Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian
anarchist
Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...
and
geographer
A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...
known as a proponent of
anarchist communism
Anarchist communism is a far-left political ideology and anarchist school of thought that advocates communism. It calls for the abolition of private real property but retention of personal property and collectively-owned items, goods, and ser ...
.
Born into an
aristocratic
Aristocracy (; ) is a form of government that places power in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats.
Across Europe, the aristocracy exercised immense economic, political, and social influence. In Western Christian co ...
land-owning family, Kropotkin attended the
Page Corps and later served as an officer in
Siberia
Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...
, where he participated in several geological expeditions. He was imprisoned for his activism in 1874 and managed to escape two years later. He spent the next 41 years in exile in
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
, France (where he was imprisoned for almost four years) and England. While in exile, he gave lectures and published widely on anarchism and geography. Kropotkin returned to Russia after the
Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...
in 1917, but he was disappointed by the
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...
state.
Kropotkin was a proponent of the idea of
decentralized
Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those related to planning and decision-making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group and gi ...
communist society
In Marxist thought, a communist society or the communist system is the type of society and economic system postulated to emerge from technological advances in the productive forces, representing the ultimate goal of the political ideology of ...
free from central government and based on voluntary associations of self-governing communities and worker-run enterprises. He wrote many books, pamphlets and articles, the most prominent being ''
The Conquest of Bread
''The Conquest of Bread'' is an 1892 book by the Russian anarchist Peter Kropotkin. Originally written in French, it first appeared as a series of articles in the anarchist journal ''Le Révolté''. It was first published in Paris with a pref ...
'' (1892) and ''
Fields, Factories, and Workshops
''Fields, Factories, and Workshops'' is an 1899 book by Russian anarchist Peter Kropotkin that discusses the decentralization of industries, possibilities of agriculture, and uses of small industries.
Before the book, Kropotkin had been known ...
'' (1899), with ''
Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution'' (1902) being his principal scientific offering. He contributed the article on anarchism to the
eleventh edition of the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' and left an unfinished work on anarchist ethical philosophy.
Life
Early life
Kropotkin was born in Moscow on 9 December 1842, in the
Konyushennaya ("
Equerries
An equerry (; from French 'stable', and related to ' squire') is an officer of honour. Historically, it was a senior attendant with responsibilities for the horses of a person of rank. In contemporary use, it is a personal attendant, usually up ...
") district. His father, Alexander, was a typical royal officer who owned serfs in three provinces and
whose family descended from the princes of
Smolensk
Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow.
First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest cities in Russia. It has been a regional capital for most of ...
. His mother, Ekatarina Sulima, was the daughter of General
Nikolai Sulima and a descendant of a
Zaporozhian Cossack leader. Peter, the youngest of her four children, was three years old when she died of
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...
. Kropotkin's father remarried two years later. This stepmother was indifferent towards the Kropotkin children and had a streak of jealous vindictiveness, going through great lengths to remove the memory of Kropotkin's mother.
With his father mostly absent, Kropotkin and his older brother,
Alexander
Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here ar ...
, were raised by their German nurse. Kropotkin developed an enduring compassion for the estate's servants and serfs who cared for him and relayed stories of his mother's kindness. He was raised in the family's Moscow mansion and an estate in
Nikolskoye, Kaluga Oblast, outside Moscow.
At the age of eight, Kropotkin attended Tsar
Nicholas I's Royal Ball. Commending the child's costume, the tsar chose Kropotkin for his
Page Corps, an elite school in
St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...
that combined military and court education and produced the tsar's imperial attendants. Kropotkin joined the Page Corps as a teenager and began a 14-year epistolary relationship with his brother that charts his intellectual and emotional development. By the time of his arrival, Kropotkin had already shown a populist position towards
the emancipation of serfs and a nature of revolt against his father and the school's
hazing
Hazing (American English), initiation, beasting (British English), bastardisation (Australian English), ragging (South Asian English) or deposition refers to any activity expected of someone in joining or participating in a group that humiliates, ...
. Kropotkin began his first underground revolutionary writings at the school, where he advocated for a Russian constitution. He developed an interest in science, reading, and opera. As a top student, Kropotkin became a sergeant-major in 1861 and was thrust into court life, serving as the emperor's personal Page de Chambre. His views of the tsar and court life soured as imperial policy changed over the next year. Privately he was preoccupied with the need to live a societally useful life.
Siberia
For his tour of service, in 1862 he chose the
Amur Cossacks in east
Siberia
Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...
, an undesirable post that would let him study the technical mathematics of artillery, travel, live in nature, and achieve financial independence from his father. He developed a firm worldview of compassion for the poor and contrasted the pride and dignity of the yeoman peasant farmers against the indignities of serfdom. He wrote approvingly of the cultivated
Transbaikalia governor-general
Boleslav Kukel, to whom Kropotkin reported. Kukel engaged Kropotkin in prison reform and city self-governance projects that the central government ultimately denied. The exiled poet and political prisoner
Mikhail Larionovitch Mikhailov introduced Kropotkin to anarchism by recommending he read an essay by
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (, ; ; 1809 – 19 January 1865) was a French anarchist, socialist, philosopher, and economist who founded mutualist philosophy and is considered by many to be the "father of anarchism". He was the first person to ca ...
. Kropotkin's brother came to live with him in
Irkutsk
Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and , ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 587,891 Irkutsk is the List of cities and towns in Russ ...
.
After Kukel's ouster in early 1863, Kropotkin found solace in geographical work. He led a disguised reconnaissance expedition to find a direct route through
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...
from
Chita to
Vladivostok
Vladivostok ( ; , ) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai and the capital of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. It is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, covering an area o ...
the next year. He explored the
East Siberian Mountains
The East Siberian Mountains or East Siberian Highlands () are one of the largest mountain systems of the Russia, Russian Federation. They are located between the Central Yakutian Lowland and the Bering Strait in Northeast Siberia. The area of th ...
in the north the year after. The mountain measurements from his 1866
Olekminsk-
Vitimsk expedition confirmed his Manchurian hypothesis that the Siberian area from the
Ural Mountains
The Ural Mountains ( ),; , ; , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range in Eurasia that runs north–south mostly through Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the river Ural (river), Ural and northwestern Kazakhstan. to the
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
was a
plateau
In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; : plateaus or plateaux), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. ...
and not a
plain
In geography, a plain, commonly known as flatland, is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and ...
