DOCSLIB.ORG

The Conquest of Bread Peter Kropotkin

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

The Conquest of Bread Peter Kropotkin Introduction by Alfredo M. Bonanno The Conquest of Bread Peter Kropotkin Introduction by Alfredo M. Bonanno introduction i preface xiii OUR RICHES 1 WELL-BEING FOR ALL 17 ANARCHIST COMMUNISM 34 EXPROPRIATION 50 FOOD 70 DWELLINGS 110 CLOTHING 126 WAYS AND MEANS 130 THE NEED FOR LUXURY 142 AGREEABLE WORK 165 FREE AGREEMENT 177 OBJECTIONS 201 THE COLLECTIVIST WAGES SYSTEM 229 CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION 253 THE DIVISION OF LABOUR 265 THE DECENTRALIZATION OF INDUSTRY 270 AGRICULTURE 286 introduction i preface xiii OUR RICHES 1 WELL-BEING FOR ALL 17 ANARCHIST COMMUNISM 34 EXPROPRIATION 50 FOOD 70 DWELLINGS 110 CLOTHING 126 WAYS AND MEANS 130 THE NEED FOR LUXURY 142 AGREEABLE WORK 165 FREE AGREEMENT 177 OBJECTIONS 201 THE COLLECTIVIST WAGES SYSTEM 229 CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION 253 THE DIVISION OF LABOUR 265 THE DECENTRALIZATION OF INDUSTRY 270 AGRICULTURE 286 monument of the past, but as a tangible indication of somethingindication lastingtangible a as andbut continuallypast, the of in transformonument - and this key allows for its legitimate use, not as a a mationas not whichuse, the powerlegitimate its structurefor allows manages key this to hideand the recent American edition introduced by Avrich, withAvrich, varyingby degreesintroduced of difficulty.edition American recent the does not seem to have been brought out even in in Everyeven out possiblebrought goodbeen hashave beento saidseem ofnot Kropotdoes - has its unitary key to reading which which reading to key unitary its has kin, and such a good man was he thatBread of nothingquest These doubts are basically unfounded. unfounded. basically are doubts These - elseCon The could have been said of him: His conception of life, his optimism,reader? casual hismost olympianthe even of scientific eyes the coolto - pieces written at different times, cannot fail to leap nessleap to offail analysis,cannot heatingtimes, up everydifferent at now andwritten againpieces work which, although accidental as it consists of of with someconsists it incitement as toaccidental rebellion: although basically which, all thatwork such a case, what would remain of the unity of the mightthe of seemunity outthe of of date.remain And Thewould Conquestwhat case, ofa Breadsuch is and those that are decidedly out of date? And, in in a bookAnd, thatdate? couldof out appear outdated.decidedly are Exceptthat thatthose theand patiently pointing out the parts that are still valid destructionvalid still are of that power parts is notthe theout schematicpointing processpatiently a great task of separating the wheat from the chaff, wechaff, usuallythe from entrust wheat to the great explosionsseparating of oftask violence,great a semblance of life to what has long been dead? Make orMake to smalldead? attacksbeen long againsthas thewhat to structures life of of repressemblance - of the historiographers, ever capable of giving a a sion. giving The of destructioncapable ever of the constituted historiographers, order the alsoof Put it aside? Consign it to the pleasing research passesresearch throughpleasing thethe slowto it and optimisticConsign aside? it evaluationPut of the forces available for attack.volume. Ifpresent it doesthe in not taketained be easily clarified by referring to the analyses con analyses the to referring by clarified easily be - much to accomplish an individual act, often a re- a precise situation of class struggle which cannot sultcannot of desperation,which onlystruggle reflectionclass of andsituation analysisprecise a can ent day validity is not as certain as it is linked to to renderlinked thatis it actas comprehensiblecertain as not is and transformvalidity day theent of the fundamental classics of anarchism, its pres its anarchism, of classics fundamental the of - desperation of the exploited into organised revolu- is undoubtedly one one undoubtedly is Bread of Conquest The tionary force. Although And in order to do that there is a need for pro- found optimism. Not in things orINTRODUCTION in men, for which there will always be someone ready to point out with superiority those who do not merit that op- timism, but in the will of the individual who sums ii of something indication lasting tangible and a as continually but past, inthe of transfor - monument mation a as which not theuse, power structurelegitimate its for managesallows tokey hidethis and with varyingAvrich, by degrees of difficulty.introduced edition American recent the does not seem to have been brought out even in Everyin possibleeven out goodbrought has been have said to of Kropotseem not - does has its unitary key to reading which which reading to key unitary its has kin, and such a good man was he that nothingBread