Pyotr Kropotkin

Pyoter Alexeyevich Kropotkin (Russian: Пётр Алексе́евич Кропо́ткин, occasionally romanized as Pioter, Peter, Bread Santa, or even "stinky P" Kropotkin) (1842–1921) was a Russian zoologist known primarily as one of the primary thinkers of anarcho-communism. Kropotkin was an outspoken opponent of Social Darwinism, drawing on research performed in Siberia to argue that altruism was an evolutionary advantage. His notable books include The Conquest of Bread[note 1] and Mutual Aid: A Factor Of Evolution, which both proposed an equal role for cooperation as opposed to competition alone in driving evolution, and Fields, Factories, and Workshops, which includes a repudiation of the ideas of Thomas Malthus[1] and comes across rather optimistic about the prospects for technology improving industrial and agricultural output, leading to economic decentralism and local self-sufficiency. Kropotkin advocated communal living and a gift economy and argued for the abolition of money and written law.

Smash the state
Anarchism
It's not anarchy
It's anarchism!
Domestic terrorists?
I'm not a fascist, I like...
Actually fascism is cool
v - t - e

Kropotkin had an uneasy relationship with the "mainstream" Russian communist movement and ultimately rejected the Bolsheviks, claiming after the Bolshevik seizure of power that "This buries the revolution",[2] and said this demonstrated "how the revolution was not to be made — that is, by authoritarian rather than libertarian methods." Due to his popularity, the Bolshevik regime permitted Russian anarchists to march -and even carry anti-Bolshevik banners-in a funeral procession for him. It was the last free assembly in Russia until 1987. [citation needed]

Trivia

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  • In late 1921 there was an advert in the British newspaper The Times requesting information on the whereabouts of Kropotkin's will.
gollark: The alcohol is to wipe the unwanted bits off if you make a mistake, I assume.
gollark: Imagine NOT continuously buying/spontaneously having random ballpoint pens.
gollark: Etch your data into PCBs?
gollark: ed, the standard editor.
gollark: Anyway, my programs all access the canonical GTech™ time servers when doing all operations, so it's fine.

See also

Notes
  1. Known as The Bread Book by followers and fans.

References
  1. https://www.marxists.org/subject/science/essays/kropotkin.htm
  2. See the Encyclopedia Britannica (a publication to which Kropotkin once contributed) article here
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