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An invisible dictatorship was a term coined by Mikhail Bakunin to describe his concept of clandestine revolutionary leadership. Bakunin also used the term invisible legion and invisible network to describe his invisible dictatorship.
Original use of the term
It appears in a letter sent Albert Richard, a fellow member of the Alliance of Social Democracy during the turmoil surrounding the Paris Commune:
here is only one power and one dictatorship whose organisation is salutary and feasible: it is that collective, invisible dictatorship of those who are allied in the name of our principle (...) this dictatorship will be all the more salutary and effective for not being dressed up in any official power or extrinsic character.
In nineteenth century Europe the discussion of how a transitional revolutionary government might act since the days of Gracchus Babeuf. In 1828 Philippe Buonarroti published Conspiration pour l'Egalité dite de Babeuf, suivie du procès auquel elle donna lieu which proved to be very influential on Auguste Blanqui and the revolutionaries of 1848, from Louis Blanc to Bakunin. From this arose the concept of a small band of revolutionaries instituting an Educational Dictatorship which would raise the consciousness of the masses to the point that democracy could be introduced.
In the February Revolution, Paris, 1848 the provisional government assumed power extralegally, through an announcement before a mass demonstration. Louis Blanc advocated that the provisional government should “regard themselves as dictators appointed by a revolution which had become inevitable and which was under no obligation to seek the sanction of universal suffrage until after having accomplished all the good which the moment required.”. He also reitereated the idea of the “dictatorship of Paris” over the country. Bakunin, having received funds from Blanc's provisional government, threw himself into the revolutionary movement in Bohemia. He subsequently described his aim as the establishment of a “government with unlimited dictatorial power,” in which “all will be subjugated to a single dictatorial authority,” through three secret societies based on “strict hierarchy and unconditional discipline.”Hal Draper claims this was the first appearance of his concept of a “secret dictatorship” exercised by “Invisible Dictators.” Bakunin also saw Prague playing the role of Paris: “The revolutionary government with unlimited dictatorial power must sit in Prague … All clubs and journals, all manifestations of garrulous anarchy, will also be destroyed, and all will be subjugated to a single dictatorial authority”. Eddie Ford has described this as a '‘dual organisation’' principle, with a secret cadre of controllers manipulating a public front.
We are the most pronounced enemies of every sort of official power -- even if it is an ultra-revolutionary power. We are the enemies of any sort of publicly declared dictatorship, we are social revolutionary anarchists. But, you will ask, if we are anarchists, by what right do we want to influence the people, and what methods will we use? Denouncing all power, with what sort of power, or rather by what sort of force, shall we direct a people's revolution? By a force that is invisible, that no one admits and that is not imposed on anyone, by the collective dictatorship of our organization which will be all the greater the more it remains unseen and undeclared, the more it is deprived of all official rights and significance.
Letter to Sergei Nechaev
Variant Terms:
Invisible Legion
At the time of writing, various legions were set up as revolutionary organisations such as the International Legion, Mickiewicz's Legion, the German Democratic Legion of Georg Herwegh.
Invisible Network
Some anarchists defend the concept of invisible dictatorship claiming that "rather than promoting a despotic dictatorship over the masses his concept of "invisible dictatorship" is very similar to the "leadership of ideas" concept used by many anarchists.". George Woodcock developed the idea of a "pure" anarchism, defining it as "the loose and flexible affinity group which needs no formal organization and carries on anarchist propaganda through an invisible network of personal contacts and intellectual influences." However he argued that this was incompatible with mass movements like anarcho-syndicalism as they "make compromises with day-to-day situations" and because they have to "maintain the allegiance of masses of who are only remotely conscious of the final aim of anarchism.". However this viewpoint has been rejected by other anarchists such as Sam Dolgoff, who countered "There is no "pure" anarchism. There is only the application of anarchist principles to the relities of social living."
Modern uses of the term
The term has also been used more recently, for instance by the Independent Voters Alliance United States of America to describe the two party system currently existing in the USA which they claim makes voting useless as the "choices in every election are limited to candidates financed by the same money sources.". Such viewpoints have become more widespread in the USA particularly since the heightened security after 9/11.
See also
References
- The ‘Dictatorship of the Proletariat’ in Marx and Engels
- Hal Draper Karl Marx's Theory of Revolution, vol 3, New York 1986, p57
- Democracy or anarchism by Eddie Ford, Weekly Worker, September 6, 2001
- Bakuninism -- backward politics under the guise of no politics by Pete Brown (from Communist Voice #6, Jan. 15, 1996)
- Bakunin and the Invisible Legions, revisited form the Anarchism Website accessed September 7, 2006
- Anarchism, World Publishing, Cleveland, 1962 pp. 273-4
- The Relevance of Anarchism to Modern Society accessed 12th September 2006
- Your Active Citizenship accessed August 26, 2006
External links
- Bakunin and the Invisible Legions, revisited
- Auto-cracy: an invisible dictatorship by Eduardo Galeano