The First Anarchist Bestseller: The Popular Reading of Kropotkin in Chile, 1893-1939

Abstract

This article focuses on the popular reading of Piotr Kropotkin’s writings among anarchists in Chile during 1893 and 1939. The availability of his work was based on the international routes of transmission of ideas promoted, mainly, by his associates in Spain and Argentina, and on the local efforts that managed to offer editions of this author, even publishing from prison. In this way, it is interesting to highlight the reasons for his widespread recognition, as well as the infrastructure that made the dissemination and reception of his printed ideas possible. Explanatory lines will be suggested that allow us to understand Kropotkin’s place in the processes of anarchist politicization and in the formation of an interpretive community with an enlightened matrix.