Quiz: The Conquest of Bread

All 40 questions. A perfect score earns the gold medal; 80% earns silver.

1. 1. Which two countries does Kropotkin say introduced the zone system on their railways?

   Britain and France Belgium and Italy Hungary and Russia Germany and Switzerland
2. 2. What working commitment does Kropotkin calculate would guarantee well-being to all members of a society like Paris and Seine-et-Oise?

   Eight hours a day, from about sixteen to sixty-five, for all Three days a week, from about twenty-five until the age of sixty or sixty-five Ten hours a day, but only during the harvest and the vintage Five hours a day, from about twenty or twenty-two to forty-five or fifty
3. 3. Whose Paris market garden does Kropotkin analyse to show the yields of intensive culture?

   M. Toubeau M. Ponce M. Barral Mr Hallett
4. 4. What system of distribution does Kropotkin take from the agrarian communes of Europe?

   No limit on what is abundant, equal sharing of what is scarce Distribution by lot, held once a year Payment in labour-notes for every hour worked Rations fixed by a central committee for all goods, scarce and abundant
5. 5. According to the preface, why was communal possession of the land destroyed in Western Europe?

   Population growth made periodic redivision impossible Peasants preferred individual farms once they could afford to buy them outright Governments created a land monopoly for the nobility and middle classes The Church confiscated communal lands during the Reformation
6. 6. What would Kropotkin’s imagined commune ask of its members in return for the use of all its goods?

   Four or five hours a day of necessary work, from twenty to forty-five or fifty Military service in the commune’s militia, from the age of eighteen to forty-five A fixed payment in labour-notes for each article taken from the common stores Eight hours a day of work assigned by the commune, from sixteen to sixty
7. 7. In whom did the early founders of socialism, according to Kropotkin, put their faith for bringing about change?

   A great ruler, “some Socialist Napoleon” The insurrectionary masses of the cities Trade unions organised across nations Elected parliaments and universal suffrage
8. 8. Which two institutions does Kropotkin accuse the collectivists of keeping?

   Private property in land and the standing army of the State The family and inheritance Money and the Church Representative government and the wages system
9. 9. What does Kropotkin say would happen to the descendants of the inventor of the first lace-making machine if they claimed it today?

   They would be honoured with a public pension They would receive a share of the factory’s profits as the inventor’s heirs They would be told “Hands off!” and shot down if they tried to take it They would be given jobs as foremen
10. 10. Why, according to Kropotkin, is a house in parts of Paris worth many thousands of pounds?

    Because its owner has improved it at great expense over many years Because of the quality of its materials Because it is in Paris, a city built by generations of work Because of the taxes levied on it
11. 11. How did the Lifeboat Association decide on the design of its boats?

    By copying the Dutch government’s own designs By submitting scale models to the Admiralty for its approval As the lifeboatmen themselves wished By a vote of its subscribers at the annual meeting
12. 12. What happened when workers claimed the “right to work” in 1848, according to chapter 2?

    Workers were granted land in the provinces free of rent An eight-hour day was legislated for all trades National workshops paid 1s. 8d. a day; later the workers were told to colonise Africa or be shot The government nationalised all the factories of Paris and placed them under elected workers’ councils
13. 13. What did Tsar Nicholas I reportedly do when shown drafts for the Moscow–Petersburg railway?

    Drew a straight line between the two cities with a ruler Ordered it to pass through every provincial capital Handed the project to a private company Refused to allow any railway at all
14. 14. What does Kropotkin say gave “the most striking proof” against national specialisation?

    The silk factories of Lyons and of northern Italy Germany’s chemical industry India’s growth of cotton and jute mills Brazil’s coffee plantations
15. 15. What did Mrs Cochrane invent, according to the chapter on agreeable work?

    A mechanical carpet sweeper A central heating system A dish-washing machine A boot-blacking machine
16. 16. Why, according to Kropotkin, did peasants in 1792–93 withhold grain from the towns?

    The harvest had failed throughout France for two successive years The Convention banned the sale of grain They were offered only depreciating paper money (assignats) Foreign armies had seized the granaries
17. 17. How does Kropotkin answer the objection that everyone will want a sable-lined coat or a velvet gown?

    He would give them only to those who had worked the longest hours in the year He doubts it: many prefer simple, practical clothes, and revolution favours simplicity He would ban furs and velvet for good as relics of bourgeois vanity and display He would share out the luxuries by lottery among all who ask for them at the communal stores
18. 18. Why does Kropotkin say an anarchist society need not fear a Rothschild settling in its midst?

    No one with secure well-being would sell his strength for a starvation wage Gold would be declared illegal The commune would confiscate his gold at the frontier and melt it down for public use He would be required to work five hours a day
19. 19. How does Kropotkin compare the modern worker with the medieval peasant?

    The forms have changed, the relations have not: under “free contract” he accepts feudal obligations The modern worker is freer, because he may choose his employer The peasant was worse off, having no wages at all The two cannot be compared, since feudalism rested on religion and custom, not on contract and wages
20. 20. How does Kropotkin distinguish his communism from that of Fourier and the German State Socialists?

