Kropotkin's Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution represents one of the major contributions to twentieth-century political thought. A classic, though often misunderstood text of anarchist thinking, the book offers an exciting and viable alternative to our current political models. Kropotkin's idea of mutual aid is the radical practice of caring for each other while actively working to change the world. This new and authoritative edition of Kropotkin's important and unique contribution to the history of socialist ideas and anarchist ideology includes a critically informed afterword by Ruth Kinna that elucidates the book's relevance for today.

Well-being for all is not a dream.

In this brilliantly enjoyable rallying-cry of a book, Kropotkin lays out the heart of his anarchist beliefs--beliefs that surged around the world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and that have a renewed relevance and poignancy today. Humane and thoughtful, but also a devastating critique of how modern society is organized (with the brutal, narrow few clinging onto their wealth and privileges at the expense of the many), The Conquest of Bread is a book to be argued over, again and again.

For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

One hundred years after his death, Peter Kropotkin is still one of the most inspirational figures of the anarchist movement. It is often forgotten that Kropotkin was also a world-renowned geographer whose seminal critique of the hypothesis of competition promoted by Social Darwinism helped revolutionize modern evolutionary theory. An admirer of Darwin, he used his observations of life in Siberia as the basis for his 1902 collection of essays Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution. Kropotkin demonstrated that mutually beneficial cooperation and reciprocity--in both individuals and as a species--plays a far more important role in the animal kingdom and human societies than does individualized competitive struggle. Kropotkin carefully crafted his theory making the science accessible. His account of nature rejected Rousseau's romantic depictions and ethical socialist ideas that cooperation was motivated by the notion of universal love. His understanding of the dynamics of social evolution shows us that the power of cooperation--whether it is bison defending themselves against a predator or workers unionizing against their boss. His message is clear: solidarity is strength

Every page of this new edition of Mutual Aid has been beautifully illustrated by one of anarchism's most celebrated current artists, N.O. Bonzo. The reader will also enjoy original artwork by GATS and insightful commentary by David Graeber, Ruth Kinna, Andrej Grubacic, and Allan Antliff.

In this cornerstone of modern liberal social theory, Peter Kropotkin states that the most effective human and animal communities are essentially cooperative, rather than competitive. Kropotkin based this classic on his observations of natural phenomena and history, forming a work of stunning and well-reasoned scholarship. Essential to the understanding of human evolution as well as social organization, it offers a powerful counterpoint to the tenets of Social Darwinism. It also cites persuasive evidence of human nature's innate compatibility with anarchist society.
Kropotkin's basic argument is correct, noted evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould. Struggle does occur in many modes, and some lead to cooperation among members of a species as the best pathway to advantage for individuals. Anthropologist Ashley Montagu declared that Mutual Aid will never be any more out of date than will the Declaration of Independence. New facts may increasingly become available, but we can already see that they will serve largely to support Kropotkin's conclusion that 'in the ethical progress of man, mutual support--not mutual struggle--has had the leading part.' Physician and author Alex Comfort asserted that Kropotkin profoundly influenced human biology by his theory of Mutual Aid. . . . He was one of the first systematic students of animal communities, and may be regarded as the founder of modern social ecology.

A brilliant blueprint for a free society by one of anarchism's most famous theorists.

The Conquest of Bread is Peter Kropotkin's most extensive study of human needs and his outline of the most rational and equitable means of satisfying them. The most important and widely read exposition of anarchist economic theory, its combination of detailed historical analysis and far-reaching utopian vision is a step-by-step guide to social revolution: the concrete means of achieving it and the new world that humanity is capable of creating. Writing in a way that he describes as moderate in style, but revolutionary in substance, Kropotkin adeptly translates complex ideas into common language, while rendering the often-amorphous aspirations of social movements into coherent form. Includes an introduction that historically situates and discusses the contemporary relevance of Kropotkin's ideas.

The Working Classics Series revives lineages of radical thought from the history of the anarchist movement.

Born a Russian prince, Peter Kropotkin (1842-1921) rejected his title and wealth to spend his life in pursuit of social justice and equality. His last major work, The Conquest of Bread, surveys economic methods for the satisfaction of human needs. The 1892 treatise also outlines the revolutionary path to his vision of utopia: an anarchist communist society.
Kropotkin criticizes the effects of feudalism and capitalism, noting that both systems exacerbate poverty and promote privilege, even in times of abundance. Citing the human propensity toward voluntary cooperation, he proposes the establishment of free, self-sufficient anarchic communesand outlines practical considerations of production and distribution. The author supports his theories with examples from the French rebellions of 1789, 1848, and 1871, and his reasoning anticipates aspects of twentieth-century revolutions in Russia, Germany, and Spain. At a time when many thinkers employed the new Darwinian concept of survival of the fittest to justify their capitalist and imperialist goals, Kropotkin pointed out the historic patterns of humanity's best success under cooperative circumstances. A century later, his economic analysis remains fresh and relevant.