of quest - Con The else could have been saidunfounded. of him:basically Hisare conceptiondoubts These of life, his optimism,reader? his casual olympianmost the scientificeven of cooleyes -the to ness of leap analysis,to fail heatingcannot uptimes, every nowdifferent at and againwritten pieces with someof incitementconsists it as to rebellion:accidental basicallyalthough all thatwhich, work might seemthe of outunity of date.the of And Theremain Conquestwould ofwhat Breadcase, a is such a book in thatAnd, coulddate? appearof out outdated.decidedly Exceptare thatthat thethose and destruction valid ofstill powerare that is notparts thethe schematicout processpointing patiently we usuallychaff, entrustthe from to greatwheat explosionsthe separating of of violence, task great a or to smallMake attacksdead? againstbeen long thehas structureswhat to life ofof repres- semblance sion. a The destructiongiving of ofcapable the ever constituted order alsohistoriographers, the of passes throughresearch the slowpleasing the and to it optimistic Consign evaluationaside? it Put of the forces available for attack.volume. If it doespresent notthe takein tained - much tocon accomplishanalyses the anto individualreferring by act, oftenclarified a re-easily be sult of desperation,cannot which only reflectionstruggle class of and analysissituation can precise a render to that actlinked is comprehensibleit as certain as andnot transformis validity theday ent - desperationpres its of the exploitedanarchism, of into classics organised revolufundamental -the of is undoubtedly one one undoubtedly is Bread of Conquest The tionary force. Although And in order to do that there is a need for pro- found optimism. Not in things or in men,INTRODUCTION for which there will always be someone ready to point out with superiority those who do not merit that op- timism, but in the will of the individual who sums ii - lutionaryrevo the of struggleaspects in The Conquestconcerning ofoutlet Bread. Whatganisational to - do,or beforean thefind to revolution,vain in try in orderwould one to get closerStrangely, to it? How organise? Syndicalism? A federationon? of going affinity still act in a moment such as this with the class struggle groups?struggle Whatclass the about with clandestinethis as such organisations?moment a in act cal conditions of the present day? How should we we Howevershould How did day? Kropotkin present forgetthe of about allconditions that?cal - Because,histori attentiveprecise the in readersdo we of thisshould bookWhat wouldvening. re- thing certain would seem to be a proposal for inter for proposal a be to seem would certain thing - ply, it is a book that concentrates on the problem Good? Bad? Neither good nor bad? The only ofonly whatThe to dobad? at nor the momentgood ofNeither the revolutionBad? Good? and in the period immediately followingindividual. the to it, on howtherefore to tion relations contribute to determining society, organisesociety, productiondetermining to and distribution.contribute Andrelations theytion - wouldproduc beof wrong. distribution the of forms historical The until recently) biology as the devil does holy water. water. Theholy greatdoes subjectdevil the animatingas biology the pagesrecently) of Theuntil of an historical materialism that regards (at least Conquestleast (at of Breadregards isthat the movementmaterialism of thehistorical exploitan of - eighteenth century scientific vision to the critique ed: nothingcritique the to is concededvision to scientific this or century that historicaleighteenth like wolves, as by submitting the too idyllic late grouplate ofidyllic intervention.too the Andsubmitting anarchists,by as aswolves, a conlike - to the secular thesis of men preying on each other sciousother minority,each on findpreying amen placeof therethesis onlysecular becausethe to have doubts about this. Not so much by referring they arereferring aby part much of thatso greatNot this. movement, about notdoubts as thehave the future revolution. Many present-day thinkers representativesthinkers ofpresent-day a specificMany organisationrevolution. infuture termsthe anguish of tyranny to reawaken in the sunshine of of of politicalsunshine space.the in reawaken to tyranny of anguish so this essential principle of humanity endures the the This endures apparentlyhumanity of banal factprinciple has beenessential considthis so - mant all winter to come to life again in the spring, eredspring, bythe Kropotkinin again ’s life critics to tocome beto due towinter hisall olympicmant like a seed hidden by a snowy mantle, it lies dor lies it mantle, snowy a by hidden seed a like - superiority over the parts in struggle within the says Kropotkin says — fact biological a is Solidarity and, and, revolutionary— movement, and to prove this they key to reading this book, which makes
Recommended publications
  • The Conquest of Bread

