Ideals and Realities in Russian Literature

Peter Kropotkin is propounding the thesis that, in Russia, literature occupies a unique position because it is the only way of reflecting the real currents of intellectual development and of underground political opinion. The consequence, he feels, has been that the best minds of the country have chosen the poem, the novel, the satire, or literary criticism as the medium for expressing their aspirations, their conceptions of national life, and their ideals.