. This discovery of the
Patom and
Vitim Plateaus won him a gold medal from the
Russian Geographical Society
The Russian Geographical Society (), or RGO, is a learned society based in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It promotes geography, exploration and nature protection with research programs in fields including oceanography, ethnography, ecology and stati ...
and led to the commercialization of the
Lena gold fields. A
range of mountains in this region was later named for him.
Kropotkin covered Siberia for St. Petersburg newspapers since his arrival, including the condition of the Polish political exiles who participated in the unsuccessful 1866
Baikal Insurrection. Kropotkin secured a promise from the governor-general to suspend the prisoners' death sentences, which was reneged upon. Disillusioned, Kropotkin and his brother resolved to leave the military. His time in Siberia taught him to appreciate peasant social organization and convinced him that administrative reform was an ineffectual means to improve social conditions.
After five years in Siberia, Kropotkin and his brother moved to St. Petersburg, where they continued their schooling and academic work. Kropotkin took a position with the Russian
interior ministry
An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement.
In some states, the ...
with no duties. He studied physics, math, and geography at the university. After presenting his Vitim expedition findings, Kropotkin accepted the Russian Geographical Society's part-time offer of its Physical Geography section Secretaryship. Kropotkin translated
Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer (27 April 1820 – 8 December 1903) was an English polymath active as a philosopher, psychologist, biologist, sociologist, and anthropologist. Spencer originated the expression "survival of the fittest", which he coined in '' ...
's work for additional income. He continued to develop a theory, which he considered his best scientific contribution, that the East Siberian mountains were part of a large plateau and not independent ridges. Kropotkin participated in an 1870 polar expedition plan that postulated the existence of what was later discovered as the
Franz Josef Land
Franz Josef Land () is a Russian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. It is inhabited only by military personnel. It constitutes the northernmost part of Arkhangelsk Oblast and consists of 192 islands, which cover an area of , stretching from east ...
Arctic archipelago.
In early 1871, he was commissioned to study the
Ice Age
An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...
in Scandinavian geography, in which Kropotkin developed theories of the glaciation of Europe and the
glacial lakes
A glacial lake is a body of water with origins from glacier activity. They are formed when a glacier erodes the land and then melts, filling the depression created by the glacier.
Formation
Near the end of the last glacial period, roughly 10,0 ...
of its northeast. His father died later that year and Kropotkin inherited a wealthy estate in
Tambov
Tambov ( , ; rus, Тамбов, p=tɐmˈbof) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Tambov Oblast, Central Federal District, central Russia, at the confluence of the Tsna River (Moksha basin), Tsna ...
. Kropotkin turned down the Geographical Society's offer of its general secretary position, instead choosing work on his Ice Age data and interest in bettering the lives of peasants.
Anarchism
While Kropotkin became increasingly revolutionary in his writings, he was not known for activism. He was spurred by the 1871
Paris Commune
The Paris Commune (, ) was a French revolutionary government that seized power in Paris on 18 March 1871 and controlled parts of the city until 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard (France), Nation ...
and trial of
Sergey Nechayev
Sergey Gennadiyevich Nechayev (; – ) was a Russian anarcho-communist, part of the Russian nihilist movement, known for his single-minded pursuit of revolution by any means necessary, including revolutionary terror.
Nechayev fled Russia in 18 ...
. He and his brother attended meetings on the
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...
and revolutionism. Likely at the encouragement of a Swiss extended family member and his own desire to see the socialist worker's movement, Kropotkin set out to see Switzerland and Western Europe in February 1872. Over three months, he met
Mikhail Sazhin in Zurich, worked and fell out with
Nikolai Utin's Marxist group in Geneva, and was introduced to the
Jura Federation's
James Guillaume and
Adhémar Schwitzguébel. The Jura were the main internal opposition to the Marxist-controlled
First International
The International Workingmen's Association (IWA; 1864–1876), often called the First International, was a political international which aimed at uniting a variety of different left-wing socialist, social democratic, communist, and anarchist ...
, as followers of
Mikhail Bakunin
Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin. Sometimes anglicized to Michael Bakunin. ( ; – 1 July 1876) was a Russian revolutionary anarchist. He is among the most influential figures of anarchism and a major figure in the revolutionary socialist, s ...
. Kropotkin was quickly impressed and was instantly converted to anarchism by the group's egalitarianism and independence of expression, but narrowly missed meeting the leading anarchist, Bakunin, while there. Kropotkin visited Belgium's movement before returning to Russia in May with contraband literature.
Back in St. Petersburg, Kropotkin joined the
Chaikovsky Circle, a group of revolutionaries that Kropotkin considered more educational than revolutionary in their activities. Kropotkin believed in the inevitability of
Social revolution
Social revolutions are sudden changes in the structure and nature of society. These revolutions are usually recognized as having transformed society, economy, culture, philosophy, and technology along with but more than just the political system ...
and the need for stateless social organization. His
Populist
Populism is a contested concept used to refer to a variety of political stances that emphasize the idea of the " common people" and often position this group in opposition to a perceived elite. It is frequently associated with anti-establis ...
revolutionary program for the group focused on urban workers and peasants whereas the group's moderates focused on students. Partially for this reason, he declined to contribute his personal wealth to the group. He viewed professionals as unlikely to forgo their privileges and judged them to not live societally useful lives. His program emphasized federated agrarian communes and a revolutionary party. While he could speak powerfully, Kropotkin was not a successful organizer.
Kropotkin's first political memo in November 1873 covered his basic plan for stateless social reconstruction including common property, worker control of factories, shared physical labor towards societal need, and labor vouchers in lieu of money. He emphasized living among commoners and using propaganda to focus mass dissatisfaction. He rejected the Nechayev conspiracy model. Members of the circle began to be arrested in late 1873 and the
Third Section secret police came for Kropotkin in March 1874.
