Endnotes explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Power and Oppression

  Kropotkin's critique of the state as a power placed above society and the concentration of functions in few hands.

• Work and Creativity

  Kropotkin argues that work is a physiological necessity and that overwork, not work, is repulsive; four hours of useful work per day would suffice.

• Socialism vs. Anarchism

  The endnotes contrast anarchist communism with collectivism and discuss syndicalism and guild socialism as alternative movements.

Characters to notice

• Peter Kropotkin

  Quoted extensively on the nature of the state, anarchist communism, work, and social organization.

• G. D. H. Cole

  Referenced for his works on syndicalism, guild socialism, and the World of Labour.

• Michel Bakunin

  Mentioned in the context of the struggle between Marx and Bakunin and the revival of his ideas.

• Karl Marx

  Referenced in relation to the Communist Manifesto and the conflict with Bakunin.

Key passages

• “Representative government has accomplished its historical mission; it has given a mortal blow to Court-rule; and by its debates it has awakened public interest in public questions. But, to see in it the government of the future Socialist society, is to commit a gross error.”

  Kropotkin argues that while representative government has ended court rule and sparked public interest, it is a mistake to think it will be the government of a future socialist society.

  Kropotkin's critique of representative government as unsuitable for socialism.

• “Three-quarters of all the acts which are brought every year before our courts have their origin, either directly or indirectly, in the present disorganized state of society with regard to the production and distribution of wealth—not in the perversity of human nature.”

  Kropotkin claims that most crimes stem from social disorganization in wealth production and distribution, not from inherent human evil.

  Kropotkin's argument that society, not individuals, is responsible for crime.

• “Overwork is repulsive to human nature—not work. Overwork for supplying the few with luxury—not work for the well-being of all. Work, labor, is a physiological necessity, a necessity of spending accumulated bodily energy, a necessity which is health and life itself.”

  Kropotkin distinguishes between overwork, which is harmful, and work itself, which is a natural and healthy human need.

  Kropotkin's view on the nature of work and overwork.

• “As to the so-often repeated objection that nobody would labor if he were not compelled to do so by sheer necessity, we heard enough of it before the emancipation of slaves in America, as well as before the emancipation of serfs in Russia; and we have had the opportunity of appreciating it at its just value.”

  Kropotkin dismisses the objection that people only work under compulsion, citing historical examples of emancipation that proved otherwise.

  Kropotkin's rebuttal to the claim that labor requires coercion.