Bakunin's Fear: Dictatorship Over the Proletariat
Karl Marx theorized a transitional phase known as the 'dictatorship of the proletariat'. This was intended as a state controlled by the working class to suppress counter-revolutionaries after a socialist revolution.
However, the anarchist thinker Mikhail Bakunin expressed significant concern about this concept. Bakunin feared that instead of the proletariat exercising power, a new ruling elite would emerge.
Bakunin worried that Marx's proposed 'dictatorship of the proletariat' could easily morph into a 'dictatorship on the proletariat'. This meant the state apparatus, even if initially claiming to represent the workers, would ultimately dominate and oppress them, creating a new form of authoritarianism rather than liberation.
This critique highlights a fundamental disagreement between Marxists and anarchists regarding the role and nature of the state, even during a revolutionary transition.
Therefore, Mikhail Bakunin is the figure associated with the fear that Marx's concept would become a dictatorship on the proletariat.
Important Questions from Political Theory
Which of the following statements is not correct about Austin’s Concept of Sovereignty?
Who among the following made the statement: "Sovereignty is the supreme power of the State, over citizens and subjects unrestrained by law"?
Who has written that "The Leviathan of the state of the nature of Hobbes can never be a man"?
- Which of the following are correct statements?
A. Universalist argue that everyone is entitled to the same basic rights simply by virtue of their humanity
B. Cultural relativism means opposition of western values
C. Universalist do not consider polygamy as violation of gender equality or rights of women
D. Cultural relativism posits that human rights should be defined and interpreted within cultural framework of particular society
Choose the most appropriate answer from the options given below : - Rights are the external conditions necessary for the greatest possible development of the capacities of the personality. This statement belongs to :
