Communism -- Soviet Union; Goldman, Emma, 1869-1940; Soviet Union -- History -- Revolution, 1917-1921 -- Personal narratives, American
When I reached Moscow in January, 1921, I learned that Peter Kropotkin
had been stricken with pneumonia. I immediately offered to nurse him,
but as one nurse was already in attendance and the Kropotkin cottage was
too small to accommodate extra visitors, it was agreed that Sasha
Kropotkin, who was then in Moscow, should go to Dmitrov to find out
whether I was needed. I had previously arranged to leave for Petrograd
the next day. Till the moment of departure I waited for a call from the
village; none coming, I concluded that Kropotkin was improving. Two days
later, in Petrograd, I was informed by Ravitch that Kropotkin had grown
worse and that I was asked to come to Moscow at once. I left
immediately, but unfortunately my train was ten hours overdue, so that I
reached Moscow too late to connect with Dmitrov. There were at the time
no morning trains to the village and it was not till the eve of
February 7th that I was at last seated in a train bound for the place.
Then the engine went off for fuel and did not return until 1 A.M. of the
next day. When I finally arrived at the Kropotkin cottage, on February
8th, I learned the terrible news that Peter had died about an hour
before. He had repeatedly called for me, but I was not there to render
the last service to my beloved teacher and comrade, one of the world’s
greatest and noblest spirits. It had not been given to me to be near him
in his last hours. I would at least remain until he was carried to his
final resting place.
Two things had particularly impressed me on my two previous visits to
Kropotkin: his lack of bitterness toward the Bolskeviki, and the fact
that he never once alluded to his own hardships and privations. It was
only now, while the family was preparing for the funeral, that I learned
some details of his life under the Bolshevik régime. In the early part
of 1918 Kropotkin had grouped around him some of the ablest specialists
in political economy. His purpose was to make a careful study of the
resources of Russia, to compile these in monographs and to turn them to
practical account in the industrial reconstruction of the country.
Kropotkin was the editor-in-chief of the undertaking. One volume was
prepared, but never published. The Federalist League, as this scientific
group was known, was dissolved by the Government and all the material
confiscated.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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