The Conquest of Bread

The Conquest of Bread

Print cover, 1892
Author	Peter Kropotkin
Original title	La Conquête du Pain
Language	French
Genre	Political theory
Publisher	Tresse et Stock
Publication date	1892
Publication place	France
Published in English	1907
Dewey Decimal	335.83
LC Class	HX632 .K7613
Original text	La Conquête du Pain at French Wikisource
Translation	The Conquest of Bread at Wikisource

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The Conquest of Bread^[a] 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 both the Spanish Civil War and the Occupy movement.^[1]

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