His arrest for agitation, as a former ''page de chambre'' and officer, was scandalous. Kropotkin had just filed his Ice Age report and had been recently elected president of the Geographical Society's Physical and Mathematical Department. At the society's request the tsar granted Kropotkin books to finish his glaciation report. Kropotkin was held in the
Peter and Paul Fortress
The Peter and Paul Fortress () is the original citadel of Saint Petersburg, Russia, founded by Peter the Great in 1703 and built to Domenico Trezzini's designs from 1706 to 1740 as a star fortress. Between the first half of the 1700s and early ...
. His brother, who had also radicalized as a follower of Lavrov, was also arrested and
exiled in Siberia, where he committed suicide about a decade later.
Kropotkin was moved to the House of Detention prison military hospital in St. Petersburg for poor health, with the help of his sister. With assistance from friends, he escaped from the minimal-security prison in June 1876. By way of Scandinavia and England, Kropotkin arrived in Switzerland by the end of the year, where he met Italian anarchists
Carlo Cafiero and
Errico Malatesta
Errico Malatesta (4 December 1853 – 22 July 1932) was an Italian anarchist propagandist, theorist and revolutionary socialist. He edited several radical newspapers and spent much of his life exiled and imprisoned, having been jailed and expel ...
. He visited Belgium and Zurich, where he met French geographer
Élisée Reclus
Jacques Élisée Reclus (; 15 March 18304 July 1905) was a French geographer, writer and anarchist. He produced his 19-volume masterwork, ''La Nouvelle Géographie universelle, la terre et les hommes'' ("Universal Geography"), over a period of ...
, who became a close friend.
Exile
Kropotkin associated with the Jura Federation and began editing its publication. There he met
Ukrainian Jewish student
Sophie Kropotkin, and the two were married in 1878. In 1879, he started ''
Le Révolté
''Le Révolté'' was an anarcho-communist journal started by Peter Kropotkin, along with François Dumartheray and Georg Herzig, in February 1879. The journal was partially funded by Elisée Reclus, Kropotkin's mentor. At the time of the journa ...
'', a revolutionary fortnightly, in Geneva that published his personal articulation of
anarchist communism
Anarchist communism is a far-left political ideology and anarchist school of thought that advocates communism. It calls for the abolition of private real property but retention of personal property and collectively-owned items, goods, and ser ...
, the idea of distributing work product communally based on need rather than by work. He became the philosophy's most prominent proponent, despite not creating it. The philosophy became part of the Jura program in 1880 at Kropotkin's advocacy. ''Le Révolté'' also published Kropotkin's best known pamphlet, "An Appeal to the Young", in 1880.
Switzerland expelled Kropotkin at Russia's behest after the
assassination of Alexander II in early 1881. He moved to
Thonon-les-Bains
Thonon-les-Bains (; ), often simply referred to as Thonon, is a subprefecture of the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. In 2018, the commune had a population of 35,241. Thonon-les-Bains is part of a ...
,
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, near Geneva, so that his wife could finish her Swiss education. Upon learning that the Holy League, a tsarist group, intended to kill him for his alleged association with the assassination, he moved to London, but could only bear to live there for a year. Upon his return in late 1882, the French arrested him for agitation, partly to appease Russia. He was sentenced to five years in
Lyons
Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...
. In early 1883, he was transferred to the
Clairvaux Prison, where he continued his academic work. A public campaign of intellectuals and French legislators called for his release. Reclus published ''Words of a Rebel'', a compilation of Kropotkin's ''Révolté'' writings while he was in prison, which became a main source of Kropotkin's thoughts on revolution. As Kropotkin's health worsened from
scurvy
Scurvy is a deficiency disease (state of malnutrition) resulting from a lack of vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Early symptoms of deficiency include weakness, fatigue, and sore arms and legs. Without treatment, anemia, decreased red blood cells, gum d ...
and
malaria
Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...
, France released him in early 1886. He would stay in England through 1917, settling in
Harrow, London
Harrow () is a large town in Greater London, England, and serves as the principal settlement of the London Borough of Harrow. Lying about north-west of Charing Cross and south of Watford, the entire town including its localities had a populat ...
, apart from brief trips to other European countries.
In London in late 1886, he co-founded ''
Freedom
Freedom is the power or right to speak, act, and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving oneself one's own laws".
In one definition, something is "free" i ...
'', an anarchist monthly and the first English anarchist periodical, which he continued to support for almost three decades. His first and only child,
Alexandra Kropotkin, was born the next year. He published multiple books over the next coming years including ''In Russian and French Prisons'' and ''The Conquest of Bread''. His intellectual circle in London included
William Morris
William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was an English textile designer, poet, artist, writer, and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts movement. He was a major contributor to the revival of traditiona ...
and
W. B. Yeats
William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the ...
as well as old Russian friends
Sergey Stepnyak-Kravchinsky and
Nikolai Tchaikovsky. Kropotkin contributed to the ''Geographical Journal'' and ''Nature''.
After 1890, according to biographers
George Woodcock
George Woodcock (May 8, 1912 – January 28, 1995) was a Canadian writer of political biography and history, an anarchist thinker, a philosopher, an essayist and literary critic. He was also a poet and published several volumes of travel wri ...
and
Ivan Avakumović, Kropotkin became more of a scholarly recluse and less of a propagandist. His works' revolutionary zeal subsided as he turned to social, ethical, and scientific questions. He joined the
British Association for the Advancement of Science
The British Science Association (BSA) is a Charitable organization, charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Scienc ...
. He continued to contribute to ''Freedom'' but was no longer an editor.
Several of Kropotkin's books began as journal articles. His writings on anarchist communist social life were printed in the French successor to ''Le Révolté'' and later revised into ''The Conquest of Bread'' in 1892. Kropotkin's writings on decentralizing production and industry against the countervailing trend of centralized industrialization were compiled into his ''
Fields, Factories, and Workshops
''Fields, Factories, and Workshops'' is an 1899 book by Russian anarchist Peter Kropotkin that discusses the decentralization of industries, possibilities of agriculture, and uses of small industries.
Before the book, Kropotkin had been known ...