2017 Reprint of 1919 Edition. Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution is a 1902 work by Russian anarchist philosopher Peter Kropotkin. Kropotkin explores the role of mutually-beneficial cooperation and reciprocity (or mutual aid) in the animal kingdom and human societies both past and present. It is an argument against the competition-centered theories of so-called social Darwinism, as well as the romantic depictions of cooperation presented by writers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who argued it was motivated by universal love rather than self-interest. Mutual Aid is considered a fundamental text in anarchist communism, presenting a scientific basis for communism alternative to the historical materialism of the Marxists. Many biologists also consider it an important catalyst in the scientific study of cooperation.

Collected in this cute, pocket-sized volume are eight of Kropotkin's essays. The book starts with his indispensable article on anarchism, originally written for the Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, and moves forward to expound on his ideas, which include prison abolition, syndicalism, expropriation, etc., and contains a new editor's introduction by Nathaniel Kennon Perkins.

Make no mistake: the story that started with Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin is far from finished. On the contrary, I believe there's a good chance that it's only just begun.-Rutger Bregman, Utopia for Realists and Humankind

Russian social theorist Peter Kropotkin ... argued that voluntary cooperation has been key to the flourishing of human civilization.-The New York Times

The book is undeniably readable throughout ... Those who disagree with [Kropotkin] may learn much by studying the book.-Nature

The fascinating work of a Russian prince-turned-anarchist, Peter Kropotkin (1842-1921). Kropotkin one of the world's first international celebrities. In England, Kropotkin was known as a brilliant scientist, famous for his work on animal and human cooperation, but Kropotkin's fame in continental Europe centered more on his role as a founder and vocal proponent of anarchism. In the United States, he pursued both passions. Tens of thousands of people followed ex-Prince Peter during two speaking tours in America.

Kropotkin's path to fame was unexpected and labyrinthine, with asides in prison, breathtaking 50,000-mile journeys through the wastelands of Siberia, and banishment, for one reason or another, from most respectable Western countries of the day. In his homeland of Russia, Peter went from being Czar Alexander II's favored teenage page, to a young man enamored with the theory of evolution, to a convicted felon, jail-breaker and general agitator, eventually being chased halfway around the world by the Russian Secret police for his radical - some might (and did) say enlightened - political views.

Both while in jail, and while on the run when he was entertaining and enlightening huge crowds, Kropotkin found the energy and concentration to write books on a dazzling array of topics: evolution and behavior, ethics, the geography of Asia, anarchism, socialism and communism, penal systems, the coming industrial revolution in the East, the French Revolution, and the state of Russian literature. Though seemingly disparate topics, a common thread - the scientific law of mutual aid, which guided the evolution of all life on earth - tied these works together. This law boils down to Kropotkin's deep-seated conviction that what we today would call altruism and cooperation - but what the Prince called mutual aid - was the driving evolutionary force behind all social life, be it in microbes, animals or humans. Today, anthropologists, political scientists, economists and psychologists publish hundreds of studies each year on human cooperation, and researchers in these fields are just beginning to realize that so many of the topics they are investigating were first suggested and promulgated by Peter Kropotkin.

Two works in one collection. The Peter Kropotkin Anthology will awaken in you a new perspective as Peter Kropotkin viewed the communist society in which he lived during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Story 1: The Conquest of Bread The Conquest of Bread, also known colloquially as The Bread Book, is an 1892 book by the Russian anarcho-communist 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 points out what he considers to be the defects of the economic systems of feudalism and capitalism and why he believes they thrive on and maintain poverty and scarcity. He goes on 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. Story 2: Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution is a 1902 collection of anthropological essays by Russian naturalist and anarchist philosopher Peter Kropotkin. The essays explore the role of mutually-beneficial cooperation and reciprocity (or mutual aid) in the animal kingdom and human societies both past and present. It is an argument against theories of social Darwinism that emphasize competition and survival of the fittest, and against the romantic depictions by writers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who thought that cooperation was motivated by universal love. Instead Kropotkin argues that mutual aid has pragmatic advantages for the survival of human and animal communities and, along with the conscience, has been promoted through natural selection. Mutual Aid is considered a fundamental text in anarchist communism.

