Petr Alekseevich Kropotkin: “But the real strength of those committees was in the workers, many of whom had formerly belonged to the International…”

Far more important, however, than this outbreak of discontent, was the spirit which prevailed amongst the poorer portion of the working population in the outskirts of London.

The amount of interest in socialism and all sorts of schemes of reform and reconstruction of society was very great in all layers of society.

Most socialists had hitherto said that in our present civilized societies we actually produce much more than is necessary for guaranteeing full well-being to all.

Already during my stay at Clairvaux I saw the necessity of completely revising the formula itself of ‘struggle for existence’ in the animal world, and its applications to human affairs.