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The Struggle Between Anarchism And Socialism
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The Struggle Between Anarchism And SocialismHe joined the Jura Federation--Bakunin had just died, so the struggle between anarchism and socialism was at a key moment. However, he was expelled from Switzerland after five years, following a series of anarchist assassinations in Europe in which the Jura Federation played no role. He then went to England, where he was offered membership in the British Royal Geographers Association--he declined because he did not want to be a part of a “royal” organization. Later, Kropotkin was arrested because of a demonstration in Lyons, France, over an anarchist demonstration where bombs were thrown. Though Kropotkin had no relation to the affair, he was charged with “membership in the International Working Men’s Association,” and was sent to prison for three years. The conditions there inspired him to write Prisons And Their Moral Influence On Prisoners, and solidified his hatred of the punishment paradigm. Upon his release and expulsion from France, he went to England and started the anarchist journal Freedom which is still published today, and was inspired to compose the work he had been preparing his whole life, Mutual Aid, a study of evolution. Mutual Aid refutes the notion that evolution is a competitive, dog-eat-dog process--in humans or in animals.
The principled acts described above are only a few examples of Kropotkin’s rigid adherence to principle. Though he mistrusted all government, he is almost universally described as a kind, generous, and thoroughly ethical individual. Romain Rolland stated that while Tolstoy advocated anarchist principles, Kropotkin lived them: he is referred to by many as the “noblest man” they ever encountered. Though Kropotkin was very critical of Kantian ethics as well as other established “moral” systems, he defended the golden rule and lived by it. Even if the ends to a tactic seemed beneficial, he often criticized the means: he criticized comrades who skipped town on bail because they had breached the faith of the bondsmen. He steadfastly opposed the Russian revolutionists accepting aid from the Japanese government during the Russo-Japanese war because of his fundamental opposition to receiving aid from government. Kropotkin, besides his hostility towards government, had a deep belief in the scientific method. His brand of anarchism is basically a set of applied ethics that he developed from his observations of the natural world and of human society. His scientific basis for anarchism is that mutual aid and free cooperation of independent associations is a law of nature. Kropotkin, through his studies of nature, proved that cooperation rather than competition is the way of survival. He showed that even predatory animals, such as eagles, combine their efforts to mutually acquire food. He showed that many “primitive” cultures, uncorrupted by the notion of capitalism and private property, are altogether unfamiliar with killing each other, with lies, theft, and hurtfulness. He points to the pygmies of Africa, the Kalahari bushmen, and other tribal peoples for evidence. He also noted that indigenous tribal peoples of the Americas had no words for “murder” or “theft” except in such cases where they have come into contact with non-native culture. Kropotkin sees such traits as the natural order of things: Since sentient beings desire pleasure and dislike pain, and since everyone has an interest in preserving the race, Kropotkin reasoned that it is our fundamental tendency to help each other willingly. The state, in Kropotkin’s view, is the opponent of this. He argues that the state--and also the family, which he critiques as well--is a relatively recent development in human culture, and that it is a parasite to humans’ fundamental good nature. Since the state itself needs to survive, it has an interest in keeping workers disorganized and crushing their tendencies toward mutual aid. Although the state seeks to eliminate mutual aid, Kropotkin cites various mutual aid societies--trade unions, community organizations for social betterment, etc. --as proof that the mutual aid tendency survives and fights against the state’s evil influence. He points out that every day, millions of people make millions of actions and transactions that have nothing to do with government. Kropotkin says that this demonstrates how our natural state is to be without government. Critical Of Socialism And Other Schools Of AnarchismKropotkin’s hatred for the state made him a bitter opponent of state-run socialism. He felt that capital and the state were mutually supporting, and that it was impossible to demolish one without demolishing the other. He also was suspicious of Marx’s view of the economy as the primary social force--though Kropotkin was a materialist, he thought that other factors such as mutual aid drove class struggle. Kropotkin thought true revolutionary progress came from infusing the masses with revolutionary thinking and feelings rather than economic necessity. To anarchist-communism, the Bakuninist school of thought, he was loyal. He diverged from the anarcho-pacifists, such as Tolstoy, in his refusal to condemn revolutionary violence. Indeed, he thought that most revolutions would necessitate civil war, though this was obviously to be minimized. Further, he thought political assassination was sometimes justified to avoid tyranny. Though he admired the French anarchist Pierre Proudhon, he felt that his “mutualism” was impractical He thought Proudhon’s ideas on restructuring the economy through reorganizing the banks were thoroughly impractical. Other “individualist anarchists,” such as Benjamin Tucker and Max Stirner, he viewed as short-sighted conservatives who valued liberty in some senses, but ignored economic liberty. Without a revolutionary change in the economic system, Kropotkin could not see how political freedom could be maintained. Directory: uploads uploads -> 587 Return function, r i(X) r i(0) r i(1) r i(2) r i(3) 1 0 2 4 6 Thermal Station, I 2 0 1 5 6 3 0 3 5 6 10 uploads -> Department of science and humanities department of mathematics part-a questions and answers uploads -> The Case Against the nypd’s Quota-Driven ‘Broken Windows’ Policing What Is It? uploads -> For want of a nail uploads -> Ownership Models There are two different types of ownership models uploads -> Police Militarization uploads -> City of rising star regular meting thursday, july 14, 2016 uploads -> Township of winfield uploads -> Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act of 2014 uploads -> The Black Panther Party’s Ten-Point Program What We Want Now! Download 5.81 Mb. Share with your friends:
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