The ideological potential of P.A. Kropotkin’s anarcho-communism for the theory of the social contract and its significance for modernity

The ideas of anarcho-communism by P.A. Kropotkin represent a rich heritage of Russian intellectual thought, relevant and significant for a new understanding of the theory of the social contract.

A potential of the anarcho-communism ideas is revealed by the author’s approach: she applies a combination of analysis of a number of Kropotkin’s theoretical positions, the recognition of the uniqueness and exclusivity of the “moral and intellectual qualities” of his personality, the relationship of individual life history and the history of society in the conditions of revolutionary changes.

With regard to the significance of the anarcho-communism ideas for the theory of the social contract, answers are given to the tasks of the study – how Kropotkin correlates society and the state, defines the internal determinants for consent in society, which signs (traits) for the characteristics of the social contract are important for the social diagnosis of its effectiveness. Kropotkin’s ideological legacy is an example of an intellectual response to the concrete historical challenges of a crumbling world, which was expressed in the creation of an ideology of anarcho-communism, combining both utopianism and a powerful predictive model of society’s way of life. His ideas of anti-statism, federalism, and the rule of law are in tune with the established modern era of the expansion of human rights, and are important due to the widespread social practices of civil society. Some ideas of Russian thinkers should be taken into account when developing parameters and indicators for the social contract as a necessary and reproducible construct.

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