To begin with, if man, since his origin, has always lived in societies, the State is but one of the forms of social life, quite recent as far as regards European societies. Men lived thousands of years before the first States were constituted; Greece and Rome existed for centuries before the Macedonian and Roman Empires were built up, and for us modern Europeans the centralized States date but from the sixteenth century. It was only then, after the defeat of the free medieval Communes had been completed that the mutual insurance company between military, judicial, landlord, and capitalist authority which we call "State," could be fully established.


Anarchism: Its Philosophy and Ideal (1896)

Peter Kropotkin Quotes

To begin with, if man, since his origin, has always lived in societies, the State is but one of the forms of social life, quite recent as far as...

To begin with, if man, since his origin, has always lived in societies, the State is but one of the forms of social life, quite recent as far as...

To begin with, if man, since his origin, has always lived in societies, the State is but one of the forms of social life, quite recent as far as...

To begin with, if man, since his origin, has always lived in societies, the State is but one of the forms of social life, quite recent as far as...