Peter Kropotkin was born on this day in 1842. An accomplished geographer, he recognized that the best way to improve the lot of humanity was not to pursue scientific research in a vacuum but to set about transforming the structures of society.
Towards that end, he advocated revolutionary politics and emphasized the importance of mutual aid. Today, the model he promoted flourishes in a variety of forms. It was one of the inspirations for Alcoholics Anonymous.
But Kropotkin was not just a thinker. He was also a fighter who fought the police with brass knuckles and spent years incarcerated for his efforts. You can read about his daring escape from prison in Tsarist Russia here:
https://crimethinc.com/KropotkinBreakout
"Either the State for ever, crushing individual and local life, taking over in all fields of human activity, bringing with it its wars and its domestic struggles for power, its palace revolutions which only replace one tyrant by another, and inevitably at the end of this development there is… death!
"Or the destruction of States, and new life starting again in thousands of centers on the principle of the lively initiative of the individual and groups and that of free agreement.
"The choice lies with you!"
-Peter Kropotkin, The State: Its Historic Role
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@CrimethInc This is interesting. Can you explain more about his associations with Alcoholics Anonymous? I always thought this is a religious group. Or in the end they are all healed from alcoholism, because they turned to god and saw the light, blabla. I find it super important to help drug addicts without judgement. But the religious component has always kept me from researching into Alcoholics Anonymous.
The Samaritans in the UK were founded by a Church of England vicar (Chad Varah) but have always been resolutely atheist in the way they deal with people who use their services.
