Pyotr Kropotkin
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (; russian: link=no, Пётр Алексе́евич Кропо́ткин ; 9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist,
socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...
, revolutionary,
historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...
,
scientist A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosoph ...
, philosopher, and activist who advocated
anarcho-communism Anarcho-communism, also known as anarchist communism, (or, colloquially, ''ancom'' or ''ancomm'') is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that advocates communism. It calls for the abolition of private property but retains res ...
. Born into an
aristocratic Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'. At the time of the word' ...
land-owning family, Kropotkin attended a military school and later served as an officer in
Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...
, 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,
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
(where he was imprisoned for almost four years) and
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. While in exile, he gave lectures and published widely on anarchism and geography. Kropotkin returned to Russia after the Russian Revolution in 1917, but he was disappointed by the
Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
state. Kropotkin was a proponent of a decentralised
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 co ...
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'' (french: La Conquête du Pain; rus, Хлѣбъ и воля, Khleb i volja, "Bread and Freedom"; in contemporary spelling), also known colloquially as The Bread Book, is an 1892 book by the Russian anarcho-communist P ...
'' and ''
Fields, Factories and Workshops ''Fields, Factories, and Workshops'' is an 1899 book by anarchist Peter Kropotkin that discusses the decentralization of industries, possibilities of agriculture, and uses of small industries. Before this book on economics, Kropotkin had been ...
'', but also '' Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution'', his principal scientific offering. He contributed the article on anarchism to the ''
Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition The ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is a 29-volume reference work, an edition of the '' Encyclopædia Britannica''. It was developed during the encyclopaedia's transition from a British to an American publication. S ...
'' and left unfinished a work on anarchist ethical philosophy.


Biography


Early life

Pyotr Kropotkin was born in Moscow, into an ancient Russian princely family. His father,
Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...
Prince Alexei Petrovich
Kropotkin Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (; russian: link=no, Пётр Алексе́евич Кропо́ткин ; 9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist, socialist, revolutionary, historian, scientist, philosopher, and activist ...
, was a descendant of the
Smolensk Smolensk ( rus, Смоленск, p=smɐˈlʲensk, a=smolensk_ru.ogg) 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 ...
branch, of the
Rurik dynasty The Rurik dynasty ( be, Ру́рыкавічы, Rúrykavichy; russian: Рю́риковичи, Ryúrikovichi, ; uk, Рю́риковичі, Riúrykovychi, ; literally "sons/scions of Rurik"), also known as the Rurikid dynasty or Rurikids, was ...
which had ruled Russia before the rise of the Romanovs. Kropotkin's father owned large tracts of land and nearly 1,200 male serfs in three provinces. His mother was the daughter of a Cossack general. Pyotr had an older brother, Alexander (1841–1890), who later committed suicide. Their mother died of
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...
in 1846. The widowed father married Yelizaveta Markovna Korandina in 1848. Kropotkin dropped his princely title at age 12 " der the influence of
republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
teachings" and "even rebuked his friends, when they so referred to him."Roger N. Baldwin, "The Story of Kropotkin's Life," in Kropotkin's ''Anarchism: A Collection of Revolutionary Writings'', ed. by Baldwin (Orig. 1927; Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc., 1970), p. 13. In 1857, at age 14, Kropotkin enrolled in the
Corps of Pages The Page Corps (russian: Пажеский корпус; french: Corps des Pages) was a military academy in Imperial Russia, which prepared sons of the nobility and of senior officers for military service. Similarly, the Imperial School of Jurisprud ...
at
St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
.Martin A. Miller, "Introduction" to P. A. Kropotkin, ''Selected Writings on Anarchism and Revolution.'' Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1970; p. 7. Only 150 boys – mostly children of nobility belonging to the court – were educated in this privileged corps, which combined the character of a military school endowed with exclusive rights and of a court institution attached to the Imperial Household. Kropotkin's memoirs detail the hazing and other abuse of pages for which the Corps had become notorious. In Moscow, Kropotkin developed what would become a lifelong interest in the condition of the peasantry. Although his work as a page for Tsar Alexander II made Kropotkin skeptical about the tsar's "liberal" reputation, Kropotkin was greatly pleased by the tsar's decision to emancipate the serfs in 1861. In
St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, he read widely on his own account and gave special attention to the works of the French encyclopædists and
French history The first written records for the history of France appeared in the Iron Age. What is now France made up the bulk of the region known to the Romans as Gaul. The first writings on indigenous populations mainly start in the first century BC. Greek ...
. The years 1857–1861 witnessed a growth in the intellectual forces of Russia, and Kropotkin came under the influence of the new liberal-revolutionary literature, which largely expressed his own aspirations. In 1862, Kropotkin graduated first in his class from the Corps of Pages and entered the Tsarist army.Miller, "Introduction," pg. 8. The members of the corps had the prescriptive right to choose the regiment to which they would be attached. Following a desire to "be someone useful", Kropotkin chose the difficult route of serving in a Cossack regiment in eastern
Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...
. For some time, he was '' aide de camp'' to the governor of
Transbaikalia Transbaikal, Trans-Baikal, Transbaikalia ( rus, Забайка́лье, r=Zabaykalye, p=zəbɐjˈkalʲjɪ), or Dauria (, ''Dauriya'') is a mountainous region to the east of or "beyond" (trans-) Lake Baikal in Far Eastern Russia. The steppe and ...
at Chita. Later he was appointed attaché for Cossack affairs to the governor-general of East Siberia at Irkutsk.


