunin argued that any use of state power would reproduce domination and betray revolution. Tactical disagreements inside the International (Priority: 4/5): The episode compares Marx’s preference for open unions, public politics, and party-building with Bakunin’s reliance on secret societies, direct action, and anti-parliamentary organizing. The Marxist–anarchist split over revolutionary subjects (Priority: 4/5): Marx prioritized the urban proletariat as the engine of change, while Bakunin insisted peasants and broader popular forces were essential to any real revolution. Personal conflict and anti-Semitism (Priority: 4/5): The rivalry was intensified by mutual hostility, rumor-mongering, and ugly anti-Semitic rhetoric from both Marx and Bakunin, which the host condemns while contextualizing as widespread in 19th-century Europe. Collapse of the International (Priority: 5/5): The Hague Congress, expulsion of anarchists, and rival Saint-Imier congress split the movement into Red and Black Internationals, which quickly lost influence and dissolved. Transition from prologue to Russian history (Priority: 3/5): The episode ends by linking the intellectual inheritance of Marxism and anarchism to later Russian revolutionary movements, especially 1905 and 1917.

Key Arguments: Marx and Bakunin disagreed mainly on means, not ends: both wanted the overthrow of capitalism and the creation of a classless society. Marx believed revolutionary success required capturing state power temporarily through the dictatorship of the proletariat, then allowing the state to wither away. Bakunin believed state power corrupts inevitably, so revolution must destroy the state rather than seize it. Marx favored open labor organizing, parliamentary engagement, and political party formation; Bakunin favored clandestine networks and direct insurrection. The working class and peasants were contested revolutionary subjects: Marx centered the urban proletariat, while Bakunin wanted a broader popular revolution including peasants. Personal animosity and factional paranoia helped turn theoretical differences into organizational rupture. Both Marx and Bakunin used anti-Semitic language; the host condemns this while noting it was sadly common across 19th-century European politics. The International’s split into rival camps weakened the working-class movement rather than strengthening it, making the split a pyrrhic victory for Marx and a defeat for both sides.

Data Points: International Congress originally scheduled: September 1870 - The annual congress was canceled because of the Franco-Prussian War. Resolution number: Resolution 9 - The Central Committee’s 1871 declaration included the line that forming the working class into a political party is indispensable. Central Committee declaration date: September 1871 - This declaration triggered anarchist alarm over party-building and centralization. The Hague Congress date: September 1872 - First open Congress of the International since the Franco-Prussian War. Rival anarchist congress date: A few weeks after September 1872 - The Saint-Imier congress was convened after Bakunin and the anarchists were expelled. Red International losing affiliated sections: Practically all affiliated sections in Southern Europe - The split reduced Marx’s International to a weakened, increasingly dormant organization. Last attempted Red International congress: September 1873 - The Congress was poorly attended and lacked energy. Philadelphia congress year: 1876 - The Red International’s last international congress ended with a vote to disband. Bakunin death year: 1876 - He died in Switzerland after withdrawing from active political influence. Black International decline year: 1877 - Bakunin’s anarchist International also fell into irrelevancy and collapse. Marx death month and year: March 1883 - Marx died after continuing to write unfinished volumes of Capital. Engels death year: 1895 - Engels spent the decade after Marx’s death editing and publishing Marx’s writings.

Pivotal Quotes: "if you took the most ardent revolutionary, vested him in absolute power, within a year he would be worse than the Tsar himself." — Mikhail Bakunin: Used to argue that revolutionary leaders become tyrants once they control state power. "the Commune was the first glorious harbinger of future communism" — Karl Marx: Marx’s defense of the Paris Commune as an early model of emancipatory socialist governance. "when the people are being beaten with a stick, they are not much happier if it is called the people’s stick." — Mikhail Bakunin: Bakunin’s criticism of revolutionary state power under a new label.

Implications: The episode frames the Russian Revolution’s roots in earlier leftist fights over state power, organization, and popular class politics. It shows how ideological divisions and factional collapse shaped later revolutionary strategy.