'' in 1899. His research throughout the 1890s on the animal instinct for cooperation as a counterpoint to
Darwinism
''Darwinism'' is a term used to describe a theory of biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others. The theory states that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural sel ...
became a series of articles in ''Nineteenth Century'' and, later, the book ''Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution'', which was widely translated.
Following a scientific congress in
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
in 1897, Kropotkin toured Canada. His experience there led him to advise the Russian
Doukhobors
The Doukhobors ( Canadian spelling) or Dukhobors (; ) are a Spiritual Christian ethnoreligious group of Russian origin. They are known for their pacifism and tradition of oral history, hymn-singing, and verse. They reject the Russian Ortho ...
who sought to immigrate there. He helped facilitate their emigration in 1899. Kropotkin entered the United States and met
John Most,
Emma Goldman
Emma Goldman (June 27, 1869 – May 14, 1940) was a Russian-born Anarchism, anarchist revolutionary, political activist, and writer. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europ ...
, and
Benjamin Tucker
Benjamin Ricketson Tucker (; April 17, 1854 – June 22, 1939) was an American individualist anarchist and self-identified socialist. Tucker was the editor and publisher of the American individualist anarchist periodical ''Liberty'' (1881–19 ...
. American publishers published his ''Memoirs of a Revolutionist'' and ''Fields, Factories, and Workshops'' by the end of the decade. He visited the United States again in 1901 at the invitation of the
Lowell Institute
The Lowell Institute is a United States educational foundation located in Boston, Massachusetts, providing both free public lectures, and also advanced lectures. It was endowed by a bequest of $250,000 left by John Lowell Jr., who died in 1836. T ...
to give lectures on Russian literature that were later published. He published ''The Great French Revolution'' (1909), ''The Terror in Russia'' (1909), and ''Modern Science and Anarchism'' (1913). His 70th birthday in 1912 had celebratory gatherings in London and Paris.
Kropotkin's support for Western entry into World War I, siding with Britain and France, divided the anarchist movement, which had been anti-war, and damaged his esteem as a luminary of socialism. He exacerbated this by insisting, with returning to Russia, that Russians support the war as well.
Return to Russia
With the outbreak of the Russian Revolution, Kropotkin returned to Russia in June 1917. He refused the Petrograd Provisional Government's offer of a cabinet seat. In August, he advocated for defending Russia and the revolution at the National State Conference. Kropotkin applied for a residence in Moscow in 1918, which was personally approved by Vladimir Lenin, head of the Soviet government. Months later, finding life in Moscow difficult in his old age, Kropotkin moved with his family to a friend's home in the nearby town of Dmitrov.
In 1919, Emma Goldman visited his family there. Kropotkin met Lenin in Moscow and corresponded by mail to discuss political questions of the day. He advocated for
workers' cooperatives and argued against the Bolsheviks' hostage policy and centralization of authority, while simultaneously encouraging Western comrades to stop their governments' military interventions in Russia. Kropotkin ultimately had little impact on the Russian revolution, but his advocacy work for political and anarchist prisoners in Russia, and for the Russian revolution, during the last four years of his life replenished some of the goodwill he had lost due to his support for the Western powers in World War I.
Kropotkin died of pneumonia on 8 February 1921. His family refused an offer of a
state funeral
A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of protocol, held to honour people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive elements o ...
. With his Moscow funeral, the Bolsheviks permitted the diminished Russian anarchist movement an official, restrained occasion to memorialize their figurehead. It was the last major anarchist demonstration of the period in Russia, because the movement, and Kropotkin's writings, were fully suppressed later that year.
Philosophy
Critique of capitalism
Kropotkin critiqued what he considered to be the fallacies of the
economic systems
An economic system, or economic order, is a system of production, resource allocation and distribution of goods and services within an economy. It includes the combination of the various institutions, agencies, entities, decision-making proces ...
of
feudalism
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...
and
capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...
. He believed they create poverty and
artificial scarcity
Artificial scarcity is scarcity of items despite the technology for production or the sufficient capacity for sharing. The most common causes are monopoly pricing structures, such as those enabled by laws that restrict competition or by high f ...
and promote
privilege. Alternatively, he proposed a more decentralized economic system based on
mutual aid
Mutual aid is an organizational model where voluntary, collaborative exchanges of resources and services for common benefit take place amongst community members to overcome social, economic, and political barriers to meeting common needs. This ...
and
voluntary cooperation. He argued that the tendencies for this kind of organization already exist, both in evolution and in human society.
Kropotkin disagreed in part with the Marxist critique of capitalism, including the
labor theory of value
The labor theory of value (LTV) is a theory of value that argues that the exchange value of a good or service is determined by the total amount of " socially necessary labor" required to produce it. The contrasting system is typically known as ...
, believing there was no necessary link between work performed and the values of commodities. His attack on the institution of wage labor was based more on the power employers exerted over employees, and not only on the extraction of
surplus value
In Marxian economics, surplus value is the difference between the amount raised through a sale of a product and the amount it cost to manufacture it: i.e. the amount raised through sale of the product minus the cost of the materials, plant and ...
from their labor. Kropotkin claimed this power was made possible by the state's protection of private ownership of productive resources.
However, Kropotkin believed the possibility of surplus value was itself the problem, holding that a society would still be unjust if the workers of a particular industry kept their surplus to themselves, rather than redistributing it for the common good.
Critique of state socialism
Kropotkin believed that a
communist
Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
society could be established only by a
social revolution
Social revolutions are sudden changes in the structure and nature of society. These revolutions are usually recognized as having transformed society, economy, culture, philosophy, and technology along with but more than just the political system ...
, which he described as, "... the taking possession by the people of all social wealth. It is the abolition of all the forces which have so long hampered the development of Humanity".
However, he criticized forms of revolutionary methods (like those proposed by
Marxism
Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...
and
Blanquism) that retained the use of state power, arguing that any central authority was incompatible with the dramatic changes needed by a social revolution. Kropotkin believed that the mechanisms of the state were deeply rooted in maintaining the power of one class over another, and thus could not be used to
emancipate the
working class
The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...
