NOTE FOR "THE SPIRIT OF REVOLT"

From: Peter Kropotkin, Kropotkin's Revolutionary Pamphlets. Roger N. Baldwin, editor. Vangaurd Press, Inc. 1927

This brief and vivid statement of the role of revolutionary periods in human progress is as fresh as when it first appeared as an article in Le Révolté in Geneva in 1880,--later revised slightly and printed as a pamphlet in French. The part referring specifically to the French Revolution has been omitted.

Kropotkin points out the function of a new class rising to power, transforming its propaganda of words into deeds, overthrowing governing institutions that appear so strong but are decayed within. In the complete pamphlet he cites the French Revolution as the classic process, and points out the means of propaganda by which the rising class achieved its power. But he argues the case for a revolution of the workers that will not be merely a change of government, not merely the exercise of old powers by a new class, but a wholly new cooperative regime based on socialized property.

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