Peter Kropotkin’s Last Letter

The following letter was written by Peter Kropotkin to his friend, De Reijger, the Dutch anarchist, who had invited him to come to stay at Haarlem:

“Moscow, Dmitrooka,

“December, 23rd, 1920.

“Dear Comrade De Reijger,—My heartiest thanks for your kind letter of November, which has at last reached me. All three of us, my wife, my daughter, and myself, are profoundly touched by your letter and your invitation. But as perhaps you know already from the letter which I sent to the comrades of the ‘Berlin Syndicalist,’ our position is of as bad to-day as it was last year. We have the necessities of life, and considering one could not say that everywhere else in Europe, it is a great deal.

“The social revolution has involuntarily taken a Centralist and authoritarian turn in Russia. Still, it presents the possibility of a transition from capitalist society to Socialist society. And this thought will certainly encourage the Socialists of Western Europe in their efforts to reconstruct society on the basis of anti-capitalist equality. In addition, beyond all doubt, the Centralist faults of the Russian Communist revolution will assist the workers of other countries to avoid similar mistakes.

“Fraternal greetings,

“PETER KROPOTKIN.

“P.S.—We live in a little town 60 kils to the north of Moscow, where we have a little kitchen-garden which my wife works. Unfortunately, I am no longer myself able to carry out physical work, so my wife alone looks after the vegetables we require for the winter. I am at present engaged on a large work, ‘Ethics on the Naturalist Basis.’”

Exploité, March 9th.