. Instead, Kropotkin insisted that both
private property
Private property is a legal designation for the ownership of property by non-governmental Capacity (law), legal entities. Private property is distinguishable from public property, which is owned by a state entity, and from Collective ownership ...
and the
state
State most commonly refers to:
* State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory
**Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country
**Nation state, a ...
needed to be abolished together.
The economic change which will result from the Social Revolution will be so immense and so profound, it must so change all the relations based today on property and exchange, that it is impossible for one or any individual to elaborate the different social forms, which must spring up in the society of the future. ..Any authority external to it will only be an obstacle, only a trammel on the organic labor which must be accomplished, and beside that a source of discord and hatred.
Kropotkin believed that any post-revolutionary
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
would lack the local knowledge to organize a diverse population. Their vision of society would be limited by their own vindictive, self-serving, or narrow ideals.
To ensure order, preserve
authority
Authority is commonly understood as the legitimate power of a person or group of other people.
In a civil state, ''authority'' may be practiced by legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government,''The New Fontana Dictionary of M ...
, and organize
production the state would need to use
violence
Violence is characterized as the use of physical force by humans to cause harm to other living beings, or property, such as pain, injury, disablement, death, damage and destruction. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines violence a ...
and
coercion
Coercion involves compelling a party to act in an involuntary manner through the use of threats, including threats to use force against that party. It involves a set of forceful actions which violate the free will of an individual in order to i ...
to suppress further revolution, and control workers. The workers would be reliant on the state
bureaucracy
Bureaucracy ( ) is a system of organization where laws or regulatory authority are implemented by civil servants or non-elected officials (most of the time). Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments ...
to organize them, so they would never develop the initiative to self-organize as they needed.
This would lead to the re-creation of
classes, an oppressed workforce, and eventually another revolution. Thus, Kropotkin wrote that maintaining the state would paralyze any true social revolution, making the idea of a "revolutionary government" a contradiction in terms:
We know that Revolution and Government are incompatible; one must destroy the other, no matter what name is given to government, whether dictator, royalty, or parliament. We know that what makes the strength and the truth of our party is contained in this fundamental formula — "Nothing good or durable can be done except by the free initiative of the people, and every government tends to destroy it;" and so the very best among us, if their ideas had not to pass through the crucible of the popular mind, before being put into execution, and if they should become masters of that formidable machine — the government — and could thus act as they chose, would become in a week fit only for the gallows. We know whither every dictator leads, even the best intentioned, — namely to the death of all revolutionary movement.
Rather than a centralized approach, Kropotkin stressed the need for decentralized organization. He believed that dissolving the state would cripple counter-revolution without reverting to authoritarian methods of control, writing, "In order to conquer, something more than guillotines are required. It is the revolutionary idea, the truly wide revolutionary conception, which reduces its enemies to impotence by paralyzing all the instruments by which they have governed hitherto."
He believed this was possible only through a widespread "Boldness of thought, a distinct and wide conception of all that is desired, constructive force arising from the people in proportion as the negation of authority dawns; and finally—the initiative of all in the work of reconstruction—this will give to the revolution the Power required to conquer."
Kropotkin applied this criticism to the
Bolsheviks
The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...
' rule following the
October Revolution
The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...
. Kropotkin summarized his thoughts in a 1919 letter to the workers of Western Europe, promoting the possibility of revolution, but also warning against the centralized control in Russia, which he believed had condemned them to failure. Kropotkin wrote to
Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...
in 1920, describing the desperate conditions that he believed to be the result of bureaucratic organization, and urging Lenin to allow for local and decentralized institutions. Following an announcement of executions later that year, Kropotkin sent Lenin another furious letter, admonishing him for the terror which Kropotkin saw as needlessly destructive.
Cooperation and competition
In 1902, Kropotkin published his book ''
Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution'', which gave an alternative view of animal and human survival. At the time, some proponents of "
Social Darwinism
Charles Darwin, after whom social Darwinism is named
Social Darwinism is a body of pseudoscientific theories and societal practices that purport to apply biological concepts of natural selection and survival of the fittest to sociology, economi ...
" such as
Francis Galton
Sir Francis Galton (; 16 February 1822 – 17 January 1911) was an English polymath and the originator of eugenics during the Victorian era; his ideas later became the basis of behavioural genetics.
Galton produced over 340 papers and b ...
proffered a theory of interpersonal competition and natural hierarchy. Instead, Kropotkin argued that "it was an evolutionary emphasis on cooperation instead of competition in the Darwinian sense that made for the success of species, including the human".
[ Sale, Kirkpatrick (1 July 2010]
Are Anarchists Revolting?
, ''The American Conservative
''The American Conservative'' (''TAC'') is a bimonthly magazine published by the American Ideas Institute. The magazine was founded in 2002 by Pat Buchanan, Scott McConnell and Taki Theodoracopulos to advance an anti- neoconservative perspect ...
'' In the last chapter, he wrote:
Contrary to popular belief, he did not deny the existence of selfishness or competitive struggle among organisms in nature, that is, "mutual struggle". He viewed cooperation and sociability among members of the same species as the best means to survive.
Biologist
Stephen Jay Gould
Stephen Jay Gould ( ; September 10, 1941 – May 20, 2002) was an American Paleontology, paleontologist, Evolutionary biology, evolutionary biologist, and History of science, historian of science. He was one of the most influential and widely re ...
argued that Kropotkin's view was consistent with modern biological understanding. He agrees with Kropotkin's observations, noting that while Kropotkin did not deny the concept of competitive struggle, he believed that cooperative interactions were too often overlooked within it. He also points out that if cooperation increases the survival rate of an individual, there is no reason why it should be ruled out by natural selection, but rather, as he said, encouraged.
Kropotkin did not deny the presence of competitive urges in humans, but did not consider them the driving force of
human history
Human history or world history is the record of humankind from prehistory to the present. Early modern human, Modern humans evolved in Africa around 300,000 years ago and initially lived as hunter-gatherers. They Early expansions of hominin ...
.
He believed that seeking out conflict proved to be socially beneficial only in attempts to destroy
injustice
Injustice is a quality relating to unfairness or undeserved outcomes. The term may be applied in reference to a particular event or situation, or to a larger status quo. In Western philosophy and jurisprudence, injustice is very commonly—but ...
