Peter Kropotkin called for a social reform in Russia in the
1980s—he decided it was time for Russia to be socialist. He focused his speech “An Appeal
to the Young” to the professionals just starting out in their careers—the
people our age. If any of you are thinking of becoming doctors, scientists,
teachers, artists then he addressed your situation specifically, and was talking to Russian youth just like you.
And all he wants is that you see sense and become a
socialist, which is obviously inevitable.
His biggest rhetorical technique is that he makes the change
to socialism sound like it’s inevitable, and appeals to their sense as he tells
them they might as well get on board with it now. He uses very familiar images
of poverty and suffering to show them that what they are experiencing is a
general suffering, they are not alone, and so they can all fix the problem
together. This is a form of ethos, because he comes off as very sure of his
place and very sure of the success of his movement, so it’s hard to not believe
that he knows what he’s talking about. And if he knows what he’s talking about,
then the best decision would be to join him.
He does an amazing job of very specifically speaking to each
group of young professionals. He speaks
to the doctors and shows them what they can do to help the cause of socialism.
He speaks to the scientists and shows them that they can be doing more than
just discovering new things—they could be making society better. He talk to the
artists and shows them that they have the power to incite change, and he shows
the teachers that they can lead the youth to the truth behind socialism. He
also speaks to the women of the country and tells them that they have a right
to fight for truth as well. This is a very directed form of pathos, and even
though he is speaking to broad groups of people, he makes it feel personal by
telling stories that they will all relate to. It gives him a edge in his
appeal, because he softens them up before hitting them with very convincing
logic.
He ends his piece with what seems like a call to war, and is a call for social reform. The combination
of ethos, pathos, and logos in his lead up to the call of war gives him a very
convincing conclusion. If I were a Russian peasant in the late 19th Century and
I read this pamphlet, you can bet that I’d be converted to his cause.
I'm a little confused as to who is the audience for this pamphlet. It sounds like he's talking to a sort of middle class with the doctors, scientists, etc., but then the "Russian peasant" line at the end seems incompatible with the people you were describing earlier. If peasants were another audience, I could see Kropotkin's use of poverty and suffering being even more of a potent rhetorical strategy because the peasants could identify with those situations more than the doctors, scientists, teachers, and artists.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I've seen specificity in other speeches like you describe here, so this seems like a very interesting speech. Getting everyone on board by clumping them into one group appears to be the more common approach. Addressing people on a more personal level is more persuasive, I would think.
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