acter and the far reverberating influences, which can scarcely fail to be immense, we may not yet attempt to estimate. Kropotkin hastened to Russia to take part in it, and there in the heart of Russia, in the midst of the Revolution he had spent his life in preparing, but in which he now felt and alien and which showed itself completely indifferent to him, he at length died.
We must not therefore count Kroptkin a failure. On the contrary he was an immense success. It is true that the pure-hearted enthusiasts of this noble type are apt to overestimate the power of their faith to remove mountains' they do not always recognise, as Diderot, one of the greatest of them, had the genius to see and to acknowledge, that their creed is "diablement ideal. It matters little. They have let the light of their inspiration and their courage so shine before men that it can never be extinguished, but remains an ever burning flame, to keep alive in each one of us some spark of that higher life by which Mankind alone truly lives.
HAVELOCK ELLIS
"WE REPRESENT OURSELVES A FORWARD MOVEMENT OF SOCIETY AS AN APPROACH TO THE ABOLITION OF ALL THE AUTHORITY OF GOVERNMENT, AS A DEVELOPMENT OF FREE AGREEMENT FOR ALL THAT FORMERLY WAS A FUNCTION OF CHURCH AND STATE, AND AS A DEVELOPMENT OF FREE INITIATIVE IN EVERY INDIVIDUAL AND EVERY GROUP. AND THESE ARE THE TENDENCIES WHICH DETERMINE THE TACTICS OF THE ANARCHISTS IN THE LIFE OF BOTH THE INDIVIDUAL AND OUR CIRCLES."
MODERN SCIENCE AND ANARCHISM
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FRIEND AND COMRADE
IN my long life as Socialist and revolutionist, I have had the chance to meet many gifted and exceptional people, excelling in knowledge or talent, and distinguished by greatness of character. I knew even heroic men and women, as well as people with the stamp of genius... But Kropotkin stands as a most conspicuous, strongly defined character even in that gallery of noble fighters for humanitarian ideals and intellectual liberation.
Kropotkin possesses in delightful harmony the qualities of a true inductive scientist and evolutionary philosopher with the greatness of a Socialist thinker and fighter, inspired by the highest ideals of social justice. At the same time by his temperament he is undoubtedly one of the most ardent and fearless propagandists of the social revolution and of the complete emancipation of working humanity through its own initiative and efforts. And all these qualities are united in Kropotkin so closely and intimately that one cannot separate Kropotkin, the scientist, from Kropotkin, the Socialist and revolutionist.
As scientist - geographer and geologist - Kropotkin is famed for his theory of the formation of mountain chains and high plateaux, a theory now proved and accepted by science, and, in recognition of which the mountains in East Siberia explored by him have been named Kropotkin mountains.
As naturalist and inductive thinker on evolution, Kropotkin has earned undying glory and admiration by his "Mutual Aid," a work showing his vast knowledge as a naturalist and sociologist.
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