What Peter Kropotkin thinks about government
Russian anarchist political philosopher and geographer (1842 to 1921), a proponent of anarchist communism; lived in exile in England from 1886 to 1917; author of Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution (1902).
Peter Kropotkin did not write this page.
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4 dated positions, c. 1892 to c. 1890–1902, in their own words. Our reading of what Peter Kropotkin has said — not written or endorsed by them.
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Their wordsIn short, neither the crushing powers of the centralized State nor the teachings of mutual hatred and pitiless struggle which came, adorned with the attributes of science, from obliging philosophers and sociologists, could weed out the feeling of human solidarity, deeply lodged in men's understanding and heart, because it has been nurtured by all our preceding evolution.
↗Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution (1902)gutenberg.org All 17 from this book
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Our readingThe tendency of humanity is to reduce government interference to zero and abolish the State
Their wordsAnd in studying the progress made in this direction, we are led to conclude that the tendency of the human race is to reduce Government interference to zero; in fact, to abolish the State, the personification of injustice, oppression, and monopoly.
↗The Conquest of Bread (1892; anonymous English translation of 1906, Vanguard Press reprint 1926)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Their wordsAnd with our eyes shut we pass by thousands and thousands of human groupings which form themselves freely, without any intervention of the law, and attain results infinitely superior to those achieved under governmental tutelage.
↗The Conquest of Bread (1892; anonymous English translation of 1906, Vanguard Press reprint 1926)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Their wordsShould an authoritarian Socialist society ever succeed in establishing itself, it could not last; general discontent would soon force it to break up, or to reorganize itself on principles of liberty.
↗The Conquest of Bread (1892; anonymous English translation of 1906, Vanguard Press reprint 1926)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book