    The Conquest of Bread

    1 2 This eBook is the result of a collaborative effort by MPowered and its community of Avid Readers, and is based on a transcription produced for Project Gutenberg. The writing and artwork within are believed to be in the U.S. public domain, and MPowered releases this eBook edition under the terms in the CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. MPowered is an endeavour that produces, promotes, and provides open access to educational, culture-related content and media with the aim of empowering people worldwide. You can download this and other eBooks produced with love for avid readers at mdnss.co/mdash. To contribute with MPowered, please report typos, typography errors, or other necessary corrections on the report errors section. You can also acquire our official merchandise in our store to help us ensure the continuity of this project. 3 P A This eBook edition has been published thanks to the generous support of: M G Would you like to be featured on this page? 4 C Title Page Imprint Acknowledgements The Man The Book Preface THE CONQUEST OF BREAD CHAPTER I: Our Riches I II III CHAPTER II: Well-being For All I II III FOOTNOTE CHAPTER III: Anarchist Communism I II CHAPTER IV: Expropriation I II III FOOTNOTE CHAPTER V: Food I II III IV V 5 VI VII FOOTNOTES CHAPTER VI: Dweallings I II III FOOTNOTE CHAPTER VII: Clothing CHAPTER VIII: Ways and Means I II CHAPTER IX: The Need For Luxury I II III IV V FOOTNOTES CHAPTER X: Agreeable Work AGREEABLE WORK I II FOOTNOTES: CHAPTER XI: Free Agreement I II III CHAPTER XII: Objections I II III IV
  • Reassembling the Anarchist Critique of Technology Zachary M

    Reassembling the Anarchist Critique of Technology Zachary M

    Potential, Power and Enduring Problems: Reassembling the Anarchist Critique of Technology Zachary M. Loeb* Abstract Within anarchist thought there is a current that treats a critique of technology as a central component of a broader critique of society and modernity. This tendency – which can be traced through the works of Peter Kropotkin, Rudolf Rocker, and Murray Bookchin – treats technologies as being thoroughly nested within sets of powerful social relations. Thus, it is not that technology cannot provide ‘plenty for all’ but that technology is bound up in a system where priorities other than providing plenty win out. This paper will work to reassemble the framework of this current in order to demonstrate the continuing strength of this critique. I. Faith in technological progress has provided a powerful well of optimism from which ideologies as disparate as Marxism and neoliberal capitalism have continually drawn. Indeed, the variety of machines and techniques that are grouped together under the heading “technology” often come to symbolize the tools, both * Zachary Loeb is a writer, activist, librarian, and terrible accordion player. He earned his MSIS from the University of Texas at Austin, and is currently working towards an MA in the Media, Culture, and Communications department at NYU. His research areas include the critique of technology, media refusal and resistance to technology, ethical implications of technology, as well as the intersection of library science with the STS field. 87 literally and figuratively, which a society uses to construct a modern, better, world. That technologically enhanced modern societies remain rife with inequity and oppression, while leaving a trail of toxic e-waste in their wake, is treated as an acceptable tradeoff for progress – while assurances are given that technological solutions will soon appear to solve the aforementioned troubles.
  • Reading William Morris, Peter Kropotkin, Ursula K. Le Guin, and PM in the Light of Digital Socialism

