Bakounine

Overview

Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin (1814–1876), Russian revolutionary and anarchist, the best-known Russian «rouge» of the day, living in exile in Switzerland (Wikipedia, «Mikhail Bakunin»). Marie names him only by hearsay, with the other Russian exile Ogareff (Nikolai Ogarev, the socialist poet and friend of Herzen).

Relevance to Marie

On 4 October 1874, in Nice, she listens to the Russian Makaroff on a letter from Ogareff that has upset him («un acte d'aussi grossière violence»); Mme Sapogenikoff and Yourkoff, who know his whole correspondence with Ogareff, are amused. Makaroff takes it all seriously: «Dans quelque temps il recevra de Londres une chanson ou invocation de Bakounine, ce célèbre rouge russe» (024.0235). Marie neither knows nor meets Bakunin; the remark places the Russian colony of Nice at the edge of the exiled revolutionaries' correspondence.

References in Diary

• 1874-10-04 (024.0235), the only mention. A related earlier passage on Ogareff's letter is at the end of carnet 024's preceding days (not tagged).