КРОПОТКИН ПЁТР

Kropotkin Pyotr Alexeyevich (1842–1921)

Russian theoretician of anarchism and geographer, member of a princely family. Took part in explorations (mainly in Siberia) and collected interesting material on physical geography. Kropotkin rationalised the theory of continental glaciation: Issledovaniye o lednikovom periodye (The Ice Age, an Enquiry), 1876.

In the 1870s, Kropotkin joined the Narodnik movement (see Narodism), was imprisoned in 1874, and escaped abroad two years later. In 1917, Kropotkin returned to Russia. In his works Khleb i Volya (Bread and Freedom), 1892; Sovremennaya nauka i anarkhism (Modern Science and Anarchism), 1913; etc., he developed the theory of so-called communist anarchism. For Kropotkin, the society of the future was to be a federation of free productive communities, formed as a result of a social revolution.

Kropotkin's philosophic views were a blending of positivism and mechanistic materialism. Contrary to the Marxist concept of history, Kropotkin proclaimed the concept of abstract mutual aid, which he considered to be the corner-stone of social development. Repudiating dialectics, Kropotkin considered the inducto-deductive method of natural science to be the only scientific method of thinking. He was considerably influenced by the positivism of Comte and Spencer.

Кропоткин

(До 1930 - Тихоно-Задонский) поселок городского типа Иркутской области РСФСР. Расположен на Патомском нагорье, в 135 км к С.-В. от г. Бодайбо. Добыча золота. Переименован в честь П. А. Кропоткина.