The Conquest of Bread

by

Paperback, 240 pages

English language

Published Oct. 15, 2024 by AK Press.

ISBN:
978-1-84935-574-2
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5 stars (2 reviews)

The Conquest of Bread is Peter Kropotkin’s most extensive study of human needs and his outline of the most rational and equitable means of satisfying them. The most important and widely read exposition of anarchist economic theory, its combination of detailed historical analysis and far-reaching utopian vision is a step-by-step guide to social revolution: the concrete means of achieving it and the new world that humanity can create. Writing in a way that he describes as "moderate in style, but revolutionary in substance," Kropotkin adeptly translates complex ideas into common language, while rendering the often-amorphous aspirations of social movements into coherent form. Includes an introduction that historically situates and discusses the contemporary relevance of Kropotkin’s ideas.

50 editions

reviewed The Conquest of Bread by Peter Kropotkin (Penguin classics)

There's a reason this book is synonymous with anarchist communism

5 stars

Sure, some parts are out of date. But so much of it remains true even today. There's a saying about lectures that say that the best questions a lecturer can get are the ones answered by the very next slide. Well, that is exactly what happened to me, again and again, with the chapters of this book. Most amazingly, a question a friend raised in a discussion we had about chapter 8 was answered by the very first sentence of chapter 9. Can't be better than that.

Subjects

  • History
  • Communism
  • Anarchism
  • Anarchism and anarchists
  • Anarchists
  • Communism and ecology
  • Political science