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160 VIOLENCE AND THE LABOR MOVEMENT
even the Slavs of Turkey, no Slavic people has a future,
for the simple reason that there are lacking in all the other
Slavs — the primary conditions historical, geographical,
political,
and industrial— of independence and vitality-"
(7) This cold-blooded statement infuriated Bakounin.
He absolutely refused to look at the facts. Possessed
of a passion for liberty, he wanted all
nations, all
peoples — civilized, semi-civilized, or savage — to be entirely
free.
What had historical, geographical, political, or
industrial conditions to do with the matter
All this is
typical of Bakounin's revolutionary sentimentalism. He
clashed again with Marx on very similar grounds when
the latter insisted that only in the more advanced countries
is there a possibility of a social revolution. Modern
capitalist production, according to Marx, must attain
a certain degree of development before it is possible
for the working class to hope to carry out any really
revolutionary project. Bakounin takes issue with him
here. He declares his own aim to be "the complete and
real emancipation of all the proletariat, not only of some
countries, but of all nations, civilized and non-civilized.
(8) In these declarations the differences between
Marx and Bakounin stand forth vividly. Marx at no
time states what' he wishes. He expresses no sentiment,
but confines
himself to a cold statement of the facts as
he sees them. Bakounin, the dreamer, the sentimentalist,
and the revolution-maker, wants the whole world free.
Whether or not Marx wants the same thing
is not the
question. He rigidly confines himself to what he believes
is possible. He says certain conditions must exist before
a people can be free and independent. Among them are
included historical, geographical, political,
and industrial
conditions. Marx further states that, before the working-class
revolution can be successful, certain economic