Mikhail Bakunin, having reentered Western Europe, had…

Mikhail Bakunin, having reentered Western Europe, had immediately immersed himself in the revolutionary movement.

In 1860, while still in Irkutsk, Bakunin and his political associates had been greatly impressed by Giuseppe Garibaldi and his expedition to Sicily, during which he had declared himself dictator in the name of Victor Emmanuel II.

Following his return to London, he had written to Garibaldi on January 31, 1862, asking him to participate in a movement encompassing Italians, Hungarians and South Slavs against both Austria and Turkey.

Garibaldi was then engaged in preparations for the Expedition against Rome.

By May, Bakunin's correspondence was focussing on Italian-Slavic unity and the developments in Poland.

By June, he had resolved to move to Italy, but was waiting for his wife to join him.

When he left for Italy in August, Giuseppe Mazzini had written to Maurizio Quadrio, one of his key supporters, that Bakunin was a good and dependable person.

However, with the news of the failure at Aspromonte, Bakunin hd paused in Paris where he was briefly involved with Ludwik Mierosławski.

However, Bakunin had rejected Mieroslawski's chauvinism and refusal to grant any concessions to the peasants.

Returning to England in September, he had focused on Polish affairs.

When the Polish insurrection broke out in January 1863, Bakunin had sailed to Copenhagen where he hoped to join the Polish Legion, who had planned to sail across the Baltic in the SS Ward Jackson to join the insurrection.

This attempt had failed, and Bakunin had met his wife in Stockholm before returning to London.

He now focused again on going to Italy; his friend Aurelio Saffi had written him letters of introduction for Florence, Turin and Milan.

Mazzini had written letters of commendation to Federico Campanella in Genoa and Giuseppe Dolfi in Florence.

Leaving London in November 1863, traveling by way of Brussels, Paris and Vevey (Switzerland), Bakunin had arrived in Italy on January 11, 1864.

It is here that he first began to develop his anarchist ideas.

He has conceived the plan of forming a secret organization of revolutionaries to carry on propaganda work and prepare for direct action.

He recruits Italians, Frenchmen, Scandinavians, and Slavs into the International Brotherhood, also called the Alliance of Revolutionary Socialists.