As an activist prior to his exile Mroczkowski was regarded as a democrat and an apostle of the
Emancipation of serfs. On a trip to Florence in 1865 he met Mikhail Bakunin who befriended him and suggested he accompany him on a trip to
Naples. There he was introduced to princess Zoë
Sumarokov, (born 1828). She was the estranged wife of Prince Alexei Obolensky with whom she had six children, and was living with them among revolutionaries escaped from Russia. She would become Mroczkowski's lover and later his wife and have two children with him. While staying on
Ischia with Bakunin in 1866, Mroczkowski together with his now partner, Zoë, produced a French translation of the
Revolutionary Catechism, Bakunin's founding text for the secret "international revolutionary society" they were planning. Bakunin's
Pet name for Mroczkowski was the affectionate diminutive, "Mrouk". In Polish "
mruk" means the "grunter" or the "silent one".
A Swiss interlude In 1867, they decided to settle in
Switzerland. Initially they stayed in
Vevey, then in
Geneva. There they met the French geographer and theorist,
Élisée Reclus, whose daughter would later become the companion of the Mroczkowskis' son, Felix. In 1868 having become members of the
First Internationale and then of the central committee of the
League of Peace and Freedom, after the schism in the aftermath of the
Berne Convention, Mroczkowski and Bakunin formed a group to oppose the ideology of
Karl Marx. Mroczkowski was also involved in drawing up plans for the refurbishment of the villa,
La Baronata perched above
Lake Maggiore, a retirement retreat built for
Carlo Cafiero, who initially "gave" it to Bakunin, but on discovering that his fortune was leaching away, was able to get it back.
London episode In 1869 they left Switzerland and travelled as a couple to London and for about two years moved there in revolutionary circles that included people such as
Karl Marx and
Walery Wroblewski ==A new career in photography==