“Socialist papers have often a tendency to become mere annals of complaints about existing conditions. The oppression of the laborers in the mine, the factory, and the field is related; the misery and sufferings of the workers during strikes are told in vivid pictures; their helplessness in the struggle against employers is insisted upon: and this succession of hopeless efforts, related in the paper, exercises a most depressing influence upon the reader. To counterbalance that effect, the editor has to rely chiefly upon burning words by means of which he tries to inspire his readers with energy and faith. I thought, on the contrary, that a revolutionary paper must be, above all, a record of those symptoms which everywhere announce the coming of a new era, the germination of new forms of social life, the growing revolt against antiquated institutions. These symptoms should be watched, brought together in their intimate connection, and so grouped as to show to the hesitating minds of the greater number the invisible and often unconscious support which advanced ideas find everywhere, when a revival of thought takes place in society. To make one feel sympathy with the throbbing of the human heart all over the world, with its revolt against age-long injustice, with its attempts at working out new forms of life,—this should be the chief duty of a revolutionary paper. It is hope, not despair, which makes successful revolutions.” [emphasis added]
—Peter Kropotkin, Memoirs of a Revolutionist (1899)
I absolutely love Kropotkin, forever. Sometimes it’s so hard to believe it’s been over a century and so very little has changed. I didn’t even hear about his existence until I hit my 20’s. He goes completely unmentioned in the American educational system, even when reviewing the Russian revolutionary history (along with Trotsky, I might add). He was a truly advanced thinker, but still so… understandable. He’s definitely obfuscated from our contemporary culture and that’s terribly shameful. He’s a very good example of capitalist oppressors denying the people their right to mentally evolve. Thanks for the quote.
Yay, Anark. He does great work. I as of so far feel my rage is eternal, however, I believe the “fuel” that drives the stalwart revolutionary is love. Love for our fellow peoples that are being mistreated and abused, love for the people that will be, and love for the people who have tried to make positive impacts in our life or others lives. In my experience, hope is easy to kill in the face of absolute lack of reaction from the world. I personally have no hope. Maybe that’s just the voidpunk in me. I think humanity is definitely going to die horribly before we’ll ever actually crush capitalism. I really believe the capitalists would so much rather us all suffer and die as quickly as possible than for their profits to even just dip in their lifetimes, primarily because of the climate crisis being as it is. It along with AI kinda made me decide we’re just statistically fucked. I fight still for those that I love, because they deserve that fight, even if it has literally no effect (though that’s rather unusual). I believe that is called “an inexorable force” and may be the best way to attain permanent revolution. I think the feeling that there is no hope does actually keep a lot of people from action. Maybe we shouldn’t rely on just it. Further, maybe it is why our anger tends to hurt us more than help us. If our anger is predicated just on our actually making change, it can’t be strong. That’s like… gambling. It depends on an idealized outcome of random variables. If our anger is predicated on already established feelings of love for people that have already been hurt, it seems very unlikely to go anywhere as long as people are still being hurt.
Hoping for change does not really sound that appealing. I want to live now, not in the future.
Still an interesting perspective, thanks for posting
I think the idea is that hope is a good motivator to create change in the here and now, and more critically, is less likely to become completely depleted and make you a bitter person if success is not immediate.
Glad you enjoyed it. :)
I get that part, but there is also an element mentioned in the video where its about building structures that are able to dismantle the system sometime in the future. And often enough those structures get more focus than the well being of the individuals that make up those structures.
I also agree that hope is a great motivator, but I think its not wise to rely on only one. Fun and love are rqually powerful as motivation imo.
