THE CONQUEST OF BREAD
by P. Kropotkin
NOTES
(1) Consult "La Répartition métrique des impôts," by
A. Toubeau, two vols., published by Guillaumin in 1880.
(We do not in the least agree with Toubeau's conclusions,
but it is a real encyclopædia, indicating the sources
which prove what can be obtained from the soil.) "La
Culture maraîchere," by M. Ponce, Paris, 1869. "Le
Potager Gressent," Paris, 1885, an excellent practical
work. " Physiologie et culture du blé," by Risler, Paris,
1881. "Le blé, sa culture intensive et extensive," by
Lecouteux, Paris, 1883. " La Cité Chinoise," by Eugène
Simon. " Le dictionnaire d'agriculture, " by Barral
(Hachette, editor). "The Rothamstead Experiments,"
by Wm. Fream, London, 1888--culture without
manure, etc. (the " Field " office, editor). "Fields,
Factories, and Workshops," by the author. London
(Swan Sonnenschein); cheap editions at 6d. and 1s.
(2) Summing up the figures given on agriculture,
figures proving that the inhabitants of the two départements
of Seine and Seine-et-Oise can perfectly well live
on their own territory by employing very little time
annually to obtain food, we have:--
DEPARTMENTS OF SEINE AND SEINE-ET-OISE
Number of inhabitants in 1889 |
3,900,000 |
Area in acres |
1,507,300 |
Average number of inhabitants per acre |
2.6 |
Areas to be cultivated to feed the inhabitants (in
acres):--
|
Corn and cereals |
494,000 |
Natural and artificial meadows |
494,000 |
Vegetables and fruit |
from 17,300 to 25,000 |
Leaving a balance for houses, roads, parks,
forests
|
494,000 |
Quantity of annual work necessary to improve and
cultivate the above surfaces in five-hour work-days:--
|
Cereals (culture and crop) |
15,000,000 |
Meadows, milk, rearing of cattle |
10,000,000 |
Market-gardening culture, high-class fruit, |
33,000,000 |
Extras |
12,000,000 |
Total |
70,000,000 |
If we suppose that half only of the able-bodied adults
(men and women) are willing to work at agriculture, we
see that 70 million work-days must be divided among
1,200,000 individuals, which gives us 58 work-days of
5 hours for each of these workers. With that the
population of the two departments would have all necessary
bread, meat, milk, vegetables, and fruit, both ordinary
and luxury. To-day a workman spends for the
necessary food of his family (generally less than what is
necessary) at least one-third of his 300 work-days a year,
about 1OOO hours be it, instead of 290. That is, he thus
gives about 700 hours too much to fatten the idle and
the would-be administrators, because he does not produce
his own food, but buys it of middlemen, who in their
turn buy it of peasants who exhaust themselves by
working with bad tools, because, being robbed by the
landowners and the State, they cannot procure better
ones.
This text was taken from a 1st edition of The Conquest of Bread,
G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York and London, 1906.
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