Geographical expeditions in Siberia

The administrator under whom Kropotkin served, General Boleslar Kazimirovich Kukel, was a liberal and a democrat who maintained personal connections to various Russian radical political figures exiled to Siberia. These included the writer
Mikhail Larionovitch Mikhailov Mikhail Larionovitch Mikhailov (russian: Михаил Ларионович Михайлов) (16 January 1829 – 15 August 1865) was a Russian author. Biography He was educated at Saint Petersburg and engaged in literary pursuits as a translator, ...
, whom Kropotkin (on the orders of Kukel) once warned about the Moscow police's investigation into his political activities in confinement. Mikhailov later gave the young Tsarist functionary a copy of a book by the French anarchist
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (, , ; 15 January 1809, Besançon – 19 January 1865, Paris) was a French socialist,Landauer, Carl; Landauer, Hilde Stein; Valkenier, Elizabeth Kridl (1979) 959 "The Three Anticapitalistic Movements". ''European Socia ...
— Kropotkin's first introduction to anarchist ideas. Kukel was later dismissed from his administrative position, being transferred, instead, to state-sponsored scientific endeavors.Miller, "Introduction," p. 9. In 1864, Kropotkin accepted a position in a geographical survey expedition, crossing North
Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer M ...
from
Transbaikalia Transbaikal, Trans-Baikal, Transbaikalia ( rus, Забайка́лье, r=Zabaykalye, p=zəbɐjˈkalʲjɪ), or Dauria (, ''Dauriya'') is a mountainous region to the east of or "beyond" (trans-) Lake Baikal in Far Eastern Russia. The steppe and ...
to the
Amur The Amur (russian: река́ Аму́р, ), or Heilong Jiang (, "Black Dragon River", ), is the world's tenth longest river, forming the border between the Russian Far East and Northeastern China ( Inner Manchuria). The Amur proper is long, ...
, and soon was attached to another expedition up the
Sungari River The Songhua or Sunghwa River (also Haixi or Xingal, russian: Сунгари ''Sungari'') is one of the primary rivers of China, and the longest tributary of the Amur. It flows about from the Changbai Mountains on the China–North Korea bo ...
into the heart of
Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer M ...
. The expeditions yielded valuable geographic results. The impossibility of obtaining any real administrative reforms in
Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...
now induced Kropotkin to devote himself almost entirely to scientific exploration, in which he continued to be highly successful. Kropotkin continued his political reading, including works by such prominent liberal thinkers as John Stuart Mill and
Alexander Herzen Alexander Ivanovich Herzen (russian: Алекса́ндр Ива́нович Ге́рцен, translit=Alexándr Ivánovich Gértsen; ) was a Russian writer and thinker known as the "father of Russian socialism" and one of the main fathers of agra ...
. These readings, along with his experiences among peasants in Siberia, led him to declare himself an anarchist by 1872. In 1867, Kropotkin resigned his commission in the army and returned to St. Petersburg, where he entered the
Saint Petersburg Imperial University Saint Petersburg Imperial University (russian: Санкт-Петербургский Императорский университет) was a Russian higher education institution based in Saint Petersburg, one of the twelve Imperial universities ...
to study mathematics, becoming at the same time secretary to the geography section of the Russian Geographical Society. His departure from a family tradition of military service prompted his father to disinherit him, "leaving him a 'prince' with no visible means of support". In 1871, Kropotkin explored the glacial deposits of
Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
and Sweden for the Society. In 1873, he published an important contribution to science, a map and paper in which he showed that the existing maps entirely misrepresented the physical features of Asia; the main structural lines were in fact from southwest to northeast, not from north to south or from east to west as had been previously supposed. During this work, he was offered the secretaryship of the Society, but he had decided that it was his duty not to work at fresh discoveries but to aid in diffusing existing knowledge among the people at large. Accordingly, he refused the offer and returned to St. Petersburg, where he joined the revolutionary party.


