The Capitalist System

by Mikhail Bakunin

This pamphlet is an excerpt from The Knouto-Germanic Empire and the Social Revolution and included in The Complete Works of Michael Bakunin under the title "Fragment." Parts of the text were originally translated into English by G.P. Maximoff for his anthology of Bakunin's writings, with missing paragraphs translated by Jeff Stein from the Spanish edition, Diego Abad de Santillan, trans. (Buenos Aires 1926) vol. III, pp. 181-196.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Economics, History, Philosophy, Theory

Unknown Binding

About the author

Russian anarchist and political theorist Mikhail Aleksandrovich Bakunin, imprisoned and later exiled to Siberia for his considered revolutionary activities, escaped to London in 1861, opposed Communism of Karl Marx.

People often called Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin (Russian: Михаи́л Алекса́ндрович Баку́нин), a philosopher, the father of collectivism.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail...

Reviews

[Kelsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listened to at Audible Anarchism.

For the most part, it wasn’t anything I haven’t encountered before/already known, in slightly more dense language than my typical preferred reads. (May have been a bit too tired, listening to this one. Was difficult to stay on track.) The ending was striking, though, with the accurate comparisons to serfdom vibing with me. Solid discussion, too.

[Nikki Metztli · Rating 4 out of 5]

"[Referring to Marx's 'Capital':] The only defect of this work... positivist in direction, based on a profound study of economic works, without admitting any logic other than the logic of the facts - the only defect, say, is that it has been written, in part, but only in part, in a style excessively metaphysical and abstract... which makes it difficult to explain and nearly unapproachable for the majority of workers, and it is principally the workers who must read it nevertheless. The bourgeois will never read it or, if they read it, they will never want to comprehend it, and if they comprehend it they will never say anything about it; this work being nothing other than a sentence of death, scientifically motivated and irrevocably pronounced, not against them as individuals, but against their class."

[Rowan Cameron · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this courtesy of the AudibleAnarchist YouTube channel. I saw the video pop up and I was intrigued. I’ve never really explored Anarchism (or the anarchists point of view) before and I’ve never heard of Mikhail Bakunin. After listening to this short book I can say I’m intrigued. I’ll definitely be checking out some of his other works in the future.

[mariana ૮₍˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶₎ა (perrito lector) · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The truth is that the whole life of the worker is simply a continuous and dismaying succession of terms of serfdom — voluntary from the juridical point of view but compulsory in the economic sense — broken up by momentarily brief interludes of freedom accompanied by starvation; in other words, it is real slavery."

[Luke Bateman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short essay discusses wage slavery. Bakunin correctly points out that the relation between employer and employee is judicially much different from slavery, but economically similar as the employer has as much hold on the life of the employee as a master does slave. I’d recommend this to anyone wanting to do some self education on wage slavery and the relations between the capitalist and proletariat.

[Tolis Yiannaras · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really shallow arguments and assumes its own conclusions, wouldn't recommend it as an intellectual reading of anarchism for today's times.

[Angie Dong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though this was written a century ago, it identifies much of what is wrong with our society today. I was particularly impressed with the juxtaposition between financial risks to the business owner and physical risks to the worker.

[Griffin Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bakunin is considered one of the most important and first figures in anarchist thought.

This is a short essay on his understanding of capitalism and the socialist/ communist critiques against it.

[Simon Parent · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best introduction to the explanation of the exploitation of Capitalism. It will be my go-to recommendation whenever someone support Capitalism.

[Mikka Verneaux · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simple and easy read.

[Shane · Rating 5 out of 5]

A pearl

[Kane Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick easy read. Just an essay printed in a pamphlet. And obviously nothing here is ground breaking though despite this being almost a hundred years old, it’s still very relevant to today.

[Kai Mustakoski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short but insightful: Explains Marx' and others' critique of capitalist system very concisely and clearly.
6/5

[Colette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very accessible and very potent analysis of the relationship between workers and the means of production. All is made by all, and all should benefit from all.