Words of a Rebel

Pyotr Alekseevich Kropotkin (1842–1921) was a famous revolutionary anarchist, historian and philosopher, geographer and geomorphologist. A prince from an ancient family whose roots go back to the legendary Rurik, in his youth he took part in scientific expeditions across Siberia, Transbaikalia, and Manchuria, made a number of crucial discoveries, became a member of the Russian Geographical Society, and was awarded the society’s gold medal.

George Bernard Shaw called him “one of the saints of the century,” while Oscar Wilde believed that the Russian prince “lives a perfectly fulfilled life.” “The Speeches of a Rebel” was written by Kropotkin in 1885, but first published in Russian only twenty years later. This work is the quintessence of his ideas about what society and the state should be if they are founded on anarchist principles. And it is not just abstract reasoning—it is a concept grounded in deep, painstaking work with historical and sociological knowledge, as well as a profound philosophical search for the path to an ideal society, as envisioned by the “rebel prince.”