Activism in Switzerland and France

Kropotkin visited Switzerland in 1872 and became a member of the
International Workingmen's Association The International Workingmen's Association (IWA), often called the First International (1864–1876), was an international organisation which aimed at uniting a variety of different left-wing socialist, communist and anarchist groups and trad ...
(IWA) at
Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...
. However, he found that he did not like IWA's support of state socialism. Instead, he studied the programme of the more anarchist
Jura federation The Jura Federation represented the anarchist, Bakuninist faction of the First International during the anti-statist split from the organization. Jura, a Swiss area, was known for its watchmaker artisans in La Chaux-de-Fonds, who shared anti- ...
at Neuchâtel and spent time in the company of the leading members, adopting the creed of anarchism.


Activism in Russia and arrest

On returning to Russia, Kropotkin's friend Dmitri Klements introduced him to the
Circle of Tchaikovsky The Circle of Tchaikovsky, also known as Tchaikovtsy/Chaikovtsy (russian: Чайковцы), or the Grand Propaganda Society (russian: Большое общество пропаганды, ''Bolshoye obshchestvo propagandy'') was a Russian literar ...
, a socialist/populist group created in 1872. Kropotkin worked to spread revolutionary propaganda among peasants and workers, and acted as a bridge between the Circle and the aristocracy. Throughout this period, Kropotkin maintained his position within the Geographical Society to provide cover for his activities. In March 1874, Kropotkin was arrested and imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress for subversive political activity, as a result of his work with the Circle of Tchaikovsky. Because of his aristocratic background, he received special privileges in prison, such as permission to continue his geographical work in his cell. He delivered his report on the subject of 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 gre ...
in 1876, where he argued that it had taken place in not as distant a past as initially thought.


