WHAT IS TERRORISM? The word "terrorism" traces its roots in the English language to the French revolution (1789 -1794). The German philosopher, Immanuel Kant used the word in 1798 to describe a pessimistic view of the destiny of mankind. Russian anarchist Peter Kropotkin (1842-1921) called it "propaganda by deed". Carlos Marighella (circa 1930) wrote the Latin American handbook on terrorism, claiming it required adherence to a "higher morality", and that one man's terrorist is another man's ...