Direct Struggle Against Capital: A Peter Kropotkin Anthology

by Pyotr Kropotkin, Iain Mckay (Editor)

"The enemy on whom we declare war is capital, and it is against capital that we will direct all our efforts, taking care not to become distracted from our goal by the phony campaigns and arguments of the political parties. The great struggle that we are preparing for is essentially economic, and so it is on the economic terrain that we should focus our activities." —Peter Kropotkin Peter Kropotkin is by far anarchism’s most influential theorist, and Direct Struggle Against Capital is the most extensive collection of his writings available in English. Over half the selections have been translated for the first time or recovered from long-out-of-print pamphlets and newspapers. The result is a volume that provides an introduction to classic texts, while showing new facets of a familiar and canonical figure. Direct Struggle Against Capital paints a detailed portrait of Kropotkin the revolutionary, the man Emma Goldman described as someone for whom anarchism “was not an ideal for the select few. It was a constructive social theory, destined to usher in a new world for all of mankind.” Fully annotated and featuring a lengthy historical introduction, biographical sketch, glossary, bibliography, and index.
Peter Kropotkin (1842—1921) was one of anarchism's most famous thinkers. His classic works include Conquest of Bread ; Fields, Factories and Workshops ; Memoirs of a Revolutionist ; and Mutual A Factor of Evolution . Iain McKay is author of An Anarchist FAQ (volumes 1 & 2) and Property Is A Pierre-Joseph Proudhon Anthology .

Genres: Politics, Philosophy, Nonfiction, History, Anarchism, Anthologies

680 pages, Paperback

First published February 17, 2014

About the author

Pyotr Alekseyevich Kropotkin, prince, Russian anarchist, and political philosopher, greatly influenced movements throughout the world and maintained that cooperation, not competition, the means, bettered the human condition.

Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (Пётр Алексеевич Кропоткин, other spelling: Pëtr Kropotkin, Pierre Kropotkine), who described him as "a man with a soul of that beautiful white Christ, which seems coming." He wrote many books, pamphlets and articles, the most prominent being The Conquest of Bread and Fields, Factories and Workshops , and his principal scientific offering, Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution . He also contributed to the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition .

Reviews

[Ollie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like with Proudhon's whopping collection "Property is Theft," AK Press has taken it upon themselves to create an anthology of Kropotkin's work. That's no small task and it's absolutely evident in this volume "Direct Struggle Against Capital." At first I was intrigued by the title, but after a couple chapters I found it to be a fitting title: Kropotkin used the expression "direct struggle against capital" very often when he wrote about how the workers should orient themselves when fighting for their rights.

Starting off with 100 pages which very nicely summarizes Kropotkin's life, Direct Struggle Against Capital's almost 700 pages then collects several articles, letters, chapters, and speeches of Kropotkin's. Right off the bat, editor Iain McKay ought to be commended for his work, as the amount of material he's had to edit is simply monumental. Another thing also becomes evident when reading this book, and that's that Kropotkin has had a very consistent view on the working class and their relation to the economy and politics. First off, the workers must not involve themselves with getting elected or with elections unless it is happening within their own ranks. Trying to improve their lives through the state is absolutely futile as the state itself functions to promote capital, which in turn functions to oppress workers. Second, the state itself must be abolished once revolutions occur in order to prevent a centralization of power and promote government from the bottom up (which Kropotkin claims is what doomed the Paris Commune). Third, a revolution cannot be carried out by allowing a certain group of people to rule over another, whether this group is the bourgeousie or the proletariat (as Marxism insists). If that happens, you simply the ruling party consolidates its power and you replace one group of tyrants for another. These ideas surface over and over again when reading Kropotkin throughout the years, or at least, it's what McKay has chosen to highlight in his editing. As such, these writings, though extensive, are surprisingly easy to follow.

Along with these, several other topics are discussed in this anthology, including his proposal of the daily functions of an anarchist society (from the Conquest of Bread), Kropotkin's life (from Memoirs of a Revolutionist), the Paris Commune, the French Revolution, the Anarchist trial in Lyon in 1883, and the prison system. All of these writings come through with the clarity and simplicity that Kropotkin's writing is known for. Unfortunately, there are some weaknesses in Direct Struggle Against Capital, like his very thin analysis of how education in an anarchist society would work, very few writings on post-revolutionary Russia (perhaps he was not allowed to write or his writings have not survived), and no writings at all on Kropotkin's support of the Allied forces during World War One. And for being his most popular book, Mutual Aid seems awfully underrepresented (though I will admit that I always thought Mutual Aid was a little overrated and too wordy for the idea it was trying to get across). Also, sometimes Kropotkin just turns to the virtue of humans instead of examples or facts to defend his position. But maybe Kropotkin just didn't give these topics too much thought or these writings haven't survived.

Regardless, Direct Struggle Against Capital is a hefty, enlightening, and pretty thorough collection that not just helps us understand Kropotkin and Anarchism, but also the world we live in, and perhaps might live in in the future.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is over a thousand pages, so if you read it you should either pick and choose which essays to read, or be extremely interested in the topic.

I don'r really know how to properly "review" or even summarize it. Its a huge collection of essays by Kropotkin relating to anarcho-communism in some way. Some are about the history of the medieval commune, some are polemics, some are economic pieces, some are about how a revolution should occur, some are refuting specific criticisms of anarcho-communism. Its the breadth of Kropotkin's work.

However one thing I'll note, is that in aggregate this was not as good a book as Mutual Aid. The reason for that is that Mutual Aid was much more focused, and gave compelling biological and historical arguments for anarchism and anarcho-communism, whereas this is more all over the place, and Kropotkin treads into areas where he either is simply more incorrect (economics) or where he has to rely more on polemic.

Nevertheless, it had a bunch of historical content, which was the most interesting part of the text for me. Also the refutations of arguments coming from Marx or Proudhon or the Jacobins. All good stuff.

I had mainly read this actually because I've been talking to a bunch of people who stridently oppose anarcho-communism and Kropotkin, but are under a lot of misapprehensions about what Kropotkin and anarcho-communists actually believe. For instance, they didnt seem to understand that Kropotkin didn't advocate for mindless slaughter of the bourgious class, random collectivization of all farmland including that of kulaks, and they didn't seem to understand how important the medieval past was for Kropotkin, with its free cities, communes, etc. I think by reading this, and excerpting the relevant sections for them, I've enlightened my social clique a bit on what this ideology actually consists of. I still don't agree with Kropotkin on some very core aspects of his ideology, such as his opposition to property, the wage system, and the undue emphasis which he places on mutual aid as opposed to competition (though he does take a much more nuanced and realistic position on this in Mutual Aid). But his historiography is great, his tactics at least MADE sense in the 19th century (maybe they still apply, idk) and if properly considered his stance should persuade an individualist, libertarian, a nationalist (anarcho-communism, libertarianism, and nationalism are joined at the hip of the medieval city), or a subscriber of any other ideology to incorporate his findings into their worldview.

[Ash Hermida · Rating 3 out of 5]

Obviously didn't read the whole thing because I'm not fucking insane. Very informative on the historic plane, however on the anarchist-ideology general stuff it's surprisingly closed - minded... Very strong opinions on terrible takes lmao. My main problem was honestly the white man type of writing, like every single theory book
, I know, but still