Escape and exile

In June 1876, just before his trial, Kropotkin was moved to a low-security prison in St. Petersburg, from which he escaped with help from his friends. On the night of the escape, Kropotkin and his friends celebrated by dining in one of the finest restaurants in St. Petersburg, assuming correctly that the police would not think to look for them there. After this, he boarded a boat and headed to
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. After a short stay there, he moved to Switzerland where he joined the Jura Federation. In 1877, he moved to
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
, where he helped start the socialist movement. In 1878, he returned to Switzerland where he edited the Jura Federation's revolutionary newspaper ''Le Révolté'' and published various revolutionary pamphlets. In 1881, shortly after the assassination of Tsar Alexander II, he was expelled from Switzerland. After a short stay at
Thonon Thonon-les-Bains (; frp, Tonon), 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 ...
(Savoy), he stayed in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
for nearly a year. He attended the Anarchist Congress in London from 14 July 1881. Other delegates included Marie Le Compte, Errico Malatesta, Saverio Merlino,
Louise Michel Louise Michel (; 29 May 1830 – 9 January 1905) was a teacher and important figure in the Paris Commune. Following her penal transportation to New Caledonia she embraced anarchism. When returning to France she emerged as an important French a ...
, Nicholas Tchaikovsky, and Émile Gautier. While respecting "complete autonomy of local groups", the congress defined propaganda actions that all could follow and agreed that
propaganda by the deed Propaganda of the deed (or propaganda by the deed, from the French ) is specific political direct action meant to be exemplary to others and serve as a catalyst for revolution. It is primarily associated with acts of violence perpetrated by pr ...
was the path to social revolution. ''The Radical'' of 23 July 1881 reported that the congress met on 18 July at the Cleveland Hall, Fitzroy Square, with speeches by Marie Le Compte, "the transatlantic agitator", Louise Michel, and Kropotkin. Later, Le Compte and Kropotkin gave talks to the Homerton Social Democratic Club and the Stratford Radical and Dialectical Club. Kropotkin returned to Thonon in late 1882. Soon he was arrested by the French government, tried at
Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...
, and sentenced by a police-court magistrate (under a special law passed on the fall of the
Paris Commune The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defended ...
) to five years' imprisonment, on the ground that he had belonged to the IWA (1883). The French Chamber repeatedly agitated on his behalf, and he was released in 1886. He was invited to Britain by Henry Seymour and Charlotte Wilson and all three worked on Seymour's newspaper '' The Anarchist''. Soon after, Wilson and Kropotkin split from the individualist anarchist Seymour and found the anarchist newspaper ''
Freedom Press Freedom Press is an anarchist publishing house and bookseller in Whitechapel, London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1886, it is the largest anarchist publishing house in the country and the oldest of its kind in the English speaking world. It is bas ...
'', which continues to this day. Kropotkin was a regular contributor, while Wilson was integral to the administrative and financial running of the paper until she resigned its editorship in 1895. He settled near London, living at various times in Harrow, then
Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, c ...
, where his daughter and only child, Alexandra, was born on 15 April 1887. He also lived for many years in Brighton. While living in London, Kropotkin became friends with a number of prominent English-speaking socialists, including
William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...
and
George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...
. In 1916, Kropotkin and
Jean Grave Jean Grave (; October 16, 1854, Le Breuil-sur-Couze – December 8, 1939, Vienne-en-Val) was an important activist in the French anarchist and the international anarchist communism movements. He was the editor of three major anarchist periodica ...
drafted a document called ''
Manifesto of the Sixteen The ''Manifesto of the Sixteen'' (french: Manifeste des seize), or ''Proclamation of the Sixteen'', was a document drafted in 1916 by eminent anarchists Peter Kropotkin and Jean Grave which advocated an Allied victory over Germany and the Cen ...
'', which advocated an Allied victory over Germany and the
Central Powers The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,german: Mittelmächte; hu, Központi hatalmak; tr, İttifak Devletleri / ; bg, Централни сили, translit=Tsentralni sili was one of the two main coalitions that fought in ...
during the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. Because of the manifesto, Kropotkin found himself isolated by the mainstream of the anarchist movement.


