OBITUARY

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 108, 31 January 1921, Page 6

OBITUARY

- PRINCE KROPOTKIN

RECORD OF A NOBLE LIFE

(Rec. January 30, 5.5 p.m.) London, January 29.

The death is announzeed of Prince Peter Alexeivitch Kropotkin.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.

Peter Kropotkin was horn at Moscow in 1812. Descended from one of the very oldest and most aristocratic families of Russia, ho entered at fifteen years of age tho corps of Imperial Pages, and -was attached to the Court, where he grew up. Ho knew Court life thoroughly, and while destined to a milithky career would greatly have preferred! to renounce both Court and camp for the University, the life of a. student. This was impossible; but Kropotkin was determined not to enter a regiment of the Guard and give his. life to parades ami Court balls. Tho Amur region had recently been annexed by Russia. He had read of that great Mississippi of the East and his thoughts turned to the mountains it pierces and the tropics Humboldt had described. Again, the times were ripe for change in 18G2; the serfs had been emancipated, and Kropotkin felt that in Siberia there ■was an immense field for the great reforms that had been made or were approaching. The workers were few there and he would find a field of action to his taste. So when his time came to chooso his regiment he wrote on the list "the mounted! Cossacks of the Amur.” ' For five years he remained in Siberia, leading a most active life officially, exploring the Amur, inquiring into the economic conditions of the various districts, seeking to advance the reforms that had been started until ho became convinced of the uselessness of his efforts. He found the lusher administration of Siberia influeniedl by excellent intentions, but incapable inherently of making any real advance in tAe interests of the country. Gradually ho turned his energies more and more in the direction of scientific exploration, and in 18G7 he left the Army, returning to St. Petersburg to enter the University, where five more years passed in studv and scientific work. His journeys in Siberia had convinced him that the mountains then drawn on the maps of Northern Asia were mostly fantastic, and gave no idea of the structure o' the country. To discover the true leading principle in the disposition of the mountains of Asia became the question that absorbed his attention for years, and after long and patient study and research he solved it. Few people, even few cartographers, now could say whence came all the changes in our maps of Asia from those of forty years ago, and Kropotkin declares that "in science it is better that new ideas should make their way independently of any name attached to them.” . This work of clearing up the geography of Asia he considered his chief contribution to science, and it is a great and memorable one. At this point in 1871 Kropotkin was a scientist, eager and esteemed, his work highly valued, revelling in the joys of science. While he was in Finland on a geological expedition the Russian Geographical Society telegraphed offering him its secretaryship, which meant leisure and full freedom to carry out the work he loved.

"But what right had I to tljese higher joys, when all round me was nothing but misery and struggle for a bit of mouldy bread; when whatsoever I should spend to enable me >to live in that world of higher emotions must needs be taken from the very mouths of those who grew the wheat and had not bread enough for their children? From somebody’s mouth it must be taken, because the aggregate production of mankind remains still so low.” So saying, he refused the offer, and set himself to this greater lifework of helping tho masses to realise their position and their possibilities. For over forty years he was a soldier in the war of humanity. Denounced as a conspirator, imprisoned for two years without trial, escaping to England in 1876, again imprisoned in France in 1883, he was released in 188 G at the instance of many of the greatest scientists, and, went to settle in England. There ho continued active and effective, a potent force in moulding the ideas -»f "this and coming generations (stated an English writer a few years ago). In liis book "Mutual Aid” he advanced his theory that it is not a fierce struggle for existence and the survival of the fittest that is the strongest and .most valuable factor in the evolution and progress of animals and. men, but their mutual help and succour. His study of "The Great French Revolution” shows a new and illuminating point of view. It was the peasants who revolted against the State and the landlords and sought to establish the old liberty and equality that hnd existed among tha village communities, and it was the middle class that took advantage of this revolt to destroy the Court and the aristocracy and establish their own power. In “Fields, Victories, and Workshops” he pointed out. the mistake of the usual Socialist idea that we produce more than is needed for all, and that it is the evstem of distribution that is responsible for tho want and misery of to-day. showed that we are not producing the real necessary things in sufficient quantities, hut that, with proper arrangement of our resources, by combining agriculture and manufactures, abundant supplies of all necessaries could Im ’obtained with ease. He was convinced that the new society must spring from the constructive activity of the masses; it is impossible- to dictate to the future, but for the sake of illustration be compares the coming structure with the medieval guilds and tho free cities. But, wise and valuable as his work has been in his writing and public speaking it. has not been a greater contribution to the furtherance of human conditions’than his life itself. Deter Kropotkin’s devotion to an ideal—an ideal from which he has never wavered in tne least—his disinterestedness, his sacrifices, bis magnanimity and unfailing kindness, his unfaltering belief in the inherent goodness of hi.s fellows and in a gold”’’ future, Lave been an inspiration and example for more than a generation. The neoule o' the next generation are growing up into a world that owes much of its hnmaner social ideals to the spn .- and courage of Peter Kropotkin. He Ims aHaineil the highest title to nrai=e end thanks in leaving the won Id of better for his living among them.