, as well as
authoritarian
Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in democracy, separation of powers, civil liberties, and ...
institutions such as the
state
State most commonly refers to:
* State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory
**Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country
**Nation state, a ...
or the
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...
, which he saw as stifling human creativity and impeding human instinctual drive towards
cooperation
Cooperation (written as co-operation in British English and, with a varied usage along time, coöperation) takes place when a group of organisms works or acts together for a collective benefit to the group as opposed to working in competition ...
.
Kropotkin claimed that the benefits arising from
mutual organization
A mutual organization, also mutual society or simply mutual, is an organization (which is often, but not always, a company or business) based on the principle of mutuality and governed by private law. Unlike a cooperative, members usually do not ...
incentivizes humans more than mutual strife. His hope was that in the long run, mutual organization would drive individuals to
produce
In American English, produce generally refers to wikt:fresh, fresh List of culinary fruits, fruits and Vegetable, vegetables intended to be Eating, eaten by humans, although other food products such as Dairy product, dairy products or Nut (foo ...
.
Anarcho-primitivists
Anarcho-primitivism is an anarchist critique of civilization that advocates a return to non-civilized ways of life through deindustrialization, abolition of the division of labor or specialization, abandonment of large-scale organization and all ...
and
anarcho-communists
Anarchist communism is a Far-left politics, far-left political ideology and Anarchist schools of thought, anarchist school of thought that advocates communism. It calls for the abolition of private property, private real property but retention ...
believe that a
gift economy
A gift economy or gift culture is a system of exchange where valuables are not sold, but rather given without an explicit agreement for immediate or future rewards. Social norms and customs govern giving a gift in a gift culture; although there ...
can break the cycle of
poverty
Poverty is a state or condition in which an individual lacks the financial resources and essentials for a basic standard of living. Poverty can have diverse Biophysical environmen ...
. They rely on Kropotkin, who believed that the
hunter-gatherer
A hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living in a community, or according to an ancestrally derived Lifestyle, lifestyle, in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local naturally occurring sources, esp ...
s he had visited implemented mutual aid.
Mutual aid
In his 1892 book ''
The Conquest of Bread
''The Conquest of Bread'' is an 1892 book by the Russian anarchist Peter Kropotkin. Originally written in French, it first appeared as a series of articles in the anarchist journal ''Le Révolté''. It was first published in Paris with a pref ...
'', Kropotkin proposed a system of economics based on mutual exchanges made in a system of voluntary cooperation. He believed that in a society that is socially, culturally, and industrially developed enough to produce all the goods and services it needs, there would be no obstacle, such as preferential distribution, pricing or monetary exchange, to prevent everyone to take what they need from the social product. He supported the eventual abolition of money or tokens of exchange for goods and services.
Kropotkin believed that
Mikhail Bakunin
Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin. Sometimes anglicized to Michael Bakunin. ( ; – 1 July 1876) was a Russian revolutionary anarchist. He is among the most influential figures of anarchism and a major figure in the revolutionary socialist, s ...
's
collectivist
In sociology, a social organization is a pattern of relationships between and among individuals and groups. Characteristics of social organization can include qualities such as sexual composition, spatiotemporal cohesion, leadership, struct ...
economic model was just a wage system by a different name and that such a system would breed the same type of centralization and inequality as a capitalist wage system. He stated that it is impossible to determine the value of an individual's contributions to the products of labor and thought that anyone who was placed in a position of trying to make such determinations would wield authority over those whose wages they determined.
According to
Kirkpatrick Sale
Kirkpatrick Sale (born June 27, 1937) is an American author who has written prolifically about political decentralism, environmentalism, luddism and technology. He has been described as having a "philosophy unified by decentralism" and as bei ...
, "
th ''Mutual Aid'' especially, and later with ''
Fields, Factories, and Workshops
''Fields, Factories, and Workshops'' is an 1899 book by Russian anarchist Peter Kropotkin that discusses the decentralization of industries, possibilities of agriculture, and uses of small industries.
Before the book, Kropotkin had been known ...
'', Kropotkin was able to move away from the absurdist limitations of
individual anarchism and no-laws anarchism that had flourished during this period and provide instead a vision of
communal anarchism, following the models of independent cooperative communities he discovered while developing his theory of mutual aid. It was an anarchism that opposed centralized government and state-level laws as traditional anarchism did, but understood that at a certain small scale, communities and communes and co-ops could flourish and provide humans with a rich material life and wide areas of liberty without centralized control."
[
]
Self-sufficiency
Kropotkin's focus on local production led to his view that a country should strive for self-sufficiency
Self-sustainability and self-sufficiency are overlapping states of being in which a person, being, or system needs little or no help from, or interaction with others. Self-sufficiency entails the self being enough (to fulfill needs), and a sel ...
by manufacturing its own goods and growing its own food, thus lessening the need to rely on imports. To these ends, he advocated irrigation
Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...
and greenhouse
A greenhouse is a structure that is designed to regulate the temperature and humidity of the environment inside. There are different types of greenhouses, but they all have large areas covered with transparent materials that let sunlight pass an ...
s to boost local food production.
Religion
Although in the past he harshly criticized religious morality, Kropotkin recognized the Christian anarchism
Christian anarchism is a Christian movement in political theology that claims anarchism is inherent in Christianity and the Gospels. It is grounded in the belief that there is only one source of authority to which Christians are ultimately answ ...
of Leo Tolstoy
Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...
as one of the four schools of thought in anarchism. Kropotkin and Tolstoy maintained, despite never meeting in person, a relationship of mutual respect. Kropotkin saw the origins of anarchism in Europe as found in various Christian movements, such as the Anabaptists
Anabaptism (from Neo-Latin , from the Greek : 're-' and 'baptism'; , earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re-baptizers"), considering it biased. The term (tra ...
and Hussites
upright=1.2, Battle between Hussites (left) and Crusades#Campaigns against heretics and schismatics, Catholic crusaders in the 15th century
upright=1.2, The Lands of the Bohemian Crown during the Hussite Wars. The movement began during the Prag ...