Return to Russia

In 1917, after the February Revolution, Kropotkin returned to Russia after 40 years of exile. His arrival was greeted by cheering crowds of tens of thousands of people. He was offered the ministry of education in the
Provisional Government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, or a transitional government, is an emergency governmental authority set up to manage a political transition generally in the cases of a newly formed state or ...
, which he promptly refused, feeling that working with them would be a violation of his anarchist principles. His enthusiasm for the changes occurring in the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
expanded when
Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
seized power in the
October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mome ...
. He had this to say about the October Revolution: "During all the activities of the present revolutionary political parties we must never forget that the October movement of the proletariat, which ended in a revolution, has proved to everybody that a social revolution is within the bounds of possibility. And this struggle, which takes place worldwide, has to be supported by all means – all the rest is secondary. The party of the Bolsheviks was right to adopt the old, purely proletarian name of 'Communist Party'. Even if it does not achieve everything that it would like to, it will nevertheless enlighten the path of the civilised countries for at least a century. Its ideas will slowly be adopted by the peoples in the same way as in the nineteenth century the world adopted the ideas of the Great French Revolution. That is the colossal achievement of the October Revolution. ..I see the October Revolution as an attempt to bring the preceding February Revolution to its logical conclusion with a transition to communism and federalism." Although he led a life on the margins of the revolutionary upheaval, Kropotkin became increasingly critical of the methods of the Bolshevik dictatorship and went on to express these feelings in writing. "Unhappily, this effort has been made in Russia under a strongly centralized party dictatorship. This effort was made in the same way as the extremely centralized and Jacobin endeavor of Babeuf. I owe it to you to say frankly that, according to my view, this effort to build a communist republic on the basis of a strongly centralized state communism under the iron law of party dictatorship is bound to end in failure. We are learning to know in Russia how not to introduce communism, even with a people tired of the old regime and opposing no active resistance to the experiments of the new rulers." File:Krapotkin in Haparanda.jpg, Kropotkin in Haparanda, 1917 File:Pavel Miliukov&Peter Kropotkin.jpg, Kropotkin and Pavel Milyukov


Death

After a year of living in Moscow, Kropotkin moved to the city of
Dmitrov Dmitrov ( rus, Дмитров, p=ˈdmʲitrəf) is a town and the administrative center of Dmitrovsky District in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located to the north of Moscow on the Yakhroma River and the Moscow Canal. Population: History Dmitrov ...
in May 1918, where he died of pneumonia on 8 February 1921, at the age of 78. He was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow. Thousands of people marched in his funeral procession, including, with
Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...
's approval, anarchists carrying banners with anti-Bolshevik slogans. The occasion, the last public demonstration of anarchists in Soviet Russia, saw engaged speeches by Emma Goldman and
Aron Baron Aron Davydovych Baron ( uk, Аро́н Дави́дович Ба́рон; 1891–1937) was a Ukrainian Jewish anarchist revolutionary. Following the suppression of the 1905 Revolution, he fled to the United States, where he met his wife Fanya ...
. In some versions of Kropotkin's ''
The Conquest of Bread ''The Conquest of Bread'' (french: La Conquête du Pain; rus, Хлѣбъ и воля, Khleb i volja, "Bread and Freedom"; in contemporary spelling), also known colloquially as The Bread Book, is an 1892 book by the Russian anarcho-communist P ...
'', the mini-biography states that this was the last time that Kropotkin's supporters would be allowed to freely rally in public.


Memory

In 1902, The
Kropotkin Range Kropotkin Range (russian: Хребет Кропоткина) is a mountain range in Bodaybinsky District, Irkutsk Oblast, Russian Federation. The settlements of Kropotkin, Irkutsk Oblast, Kropotkin and Artyomovsky, Irkutsk Oblast, Artyomovsky are ...
was named after Kropotkin. On April 14th 1921, two months after Kropotkin's death, the "Romanovski rural area" was incorporated into the town of
Kropotkin, Krasnodar Krai Kropotkin (russian: Кропо́ткин) is a town in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, located on the right bank of the Kuban River. History It was founded as Romanovsky Khutor in the late 18th century, and was renamed Kropotkin in honor of the outstan ...
, in his honor. In 1930, Kropotkin,_Irkutsk_Oblast a work settlement (labor camp) was named after Kropotkin. In 1948, the Crimean village Kropotkino was renamed Kropotkino. In 1957, the Dvorets Sovetov station of the
Moscow Metro The Moscow Metro) is a metro system serving the Russian capital of Moscow as well as the neighbouring cities of Krasnogorsk, Reutov, Lyubertsy and Kotelniki in Moscow Oblast. Opened in 1935 with one line and 13 stations, it was the first ...
was renamed
Kropotkinskaya Kropotkinskaya ( rus, Кропо́ткинская, p=krɐˈpotkʲɪnskəjə) is a station on the Sokolnicheskaya Line of the Moscow Metro. One of the oldest Metro stations, it was designed by Alexey Dushkin and Ya. Likhtenberg and opened in 193 ...
in his honor. In 2014, in
Dmitrov Dmitrov ( rus, Дмитров, p=ˈdmʲitrəf) is a town and the administrative center of Dmitrovsky District in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located to the north of Moscow on the Yakhroma River and the Moscow Canal. Population: History Dmitrov ...
, the memorial museum of Kropotkin was opened. It works in the house where Peter Kropotkin lived in 1918–1921 and died. The museum holds memorial documents and typical interior based on the historical photographs.


