The Conquest of BreadKropotkin, Petr Alekseevich, kniaz
Philosophy
The Conquest of Bread
Kropotkin, Petr Alekseevich, kniaz
Anarchism; Communism
We answer that there are no two ways of it. There is only one way in
which Communism can be established equitably, only one way which
satisfies our instincts of justice and is at the same time practical;
namely, the system already adopted by the agrarian communes of Europe.
Take for example a peasant commune, no matter where, even in France,
where the Jacobins have done their best to destroy all communal usage.
If the commune possesses woods and copses, then, so long as there is
plenty of wood for all, every one can take as much as he wants, without
other let or hindrance than the public opinion of his neighbours. As to
the timber-trees, which are always scarce, they have to be carefully
apportioned.
The same with the communal pasture land; while there is enough and to
spare, no limit is put to what the cattle of each homestead may consume,
nor to the number of beasts grazing upon the pastures. Grazing grounds
are not divided, nor is fodder doled out, unless there is scarcity. All
the Swiss communes, and scores of thousands in France and Germany,
wherever there is communal pasture land, practise this system.
And in the countries of Eastern Europe, where there are great forests
and no scarcity of land, you will find the peasants felling the trees as
they need them, and cultivating as much of the soil as they require,
without any thought of limiting each man's share of timber or of land.
But the timber will be allowanced, and the land parcelled out, to each
household according to its needs, as soon as either becomes scarce, as
is already the case in Russia.
In a word, the system is this: no stint or limit to what the community
possesses in abundance, but equal sharing and dividing of those
commodities which are scarce or apt to run short. Of the 350 millions
who inhabit Europe, 200 millions still follow this system of natural
Communism.
It is a fact worth remarking that the same system prevails in the great
towns in the distribution of one commodity at least, which is found in
abundance, the water supplied to each house.
As long as there is no fear of the supply running short, no water
company thinks of checking the consumption of water in each house. Take
what you please! But during the great droughts, if there is any fear of
the supply failing, the water companies know that all they have to do is
to make known the fact, by means of a short advertisement in the papers,
and the citizens will reduce their consumption of water and not let it
run to waste.
But if water were actually scarce, what would be done? Recourse would be
had to a system of rations. Such a measure is so natural, so inherent in
common sense, that Paris twice asked to be put on rations during the two
sieges which it underwent in 1871.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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