He proceeded to propose a more decentralized economic system based on mutual aid and voluntary cooperation, asserting that the tendencies for this kind of organization already exist, both in evolution and in human society.

Fearful of the anarchist scare that was gripping continental Europe following the assassination of Alexander II and wishing to focus more time on composing theory and arguing for his revolutionary ideals, Kropotkin moved to London in the same year.

[3] With this aim, Kropotkin spent a great deal of time in London writing multiple books and pamphlets, in between his international speaking tours to the United States and Canada.

It was during this time of rapid literary output that Kropotkin wrote The Conquest of Bread, which became his most well-known attempt to systematically explain the essential parts of anarchist communism.

[2] The publication of the text shifted the focus of anarchism from individualist, mutualist and collectivist strains to social and communist tendencies.

He figures that many critics will claim that people are naturally lazy and they would not work without a profit incentive, even if it is only for five hours and for basic necessities.

[5] Near the end of the work, Kropotkin cautions against the state centralization of industry, warning people against more authoritarian strands of socialism and claiming that any revolution must guarantee bread and freedom to the workers and revolutionaries.

Due to the problems of Marxism–Leninism in the Soviet Union, some thinkers came to regard the book as prophetic, with Kropotkin anticipating the many pitfalls and human rights abuses that would occur given the centralization of industry.

[7] In 2015, David Priestland, writing for The Guardian, called for a renewed look at Kropotkin and The Conquest of Bread in the West, given the recent collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the global financial crisis of 2007–2008.

[8] Since 2018, a loose group of left-leaning YouTube content creators have collectively been referred to as BreadTube, inspired by the title of the book.