Philosophy


Critique of capitalism

Kropotkin pointed out 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 a society or a given geographic area. It includes the combination of the various institutions, agencies, entitie ...
of
feudalism Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...
and
capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...
. 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 fi ...
, and promote privilege. Instead, he proposed a more decentralized economic system based on mutual aid, mutual support, 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
labour theory of value The labor theory of value (LTV) is a theory of value that argues that the economic value of a good or service is determined by the total amount of " socially necessary labor" required to produce it. The LTV is usually associated with Marxian ...
, believing there was no necessary link between work performed and the values of commodities. His attack on the institution of wage labour was based more on the power employers exerted over employees, and not only on the extraction of surplus value from their labour. 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 society could be established only by a social revolution, 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 left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialectical ...
and
Blanquism Blanquism refers to a conception of revolution generally attributed to Louis Auguste Blanqui (1805–1881) which holds that socialist revolution should be carried out by a relatively small group of highly organised and secretive conspirators. Ha ...
) 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 (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colo ...
. Instead, Kropotkin insisted that both private property and the
state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...
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. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...
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, and organize
production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...
the state would need to use
violence Violence is the use of physical force so as to injure, abuse, damage, or destroy. Other definitions are also used, such as the World Health Organization's definition of violence as "the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened ...
and coercion to suppress further revolution, and control workers. The workers would be reliant on the state bureaucracy 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's applied this criticism to the
Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
' rule following the
October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mome ...
. 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. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...
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 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 " social Darwinists" such as Francis Galton 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 magazine published by the American Ideas Institute which was founded in 2002. Originally published twice a month, it was reduced to monthly publication in August 2009, and since February 2013, it has ...
''
In the last chapter, he wrote: Kropotkin did not deny the presence of competitive urges in humans, but did not consider them the driving force of history. He believed that seeking out conflict proved to be socially beneficial only in attempts to destroy unjust, authoritarian institutions such as the State or the Church, which he saw as stifling human creativity and impeding human instinctual drive towards cooperation. Kropotkin's observations of cooperative tendencies in
indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
s (pre-feudal, feudal, and those remaining in modern societies) led him to conclude that not all human societies were based on competition as were those of industrialized Europe, and that many societies exhibited cooperation among individuals and groups as the norm. He also concluded that most pre-industrial and pre-authoritarian societies (where he claimed that
leadership Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets vi ...
, central government, and class did not exist) actively defend against the accumulation of private property by equally distributing within the community a person's possessions when they died, or by not allowing a gift to be sold, bartered or used to create wealth, in the form of a gift economy.


Mutual aid

In his 1892 book ''
The Conquest of Bread ''The Conquest of Bread'' (french: La Conquête du Pain; rus, Хлѣбъ и воля, Khleb i volja, "Bread and Freedom"; in contemporary spelling), also known colloquially as The Bread Book, is an 1892 book by the Russian anarcho-communist P ...
'', 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 (; 1814–1876) was a Russian revolutionary anarchist, socialist and founder of collectivist anarchism. He is considered among the most influential figures of anarchism and a major founder of the revolutionary s ...
's collectivist 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 social
labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...
, 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 being " ...
, "[w]ith ''Mutual Aid'' especially, and later with ''Fields, Factories, and Workshops'', 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 autarky, self-sufficiencymanufacture its own goods and grow its own food, lessening dependence on imports. To these ends, he advocated irrigation and greenhouses to boost local food production.


