"We are firmly convinced that the most imperfect republic is a thousand times better than the most enlightened monarchy. In a republic, there are at least brief periods when the people, while continually exploited, is not oppressed; in the monarchies, oppression is constant. The democratic regime also lifts the masses up gradually to participation in public life--something the monarchy never does. Nevertheless, while we prefer the republic, we must recognise and proclaim that whatever the form of government may be, so long as human society continues to be divided into different classes as a result of the hereditary inequality of occupations, of wealth, of education, and of rights, there will always be a class-restricted government and the inevitable exploitation of the majorities by the minorities. The State is nothing but this domination and this exploitation, well regulated and systematised."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mikhail_Bakunin
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Mikhail Bakunin
Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin (Russian: Михаил Александрович Бакунин) (30 May 1814 – 1 July 1876) was a Russian political philosopher, anarchist, and noted atheist.
68 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Mikhail Bakunin →
Related Quotes
"By striving to do the impossible, man has always achieved what is possible. Those who have cautiously done no more th…"
"Liberty is so great a magician, endowed with so marvelous a power of productivity, that under the inspiration of this…"
"Every state, like every theology, assumes man to be fundamentally bad and wicked."
"Freedom is the absolute right of every human being to seek no other sanction for his actions but his own conscience, …"
"There is but one way to bring about the triumph of liberty, of justice, and of peace in Europe's international relati…"
"Unity is the great goal toward which humanity moves irresistibly. But it becomes fatal, destructive of the intelligen…"
"I hate Communism because it is the negation of liberty and because humanity is for me unthinkable without liberty. I …"
"All exercise of authority perverts, and submission to authority humiliates."
"Even the most wretched individual of our present society could not exist and develop without the cumulative social ef…"
"When we speak of justice we do not thereby mean the justice which is imparted to us in legal codes and by Roman law, …"