Wednesday, November 24, 2021

"Science & Society", Mr A. H. Nimtz & Bakunin

2016, "Science & Society", Mr A. H. Nimtz & Bakunin

89 Pages
An academic from the United States of America, August H. Nimtz, published in the journal "Science & Society" (July 2016) a short article entitled "Another 'side' to the Story" to which this text does not constitute an answer but rather a critical digression, which explains its length. Indeed, Mr. Nimtz's article condenses into three pages almost all of Marx's absurdities about Bakunin, and my text attempts to set the record straight, not from preconceived ideas but from documents of the time. My text also attempts to show that Mr. Nimtz's deeply rooted anti-Bakuninian prejudices, characteristic of Marxist historiography devoid of any critical examination of facts and documents, are a radical handicap that prevents analysis of the many points of convergence between the two men. The question is not whether social-democratic strategy or revolutionary syndicalist-type strategy (which was in fact the one advocated by Bakunin), was more effective in achieving immediate and temporary improvements in the living conditions of the working population; the question is: what would be the most effective way for this working population to collectively takeover all the machinery of society and to make it work so that it meets the needs of the entire population? The basis of the debate between Marx and Bakunin, between Marxism and Anarchism is there. Unfortunately, Marx’s stubborn refusal to discuss these issues, his obsession with accusing Bakunin of all kinds of evils, his systematic avoidance of debate, prevented the establishment of a real debate that could have led to a constructive synthesis

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