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A review by crloken
The Conquest of Bread by Peter Kropotkin
4.0
I think people who characterize communism as being the worst of the Soviet Union should probably read this, as they may find that they agree with Kropotkin about a lot more than they think. Kropotkin has severe issues with state communists and authoritarians and thinks that ultimately these systems are doomed to fail. He also has severe problems with any capitalist system which he argues are built on exploitation.
Kropotkin's arguments against capitalism are fairly convincing. I especially appreciated his argument against the idea of the lone capitalist inventor, pointing out that even if he does it all on his own he is still working off of knowledge and technology discovered by others. We never do things completely on our own, and so for us to profit solely off of something many have worked for is not right. I find it pretty difficult to deny the pointless waste in capitalist countries: perfectly good food is thrown away while people starve, houses stay empty while people are forced to stay homeless, people work harder than they need to while others stay unemployed.
I also found his arguments against authoritarian states convincing. What I had more trouble with were some of his arguments of how an anarchist state would be run. I really would like to be convinced, but I don't quite buy it. The arguments for how people come together without direction are often referring to extraordinary situations, such as sinking ships, and I'm less convinced that this can be transferred to ordinary situations. I think we need some level of organization and agreement above just assuming people will take care of what needs to be done. I had a roommate once who seemed to think the only cleaning job was washing dishes, it's easy to come forward during exceptional situations but less so when its to do something like sweep the floor. I could be miss-characterizing his argument, but that's how I understood it.
Overall though it's a strong work and feels fairly immediate despite being over a century old. I think that in some circles the idea of communism has been demonized, and I think if people read more of these works it could at least help to show that communists aren't just secret totalitarians.
Kropotkin's arguments against capitalism are fairly convincing. I especially appreciated his argument against the idea of the lone capitalist inventor, pointing out that even if he does it all on his own he is still working off of knowledge and technology discovered by others. We never do things completely on our own, and so for us to profit solely off of something many have worked for is not right. I find it pretty difficult to deny the pointless waste in capitalist countries: perfectly good food is thrown away while people starve, houses stay empty while people are forced to stay homeless, people work harder than they need to while others stay unemployed.
I also found his arguments against authoritarian states convincing. What I had more trouble with were some of his arguments of how an anarchist state would be run. I really would like to be convinced, but I don't quite buy it. The arguments for how people come together without direction are often referring to extraordinary situations, such as sinking ships, and I'm less convinced that this can be transferred to ordinary situations. I think we need some level of organization and agreement above just assuming people will take care of what needs to be done. I had a roommate once who seemed to think the only cleaning job was washing dishes, it's easy to come forward during exceptional situations but less so when its to do something like sweep the floor. I could be miss-characterizing his argument, but that's how I understood it.
Overall though it's a strong work and feels fairly immediate despite being over a century old. I think that in some circles the idea of communism has been demonized, and I think if people read more of these works it could at least help to show that communists aren't just secret totalitarians.