Date: Fri, 25 Sep 1998 14:05:31 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: AUT:Peter Kropotkin


Harry Cleaver wrote:

>Pyotr Kropotkin is probably (along with Bakunin) the most famous of all
>the Russian Anarchists. He was born into nobility, sat on the Czar's knee,
>sent to an elite military academy and then headed off to Siberia as a
>geologist. Besides doing some pathbreaking work on Siberian geology he
>studied animal and human societies in the area and was profoundly
>impressed with patterns of mutual aid in various species that contradicted
>the usual representation of Darwinian evolution as a war of all against
>all. This would lead to his book Mutual Aid years later. In Switzerland he
>met the anarchist watchmakers of the Jura and their ideology meshed with
>his own views developed in Siberia. He became an anarchist --often called
>the Anarchist PRince. He was an important figure in what is called
>"anarcho-communism" and much of his work is similar to threads within
>autonomist Marxism. I wrote a paper on the similarities and differences
>for the conference in Russia back in 1992 celebrating the aniversary of
>his birth --the first overt anarchist public event in Russia since he died
>shortly after the revolution. It was a great conference, took place over
>seven days in three different cities. He wrote lotsa books and quite a bit
>has been written about him. He wrote well and is easy to read. Enjoy.
>

        What's your take on his support of WWI?  Some people say he was kind
of losing it in his later years.  Do you think that was the case?




Richard Singer



P.S.  The paper sounds very interesting... I've noted the many similarities
between Bakunin and the early Marx, but I haven't yet delved into Kropotkin
in this way.  Anyway, have you, by chance, put any of this paper on the Web,
or do you plan to in the future?













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