Anarchism: A Criticism and History of the Anarchist TheoryZenker, E. V. (Ernst Viktor)
History
Anarchism: A Criticism and History of the Anarchist Theory
Zenker, E. V. (Ernst Viktor)
Anarchism
[3] The chief work of Kropotkin is _La Conquete du Pain_,
Paris, 1892. (The chapter on agriculture was printed
separately as a pamphlet in 1892.) We quote below his
numerous smaller writings in the editions which we possess,
without vouching for the chronological order or completeness
of the list. _Les Paroles d'un Revolte_, 1885; _Revolutionary
Governments_ (trans. from German to French, Anarchist
Library, vol. i.); _Un Siecle d'Attente_, 1789-1889, Paris,
1893; _La Grande Revolution_, Paris, 1893; _Les Temps
Nouveaux_ (conference at London), Paris, 1894; _Jeunes Gens_,
4th ed., Paris, '93; _La Loi et l'Autorite_, 6th ed., Paris,
'92; _Les Prisons_, 2d ed., Paris, '90; _L'Anarchie dans
l'Evolution Socialiste_, 2d ed., Paris, '92; _Esprit de
Revolte_, Paris, '92, 5th ed.; _le Salariat_, 2d ed., Paris,
'92; _La Morale Anarchiste_, 1890; "Anarchist Communion: its
Basis and Principles" (republished by permission of the
editor of the _Nineteenth Century_), London, 1887.
For Kropotkin Anarchy consists in (1) the liberation of the producer
from the yoke of capital, in production in common, and the free
enjoyment of all products of common work; (2) in freedom from any yoke
of government, in the free development of individuals in groups, of
groups in federations, in free organisation rising from the simple to
the complex according to men's needs and mutual endeavours; and (3) in
liberation from religious morality, and a free morality without duty
or sanctions proceeding and becoming customary from the life of the
community itself.[4]
[4] _L'Anarchie_, p. 26.
The postulate of the abolition of the authority of the State is the
well-known, old stock proposal of the Anarchists. But it is noticeable
that Kropotkin attacks the State among other things, because it does
not carry out the maxim of _laisser faire_ so often imposed upon it by
another party. Kropotkin thinks that the State acts rather on the
principle of _not laisser faire_, and is always intervening in favour
of the exploiter as against the exploited (_Les Temps Nouveaux_, p.
46). The State is accordingly a purely civic idea (_l'idee
bourgeoise_), utterly rotten and decaying, only held together by the
plague of laws. All law and dominion, including parliamentary
government, must therefore be put aside, and be replaced by the
"system of no government" and free arrangement (_la libre entente_).
Kropotkin sees everywhere already, even at present in public, and
especially in economic life, germs of this free understanding or
_entente_, in which government never intervenes; what, for example,
in isolated cases two railway companies do in making a free
arrangement about fares and time-tables, is to be the universal form
of society.
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