    It is to be introduced gradually by parliamentary majorities It is Anarchist Communism, communism without government It is communism limited to small agricultural colonies It keeps wages but abolishes private land
21. 21. Which project does Kropotkin cite as a model of voluntary intellectual cooperation?

    The English dictionary compiled with the help of volunteer readers The Russian census, carried out by thousands of student volunteers The British Museum catalogue, compiled by its readers without pay The French Encyclopédie, written by Diderot and his unpaid friends
22. 22. How does the preface assess the positive results of the Paris Commune of 1871?

    It successfully nationalised the Bank of France and all of the great railways It abolished wages throughout Paris Too short-lived to give positive results; it remained communalist only It proved that State ownership of industry works
23. 23. Which voluntary bodies does Kropotkin call the “real backbone of the German army”?

    The regimental schools Military, shooting, topographical and similar societies The Red Cross committees The Social Democratic trade unions and workers’ gymnastic clubs
24. 24. What does Kropotkin say is the real danger to a revolution once it has expropriated and begun to grow its own food?

    Timidity, prejudice and half-measures Famine in the cities over the first winter Peasant hostility to the towns and their markets Invasion by foreign armies and their allies
25. 25. What does Kropotkin claim against Malthus?

    Productive powers grow faster than powers of reproduction Population grows faster than food, so restraint is needed Emigration is the only cure for overpopulation Wages are fixed by the cost of subsistence
26. 26. In the Rothschild anecdote, what did the banker offer to anyone who asked?

    Four shillings, his supposed share of the fortune A loan at no interest A share of his Frankfurt bank’s yearly profits A job in his bank
27. 27. Why does Kropotkin reject the phalanstery as a general rule?

    It was invented by an authoritarian Communist and could only be imposed from above It would do away with the family entirely Most people prefer homes of their own It would cost too much to build and run
28. 28. What is Kropotkin’s main example of free agreement at continental scale?

    The Hanseatic League of medieval cities The International Workingmen’s Association and its many federal councils The Universal Postal Union at Berne Europe’s railway network
29. 29. How, according to Kropotkin, do groups scattered far and wide now organise for a common object?

    They elect an international parliament to pass laws binding on every group They send delegates who return with a proposal of agreement that may be accepted or rejected They submit their disputes to national courts They appoint a single director with full powers
30. 30. After the work needed for necessaries, how does Kropotkin propose people would obtain luxuries such as a piano or a telescope?

    By joining voluntary associations and giving part of their leisure to the work By applying to the commune’s central luxury department, which allots them in turn to each household By inheriting them from the expropriated bourgeoisie By buying them with labour-notes earned by overtime
31. 31. What criticism does Kropotkin make of the Paris Commune of 1871?

    It refused to hold elections and governed through delegates appointed from above It paid its Council members nothing at all, relying on their devotion alone It paid its Council members far more than the National Guards who fought for it It abolished wages too quickly, before the workshops had been properly organised
32. 32. Which day of the French Revolution does Kropotkin call “the most beautiful, the greatest”?

    When delegates worked with spades to level the Champ de Mars for the Federation When the people of Paris stormed the Bastille and tore it down stone by stone When the nobles renounced their feudal privileges on the night of 4 August When the Convention proclaimed the Republic in September 1792
33. 33. What does the “go-canny” watchword mean in Kropotkin’s account?

    Share work equally among the unemployed Strike without warning Work hard to keep your job Bad work for bad pay
34. 34. What example does Kropotkin use to show that individual contributions cannot be measured?

    The compositors of a newspaper, from the typesetter to the editor The workers of a coal-mine, from cage-boy to engineer The crew of a lifeboat, from the coxswain to the bow oarsman The volunteers of the Red Cross, from the nurse to the stretcher-bearer
35. 35. According to Kropotkin, which learned body refused to publish Joule’s paper on the mechanical equivalent of heat?

    The Zoological Society of London The St Petersburg Academy The Royal Society of London The French Academy of Sciences
36. 36. Which example from Adam Smith does Kropotkin use to introduce the division of labour?

    A smith making nails A watchmaker’s workshop A weaver at his loom A farmer and his ploughman
37. 37. What historical parallel does Kropotkin draw against the claim that people will not work without compulsion?

    Medieval guilds abolished wages without loss The same was said before the invention of machinery The same was said before the abolition of slavery and serfdom, and proved false The Paris Commune proved that workers would not work at all without wages or overseers
38. 38. Which formula does Kropotkin proclaim at the end of chapter 1, in place of “the right to work”?

    To each according to his work The right to well-being: well-being for all To each the whole result of his labour A fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work
39. 39. Why, according to Kropotkin, are miners often forbidden to work more than three days a week?

    Because of laws limiting working hours Because there are not enough railway wagons To keep up the price of coal Because the seams are exhausted
40. 40. What name does Kropotkin propose for political economy as he would reform it?

    Physiology of Society The Science of Wealth Mutual Aid Social Mechanics