Book Thoughts: The Conquest of Bread

[selenicseas]

I would like to point out that there is a book called Anarchist Communism that is actually just the first 5 chapters of The Conquest of Bread. If you can only buy one book, get The Conquest of Bread. Or just read it here for free on the Anarchist Library.

As I read through this book, I was struck by how optimistic Kropotkin was. It was written in 1892 – when most European countries were monarchies, before the Soviet Union, before WW1 and WW2. There's so much he thought would happen that just…didn't.

There's definitely some dated language and ideas in here – draining swamps and marshes to use as farmland, for example – and especially dated numbers, with regards to the amount of people required to do a certain amount of work for a certain amount of hours. I'd definitely like to find a modern equivalent to it.