In The Conquest of Bread, Peter Kropotkin describes how the revolution can achieve a free, egalitarian, and self-sufficient anarcho-communist society. In issuing his argument for this society, Kropotkin critiques the various economic systems, from pure capitalism to state-run socialism to collectivism. Additionally, he provides the reader with a history of the revolution, analyzing the failures and successes of past revolutions, including the French revolutions of 1789, 1848, and 1871. Throughout, Kropotkin emphasizes humanity's ability to cooperate and advance through mutual aid and science - abilities critical to the success of the revolution and post-revolution society. The Conquest of Bread is an important and enduring work of political theory and anarchist thought.

This Dialectics annotated edition includes nearly 100 new historical and biographical footnotes and notes on the English translation from the original French text. Also included are nine historic lithographs, etchings, and woodblock prints depicting the periods discussed in the book. These notes and illustrations help to make The Conquest of Bread as relevant today as when it was first published. Peter Kropotkin (1842-1921) was born a Russian prince but abandoned his title at the age of twelve. He escaped from his first imprisonment and lived the bulk of his life in exile. Though he was a skilled geographer, he is most known for being an important theorist of anarchism and anarchist communism.

Peter Kropotkin remains one of the best-known anarchist thinkers, and Words of a Rebel was his first libertarian book. Published in 1885 while he was in a French jail for anarchist activism, this collection of articles from the newspaper Le Revolt sees Kropotkin criticise the failings of capitalism and those who seek to end it by means of its main support, the state. Instead, he urged the creation of a mass movement from below that would expropriate property and destroy the state, replacing their centralised hierarchies with federations of self-governing communities and workplaces.

Kropotkin's instant classic included discussions themes and ideas he returned to repeatedly during his five decades in the anarchist movement. Unsurprisingly, Words of a Rebel was soon translated into numerous languages--including Italian, Spanish, Bulgarian, Russian, and Chinese--and reprinted time and time again. But despite its influence as Kropotkin's first anarchist work, it was the last to be completely translated into English.

This is a new translation from the French original by Iain McKay except for a few chapters previously translated by Nicolas Walter. Both anarchist activists and writers, they are well placed to understand the assumptions within and influences on Kropotkin's revolutionary journalism. It includes all the original 1885 text along with the preface to the 1904 Italian as well as the preface and afterward to the 1919 Russian editions. In addition, it includes many articles on the labour movement written by Kropotkin for Le Revolt which show how he envisioned getting from criticism to a social revolution. Along with a comprehensive glossary and an introduction by Iain McKay placing this work within the history of anarchism as well as indicating its relevance to radicals and revolutionaries today, this is the definitive edition of an anarchist classic.

The fourth in AK Press' Working Classics series, The Conquest of Bread is Peter Kropotkin's most extensive study of human needs and his outline of the most rational and equi-table means of satisfying them. A combination of detailed historical analysis and far-reaching utopian vision, this is a step-by-step guide to social revolution: the concrete means of achieving it, and the world that humanity's constructive genius is capable of creating. Includes a new introduction that historically situates and discusses the contemporary relevance of Kropotkin's ideas.

The Great French Revolution, 1789-1793 is Peter Kropotkin's most substantial historical work. In it he presents a people's history of the world-shaking events of the Revolution and shows the key role the working men and women of the towns and countryside played in it. Without the constant pressure of popular organisations and activity, the politicians would never have created a Republic, nor been able to survive the counterrevolutionary forces internally or externally.

Focusing on such mass movements--and especially the peasant majority--rather than on the few great men beloved of bourgeois accounts, this is a groundbreaking account of the period and a seminal work of history from below. Later research may have corrected some factual details and opened new avenues of scholarship, but Kropotkin's text remains an exemplar of anarchist history-writing, challenging both bourgeois republican and Marxist interpretations of the Revolution.

Yet it is more than a history: Kropotkin uses the experience of the French Revolution to aid us in our current struggles and to learn its lessons in order to ensure the success of future revolutions. This book raises issues which have resurfaced time and again, as well as offering solutions based on the self-activity of the masses, the new, decentralised, directly democratic social organisations they forged during the Revolution, and the need to transform a political revolt into a social revolution which seeks to secure the well-being of all by transforming the economy from the start.

