Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Kropotkin escapes from prison

crimethinc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 95 posts

Re: Kropotkin escapes from prison

#81

Post by Someone »

elihu wrote: post #13

Today I learned that buoyant inflatable balloons have been around a lot longer than I thought.

I don’t think the article states it was inflatable. It still may have been, though. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toy_balloon#History:

“The first rubber balloons were made by Professor Michael Faraday in 1824 […] Latex rubber toy balloons were introduced by pioneer rubber manufacturer Thomas Hancock the following year in the form of a do-it-yourself kit consisting of a bottle of rubber solution and a condensing syringe. Vulcanized toy balloons, which unlike the earlier kind were unaffected by changes in temperature, were first manufactured by J.G. Ingram of London in 1847 and can be regarded as the prototype of modern toy balloons.”

Re: Kropotkin escapes from prison

#82

Post by Someone »

PeterisP wrote: post #78
teh_klev wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even a "suspected" serial killer isn't a serial killer until convicted and jailed as such (innocent until proven guilty) if they had access to the street to try and make their getaway.

If they are escaping prison, that presumes they have been convicted.

I think the strict distinction between jail and prison is American English, and not even that, in informal speech.

Compare for example https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/englis... (British English) with https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prison and https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jail (US English)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison also says “In American English, the terms prison and jail have separate definitions, though this is not always followed in casual speech.”

Re: Kropotkin escapes from prison

#83

Post by tkgally »

tkgally wrote: post #44

The passage from Kropotkin’s memoir about his prison escape appeared in a Russian textbook I used in college [1]. It was much more interesting than typical foreign language textbook material. Addendum: The Russian version of Kropotkin’s memoir, published in London in 1902, is at [2]. Thank you again, Internet Archive. [1] https://www.worldcat.org/title/eyewitness-selections-from-ru... [2] https://archive.org/details/…

The English version is at [3]. According to the author’s preface to the Russian edition, he wrote it in English at the request of the editor of the Atlantic Monthly, where it was serialized. He then supervised the translation into Russian.

[3] https://archive.org/details/dli.bengal.10689.13354/page/n353...

Re: Kropotkin escapes from prison

#84

Post by ashtonkem »

pcthrowaway wrote: post #36
SequoiaHope wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes and I also find the term “libertarian communist” useful to describe him (and myself).

Those two things seem at odds to me.. how do you consider yourself both libertarian and communist?

It’s also worth mentioning that “libertarian” was a left wing term until it was self consciously co-opted by a right wing American in the early 20th century. So how Kropotkin would understand that word and how we understand it varies significantly.

Re: Kropotkin escapes from prison

#85

Post by ashtonkem »

balsam wrote: post #40
pcthrowaway wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those two things seem at odds to me.. how do you consider yourself both libertarian and communist?

Then you might be delighted to find out that the aristocrat Oscar Wilde took that one step further and even considered himself both hedonist and (libertarian-)socialist. Much odds!! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Soul_of_Man_Under_Socialis...

None of those terms are on opposition.

Re: Kropotkin escapes from prison

#86

Post by chmod775 »

atdrummond wrote: post #55
LegitShady wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

a 1% escape rate seems egregious

Wouldn’t it be less than 0.2%? It parsed to me as less than 1 out of 100 out of those who have the opportunity via work release or other community integration initiatives.

Yes. I should have clarified that.

Re: Kropotkin escapes from prison

#87

Post by kingcharles »

d0gsg0w00f wrote: post #42
kingcharles wrote: post #4

That was great. While in jail I only had two serious opportunities to escape. The first an unscheduled incoming call from an embassy official meant I was brought to a secure area to use a special phone. It was right by the sally port [0] which normally has at least one door closed. Both were open. I could have run directly out to the street. The guards do not carry their guns inside the jail. The second was on a run…

What were you convicted of?

Sorry, it's often unclear because of the way the word "jail" is used in English to mean both a pre-trial detention facility and a prison for the convicted.

I've never actually been convicted of a crime. I was in a pre-trial facility.

Re: Kropotkin escapes from prison

#88

Post by kingcharles »

Waterluvian wrote: post #5
kingcharles wrote: post #4

That was great. While in jail I only had two serious opportunities to escape. The first an unscheduled incoming call from an embassy official meant I was brought to a secure area to use a special phone. It was right by the sally port [0] which normally has at least one door closed. Both were open. I could have run directly out to the street. The guards do not carry their guns inside the jail. The second was on a run…

Surely even if they had guns, murdering you is not an appropriate response to a possible escape?

As an aside to this, I was coming back to jail from court one Friday when a guy slipped his cuffs (often really easy) and ran off down the street. The guards actually did not shoot him, but ran after him and tackled him to the ground.

On return to the jail I had the guard run his name to find out how serious his alleged offense was. "He wasn't even in for a crime!" said the Guard. "WTF?". "He was only booked for the weekend - he hadn't paid child support." Now facing 5 years in prison for escape.

Re: Kropotkin escapes from prison

#89

Post by ashtonkem »

southerntofu wrote: post #69
garmaine wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which has even less to do with communism though.

On the contrary, both in anarchist and marxist philosophy communism is defined as a society without State and social classes. While anarchists believe (and practice!) in dismantling the established social order here and now by systematically questioning power structures, marxist-leninists promoted the idea that building a "dictatorship of the proletariat" was a necessary step for a revolution to seize the repression…

Marx eventually clarified that he thought the “dictatorship of the proletariat” would not be a dictatorship, but instead rather radical democracy. With the benefit of hindsight, we can say that the anarchists’ criticism of Marx and his dictatorship of the proletariat were spot on, and that such structures rapidly became authoritarian and self serving.

Re: Kropotkin escapes from prison

#90

Post by einpoklum »

issa wrote: post #14

Worlds Collide. I did not expect to see something from crimethinc on Hacker News. Any other xvx tech people please say hello.

Don't know what an xvx person is, but hello from an Anarchist HN reader in Palestine/Israel. Still sore about Kropotkin's stance on WWI though :-(
Post reply on HN