The Conquest of Bread by Peter Kropotkin

Anarchist-Communism as the cure for society’s ills

The Conquest of Bread by Russian author Peter Kropotkin was first published in 1892 as a series of essays in the French journal Revolté (Kropotkin wrote the text in French). The book is a political treatise that proposes Anarchist-Communism as the world government of the future. Just as Karl Marx is the patriarch of Communism and his book Das Kapital could be considered the “bible” of that movement, Kropotkin is the godfather of Anarchist-Communism and The Conquest of Bread its sacred text. Unlike the works of Marx, Kropotkin seems to have written The Conquest of Bread for the common man, and one doesn’t need a PhD to understand it.

Kropotkin asserts that Capitalism is a form of economic feudalism not much different from medieval feudalism, under which the majority of the world’s population exists as wage slaves to a wealthy aristocracy, just as peasants, slaves, and serfs have served their masters for centuries. The solution to this problem of inequality and exploitation is a Communist economic system that values labor over private property and distributes the wealth of society accordingly to satisfy the needs of all. Kropotkin’s particular take on Communism is Anarchist-Communism (or Anarcho-Communism). Kropotkin felt that a revolution was inevitable and imminent, and Anarchist-Communism would be the result. The bulk of the book consists of Kropotkin outlining how that future society would function to create a classless utopia.

What exactly is Anarchist-Communism? Kropotkin states that “Anarchy leads to Communism, and Communism to Anarchy,” because both are driven by the pursuit for equality. The difference is that Kropotkin would have never condoned the authoritarian bureaucracy of the Soviets. Rather, he advocates abolishing centralized government in favor of a government by free agreement. He cites as an example how multiple companies established a continent-wide network of railways without any overarching governing body such as a ministry of railroads. Kropotkin’s anarchy seems like a wise solution for many industrial and agricultural problems, but it’s hard to comprehend how it might work for every function of government. Like many utopian socialists, Kropotkin downplays the need for such institutions as law enforcement and the military by refusing to account for the lazy, the stupid, the selfish, and the evil in humanity.

Nevertheless, there is a lot of sense in much of what Kropotkin has to say. Most governments have become more socialistic and labor-friendly since the late nineteenth century (e.g. the eight-hour work day, no more child labor, public education, social security), which would please Kropotkin, but his Communist utopia still hasn’t materialized, and income equality and poverty still run rampant even in “first-world” nations. Kropotkin has some insightful things to say about the industrial revolution, decentralization of industry, and the beginnings of globalism. As a historical document, the book provides insight into radical movements of the past. For what did Sacco and Vanzetti die? For what was Archduke Franz Ferdinand assassinated? Reading The Conquest of Bread sheds light on these historical events and the history of labor in general.

One problem with Communism is that no one can seem to agree how it should be implemented, and that’s evident here as Kropotkin picks apart the dogma of other Communist and Socialist sects. (The Capitalists don’t seem to have the same troublesome disagreements over free-market enterprise.) The Conquest of Bread will leave left-leaning readers with a melancholy for what might have been in a perfect world, but there’s still a lot to learn here. Kropotkin’s great Anarchist-Communist revolution is unlikely to happen soon, if ever, but there may still be some seeds of reform here that have yet to sprout.
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