A review by nb_leftist
The Conquest of Bread by Peter Kropotkin

informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.25

The Conquest of Bread by Peter Kropotkin

One of the foundational texts of anarchist communism or anarcho-communism. Honestly, I don’t think it’s a required read, much better contemporary stuff but if you wanna see the genealogy of it, it’s worth checking out. 

A lot of what he writes about relies on prometheanism, an ideology which prioritizes human needs over that of the ecosystem or other life. I’m not a fan of that but it was a prevailing idea at the time so it’s not necessarily something I can fault him for. On a more positive note, his observations on capitalism’s necessity for poverty and the resulting globalism (which he calls decentralization of production) are really cool to see. To counter globalism, he calls for higher amounts of self-reliance, self-sufficiency, and—interestingly enough—urban agriculture. A lot of what Grace Lee Boggs calls for in “The Next American Revolution” is very similar and it’s cool to see that connection.