God and the State

One of the founders of modern Anarchism, Michael Bakunin renounced his noble birth to protest the Czar's autocratic rule. As a result, he was imprisoned for eight years, then exiled to Siberia, whence he escaped and made his way - via America - to Western Europe, gradually perfecting his theory of anarchist society.

God and the State is the concise distillation of Bakunin's ideas. It sees religion as a weapon of repressive government, which by its insistence of submission to the "Big Boss" in heaven, sets a precedent for submission to a host of earthly rulers (many of whom claim to be divinely appointed). Bakunin also rails against idealism, which he argues leads always to brutality, while those who deal with the brutal realities of the world serve to raise mankind towards the ideal. A true materialist, he sees no place for God in society, famously reversing Voltaire's dictum by declaring that, for the emancipation of humanity, "If God did exist, it would be necessary to abolish Him".

As a manifesto and introduction to anarchist thought, God and the State is a tour de force of logical arguments that remains a mind-expanding experience, even for those whose beliefs oppose Bakunin's deicidal tendencies.