Introduction by George Woodcock
It 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 contents
Editor's Introduction
Preface to the Second Edition
Preface to the First Edition
Chapter 1
The Decentralization of Industries
Editor's Afterword to Chapter 1
Chapter 2
The Possibilities of Agriculture
Editor's Afterword to Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Small Industries and Industrial Villages
Editor's Afterword to Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Brain Work and Manual Work
Editor's Afterword to Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Editor's Epilogue
1994: 255 pages, index
