Killing the State Within. How Rebels, Philosophers, and Dreamers Invented Russian Anarchism

They were called madmen, utopians, and dangerous fanatics undermining public order. They believed that human freedom and dignity do not depend on the will of the state and its laws. Philosopher Nikolai Gerasimov explores the intellectual history of Russian anarchism through the biographies of its key figures: Prince Kropotkin arrives at anarchism through Narodnikism, Leo Tolstoy brings Christ into it, Emma Goldman fights for women's liberation, and Soviet biocosmists dream of colonizing space and resurrecting the dead. This book is about those who, during the era of world wars, revolutions and totalitarian regimes, had the courage to resist power in all its forms.