Fields, Factories and Workshops

- Blurb -

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