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This book was written by the anarchist Peter Kropotkin, and discusses the decentralization of industries, possibilities of agriculture, and uses of small industries. Through the book, he sought to connect anarchism with science, based on sociological tendencies. The book was compiled from essays he had published in Nineteenth Century and Forum between 1888 and 1890. Before this book on economics, Kropotkin had been known for his militant activity on behalf of international anarchism and writings on Siberian geography.

Introduction by George WoodcockIt would not be an exaggeration to describe this book as the central work of Kropotkin's writing career. In one way or another, it occupied more than twenty years of his life. It is a work of argument and suggestion rather than dogmatic statement, and the very tentativeness of this great book make its perceptions all the more relevant.With at one time Kropotkin's view of our future might have been regarded as a Utopian dream, today, as a result of the growing realization that the world's resources of energy and raw materials are finite, that food is our most precious commodity and that people's working lives are futile and stultifying, the lessons of this book, for both the rich world and the poor, are topical and hopeful.In addition to a general introduction to the most significant aspects of Kropotkin's life and thought, George Woodcock has prepared a comprehensive afterword to each essay, allowing the reader to fully see Kropotkin's ideas in the context of the world a century later.Is the 9th volume of the The Collected Works of Peter Kropotkin.Table of contentsEditor's IntroductionPreface to the Second EditionPreface to the First EditionChapter 1The Decentralization of IndustriesEditor's Afterword to Chapter 1Chapter 2The Possibilities of AgricultureEditor's Afterword to Chapter 2Chapter 3Small Industries and Industrial VillagesEditor's Afterword to Chapter 3Chapter 4Brain Work and Manual WorkEditor's Afterword to Chapter 4Chapter 5ConclusionEditor's Epilogue1994: 255 pages, index

2014 Reprint of 1902 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. This work is a landmark anarchist text by Peter Kropotkin, and arguably one of the most influential and positive statements of the anarchist political philosophy. It is viewed by many as the central work of his writing career. It was first published in book form in 1898 in New York and London. Here Kropotkin shares his vision of a more harmonious way of living based on cooperation instead of competition. To a large degree, Kropotkin's emphasis is on local organization, local production obviating the need for central government. Kropotkin's vision is also on agriculture and rural life, making it a contrasting perspective to the largely industrial thinking of communists and socialists. Kropotkin's focus on local production leads to his view that communities should strive for self-sufficiency, the production of a community's own goods and food, thus making import and export unnecessary. To these ends, Kropotkin advocates irrigation and growth under glass and in fields to boost local food production. This work has been widely influential for anarchists and non-anarchist alike, and Kropotkin's deductions are as controversial and revolutionary today as they were when he formulated them.

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