Bio: (1842-1921) Russian political theorist. Peter (Pyotr) Kropotkin spent several years as an officer in the Russian Army, and then studied at the University of St. Petersburg, but did not finish his studies. After working for the Russian Geographical Society, Kropotkin was sentenced to prison for his anarchist views and subversive political activities. He fled Russia before serving his sentence, then lived in Switzerland, France, and Great Britain, before returning to Russia after the October Revolution. Kropotkin never had an academic position, but his books and essays had a great influence on science, ideology, and philosophy.

                                     Anarchism and Evolution

He was one of the most famous advocates and fighters for anarchism. However, unlike other anarchists, Kropotkin believed that anarchist ideology must be based on the knowledge of natural and social sciences, because the anarchist organization of society, itself, must be based on the biological and anthropological predispositions of the human species. In the book Mutual Aid (1902), he presents the evolutionary theory of cooperation and solidarity in social animals. He concluded that mutual aid exists in all of the most successful species and that mutual aid is the most important factor in evolution. The struggle for survival takes place, above all, in relation to other species, and not within the species.

The species that have the greatest cooperation and mutual support between its members will have the greatest chances of survival and advancement. Mutual assistance leads to several positive effects in any species - increasing the ability of individuals to reach old age and accumulate experience, which leads to greater intellectual development and increases in the size and scope of social behavior, which, together, gives greater chances for survival and development. Both biological and social progress is achieved, mostly, through mutual support and cooperation, and not through conflicts and struggles. Social behavior originated, in the evolutionary sense, before the emergence of man, so man is naturally adapted to live in society without additional rules and regulations. Traditional societies, which lived in clans and tribes, possessed customs and taboos that ensured cooperation and mutual assistance between members of those societies.

                                      Collectivist Anarchy

In line with this view of the social nature of man, Kropotkin advocated a collectivist and socialist (communist) form of anarchy. He believed that unlimited individualism was a product of the modern age, and especially of the capitalist race for profit. In his book The Conquest of Bread (2017, original in French 1892), Kropotkin presents a vision of the future economic order. He believes that industrial progress will enable the communist economy. He advocates communism that would function as a decentralized economic system in which people would be united in voluntary economic cooperatives, and where there would be great mutual assistance. Kropotkin also advocated for the economic self-sufficiency of local communities, that is, for the local production of what is needed.

                                         States and Laws

In his essay The State (1897), Kropotkin states that the Roman Empire was a state, while the Greek polis and medieval city-republics were not states. Although the polises and medieval republics had systems of government, the author believes that these governments also had some positive sides, such as assemblies and civilian control of the army. In Europe, states reappeared only at the beginning of the sixteenth century, when they took precedence over free cities and their federations. The state, both in antiquity and in the modern age, served only the interests of the ruling minority. In addition, in contrast to the polises and medieval republics, the state territorially and functionally concentrated all social functions in the hands of a small number of people. In contrast to the state, Kropotkin puts anarchy as “a name given to a principle or theory of life and conduct under which society is conceived without government – harmony in such a society being obtained, not by the submission to law, or by obedience to any authority, but by free agreements concluded between the various groups, territorial and professional, freely constituted for the sake of production and consumption, as also for the satisfaction of the infinite variety of needs and aspirations of a civilized being.” (Kropotkin, 1897).

One of the main instrument that states used to subjugate society were laws, which always function only in the interest of the privileged classes. Customs and taboos that regulated relations in traditional societies have been replaced by laws in states. There are three types of laws: 1) laws that protect property - they serve to appropriate the products of workers and regulate relations between capitalists, 2) laws that protect the government - this category consists of constitutions and similar laws that establish administrative mechanisms of government to protect the interests of ruling classes, 3) laws that protect people - they are the most important because they serve to protect the security of the ruling classes. Kropotkin believes that most criminal acts are the product of those very laws and the authority behind them. Prisons are the worst product of government and law, because they not only do not reduce crime, but also serve to destroy the will of individuals, and it is not possible to improve them. He believes that the abolition of all types of laws, as well as prisons, will eliminate the causes of criminal acts. People who continue to behave anti-socially will be exposed to public pressure, so they will be forced, but also supported by society, to reform their behavior.

Kropotkin advocated that people, on their own, should determine the rules that everyone will respect together. Adherence to these rules will be ensured via censorship and solidarity, not laws and penalties. Kropotkin believed that a society free from the political domination and economic exploitation would be a truly free society guided by innate instincts of compassion, cooperation, and mutual assistance.                                                            

Main works

In Russian and French Prisons (1887);

Anarchist Morality (1890);

La Conquête du Pain (1892); 

The Great French Revolution 1789-1793 (1893);

Anarchism: Its Philosophy and Ideal (1896);

The State: Its Historic Role (1897);

Fields, Factories, and Workshops (1899);

Modern Science and Anarchism (1901);

Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution (1902);

Ideals and Realities in Russian Literature (1905);

The Terror in Russia (1909); 

Anarchism: A Collection of Revolutionary Writings (2002);

Direct Struggle Against Capital: A Peter Kropotkin Anthology (2014);

Memoirs of a Revolutionist: 4 (The Kropotkin Collection) (2018).

Works translated into English:

The Conquest of Bread: 1 (The Kropotkin Collection) (2017, in French 1892).