Cover of Elephant Editions reprint of Conquest Of Bread, 1985. (Cover art by Clifford Harper.) The Conquest of Bread (French: La Conquête du Pain) is a book by the anarchist communist Peter Kropotkin. Originally written in French, it first appeared as a series of articles in the anarchist journals Le Révolté and La Revolté (which were both edited by Kropotkin). It was first published as a book in Paris in 1892 with a preface by Élisée Reclus, who also suggested the title. Between 1892 and 1894 it was serialised, in part, in the London journal Freedom, of which Kropotkin was a co-founder. It has been translated and reprinted numerous times: it was translated into Japanese, for example, by Kotoku Shusui in 1909. It has been reprinted by Elephant Editions (1985), Vanguard Press (1995) and Freedom Press. This image is a book cover. ...
This image is a book cover. ...
Clifford Harper (born July 13, 1949) is an artist who describes himself as a committed anarchist and cartoonist. ...
French (français, langue française) is one of the most important Romance languages, outnumbered in speakers only by Spanish and Portuguese. ...
Anarcho-Communism, or Libertarian Communism, is a Italian section of the First International, by Carlo Cafiero, Errico Malatesta, Andrea Costa and other ex-Mazzinian Republicans. ...
Peter Kropotkin Prince Peter Alexeievich Kropotkin (Пётр Алексе́евич Кропо́ткин) ( December 9, 1842 - February 8, 1921) was one of Russias foremost anarchists and one of the first advocates of what he called anarchist communism: the model of society he advocated for most of his life was that of a communist...
1892 was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...
Élisée Reclus (1878) Élisée Reclus (March 15, 1830 - July 4, 1905) was a French geographer and anarchist. ...
London — containing the City of London — is the capital of the United Kingdom and of England and a major world city. With over seven million inhabitants (Londoners) in Greater London area, it is amongst the most densely populated areas in Western Europe. ...
Cover of Freedom, dated 13th September 2003, showing the new cover design by Clifford Harper. ...
The Japanese language is a spoken and written language used mainly in Japan. ...
Kotoku Shusui (幸徳 秋水, November 4 or September 23, 1871–January 24, 1911) was a socialist and anarchist who played a leading role in introducing anarchism to Japan in the early 20th century, particularly by translating the works of contemporary European and Russian anarchists, such as Peter Kropotkin, into Japanese. ...
The Freedom Press premises in Angel Alley, Whitechapel, east London Freedom Press is the oldest surviving anarchist publishing house in the English speaking world and the largest in Britain. ...
In this work, Kropotkin points out the fallacies of the economic systems of feudalism and capitalism, and how these create poverty and scarcity while promoting privilege. He goes on to propose a more decentralised economic system based on mutual aid and voluntary cooperation, asserting that the tendencies for this kind of organisation already exist, both in evolution and in human society. An economic system is a mechanism which deals with the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services in a particular society. ...
Feudalism comes from the Late Latin word feudum, itself borrowed from a Germanic root *fehu, a commonly used term in the Middle Ages which means fief, or land held under certain obligations by feodati. ...
Capitalism has been defined in various ways (see definitions of capitalism). ...
Poverty is the state of being without, often associated with need, hardship and lack of resources across a wide range of cirstance. ...
Scarcity is a central concept in economics. ...
A privilege is an honour, or permissive activity granted by another person or even a government. ...
In emergency services, mutual aid is a formal agreement among emergency responders to lend assistance across jurisdictional boundaries when required; either by an emergency that exceeds local resources or a disaster. ...
This article is about biological evolution. ...
Human beings are defined variously in biological, spiritual, and cultural terms, or in combinations thereof. ...
Summary of chapters
Chapter 1: Our Riches Kropotkin begins, in the part I of this chapter, by stating that humanity is rich, "surpassing the dreams of the fairy tales of the Thousand and One Nights". He then asserts, in part II, that these riches have been earned by generations of workers and inventors, creating and improving technology and making land more habitable. Kropotkin then tells us that these riches are being, and have been, appropriated by a small class of owners who "force [people] to produce, not the necessities of life, but whatever offers the greatest profits to the monopolists." "In this," he says, "is the essence of all Socialism." Part III concludes that The color red and particularly the red flag are traditional symbols of Socialism. ...
- All things belong to all, since all men have need of them, since all men have worked in the measure of their strength to produce them, and since it is not possible to evaluate every one's part in the production of the world's wealth.
Chapter 2: Well-Being For All In this chapter, the author asserts that "[w]ell-being for all is not a dream," and goes on to show that "our riches" are being squandered, and this is the reason that well-being for all is not (yet) a reality. To back this up, Kropotkin tells us that a number of factors are at play, namely: - that much of workers' efforts and resources are wasted on producing useless luxuries;
- that the market system often results in goods being deliberately wasted so that the price of said goods may remain high; and
- that middlemen — all those who sit between the producer and consumer — take their own shares at each stage, Kropotkin explains, without actually contributing to the production of goods.
Chichicastenango, Guatemala traditional market Market stall in internally displaced persons camp in Kitgum, northern Uganda Mercado dos Lavradores, Funchal (Madeira Islands) A market is a mechanism which allows people to trade, normally governed by the theory of supply and demand. ...
Chapter 3: Anarchist Communism Having said that people should claim the right to live and then the right to well-being, Kropotkin proclaims that the only means of achieving "well-being for all" is Anarchist Communism.
Chapter 4: Expropriation
Chapter 5: Food
Chapter 6: Dwellings
Chapter 7: Clothing
Chapter 8: Ways and Means
Chapter 9: The Need for Luxury
Chapter 10: Agreeable Work
Chapter 11: Free Agreement
Chapter 12: Objections
Chapter 13: The Collectivist Wages System
Chapter 14: Consumption and Production
Chapter 15: The Division of Labour
Chapter 16: The Decentralization of Industry
Chapter 17: Agriculture Remaining chapter summaries to follow - See also: anarchism, Mutual Aid: A Factor in Evolution
Anarchism is a term which encompasses a variety of political philosophies, social movements, and political ideologies that advocate the abolition of all forms of imposed or involuntary authority including social hierarchy and coercive power. ...
Mutual Aid: A Factor in Evolution (1902) was written by Peter Kropotkin while in exile in England. ...
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