Fields, Factories and Workshops

Bruce Grainger is head of the Public Services Department, Macdonald
Library, McGill

University.

Kropotkin’s classic anarchist work first appeared in 1898, followed by
a second edition in 1913. Woodcock’s edition is the latest of several
published in the last 30 years. Woodcock has closely followed the
approach taken in Colin Ward’s 1973 edition in re-organizing
Kropotkin’s work into four chapters and editing out redundant
material. Likewise, he has also eliminated Kropotkin’s copious
footnotes and added his own comments after each chapter. Unfortunately,
Woodcock’s remarks with regard to agriculture betray a superficial
knowledge of the subject. Although Kropotkin’s main predictions have
not come to pass, in a general way many of the situations he describes
have modern parallels. For instance, his criticism of the mind-numbing
effects of repetitive industrial tasks and his plea for better science
education are still relevant today.