    Reading William Morris, Peter Kropotkin, Ursula K. Le Guin, and PM in the Light of Digital Socialism

    tripleC 18(1): 146-186, 2020 http://www.triple-c.at The Utopian Internet, Computing, Communication, and Concrete Utopias: Reading William Morris, Peter Kropotkin, Ursula K. Le Guin, and P.M. in the Light of Digital Socialism Christian Fuchs University of Westminster, London, [email protected], http://fuchs.uti.at Abstract: This paper asks: What can we learn from literary communist utopias for the creation and organisation of communicative and digital socialist society and a utopian Internet? To pro- vide an answer to this question, the article discusses aspects of technology and communica- tion in utopian-communist writings and reads these literary works in the light of questions con- cerning digital technologies and 21st-century communication. The selected authors have writ- ten some of the most influential literary communist utopias. The utopias presented by these authors are the focus of the reading presented in this paper: William Morris’s (1890/1993) News from Nowhere, Peter Kropotkin’s (1892/1995) The Conquest of Bread, Ursula K. Le Guin’s (1974/2002) The Dispossessed, and P.M.’s (1983/2011; 2009; 2012) bolo’bolo and Kartoffeln und Computer (Potatoes and Computers). These works are the focus of the reading presented in this paper and are read in respect to three themes: general communism, technol- ogy and production, communication and culture. The paper recommends features of concrete utopian-communist stories that can inspire contemporary political imagination and socialist consciousness. The themes explored include the role of post-scarcity, decentralised comput- erised planning, wealth and luxury for all, beauty, creativity, education, democracy, the public sphere, everyday life, transportation, dirt, robots, automation, and communist means of com- munication (such as the “ansible”) in digital communism.
  • Introduction

    Introduction

    Notes Introduction 1. Herbert Read to T.S. Eliot: 1 October 1949: Herbert Read Archive, University of Victoria (hereafter HRAUV), HR/TSE-170. 2. Herbert Read, The Contrary Experience: Autobiographies (London, 1963), 353, 350. 3. Isaiah Berlin, The Roots of Romanticism (London, [1965] 2000), 97. 4. For a useful discussion, see: Peter Ryley, Making Another World Possible: Anar- chism, Anti-capitalism and Ecology in Late 19th and Early 20th Century Britain (New York, 2013); Mark Bevir, The Making of British Socialism (Princeton, 2011), 256–277. 5. Martin A. Miller, Kropotkin (Chicago, 1976), 166–167; Rodney Barker, Political Ideas in Modern Britain (London, 1978), 42 passim. 6. H. Oliver, The International Anarchist Movement in Late Victorian London (London, 1983), 136; see also: 92, 132–137. For a discussion of the signifi- cance of the Congress, see: Davide Turcato, Making Sense of Anarchism: Errico Malatesta’s Experiments with Revolution (Basingstoke, 2012), 136–139. 7. W. Tcherkesoff, Let Us Be Just: (An Open Letter to Liebknecht) (London, 1896), 7. 8. The report offered short biographies of Francesco Merlino, Gustav Landauer, Louise Michel, Amilcare Cipriani, Augustin Hamon, Élisée Reclus, Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis, Bernard Lazare, and Peter Kropotkin. N.A., Full Report of the Proceedings of the International Workers’ Congress, London, July and August, 1896 (London, 1896), 67–72. 9. N.A., Full Report of the Proceedings, 21, 17. 10. Matthew S. Adams, ‘Herbert Read and the fluid memory of the First World War: Poetry, Prose, and Polemic’, Historical Research (2014), 1–22; Janet S.K. Watson, Fighting Different Wars: Experience, Memory, and the First World War in Britain (Cambridge, 2004), 226.
  • Peter Kropotkin and Colin Ward Two Ideas of Ecological Urbanism

