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Hedges, Chris. “Resistance to Serbia Turns Violent in In the next few years, he was an active participant in
Kosovo.” New York Times, February 17, 1997, 3. the international socialist movement and authored
Layne, Christopher. Blunder in the Balkans: The Clinton many more books, including Conquest of Bread (1892),
Administration’s Bungled War Against Serbia. Fields, Factories, and Workshops (1899), Mutual Aid
Washington, DC: CATO Institute, 1999. (1902), and The Great French Revolution 1789–1793
Rieff, David. “Kosovo’s Humanitarian Circus.” World (1909).
Policy Journal, Fall 2000.
Now known around the world for his political
views, Kropotkin returned home to Russia after the
revolution took place in 1917. He soon became
KROPOTKIN, PETER (1842–1921) dismayed with the authoritarian regime of the
Bolsheviks, and he felt that the revolution had ulti-
mately failed. Kropotkin remained in Russia until his
A Russian geographer and revolutionary, Peter death on February 8, 1921. He left Ethics, Origin, and
Kropotkin published a large body of work promoting Development unfinished, but it was subsequently
anarchism, but was ultimately disappointed in the published in 1924.
economic and social outcomes of Russia’s 1917
revolution. See also ANARCHISM; MIKHAIL BAKUNIN
Born in Moscow to a noble family, Kropotkin held
the title of prince. When he turned 15, he joined the Further Reading
elite Corps des Pages of St. Petersburg so that upon Cahm, Caroline. Kropotkin and the Rise of Revolutionary
graduation he could become a page to Czar Alexander Anarchism, 1872-1886. Cambridge, UK, and New York:
II. In the 1860s, he chose to work in Siberia helping Cambridge University Press, 1989.
to implement Alexander’s social reforms. In 1867, Miller, Martin Alan. Kropotkin. Chicago: University of
he studied the geography of eastern Siberia and was Chicago Press, 1976.
offered the position of secretary of the Imperial Geo- Woodcock, George, and Ivan Avakumovic. Peter Kropo-
tkin: From Prince to Rebel. Montreal, Quebec: Black
graphical Society. Kropotkin turned down the job,
Rose, 1990.
renounced his aristocratic heritage, and devoted himself
to instigating Russian revolution.
Kropotkin developed a theory of anarchist commu- KU KLUX KLAN
nism, a system in which goods and services could be
distributed freely and equally with the cooperation of
every member of society. Kropotkin was also a pro- The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is the oldest organized
ponent of “propaganda by deed,” a theory of Mikhail hate group in the United States, dating back more than
Bakunin that argued individuals should undertake vio- 135 years to the Reconstruction Era following the end
lent actions in order to inspire revolutionary fervor in of the Civil War. Although the Klan’s original intent
the general population. In the early 1870s, Kropotkin was to assert the supremacy of the white race over the
joined the revolutionary First International Working newly freed black slaves, over the decades the organ-
Men’s Association. ization widened the scope of its hatred to include
He was arrested for openly criticizing the Russian Roman Catholics, Jews, immigrants, and homosex-
government but then managed to escape to uals. The KKK has been a model for other extremist
Switzerland. His extreme socialist views made groups in the country, who have emulated Klan prac-
him unpopular in Switzerland as well, so in 1881 he tices of intimidation and violence.
moved to France. The French authorities arrested
Kropotkin in 1883 for sedition. While in prison, he THE HISTORICAL KLAN
wrote a book on his anarchist views called Paroles d’un
revolte (Words of a Rebel, 1885); he often explains his Accounts vary, but many believe that six Confederate
views from a scientific standpoint. After he was soldiers formed the KKK on Christmas Eve 1865, in
released and had moved to England, he wrote another Pulaski, Tennessee. (Other accounts place the found-
book called In Russian and French Prisons (1887). In ing in May or June 1866). In its early years, the group
this, he calls for more humane treatment of prisoners. was considered to be a social organization; however,