Kropotkin, Read, and the Intellectual History of British Anarchism: Between Reason and Romanticism PDF
Preview Kropotkin, Read, and the Intellectual History of British Anarchism: Between Reason and Romanticism
Kropotkin, Read, and the Intellectual History of British Anarchism This page intentionally left blank 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 Allrightsreserved.Noreproduction,copyortransmissionofthis publicationmaybemadewithoutwrittenpermission. Noportionofthispublicationmaybereproduced,copiedortransmitted savewithwrittenpermissionorinaccordancewiththeprovisionsofthe Copyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988,orunderthetermsofanylicence permittinglimitedcopyingissuedbytheCopyrightLicensingAgency, SaffronHouse,6–10KirbyStreet,LondonEC1N8TS. Anypersonwhodoesanyunauthorizedactinrelationtothispublication maybeliabletocriminalprosecutionandcivilclaimsfordamages. Theauthorhasassertedhisrighttobeidentifiedastheauthorofthiswork inaccordancewiththeCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988. Firstpublished2015by PALGRAVEMACMILLAN PalgraveMacmillanintheUKisanimprintofMacmillanPublishersLimited, registeredinEngland,companynumber785998,ofHoundmills,Basingstoke, HampshireRG216XS. PalgraveMacmillanintheUSisadivisionofStMartin’sPressLLC, 175FifthAvenue,NewYork,NY10010. PalgraveMacmillanistheglobalacademicimprintoftheabovecompanies andhascompaniesandrepresentativesthroughouttheworld. Palgrave®andMacmillan®areregisteredtrademarksintheUnitedStates, theUnitedKingdom,Europeandothercountries. ISBN 978-1-349-67882-2 ISBN 978-1-137-39262-6 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-137-39262-6 Thisbookisprintedonpapersuitableforrecyclingandmadefromfully managedandsustainedforestsources.Logging,pulpingandmanufacturing processesareexpectedtoconformtotheenvironmentalregulationsofthe countryoforigin. AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. AcatalogrecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheLibraryofCongress. For that which is incapable of change has no history, and records which state only the invariable need not be written, and could not be read. John Ruskin, Modern Painters, Volume III (1856) This page intentionally left blank 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 vii 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. ix
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