Kropotkin, Read, and the Intellectual History of British Anarchism: Between Reason and Romanticism

262 Pages·2015·1.19 MB·English

by  Matthew S. Adams (auth.)

Kropotkin, Read, and the Intellectual History
of British Anarchism
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Kropotkin, Read, and the
Intellectual History
of British Anarchism
Between Reason and Romanticism
Matthew S. Adams
UniversityofVictoria,Canada
©MatthewS.Adams2015
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2015 978-1-137-39260-2
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Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
1 Contexts:AnarchisminBritishIntellectualHistory,
1886–1968 10
ProgressandPoverty:Debatingthestate 13
MemoirsofaRevolutionist:Kropotkinandanarchism 20
ThisTorchofFreedom:War,culture,andpolitics 29
TheTruthofaFewSimpleIdeas:HerbertReadandanarchism 37
KropotkinandReadincontext 46
2 Foundations:System-BuildingPhilosophy 48
ModernScienceandAnarchism:Kropotkin’ssynthetic
philosophy 50
TowardsanAestheticPhilosophy:Thereluctant
systembuilder 62
Kropotkin,Read,andsystembuilding 73
3 Statism:ThePowerofHistory 75
ThePlaceofAnarchisminSocialisticEvolution:
Kropotkin’shistoryofideas 77
TheState:ItsHistoricRole–Revolutionariesandtheir
historicrole 83
Icon&Idea:Read’sapproachtohistory 89
TheReconcilingImage:Thesocialbasisofart 94
Kropotkin,Read,andhistory 99
4 Revolution:TheJourneytoCommunism 101
TheInevitabilityofRevolution:Statepower,fatalism,
andevolution 103
TheConquestofBread:Creatingthefuture
andrevolutionaryviolence 111
TheRomanticRevolution:Knightlypoliticsandeducation
asrevolution 120
ThePre-requisiteofPeace:Pacifism,pacificism,andviolence 130
Kropotkin,Read,andrevolution 137
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viii Contents
5 Utopia:ImaginingPost-capitalistSociety 139
WhatMustWeDo?:Theutilityofutopianism 141
BrainWorkandManualWork:Labour,creativity,
andcommunism 149
‘Uniformityisdeath’:Theincommensurabilityofvalues
inutopia 155
TheRepublicofRoncador:Read’searlyutopianism 162
ACivilizationfromUnder:Read’saestheticutopia 169
ACommunityofIndividuals:Stirner,Jung,andKropotkin 175
Kropotkin,Read,andutopia 179
Conclusion:InventingaTradition 182
Notes 188
Bibliography 218
Index 235
Acknowledgements
This book is the product of three cities: Manchester; Washington,
DC; and Victoria, British Columbia. It started life at the University of
Manchester in 2011, under the guidance of Stuart Jones and Kevin
Morgan, and I am indebted to both for their advice and astute criti-
cism. I am also grateful to Ruth Kinna and Michael Sanders for their
careful reading and thoughtful comments on earlier versions of this
work.
Icompletedasignificantamountoftheresearchforthisbookwhilst
IwasBritishResearchFellowintheJohnW.KlugeCenter,attheLibrary
ofCongressinWashington,DC.IamgratefultotheFellowsoftheKluge
CenterformakingmytimeinDCsoproductive.
The opportunity to revise this book for publication was afforded by
my appointment as Banting Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of
Victoria.AllanAntliffwenttogreatlengthstobringmetoCanada,for
whichIamveryappreciative.
I shared my time at Manchester with a wonderful cohort of
scholars who each helped in various ways. I’m particularly grate-
ful to Catherine Feely, Vicky Morrisroe, Iain Stewart, Luke Kelly,
Ben Anderson, Beck Conway, Tom White, Jason Crowley, and David
Woodbridge. Dominique Meithing was foolhardy enough to read
early portions of the manuscript and offered a number of thought-
ful comments, and thanks go to Timo Schaefer and Huw Wahl for
discussing aspects of my research with me. I’m also indebted to
Mike Dasher (dascodesign.com) who provided the cover art for this
book.
I am thankful to the unflappable librarians and archivists at the fol-
lowing institutions: John Rylands Library, University of Manchester;
The British Library of Political and Economic Science, London School
of Economics; The British Library, Manuscripts Collection; The British
Library, Newspapers Collection; Senate House Library, University
of London; McPherson Library, University of Victoria; Brotherton
Library, University of Leeds; Salford Working Class Movement Library;
McKeldin Library, University of Maryland; City of Westminster
Archives Centre; Royal Geographical Society; and the Bishopsgate
Institute.
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