red to him as
national heroes, popular avengers, and irreconcilable enemies of the
State. He conceived of the brigands scattered throughout Russia and
confined in the prisons of the Empire as "a unique and indivisible
world, strongly bound together--the world of the Russian revolution."
The robber was "the wrestler in life and in death against all this
civilization of officials, of nobles, of priests, and of the crown." Of
course, Bakounin says here much that is historically true. Thieves,
marauders, highwaymen, bandits, brigands, villains, mendicants, and all
those other elements of mediaeval life for whom society provided neither
land nor occupation, often organized themselves into guerilla bands in
order to war upon all social and civil order. But Bakounin neglects to
mention that it was these very elements that eagerly became the
mercenaries of any prince who could feed them. They were lawless,
"without phrase, without rhetoric," and, if anyone were willing to pay
them, they would gladly pillage, burn, and murder in his interest. They
would have served anybody or anything--the State, society, a prince, or
a tyrant. They had no scruples and no philosophies. They were in the
market to be bought by anyone who wanted a choice brand of assassins.
And the feudal duke or prince bought, fed, and cared for these
"veritable and unique revolutionists," in order to have them ready for
service in his work of robbery and murder. To be sure, when these
marauders had no employer they were dangerous, because then they
committed crimes and outrages on their own hook. But the vast majority
of them were hirelings, and many of them achieved fame for the bravery
of their exploits in the service of the dukes, the princes, and the
priests of that time. There were even guilds of mercenaries, such as the
_Condottieri_ of Italy; and the Swiss were famous for their superior
service. They were, it seems, revolutionists in Bakounin's use of the
term, and every prince knew "no money, no Swiss" ("_point d'argent,
point de Suisse_").

A very slight acquaintance with history teaches us that this anarchy has
been checked and that the history of recent times consists largely of
the struggles of the masses to harness and subdue this anarchy of the
powerful. And perhaps the most notable step in that direction was that
development of the State which took away the right of the nobles to
employ and maintain their own private armies. In England, policing by