A pioneering treatise on cooperation and reciprocity, from the great anarchist thinker 'Don't compete! - competition is always injurious to the species, and you have plenty of resources to avoid it!' In his pioneering 1902 treatise on human cooperation, the anarchist thinker and natural scientist Peter Kropotkin argued that it is our innate instinct for mutual aid - rather than mutual struggle - which enables societies to survive and flourish. From the earliest days of evolution through to medieval guilds, indigenous nomads and modern voluntary organisations, Kropotkin's vision of small-scale, ecologically sustainable, collective communities challenged the orthodoxies of his age, whether individualism or Marxism. Mutual Aid offers instead a radical, and prescient, rewriting of the whole of human history. With an introduction by David Priestland

Prince Peter Kropotkin (1842-1921) was the most outstanding anarchist thinker of his time. His writings, which combine revolutionary fervor with intellectual rigor, were influential far beyond the bounds of the anarchist movement. No mere propagandist, Kropotkin aimed to provide anarchism with a scientific base through research of dominant tendencies in society. Fields, Factories and Workshops (1899) is a meticulously researched and brilliantly argued outline for redirecting agricultural and industrial production In a world of shrinking resources and increasing human needs. More prophetic than utopian, this volume remains remarkably pertinent to economic conditions at the end of the twentieth century.

The analysis of trends at work in the United States, Japan, and China are of amazing predictive power. Kropotkin's farsighted vision of future industrial planning is today being fulfilled on a wide scale in regions of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Equally prophetic is his critique of mass production in which he anticipates contemporary calls for multifaceted job training and greater flexibility in the workplace. Fields, Factories and Workshops constitutes a valuable source of Inspiration toward the reinvigoration of the moral point of view in the discussion of economics and social justice. It will be of continuing interest to historians, economists, sociologists, and labor studies specialists.

'Everywhere you will find that the wealth of the wealthy springs from the poverty of the poor' Fuelled by anger at injustice and optimism about humankind's ability to make a better, truly communal society, the anarchist writings of Peter Kropotkin have influenced radicals the world over, from nineteenth-century workers to today's activists. One of twenty new books in the bestselling Penguin Great Ideas series. This new selection showcases a diverse list of thinkers who have helped shape our world today, from anarchists to stoics, feminists to prophets, satirists to Zen Buddhists.

Writing partly in response to Social Darwinism, Kropotkin draws on his scientific knowledge to illustrate the phenomenon of cooperation. After examining the evidence of cooperation in nonhuman animals, pre-feudal societies, medieval cities, and in modern times, he concludes that cooperation and mutual aid are the most important factors in the evolution of the species and the ability to survive.

'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.

In a work of stunning and well-reasoned scholarship, a famous anarchist posits that the most effective human and animal communities are essentially cooperative, rather than competitive. Essential to the understanding of human evolution as well as social organization, this book offers a powerful counterpoint to the tenets of Social Darwinism.

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 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.

'Well-being for all is not a dream.' In this brilliantly enjoyable, challenging rallying-cry of a book, Kropotkin lays out the heart of his anarchist beliefs - beliefs which surged around the world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and which have a renewed relevance and poignancy today. Humane, 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.

Admired by Leo Tolstoy from the last century to Lewis Mumford in our own, Peter Kropotkin's works were ahead of their time.

First published during Kropotkin's imprisonment, this collection contains articles written between 1879 and 1882. The first complete English version.