 He made contact with Karl Marx and Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, who greatly impressed him and with whom he formed a personal bond.In December 1844, Emperor Nicholas I issued a decree that stripped Bakunin of his privileges as a noble, confiscated his land in Russia, and exiled him for life in Siberia.He responded with a long letter to "La Réforme", denouncing the Emperor as a despot and calling for democracy in Russia and Poland (Carr, p. 139).