This was Peter Kropotkin's final book, in which he theorizes about the development of the modern state and how modern science and technology can assist in freeing working people from capitalism. First published in 1912 in France, sections of this book have been translated and published in English (as short books and pamphlets and journal articles), but never as a whole work as Kropotkin intended. More than 10 percent of this book has never before appeared in English. Introduced and annotated by Iain McKay.

One of the few members of the Russian aristocracy to become a revolutionary, Prince Peter Kropotkin (1842‒1921) renounced his title at the age of 12. He later became one of the leading theorists of anarchism. Forced to flee his homeland in the 1870s to avoid arrest for his revolutionary activities against the czarist government, the noted geographer and social philosopher lived in exile, mainly in England, for the next 42 years of his life. During this period Kropotkin wrote a number of pamphlets on the practical and moral aspects of the anarchist movement. Allowed to return to Russia in 1917, he continued to write but remained vigorously opposed to the Bolsheviks and Marxist socialism.
This collection contains a number of his important writings, including the brief but moving Spirit of Revolt; Modern Science and Anarchism, an investigation of the scientific principles of revolutionary anarchism; Law and Authority, an argument for social control through custom and education; Prisons and Their Moral Influence on Prisoners, an unparalleled description of the evils of the prison system (which Kropotkin witnessed during his incarcerations); a note on the 1917 revolution and the Soviet government; and five other documents. Also reprinted is Kropotkin's article for the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Anarchism, widely considered the best statement in English on the meaning, history, and aims of revolutionary anarchism.
A valuable addition to the libraries of instructors and students of history and government, this modestly priced volume also will appeal to anyone interested in aspects of anarchist thought.

One hundred years after his death, Peter Kropotkin is still one of the most inspirational figures of the anarchist movement. It is often forgotten that Kropotkin was also a world-renowned geographer whose seminal critique of the hypothesis of competition promoted by Social Darwinism helped revolutionize modern evolutionary theory. An admirer of Darwin, he used his observations of life in Siberia as the basis for his 1902 collection of essays Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution. Kropotkin demonstrated that mutually beneficial cooperation and reciprocity--in both individuals and as a species--plays a far more important role in the animal kingdom and human societies than does individualized competitive struggle. Kropotkin carefully crafted his theory making the science accessible. His account of nature rejected Rousseau's romantic depictions and ethical socialist ideas that cooperation was motivated by the notion of universal love. His understanding of the dynamics of social evolution shows us that the power of cooperation--whether it is bison defending themselves against a predator or workers unionizing against their boss. His message is clear: solidarity is strength

Every page of this new edition of Mutual Aid has been beautifully illustrated by one of anarchism's most celebrated current artists, N.O. Bonzo. The reader will also enjoy original artwork by GATS and insightful commentary by David Graeber, Ruth Kinna, Andrej Grubacic, and Allan Antliff.

Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution is a 1902 collection of essays by Russian naturalist and anarchist philosopher Peter Kropotkin. Originally published in The Nineteenth Century from 1890 to 1896, the essays examine mutually-beneficial cooperation and reciprocity in both animal and human societies. Contents include: Mutual Aid Among Animals, Mutual Aid Among Animals (continued), Mutual Aid Among Savages, Mutual Aid Among The Barbarians, Mutual Aid In The Mediaeval City, Mutual Aid In The Mediaeval City (continued), etc. Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (1842-1921) was a Russian writer, activist, revolutionary, economist, scientist, sociologist, essayist, historian, researcher, political scientist, geographer, geographer, biologist, philosopher and advocate of anarcho-communism. He was a prolific writer, producing a large number of pamphlets and articles, the most notable being The Conquest of Bread and Fields, Factories and Workshops and Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution. This classic work is being republished now in a new edition complete with an excerpt from Comrade Kropotkin by Victor Robinson.

The Conquest of Bread is an 1892 book by the Russian anarcho-communist 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 points out what he considers to be the defects of the economic systems of feudalism and capitalism and why he believes they thrive on and maintain poverty and scarcity. He goes on 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.

In 1886, Kropotkin, with the help of some prominent left-wing intellectuals, donors and sympathizers, 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.[2] 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 anarcho-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.[3] 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 anarcho-communism.

Kropotkin originally wrote the text in French and published in the French journal Le Révolté, where he served as the primary editor. Following its publication in France, Kropotkin published a serialized version in English in the London anarchist journal Freedom. The book would later be collected and published as a book in France in 1892 and in England in 1907.