, mentioning figures such as the Italian Catholic bishop Marco Girolamo Vida and the German Anabaptist theologian Hans Denck
Hans Denck ( – November 27, 1527) was a German theologian and Anabaptist leader during the Reformation.
Biography
Denck was born in 1495 in the Bavarian town of Habach. He entered the University of Ingolstadt on October 10, 1517, and graduate ...
.
Kropotkin admired Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
and Buddhism
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
, along with the figures of Jesus Christ
Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...
and Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),*
*
*
was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...
and their ethical teachings. Kropotkin did not see that Christianity introduced anything new in its defense of brotherhood and mutual aid, but he did (along with Buddhism) in forgiveness. Compared to the ethics of the vengeful culture of other peoples, the doctrine of Christ repudiates persecution and revenge, saying that “the true greatness of Christianity lies in the words «do not take revenge on your enemies.»”. Kropotkin also saw the Christian God as an improvement over the pagan gods, whom he considered vengeful and to whom one should submit. Kropotkin's ''Ethics'' stated:
Personal life
Kropotkin married Sofia
Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...
, a Ukrainian Jewish student, in Switzerland in October 1878. She was over a decade younger than Kropotkin. Kropotkin references her as a primary source of criticism and feedback. Her published story, "The Wife of Number 4,237", was based on her own experience with her husband at Clairvaux prison. She created an archive in Moscow dedicated to his works before her death in 1941. Their only child, Alexandra
Alexandra () is a female given name of Greek origin. It is the first attested form of its variants, including Alexander (, ). Etymology, Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; genitive, GEN , ; ...
, was born in London in 1887. Kropotkin was reserved about his private life.
As an individual, Kropotkin was known for having exceptional integrity and moral character that matched his beliefs. Henry Hyndman
Henry Mayers Hyndman (; 7 March 1842 – 22 November 1921) was an English writer, politician and socialist.
Originally a conservative, he was converted to socialism by Karl Marx's ''Communist Manifesto'' and launched Britain's first socialist p ...
, an ideological adversary, recalled Kropotkin's charm and sincerity. These traits, wrote Stepnyak-Kravchinsky, contributed to Kropotkin's power as a public speaker. As a thinker, Kropotkin focused more acutely on issues of morality than of economics or politics and carried himself by his own principles without imposition on others. In practice, this made him more of a "revolutionary humanitarian" than a revolutionist by deed. He was also known for being exceptionally kind and for forgoing material comforts to live a revolutionary, principled life by example. Gerald Runkle wrote that "Kropotkin with his scholarly and saintly ways ... almost brought respectability to the movement."
Legacy
As the anarchists' leading theorist in his lifetime, Kropotkin wrote their most systematic doctrine in an accessible way; and led the development of anarchist-communist social doctrine. His works, inventive and pragmatic, were the most read anarchist books and pamphlets, with translations into major European and Eastern languages that influenced revolutionaries (e.g., Nestor Makhno
Nestor Ivanovych Makhno (, ; 7 November 1888 – 25 July 1934), also known as Bat'ko Makhno ( , ), was a Ukrainians, Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary and the commander of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine during the Ukrainian War o ...
and Emiliano Zapata
Emiliano Zapata Salazar (; 8 August 1879 – 10 April 1919) was a Mexican revolutionary. He was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution of 1910–1920, the main leader of the people's revolution in the Mexican state of Morelos, and the insp ...
) and non-anarchist reformers alike (e.g., Patrick Geddes
Sir Patrick Geddes (2 October 1854 – 17 April 1932) was a Scottish biologist, sociologist, Comtean positivist, geographer, philanthropist and pioneering town planner. He is known for his innovative thinking in the fields of urban plannin ...
, Ebenezer Howard
Sir Ebenezer Howard (29 January 1850 – 1 May 1928) was an English urban planner and founder of the garden city movement, known for his publication '' To-Morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform'' (1898), the description of a utopian city in wh ...
), as well as a wide range of intellectuals (including the writers Ba Jin
Li Yaotang ( zh, s=李尧棠, t=李堯棠, p=Lǐ Yáotáng; 25 November 1904 – 17 October 2005), better known by his pen name Ba Jin ( zh, s=巴金, t=巴金, p=Bā Jīn) or his courtesy name Li Feigan ( zh, s=李芾甘, t=李芾甘, p=Lǐ F� ...
and James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (born James Augusta Joyce; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influentia ...
). Much of Kropotkin's impact was in his intellectual writings prior to 1914. He had little influence on the Russian revolution, despite returning for it.
Emma Goldman regarded Kropotkin as her "great teacher" and as among the greatest minds and personalities of the 19th century.
After Kropotkin's 1921 death, the Bolsheviks permitted Kropotkin's Moscow house to become a Kropotkin Museum. This closed in 1938 with his wife's death.
Kropotkin is the namesake for multiple regional entities. The Konyushennaya district in Moscow, where Kropotkin was born, is now known by his name, as the Kropotkinsky district, including the Kropotkinskaya metro station. He is the namesake for a large town in the North Caucasus
The North Caucasus, or Ciscaucasia, is a subregion in Eastern Europe governed by Russia. It constitutes the northern part of the wider Caucasus region, which separates Europe and Asia. The North Caucasus is bordered by the Sea of Azov and the B ...
(southwest Russia) and a small town in Siberia. The Kropotkin Range he was first to cross in the Siberian Patom Highlands was named for him, as was a peak in East Antarctica
East Antarctica, also called Greater Antarctica, constitutes the majority (two-thirds) of the Antarctic continent, lying primarily in the Eastern Hemisphere south of the Indian Ocean, and separated from West Antarctica by the Transantarctic ...
.
Works
Books
''In Russian and French Prisons''
London: Ward and Downey; 1887.
* ''The Conquest of Bread
''The Conquest of Bread'' is an 1892 book by the Russian anarchist Peter Kropotkin. Originally written in French, it first appeared as a series of articles in the anarchist journal ''Le Révolté''. It was first published in Paris with a pref ...
