Three by Kropotkin

From various sides, voices are raised to demand immediate peace. There has been enough bloodshed, they say, enough destruction, and it is time to finish things, one way or another. More than anyone, and for a long time, we and our journals have been against every war of aggression between peoples, and against militarism, no matter what uniform, imperial or republican, it dons. So we would be delighted to see the conditions of peace discussed—if that was possible—by the European workers, gathered in an international congress. Especially since the German people let itself be deceived in August 1914, and if they really believed that they mobilized for the defense of their territory, they have since had time to realize that they were wrong to embark on a war of conquest.

  Peter Kropotkin, “The New Era,” The Rebel 1, no. 1 (September 20, 1895): 3. Peter Kropotkin, “The New Era,” The Rebel 1, no. 2 (October 20, 1895): 10-11. Peter Kropotkin, “The Crisis of Socialism,” The Rebel 1, no. 3 (November, 1895): 24-25. Peter Kropotkin, “The New Era,” The Rebel 1, no. 3 (November, 1895): 28-29. Peter Kropotkin, “The New Era,” The Rebel 1, no. 4 (January, 1896): 34. Peter Kropotkin, “The New Era,” The Rebel 1, no. 6 (March-April, 1896): 59-60.   The New Era The following address is one with which Kropotkine opened a series of meetings in […]

We are often reproached for accepting as a label this word anarchy, which frightens many people so much. “Your ideas are excellent”, we are told, “but you must admit that the name of your party is an unfortunate choice. Anarchy in common language is synonymous with disorder and chaos; the word brings to mind the idea of interests clashing, of individuals struggling, which cannot lead to the establishment of harmony”. Let us begin by pointing out that a party devoted to action, a party representing a new tendency, seldom has the opportunity of choosing a name for itself. It was […]