The Problem of Degeneration in the Anarchist thought of Peter Kropotkin
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.34767/SIIP.2019.18.12Keywords:
anarchism, communism, Darwinism, eugenics, neoLamarckism, capitalismAbstract
Peter Kropotkin was one of the most theorists of anarchism, a respected scholar and a leading representative of the so-called Russian (Eastern) Darwinism. Merging political and scientific ambition by the “anarchist prince” underlaid his scientism and was an assumption for making a critical analysis of existing socio-economic reality in the light of its influence on the biological and moral condition of humankind. The Russian anarchist was convinced about the destructive influence of conditions produced by the state and capitalism which he found as the fundamental cause of human degeneration. In this context, Kropotkin’s political proposals may be seen as a try to overcome a progressing both biological and moral crisis of humankind. The aim of this article is to present the mentioned analysis and to demonstrate the influence and similarities of Kropotkin’s project to the so-called theory of degenerationthat was popular in the second half of XIX century.
References
Avrich, P. (1971). The Russian anarchists. Princeton (New Jersey): Princeton University Press.
Cleminson, R.M. (2016). Between Germanic and Latin eugenics: Portugal, 1930–1960. Hist. cienc. saude-Manguinhos, 23(1), 73–92. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1590/S0104–59702016000500005.
Dikötter, F. (1998). Race Culture: Recent Perspectives on the History of Eugenics. The American Historical Review, 103(2), 467–478. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2649776.
Forajter, W. (2014). Krowy Karola Darwina i „bydło” Wacława Nałkowskiego. O paradoksach etyki ewolucjonistycznej, Wiek XIX. Rocznik Towarzystwa Literackiego im. Adama Mickiewicza, VII (XLIX), 339–352, DOI: 10.l83l8/WIEKXIX.2O14.21.
Galton, F. (1865). Hereditary Character and Talent. Macmillan’s Magazine, 12,157–166.
Girón, Á. (2003). Kropotkin between Lamarck and Darwin: The impossible synthesis. Asclepio, 55(1), 189–214. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3989/asclepio.2003.v55.i1.94.
Godfrey, B.S., Williams, C.A., Lawrence, P.M. (2008). History & crime. Los Angeles (Calif.): Sage publ.
Hashemian, F., Yach, D. (2007). Public Health in a Globalizing World: Challenges and Opportunit. W: G. Ritzer (red.), The Blackwell companion to globalization. Malden MA, Oxford: Blackwell Pub.
Jablonka, E., Lamb, M.J. (2008). Soft inheritance: Challenging the modern synthesis. Genetics and Molecular Biology, 31(2), 389–395. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1590/S1415–47572008000300001.
Kaniok, P.E. (2012). Z historii badań nad rodzicami dzieci z niepełnosprawnością. Seminare. Poszukiwania naukowe, 31, s. 197–206.
Kevles, D.J. (1995). In the Name of Eugenics: Genetics and the Uses of Human Heredity. ISSR Library. Harvard University Press.
Kropotkin, P.A. (1886a). Law and authority: An anarchist essay. London: International Publishing Co.
Kropotkin, P.A. (1886b). The place of Anarchism in socialistic evolution. London: International Publishing Co.
Kropotkin, P.A. (1887a). In Russian and French prisons. London: Ward and Downey.
Kropotkin, P.A. (1887b). The Scientific Basis of Anarchy. W: A.R. Parsons (red.),Anarchism its philosophy and scientific basis as defined by some of its apostles.Chicago: Mrs. A.R. Parsons.
Kropotkin, P.A. (1897). The Population of Russia. The Geographical Journal, 10(2),196–202. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1774603.
Kropotkin, P.A. (1901b). Fields, factories and workshops. New York: G.P. Putnam’s sons.
Kropotkin, P.A. (1909). The terror in Russia: An appeal to the British nation (4th ed.). London: Methuen & Co.
Kropotkin, P.A. (1912a). Modern science and anarchism. London: Freedom press.
Kropotkin, P.A. (1912b). The Sterilization of the Unfit. Mother Earth, VII(10), 77–78.
Kropotkin, P.A. (1920). The Direct Action of Environment and Evolution. Washington: Government Printing Office.
Kropotkin, P.A. (1930). Do Młodzieży. Warszawa: Spółdzielnia Wydawnicza Młodzieży ZEW.
Kropotkin, P.A. (1949). Etyka: Pochodzenie i rozwój moralności. Łódź: „Słowo”.
Kropotkin, P.A. (1959). Wspomnienia rewolucjonisty. Biblioteka pamiętników polskich i obcych. Warszawa: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy.
Kropotkin, P.A. (1970). The Spirit Of Revolt. W: R.N. Baldwin (red.), Kropotkin’s Revolutionary Pamphlets. A Collection of Writings. London: Dover Publications.
Kropotkin, P.A. (1995a). Inherited Variation in Animals. W: G. Woodcock (red.), The Collected works of Peter Kropotkin: Evolution and environment. Montréal, New York: Black Rose Books.
Kropotkin, P.A. (1995b). The Inheritance of Acquired Character. W: G. Woodcock (red.), The Collected works of Peter Kropotkin: Evolution and environment. Montréal, New York: Black Rose Books.
Kropotkin, P.A. (1929). Etyka spółczesna. Warszawa: Spółdzielnia Księgarska „Książka”.
Kropotkin, P.A. (1988). Zdobycie chleba (Wyd. 2 podług 14 wyd. oryg). Warszawa: Klub Otrycki; Wydział Propagandy Rady Naczelnej Zrzeszenia Studentów Polskich.
Lankester, E.R. (1880). Degeneration: A chapter in Darwinism. London: Macmillan.
Leonard, T. (2003). “More Merciful and Not Less Effective”: Eugenics and American Economics in the Progressive Era. History of Political Economy, 35(4), 687–712.
Luckin, B. (2006). Revisiting the idea of degeneration in urban Britain, 1830–1900. Urban History, 33(02), 234–252. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0963926805003275.
Madejczyk, P. (2017). Marzenie o narodzie doskonałym: Między biopolityką a etnopolityką. Warszawa: Inst. Studiów Politycznych PAN.
Marshall, P.H. (2010). Demanding the impossible: A history of anarchism. Oakland,CA: PM Press.
Nordau, M. (1895). Degeneration. New York: D. Appleton and Company.
Pick, D. (1999). Faces of degeneration: A European disorder, c.1848-c.1918. Cambridge University Press.
Prins, S.J., Bates, L.M., Keyes, K.M., Muntaner, C. (2015). Anxious? Depressed? You might be suffering from capitalism: Contradictory class locations and the prevalence of depression and anxiety in the USA. Sociology of health & illness, 37(8), 1352–1372. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467–9566.12315.
Robb, G. (1996). The Way of All Flesh: Degeneration, Eugenics, and the Gospel of Free Love. Journal of the History of Sexuality, 6(4), 589–603.
Talbot, E.S. (1898). Degeneracy; its causes, signs and results. London: Scott.
Todes, D.P. (1989). Darwin without Malthus: The struggle for existence in Russian evolutionary thought. Monographs on the history and philosophy of biology. New York: Oxford University Press.
Turda, M. (2010). Modernism and Eugenics. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK.
Turda, M. (2017). Romanian Eugenic Sub-Culture and the Allure of Biopolitics,1918–39. Acta Poloniae Historica, 114, 29. DOI: https://doi.org/10.12775/APH.2016.114.02.
Vorachek, L. (2009). Mesmerists and Other Meddlers: Social Darwinism, Degeneration, And Eugenics In Trilby. Victorian Literature and Culture, 37(1), 197–215. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1060150309090123.