    Peter Kropotkin and Colin Ward Two Ideas of Ecological Urbanism

    Peter Kropotkin and Colin Ward Two ideas of ecological urbanism Jere Kuzmanić prof. José Luis Oyon The thesis is dedicated to David Graeber, who died on the 2nd of September, 2020. To his greatness in proving that anarchism is worth intellectual endeavour in the 21st century, as both, academically relevant and widely respected. Goodspeed David! Thank you for the Debt. Máster Universitario en Intervención Sostenible en el Medio Construido MISMEC Escola Tècnica Superior d’Arquitectura del Vallès Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya 2019/2020 TFM - Trabajo Final de Máster (defended-September 2020) Alumni: Jere Kuzmanić [email protected] Mentor: prof. José Luis Oyon [email protected] The photo on the cover is made during the eviction of XM squat Bologna, Italy Photo by: Michele Lapini, http://www.michelelapini.net/ The thesis is written and defended in English Peter Kropotkin and Colin Ward; two ideas of ecological urbanism The thesis recapitulates the works of two anarchists, Peter Kropotkin and Colin Ward seeking the continuous thread of development of ecological urbanism as a political and spatial concept. As geographer and architect both imagined, wrote and inspired practices of production of space deeply rooted in ecology and spirit of self-organization. The literature review of primary and secondary resources will entangle the relationship between Kropotkin’s (proto)ecological geography with Colin Ward’s post-war self-management in urbanism. Both conceptions emerging from direct action, mutual aid and cooperation they will be presented through a comparison of their writings and the correlating the examples they inspired (Spanish anti- authoritarianist planning councils, 50s squatters movement, self-help housing communities etc.
  • Ukraine, L9l8-21 and Spain, 1936-39: a Comparison of Armed Anarchist Struggles in Europe

    Ukraine, L9l8-21 and Spain, 1936-39: a Comparison of Armed Anarchist Struggles in Europe

    Bucknell University Bucknell Digital Commons Honors Theses Student Theses Fall 2020 Ukraine, l9l8-21 and Spain, 1936-39: A Comparison of Armed Anarchist Struggles in Europe Daniel A. Collins Bucknell University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.bucknell.edu/honors_theses Part of the European History Commons Recommended Citation Collins, Daniel A., "Ukraine, l9l8-21 and Spain, 1936-39: A Comparison of Armed Anarchist Struggles in Europe" (2020). Honors Theses. 553. https://digitalcommons.bucknell.edu/honors_theses/553 This Honors Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Theses at Bucknell Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of Bucknell Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Ukraine, 1918-21 and Spain, 1936-39: A Comparison of Armed Anarchist Struggles in Europe by Daniel A. Collins An Honors Thesis Submitted to the Honors Council For Honors in History 12/7/2020 Approved by: Adviser:_____________________________ David Del Testa Second Evaluator: _____________________ Mehmet Dosemeci iii Acknowledgements Above all others I want to thank Professor David Del Testa. From my first oddly specific question about the Austro-Hungarians on the Italian front in my first week of undergraduate, to here, three and a half years later, Professor Del Testa has been involved in all of the work I am proud of. From lectures in Coleman Hall to the Somme battlefield, Professor Del Testa has guided me on my journey to explore World War I and the Interwar Period, which rapidly became my topics of choice.
  • “For a World Without Oppressors:” U.S. Anarchism from the Palmer

    “For a World Without Oppressors:” U.S. Anarchism from the Palmer

    “For a World Without Oppressors:” U.S. Anarchism from the Palmer Raids to the Sixties by Andrew Cornell A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Social and Cultural Analysis Program in American Studies New York University January, 2011 _______________________ Andrew Ross © Andrew Cornell All Rights Reserved, 2011 “I am undertaking something which may turn out to be a resume of the English speaking anarchist movement in America and I am appalled at the little I know about it after my twenty years of association with anarchists both here and abroad.” -W.S. Van Valkenburgh, Letter to Agnes Inglis, 1932 “The difficulty in finding perspective is related to the general American lack of a historical consciousness…Many young white activists still act as though they have nothing to learn from their sisters and brothers who struggled before them.” -George Lakey, Strategy for a Living Revolution, 1971 “From the start, anarchism was an open political philosophy, always transforming itself in theory and practice…Yet when people are introduced to anarchism today, that openness, combined with a cultural propensity to forget the past, can make it seem a recent invention—without an elastic tradition, filled with debates, lessons, and experiments to build on.” -Cindy Milstein, Anarchism and Its Aspirations, 2010 “Librarians have an ‘academic’ sense, and can’t bare to throw anything away! Even things they don’t approve of. They acquire a historic sense. At the time a hand-bill may be very ‘bad’! But the following day it becomes ‘historic.’” -Agnes Inglis, Letter to Highlander Folk School, 1944 “To keep on repeating the same attempts without an intelligent appraisal of all the numerous failures in the past is not to uphold the right to experiment, but to insist upon one’s right to escape the hard facts of social struggle into the world of wishful belief.
  • An Anthology of Anarchism Ebook

