Peter Kropotkin: 26 books

“The man who is shut up in a prison is so far from being bettered by the change, that he comes out more resolutely the foe of society than he was when he went in.” This statement is the animating principle of Peter Kropotkin's libertarian classic, IN RUSSIAN AND FRENCH PRISONS, first published...

This publication consists of three separate articles which were first published in Kropotkin’s paper Le Revolte for the anniversaries of the Paris Commune in March 1880, March 1881, and March 1882. They were put together to form a single chapter of Kropotkin’s first political book  (‘La...

"In Russian and French prisons is a 1887 essay by Piotr Kropotkin. It is more than a crude and detailed description of the Russian prison system and its comparison to Western European jails. It is also a very personal document by the famous Anarchist Prince, a description of hell rooted in his...

Peter Kropotkin’s (1842-1921) account of his journey from privileged childhood, through military service and two years in prison to anarchist thinker and activist was originally serialised in The Atlantic Monthly from September 1898 to September 1899. It provides a fascinating account of his intellectual...

Peter Kropotkin was born a Russian prince whose father owned 1,200 serfs. As he aged, he came to hate the inequality in his society, and renounced his royal title. He was imprisoned and spent decades in exile for his views, which he has laid out in this book. He points out the flaws inherent in feudalism...

Peter Kropotkin's entry on anarchism for the 11th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica (1910). Anarchism is "the 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 submission to law,...

When my attention was drawn, later on, to the relations between Darwinism and Sociology, I could agree with none of the works and pamphlets that had been written upon this important subject. They all endeavoured to prove that Man, owing to his higher intelligence and knowledge, may mitigate the harshness...

'Well-being for all is not a dream.' In this brilliantly enjoyable, challenging rallying-cry of a book, Kropotkin lays out the heart of his anarchist beliefs - beliefs which surged around the world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and which have a renewed relevance and poignancy today....

Sociability and need of mutual aid and support are such inherent parts of human nature that at no time of history can we discover men living in small isolated families, fighting each other for the means of subsistence. On the contrary, modern research, as we saw it in the two preceding chapters, proves...

When my attention was drawn, later on, to the relations between Darwinism and Sociology, I could agree with none of the works and pamphlets that had been written upon this important subject. They all endeavoured to prove that Man, owing to his higher intelligence and knowledge, may mitigate the harshness...