The Conquest of Bread is an 1892 book by the Russian anarchist 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 identified what he considered to be the defects of the economic systems of feudalism and capitalism, and argued that these systems thrive on and maintain poverty and scarcity. He proceeded 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 the Occupy movement.

Background

In 1886, Kropotkin 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. 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 anarchist 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. 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 anarchist communism.

Kropotkin further contends that the central obstacle preventing humanity from claiming this right is the state's violent protection of private property. Kropotkin compares this relationship to feudalism, saying that even if the forms have changed, the essential relationship between the propertied and the landless is the same as the relationship between feudal lords and their serfs. Kropotkin calls for the destruction of the state and the expropriation of all property into the commons, where the right to well-being can be achieved for all people.

After the 2008 financial crisis and the subsequent Occupy movement, Kropotkin's work took on increased prominence. In 2015, David Priestland, writing for The Guardian, called for a renewed look at Kropotkin and The Conquest of Bread in the West, given the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the 2008 financial crisis. Since 2018, a loose group of left-leaning YouTube content creators have collectively been referred to as BreadTube, inspired by the title of the book. The term "breadpilled" refers to the act of becoming an anarcho-socialist, alluding to the red pill and blue pill from the 1999 film The Matrix.

See also

  • Bread and Freedom
  • "Bread and Roses" (slogan)
  • Fields, Factories and Workshops
  • Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution

Notes

References

  • The Conquest of Bread entry at the Anarchist Library