Criticism

Bolshevik anarchist and revolutionary Juda Grossman criticized Kropotkin’s militaristic position during the period of imperialist war, he revealed the contradictions of Kropotkin the militarist. Kropotkin's statement, "let’s cast guns and move them into position," sparked an ideological crisis for many. Many saw this as a crushing blow and an irrevocable harm to the importance and longevity of any ideological pretensions he might have had.


Works


Books


''In Russian and French Prisons''
London: Ward and Downey; 1887. * ''
The Conquest of Bread ''The Conquest of Bread'' (french: La Conquête du Pain; rus, Хлѣбъ и воля, Khleb i volja, "Bread and Freedom"; in contemporary spelling), also known colloquially as The Bread Book, is an 1892 book by the Russian anarcho-communist P ...
'' (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 anarchist Peter Kropotkin that discusses the decentralization of industries, possibilities of agriculture, and uses of small industries. Before this book on economics, Kropotkin had been ...
'' (London and New York, 1898). * ''Memoirs of a Revolutionist'', 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
* ''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)

''Modern Science and Anarchism''
1930, *


Pamphlets

* An Appeal to the Young (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.
"Organized Vengeance Called 'Justice'"

"On Order"

"Maxím Górky,"
1904 * "Research on the Ice age", ''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 of Eur-Asia", ''Geographical Journal'', 23 (1904), 722–41. * "Finland" in Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.), 1911 (in part; with Joseph R. Fisher (author), 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

* Anarcho-communism * Anarchist schools of thought * Golets Kropotkin * Katorga * Kropotkin family * List of Russian anarchists


Explanatory notes


References


Further reading


Books on Kropotkin

* Butterworth, Alex. ''The World That Never Was: A True Story of Dreamers, Schemers, Anarchists and Secret Police'' (Pantheon Books, 2010) * * Mike Davis (scholar), Davis, Mike (2018). Chapter 3: "The Coming Desert: Kropotkin, Mars and the Pulse of Asia". ''Old Gods, New Enigmas: Marx's Lost Theory''. Verso Books. * * * * * Miller, Martin A. (1976). ''Kropotkin (Miller biography), Kropotkin''. University of Chicago Press. * * *


Journal articles

* * * * Efremenko D., Evseeva Y. (December 2012). "Studies of Social Solidarity in Russia: Tradition and Modern Trends". NY: Springer Science+Business Media. ''American Sociologist'', v. 43, 2012, no. 4, pp. 349–365. . * * Morris, Brian (October 2008)
''Basic Kropotkin: Kropotkin and the History of Anarchism''
Anarchist Communist Editions pamphlet no. 17 (The Anarchist Federation).
"Prince P. A. Kropotkin"
Obituaries. ''Nature (journal), Nature''. 3 February 1921. Vol. 106, no. 2675 . pp. 735–736.


External links

* * *
Kropotkin Museum

peterkropotkin.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kropotkin, Peter Peter Kropotkin, 1842 births 1921 deaths Writers from Moscow People from Moskovsky Uyezd Russian nobility Rurikids Russian anarchists Russian anti-fascists Russian atheist writers Russian atheists Russian communists Russian exiles Russian explorers Russian geographers Russian memoirists Russian newspaper editors Russian non-fiction writers Russian political writers Russian revolutionaries Russian science writers Russian social commentators Russian socialists Anarchist theorists Anarchist writers Anarcho-communists Anti-consumerists Cultural critics Epistemologists Historians of the French Revolution Historians of the Renaissance Human geographers Lecturers Libertarian socialists Members of the International Workingmen's Association Metaphysicians Moral philosophers Narodniks Ontologists Philosophers of culture Philosophers of economics Philosophers of education Philosophers of ethics and morality Philosophers of history Philosophers of science Philosophers of social science Philosophers of war Philosophy academics Philosophy teachers Philosophy writers Political philosophers Social critics Social philosophers Theorists on Western civilization 19th-century atheists 19th-century essayists 19th-century philosophers 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 atheists 20th-century essayists 20th-century Russian non-fiction writers 20th-century Russian philosophers Emigrants from the Russian Empire to France Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Switzerland Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United Kingdom Prisoners of the Peter and Paul Fortress Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery