Books by Peter Kropotkin

Peter Kropotkin, a Russian prince, came to hate the inequality in his society and gave up his title. In this book he shows the flaws inherent in our economic system, which creates poverty and scarcity even though there are enough resources for all, and outlines a better system based on people working together as a society.

'Well-being for all is not a dream.'In this brilliantly enjoyable, challenging rallying-cry of a book, Kropotkin lays out the heart of his anarchist beliefs - beliefs which surged around the world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and which have a renewed relevance and poignancy today. Humane, thoughtful - but also a devastating critique of how modern society is organized (with the brutal, narrow few clinging onto their wealth and privileges at the expense of the many), The Conquest of Bread is a book to be argued over, again and again.

A pioneering treatise on cooperation and reciprocity, from the great anarchist thinker'Don't compete! - competition is always injurious to the species, and you have plenty of resources to avoid it!'In his pioneering 1902 treatise on human cooperation, the anarchist thinker and natural scientist Peter Kropotkin argued that it is our innate instinct for mutual aid - rather than mutual struggle - which enables societies to survive and flourish. From the earliest days of evolution through to medieval guilds, indigenous nomads and modern voluntary organisations, Kropotkin's vision of small-scale, ecologically sustainable, collective communities challenged the orthodoxies of his age, whether individualism or Marxism. Mutual Aid offers instead a radical, and prescient, rewriting of the whole of human history.With an introduction by David Priestland

ΓÇ£The Conquest of BreadΓÇ¥ is an 1892 work by Peter Kropotkin. Kropotkin outlines what he believes are the main problems with both feudalism and capitalism, and explains why they require and encourage poverty and scarcity through the description of a future society based on liberty, equality and fraternity. A must-read for those with an interest in anarchy, communism, or libertarianism. Contents include: ΓÇ£Our RichesΓÇ¥, ΓÇ£Well-Being for AllΓÇ¥, ΓÇ£Anarchist CommunismΓÇ¥, ΓÇ£ExpropriationΓÇ¥, ΓÇ£FoodΓÇ¥, ΓÇ£DwellingsΓÇ¥, ΓÇ£ClothingΓÇ¥, ΓÇ£Ways and MeansΓÇ¥, ΓÇ£The Need for LuxuryΓÇ¥, ΓÇ£Agreeable WorkΓÇ¥, ΓÇ£Free AgreementΓÇ¥, ΓÇ£ObjectionsΓÇ¥, ΓÇ£The Collectivist Wages SystemΓÇ¥, ΓÇ£Consumption and ProductionΓÇ¥, ΓÇ£The Division of LabourΓÇ¥, etc.Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (1842ΓÇô1921) was a Russian writer, activist, revolutionary, economist, scientist, sociologist, essayist, historian, researcher, political scientist, geographer, geographer, biologist, philosopher and advocate of anarcho-communism. He was a prolific writer, producing a large number of pamphlets and articles, the most notable being ΓÇ£The Conquest of Bread and Fields, Factories and WorkshopsΓÇ¥ and ΓÇ£Mutual Aid: A Factor of EvolutionΓÇ¥. This classic work is being republished now in a new edition complete with an excerpt from ΓÇ£Comrade KropotkinΓÇ¥ by Victor Robinson.

Peter Kropotkin’s magnum opus "Memoirs of a Revolutionist" serves the role of an astounding historical narrative of Russian politics in the second half of the 19th century. A perfect example of early anarchist writing, the book is emblematic of the origin of many anarchist movements all across Europe. The honesty and truthfulness of the narrative follows Kroopotkin’s prison and exile escapades, his admiration for women, and all the revolutionary incidents surrounding that enigmatic figure.Peter Kropotkin was a versatile Russian literary figure, whose occupation ranged from scientist and writer to a revolutionary and an advocate of anarchism. Kropotkin’s major influence was evident from his manifold philosophical stance – from a harsh critique on capitalist society to that of boosting local goods production. A political exile and an avid traveler, Kropotkin’s background found its place in his writing style. Among some of his best works are "The Conquest of Bread", "Memoirs of a Revolutionist", and "The State: Its Historic Role".