    An Anthology of Anarchism Ebook

    NO GODS, NO MASTERS: AN ANTHOLOGY OF ANARCHISM PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Daniel Guerin | 500 pages | 02 Jul 2006 | AK Press | 9781904859253 | English | Edinburgh, United Kingdom No Gods, No Masters: An Anthology of Anarchism PDF Book Soldiers, Never! The book only goes up to the 's. Apr 18, Tanuja rated it it was amazing Shelves: favorites. Sep 05, Parappadarappa rated it it was amazing. The Anarchist Library. Oct 20, Steven Peterson rated it really liked it. He abandoned university and a literary career in , traveling to Lebanon — and French Indochina — and became a passionate opponent of colonial ventures. I have always been interested in the question of social justice and felt a kindred spirit with Marxism but i could not bring myself to accept its authoritarian principle. Overall, it was a pretty dry read with occasion bright spots, but worth your time if you are into flying the black flag. Today most people treat it as a synonym for things like chaos, violence, individualism, disorder, nihilism, etc. Otherwise he is unclear at places. If you have an ebook reader or a Kindle, check out our guide to using ebook readers with libcom. Winning the class war - An anarcho-syndicalist strategy. Copley, Antony R. In general, you can't go wrong with Bakunin and also Kropotkin. Past and present of radical sexual politics", Amsterdam, 3—4 October By region. Over pages and Guerin didn't even think to feature any anarchist women in his book despite a few essays being included , but devoted around pages to the misogynistic and anti- semitic Proudhon.
  • Kropotkin and the Rise of Anarchist Communism." Making Another World Possible: Anarchism, Anti-Capitalism and Ecology in Late 19Th and Early 20Th Century Britain

    Kropotkin and the Rise of Anarchist Communism." Making Another World Possible: Anarchism, Anti-Capitalism and Ecology in Late 19Th and Early 20Th Century Britain

    Ryley, Peter. "Kropotkin and the rise of anarchist communism." Making Another World Possible: Anarchism, Anti-Capitalism and Ecology in Late 19th and Early 20th Century Britain. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2013. 27–50. Contemporary Anarchist Studies. Bloomsbury Collections. Web. 29 Sep. 2021. <http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781501306754.ch-002>. Downloaded from Bloomsbury Collections, www.bloomsburycollections.com, 29 September 2021, 20:00 UTC. Copyright © Peter Ryley 2013. You may share this work for non-commercial purposes only, provided you give attribution to the copyright holder and the publisher, and provide a link to the Creative Commons licence. 2 Kropotkin and the rise of anarchist communism The development of anarchism in Britain was hugely influenced by the presence of large numbers of European exiles, as the country became an oasis of uneasy tolerance in a continent dominated by repression. For a time London was the centre of the international anarchist movement; freedom of expression had trumped the weather. The central figure in all this was Peter Kropotkin. Not only was he an international revolutionary celebrity, but he also integrated himself within the British movement and became a focal point for native anarchist ideas and organization. As Carissa Honeywell points out, ‘unlike other anarchist writers within this community (of political exiles) he wrote in English and directed his arguments to British readers’. If not a British writer, he was integral to the British milieu and found support amongst a growing communist sentiment, which had, in part, been nurtured by the most radical elements of Chartism. Honeywell is right to say that he ‘was part of British politics’.1 Kropotkin first arrived in the UK in 1876 following his dramatic escape from the Peter and Paul fortress in St Petersburg.
  • The Conquest of Bread