'' (Paris, 1892) Project Gutenberg e-text
Project LibriVox audiobook
* ''The Great French Revolution, 1789–1793'' (French original: Paris, 1893; English translation: London, 1909). e-text (in French)
Anarchist Library e-text (in English)
* ''The Terror in Russia,'' 1909
RevoltLib e-text
''Words of a Rebel''
1885.
* ''Fields, Factories, and Workshops
''Fields, Factories, and Workshops'' is an 1899 book by Russian anarchist Peter Kropotkin that discusses the decentralization of industries, possibilities of agriculture, and uses of small industries.
Before the book, Kropotkin had been known ...
'' (London and New York, 1898).
* ''Memoirs of a Revolutionist
''Memoirs of a Revolutionist'' is Peter Kropotkin
Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist and geographer known as a proponent of anarchist communism.
Born into an aristocratic land-own ...
'', London: Smith, Elder; 1899. Anarchist Library e-text
Anarchy Archives e-text
* '' Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution'' (London, 1902) Project Gutenberg e-text
Project LibriVox audiobook
''Modern Science and Anarchism''
1903.
* ''Russian Literature: Ideals and Realities'' (New York: A. A. Knopf, 1905)
''The State: Its Historic Role,''
published 1946,
''Ethics: Origin and Development''
(unfinished). Included as first part o
''Origen y evolución de la moral'' (Spanish e-text)
Pamphlets
* An Appeal to the Young An Appeal to the Young (French: ''Aux jeunes gens'') is a revolutionary, anarchist pamphlet published in 1880 and written by the Russian anarchist Peter Kropotkin. It is one of the most successful and moving tracts by Kropotkin in favor of a Sociali ...
(1880)
Communism and Anarchy
(1901)
Anarchist Communism: Its Basis and Principles
(1887)
The Industrial Village of the Future
(1884)
Law and Authority
(1886)
The Coming Anarchy
(1887)
The Place of Anarchy in Socialist Evolution
(1886)
The Wage System
(1920)
The Commune of Paris
(1880)
Anarchist Morality
(1898)
Expropriation
The Great French Revolution and Its Lesson
(1909)
Process Under Socialism
(1887)
Chapter X from "In Russian and French Prisons" (1887)
The Coming War
(1913)
Wars and Capitalism
(1914)
Revolutionary Government
(1892)
The Scientific Basis of Anarchy
(1887)
The Fortress Prison of St. Petersburg
(1883)
Advice to Those About to Emigrate
(1893)
Some of the Resources of Canada
(1898)
(1896)
Revolutionary Studies
(1892)
Direct Action of Environment and Evolution
(1920)
The Present Crisis in Russia
(1901)
The Spirit of Revolt
(1880)
(1897)
Selected Passages from his Writings (1898–1913)
On the Teaching of Physiography
(1893)
War!
(1914)
Articles
"The Constitutional Agitation in Russia"
1905.
"Brain Work and Manual Work"
1890.
"Manifesto of the Sixteen"
1916.
"Organized Vengeance Called 'Justice.'"
"A Proposed Communist Settlement: A New Colony for Tyneside or Wearside"
"What Geography Ought to Be"
1885.
"On Order"
"Maxím Górky"
1904
* "Research on the Ice age
An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...
", ''Notices of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society'', 1876.
* "Baron Toll", The Geographical Journal, Vol. 23, No. 6. (Jun. 1904), pp. 770–772
JSTOR
* "The population of Russia", The Geographical Journal, Vol. 10, No. 2. (Aug. 1897), pp. 196–202
JSTOR
* "The old beds of the Amu-Daria", The Geographical Journal, Vol. 12, No. 3. (Sep. 1898), pp. 306–310
JSTOR
"Russian Schools and the Holy Synod"
1902
* Mr. Mackinder; Mr. Ravenstein; Dr. Herbertson; Prince Kropotkin; Mr. Andrews; Cobden Sanderson; Elisée Reclus, "On Spherical Maps and Reliefs: Discussion", The Geographical Journal, Vol. 22, No. 3. (Sep. 1903), pp. 294–299
JSTOR
* "The desiccation
Desiccation is the state of extreme dryness, or the process of extreme drying. A desiccant is a hygroscopic (attracts and holds water) substance that induces or sustains such a state in its local vicinity in a moderately sealed container. The ...
of Eur-Asia", '' Geographical Journal'', 23 (1904), 722–41.
* "Finland" in Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.), 1911 (in part; with Joseph R. Fisher and John Scott Keltie)
"Finland: A Rising Nationality"
Nineteenth Century, 1885
in Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.), 1911
"Anti-militarism. Was it properly understood?"
, Freedom, vol.XXVIII, no. 307 (November 1914), pp. 82–83.
"An open letter of Peter Kropotkin to the Western workingmen"
, The Railway Review (29 June 1917), p. 4.
See also
* Maria Leshern von Herzfeld
* Golets Kropotkin
Notes
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
Books on Kropotkin
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Periodical articles
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External links
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Kropotkin Museum
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kropotkin, Peter
1842 births
1921 deaths
19th-century atheists
19th-century essayists
19th-century explorers from the Russian Empire
19th-century memoirists from the Russian Empire
19th-century non-fiction writers from the Russian Empire
19th-century philosophers from the Russian Empire
19th-century zoologists from the Russian Empire
20th-century anarchists
20th-century atheists
20th-century Russian essayists
20th-century Russian male writers
20th-century Russian non-fiction writers
20th-century Russian philosophers
Anarchist theorists
Anarchist writers
Anarcho-communists
Anti-consumerists
Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery
Contributors to the Encyclopædia Britannica
Emigrants from the Russian Empire to France
Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Switzerland
Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United Kingdom
Historians of the French Revolution
Historians of the Renaissance
Human geographers
Members of the International Workingmen's Association
Narodniks
People from Moskovsky Uyezd
Philosophy academics
Prisoners of the Peter and Paul Fortress
Russian anarchists
Russian anti-fascists
Russian atheists
Russian communists
Russian exiles
Russian geographers
Russian newspaper editors
Russian non-fiction writers
Russian political writers
Russian revolutionaries
Russian science writers
Russian socialists
Russian untitled nobility
Social philosophers
Writers from Moscow