The Great French Revolution, 1789 - 1793 is Peter Kropotkin's most substantial historical work. In it he presents a people's history of the world-shaking events of the Revolution and shows the key role the working men and women of the towns and countryside played in it. Without the constant pressure of popular organisations and activity, the politicians would never have created a Republic, nor been able to survive the counterrevolutionary forces internally or externally. Focusing on such mass movements - and especially the peasant majority - rather than on the few great men beloved of bourgeois accounts, this is a groundbreaking account of the period and a seminal work of 'history from below.' Later research may have corrected some factual details and opened new avenues of scholarship, but Kropotkin's text remains an exemplar of anarchist history-writing, challenging both bourgeois republican and Marxist interpretations of the Revolution. Yet it is more than a history: Kropotkin uses

The Conquest of Bread is an 1892 book by the Russian anarcho-communist Peter Kropotkin. Originally written in French, it first appeared as a series of articles in the anarchist journal Le Révolté. It was first published in Paris with a preface by Élisée Reclus, who also suggested the title. Between 1892 and 1894, it was serialized in part in the London journal Freedom, of which Kropotkin was a co-founder.In the work, Kropotkin points out what he considers to be the defects of the economic systems of feudalism and capitalism and why he believes they thrive on and maintain poverty and scarcity. He goes on to propose a more decentralized economic system based on mutual aid and voluntary cooperation, asserting that the tendencies for this kind of organization already exist, both in evolution and in human society.The Conquest of Bread has become a classic of political anarchist literature. It was heavily influential on both the Spanish Civil War and the Occupy movement.In 1886, Kropotkin, with the help of some prominent left-wing intellectuals, donors and sympathizers, was released from French prison. Fearful of the anarchist scare that was gripping continental Europe following the assassination of Alexander II and wishing to focus more time on composing theory and arguing for his revolutionary ideals, Kropotkin moved to London in the same year.[2] Following the death of Mikhail Bakunin in 1876, anarchists desired a prominent and respected theorist to explain their ideas and-after the splitting of the First International between Marxists and anarchists-Kropotkin wished to formally explain anarcho-communism in a way that would clearly differentiate the anarchists from the Marxists, but also help to correct what he saw as flaws in Bakunin's ideology of collectivist anarchism.[3] With this aim, Kropotkin spent a great deal of time in London writing multiple books and pamphlets, in-between his international speaking tours to the United States and Canada. It was during this time of rapid literary output that Kropotkin wrote The Conquest of Bread, which became his most well-known attempt to systematically explain the essential parts of anarcho-communism.Kropotkin originally wrote the text in French and published in the French journal Le Révolté, where he served as the primary editor. Following its publication in France, Kropotkin published a serialized version in English in the London anarchist journal Freedom. The book would later be collected and published as a book in France in 1892 and in England in 1907.

The Conquest of Bread is Peter Kropotkin's famous critique of capitalism, wherein he excoriates that system in favor of anarcho-communism; a form of government he believed could ensure fairness for all.Kropotkin had an alternate vision of the way society, work, and population should be organized - in The Conquest of Bread, he interweaves his plans for a social revolution with critiques of the prevailing orthodoxy. We receive outlines of how his propositions will eliminate poverty and scarcity - conditions Kropotkin believed were artificially enforced in order to maintain control upon the working populace. As a philosopher and scientist, Peter Kropotkin abhorred the manner in which abject poverty characterized industrialized society. He also held a great resentment for centralized authority of government and the owners of capital, which he felt acted in concert to undermine the majority of humanity.

The Conquest of Bread is Peter Kropotkin's famous critique of capitalism, wherein he excoriates that system in favor of anarcho-communism; a form of government he believed could ensure fairness for all.Kropotkin had an alternate vision of the way society, work, and population should be organized - in The Conquest of Bread, he interweaves his plans for a social revolution with critiques of the prevailing orthodoxy. We receive outlines of how his propositions will eliminate poverty and scarcity - conditions Kropotkin believed were artificially enforced in order to maintain control upon the working populace. As a philosopher and scientist, Peter Kropotkin abhorred the manner in which abject poverty characterized industrialized society. He also held a great resentment for centralized authority of government and the owners of capital, which he felt acted in concert to undermine the majority of humanity.