RG

IN CONTEXT

IDEOLOGY

Anarcho-communism

FOCUS

Political action

BEFORE

1762 Jean-Jacques Rousseau writes The Social Contract, stating that “man is born free, and is everywhere in chains.”

1840 In What is Property?, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon calls himself an anarchist.

1881 Tsar Alexander II is assassinated in St Petersburg.

AFTER

1917 The Bolsheviks seize power in Russia.

1960s Counterculture movements in Europe and the US squat in empty buildings and form communities.

2011 The Occupy Movement protests against economic inequality by occupying Wall Street during the global economic crisis.

At the end of the 19th century, Tsarist Russia was a hothouse for every new social movement from fascism to radical communism. Peter Kropotkin, who spurned his privileged life as the son of a prince, was a product of his times, advocating the destruction of authority. In The Conquest of Bread (1892), Kropotkin argued that the best aspect of humanity—its ability to cooperate—could allow it to do away with all oppressive structures. He saw in the developing labor movement the possibility to overthrow oppressors —from priests to capitalists—and establish a new society based on mutual respect and cooperation. He lay down the principles of what was to become anarcho-communism: belief in a collaborative, egalitarian society, free of the state.

"In place of the cowardly phrase, ‘Obey the law,’ our cry is, ‘Revolt against all laws!’"

Peter Kropotkin

Call to action

Anarchism is a theory of action, and Kropotkin urged those who would listen to always act. sympathetic to the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, he denounced its authoritarianism in the subsequent civil war. Establishing a new world did not require fresh rules, but anarchists able to act courageously against all oppression. Compromise and political calculation were alien to anarchism; instead, its adherents must act with moral fervor against a corrupt world. Kropotkin, like other anarchists, helped define the “politics of the deed”—a belief that would recur in radical ideologies over the next century.

..................Content has been hidden....................

You can't read the all page of ebook, please click here login for view all page.
Reset
54.198.45.0