    The Conquest of Bread

    Kropotkin, Peter. The Conquest of Bread. Cambridge, Great Britain: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Peter Kropotkin (1842-1921) was born a prince of the Russian principality of Smolensk. His mother died when he was three, and Kropotkin little valued his father and step-mother, relying instead on the house servants for social consolation. Kropotkin’s brother, Alexander, was exiled to Siberia, where he committed suicide. Peter Kropotkin read widely and voraciously. His education was mostly western. Kropotkin served as personal page to Russian Emperor Alexander II, and chose a military career in east Siberia. There he worked out his opposition to tsarism and the structure of reforms he preferred. Kropotkin led geographical and geological expeditions charting unknown portions of Siberia. In 1867, Kropotkin resigned his commission in the military, and launched into anarchism. He joined the Chaikovsky Circle in St. Petersburg, an intellectually disparate socialist underground movement. Kropotkin advocated replacing government with self-organizing communes, voluntarily federated. The products of labor were to be distributed according to individual need. Kropotkin equivocated on the role of violence in creating such anarchist communes. Underlying Kropotkin’s anarchism lay his interpretation of Darwin’s work on evolution. Kropotkin emphasized the role of cooperation and social solidarity, not competition, in evolution’s effects. In 1874, Kropotkin was arrested for his revolutionary activities, fell ill, and escaped during hospital convalescence. He fled to Great Britain, then moved on to Switzerland where he joined the Jura Federation and founded Le Revolte, an important anarchist publication. In 1878, Kropotkin married; the relationship lasted to his death. When the Populist party assassinated Tsar Alexander II of Russia, Kropotkin fled to France.
  • Kropotkin: Reviewing the Classical Anarchist Tradition by Ruth Kinna

    Kropotkin: Reviewing the Classical Anarchist Tradition by Ruth Kinna

    Kropotkin: Reviewing The Classical Anarchist Tradition by Ruth Kinna. Edinburgh University Press, 2016, hbk £70, ISBN: 9780748642298, 272pp by Elliot Rose Peter Kropotkin presents an interesting figure in the history of both radical political thought and science. A Russian prince who became an anarchist, he made his name both as a geographer and scientific populariser, and an agitator for social reinvention. To anarchists he is either a canonical hero or an outdated antecedent of their own thought. To ethologists, psychologists, and ecologists he is an inspiration – somewhat behind current research but a pioneer of a beneficial perspective nevertheless. Ruth Kinna’s new book on Kropotkin’s work reveals the nuances that shatter these simplistic accounts. For someone (such as myself) who might be drawn to Kropotkin because of his naturalistic viewpoint and his ethological approach, this book provides an enlightening and engaging account of the wider context and content of his philosophical and political approach. In particular Kinna illustrates how Kropotkin’s various pursuits actually form a cohesive, syncretic and synthetic whole: his social theory is intimately tied to his scientific study and naturalistic perspective. She connects his admirable political honesty directly to his other scholarly pursuits, to show how a concern for justice suffused his intellectual life. In the first two chapters Kinna explores the existing interpretations of Kropotkin’s work. The first is predominantly concerned with how Kropotkin’s ideas have been interpreted, used, and, at times, deployed to try and understand some of the tensions within anarchist thought, particularly the “classical” tradition with which he is associated.
  • Peter Kropotkin's Radical Communalism Matthew S

    Peter Kropotkin's Radical Communalism Matthew S

    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Loughborough University Institutional Repository To cite: Matthew S. Adams, ‘Rejecting the American Model: Peter Kropotkin’s Radical Communalism’ in History of Political Thought – in press. Rejecting the American Model: Peter Kropotkin’s Radical Communalism 1 Matthew S. Adams Abstract: Kropotkin’s anarchism looked to a future defined by communalism. However, his understanding of this potential communal future has rarely been subject to analysis. Particularly important was his distinction between communalism and the tradition of communal experimentation in the US, which drew heavily on the ideas of Charles Fourier. Kropotkin was influenced by Fourier, but thought that attempts to found phalanstèries had been disastrous, vitiating the power of communalist propaganda. To defend the idea of a communal future, Kropotkin therefore advanced a tripartite critique of the US model of utopian experimentation. The image of American utopianism he created consequently served as a useful rhetorical device, allowing him to advance a counter-image of the anarchist communal theory that lay at the heart of his political theory. Keywords: Peter Kropotkin, anarchism, utopianism, communalism, intentional communities, Social Darwinism, Charles Fourier. Peter Kropotkin’s anarchist utopia The Conquest of Bread attempted to anticipate the multiple objections to the viability of anarchism. Addressing the critical questions of an imaginary interlocutor was one of Kropotkin’s favoured rhetorical devices, and in his 1892 work, it was applied thoroughly to present a detailed exposition of what an anarchist world might look like. In a preface added to the 1906 translation, Kropotkin made it clear that 1 Department of History, Durham University, 43 North Bailey, Durham, DH1 3EX.