Bakunin differed from Proudhon in how he viewed the role of violence in introducing anarchy. Proudhon was opposed to resorting to violent means and claimed, "Workers alone are capable of putting an end to war by creating economic equilibrium" (Proudhon 214). Bakunin was accused of being a closet authoritarian (McLaughlin 19). Charles Madison wrote, "He [Bakunin] rejected political action as a means of abolishing the state and developed the doctrine of revolutionary conspiracy under autocratic leadership" (Madison 44). .
Anarchy was summed up by Proudhon as "the absence of a master, of a sovereign" (Larned 336). He obviously had a great impact on some of the other revolutionaries of his time, and after, yet far from everyone was affected positively. Henry David Thoreau wrote, "The best government is the one that governs little if at all" (Thoreau paragraph 1). For this Thoreau has been declared an anarchist by some, and even compared to Proudhon, yet Thoreau claimed he was staunchly opposed to anarchy. In Civil Disobedience he declares "I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government", and distances himself from "no-government men (anarchist)" (Thoreau). Thoreau falls somewhere in the middle-right as far as anarchy is concerned. Although he sought individualism through as little government as possible, he advocated disobedience (violent if necessary) to government if it overstep its rights. Thoreau is considered to be an "individualist anarchist.".
Opinions similar to Thoreau's are found in the beliefs of Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi was deeply impacted by Civil Disobedience, and echoed Thoreau's statement, "The State is the best governed the least", yet he took a far stricter stance on violence. His philosophy of nonviolence (Ahimsa) leads most to consider Gandhi nothing of an anarchist. Yet Gandhi's statement logically leads to the conclusion that, "The best state is not governed at all", essentially anarchy.
