Peter Kropotkin Archives - The Libertarian Labyrinth

Peter Kropotkin, “The New Era” and “The Crisis of Socialism” (1895)

October 30, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur

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 […]

Peter Kropotkin, “Anarchy: Its Philosophy and Ideal” (1896)

September 8, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur

ANARCHY. ______ (Translated from the German by Harry Lyman Koopman.) ______ Ever reviled, accursed,-n’er understood, Thou art the grisly terror of our age. “Wreck of all order,” cry the multitude, “Art thou, and war and murder’s endless rage.” O, let them cry. To them that ne’er have striven, The truth that lies behind a word to find, To them the word’s right meaning was not given. They shall continue blind among the blind. But thou, O word, so clear, so strong, so pure, That sayest all which I for goal have taken. I give thee to the future! -Thine secure […]

Peter Kropotkin, “On Order” (1881)

August 29, 2016 Shawn P. Wilbur

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 […]

Alexandre Ghé, “Open Letter to P. Kropotkin” (1916)

April 17, 2014 Shawn P. Wilbur

[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”][/one_third][two_third_last padding=”0 0px 0 10px”] Open Letter to P. Kropotkin ALEXANDRE GHÉ LAUSANNE 1916 Dear Master, After an entire series of public declarations in favor of the Triple and Quadruple Entente, which have produced consternation in the anarchist and internationalist milieus, there has recently appeared a new Manifesto, which the bourgeois press has hastened to describe as an “Anarchist Manifesto.” In that Manifesto, also signed by you, you follow the line of conduct that you have mapped out since the beginning of the war, inviting us to support the belligerent Entente. I will not dwell, for […]

The Manifesto of the Sixteen (1916)

May 25, 2011 Shawn P. Wilbur

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.

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Three by Kropotkin

May 2, 2007 Shawn P. Wilbur

Prince Peter Kropotkin was a regular contributor to The Nineteenth Century, and his essays were widely reprinted. Here are three of his contributions to that journal. Peter Kropotkin, The Coming Anarchy Peter Kropotkin, The Scientific Bases of Anarchy Peter Kropotkin, The Morality of Nature