{"id":2504,"date":"2024-11-16T12:11:29","date_gmt":"2024-11-16T11:11:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sabotage.ninja\/?post_type=product&p=2504"},"modified":"2026-01-22T00:36:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T23:36:13","slug":"the-great-french-revolution-1789-1793","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/www.sabotage.ninja\/en\/product\/the-great-french-revolution-1789-1793\/","title":{"rendered":"The Great French Revolution, 1789-1793"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The Great French Revolution, 1789\u20131793<\/em> is Peter Kropotkin\u2019s most substantial historical work. In it he presents a people\u2019s history of the world-shaking events of the Revolution and shows the key role the working men and women of the towns and countryside played in it. Without the constant pressure of popular organisations and activity, the politicians would never have created a Republic, nor been able to survive the counterrevolutionary forces internally or externally.<\/p>\n

Focusing on such mass movements\u2014and especially the peasant majority\u2014rather than on the few great men beloved of bourgeois accounts, this is a groundbreaking account of the period and a seminal work of \u201chistory from below.\u201d Later research may have corrected some factual details and opened new avenues of scholarship, but Kropotkin\u2019s text remains an exemplar of anarchist history-writing, challenging both bourgeois republican and Marxist interpretations of the Revolution.<\/p>\n

Yet it is more than a history: Kropotkin uses the experience of the French Revolution to aid us in our current struggles and to learn its lessons in order to ensure the success of future revolutions. This book raises issues which have resurfaced time and again, as well as offering solutions based on the self-activity of the masses, the new, decentralised, directly democratic social organisations they forged during the Revolution, and the need to transform a political revolt into a social revolution which seeks to secure the well-being of all by transforming the economy from the start.<\/p>\n

Praise<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe French Revolution erupted out of the remnants of the old world and set a dynamic precedent for new centuries of resistance. Multifaceted, contradictory, and compelling, the French Revolution cast an enormous shadow that influenced every radical faction of 19th century politics. Peter Kropotkin was perhaps the preeminent anarchist intellect of his generation, and so his book The Great French Revolution, 1789\u20131793<\/em> provides us with a fascinating exploration into the late 19th century anarchist vision of historical transformation. This saga of popular upheaval from below provides a fascinating mirror image of how Kropotkin and many of his comrades envisioned the coming revolution.\u201d
\n\u2014Mark Bray, author of Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook<\/em> and co-editor of Anarchist Education and the Modern School: A Francisco Ferrer Reader<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIn this classic text, Kropotkin demonstrates how even struggles that falter can lay the groundwork for subsequent upheavals. The French Revolution may have succumbed to reaction, but it also gave birth to ideas that would define revolutions to come. A must-read for anyone struggling to put insurgency on the agenda once again.\u201d
\n\u2014AK Thompson, author of Black Bloc, White Riot<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Great French Revolution, 1789\u20131793<\/em> constitutes a monumental achievement and is the best-known of all anarchist historical works. In it, Kropotkin perceptively analyzes the roots in the revolution of the fateful struggle between centralized authority and popular power that was to pervade modern political history. He argues that the prospects of the revolution depended on the achievement of communal self-determination and communalization of the land. His communist anarchist analysis of the revolution becomes increasingly relevant today, as attention turns to the history and politics of the commons.\u201d
\n\u2014John P. Clark, author of The Impossible Community: Realizing Communitarian Anarchism<\/em> and Between Earth and Empire: From the Necrocene to the Beloved Community<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cKropotkin\u2019s The Great French Revolution, 1789\u20131793<\/em> is an essential work of history from below, giving a nuanced account of one of the most important upheavals from the perspective of the masses of ordinary people who made it happen. It\u2019s great to see it back in print.\u201d
\n\u2014Working Class History<\/p>\n

\u201cOne hundred years ago, Peter Kropotkin\u2019s death occasioned the last public gathering of anarchists in Russia for over six decades. Today his revolutionary yet commonsense ethics have come to life again, resurrected by the widespread embrace of mutual aid during the pandemic. But Kropotkin also still has much to say, always with gentle care and strong principles, about the twin disasters of capitalism and the state, and in contrast, the promise of liberatory transformation via confederal forms of self-organization. So don\u2019t just mourn this dead anarchist; use the words of a rebel as inspiration to fight like hell for the living!\u201d
\n\u2014Cindy Milstein, author of Anarchism and Its Aspirations<\/em><\/p>\n

About the Contributors<\/strong><\/p>\n

Peter Kropotkin<\/strong><\/a> (1842\u20131921) was the foremost theorist of the anarchist movement. Born a Russian Prince, he rejected his title to become a revolutionary, seeking a society based on freedom, equality, and solidarity. Imprisoned for his activism in Russia and France, his writings include The Conquest of Bread<\/em>; Fields, Factories, and Workshops<\/em>; Anarchism, Anarchist-Communism, and the State<\/em>; Memoirs of a Revolutionist<\/em>; and Modern Science and Anarchism<\/em>. New editions of his classic works Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution<\/em>; Words of a Rebel<\/em>; and The Great French Revolution, 1789\u20131793<\/em> will be published by PM Press to commemorate his life and work on the centennial of his death.<\/p>\n

Dave Berry<\/b><\/a> was a lecturer in French politics and history at Loughborough University for over 30 years and was a cofounder of Loughborough\u2019s Anarchism Research Group and of the Anarchist Studies Network. His doctoral thesis led to A History of the French Anarchist Movement, 1917\u20131945<\/i>. Besides a number of chapters and articles on various aspects of the life and politics of Daniel Gu\u00e9rin, other publications include New Perspectives on Anarchism, Labour and Syndicalism: The Individual, the National and the Transnational<\/i>, coedited with Constance Bantman; Libertarian Socialism: Politics in Black and Red<\/i>, coedited with Alex Prichard, Ruth Kinna, and Saku Pinta; \u201cAnarchism in 1968,\u201d in Carl Levy and Matt Adams (eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Anarchism<\/i>; and \u201cAn Anarchist History of \u2018Our Common Mother,\u2019\u201d an introduction to a new edition of Peter Kropotkin\u2019s The Great French Revolution, 1789\u20131793<\/i>. He also edited and introduced a selection of Gu\u00e9rin\u2019s <\/i>articles, translated for the first time: For a Libertarian Communism<\/i>. His biography of Gu\u00e9rin, A Life in the Service of Revolution: Daniel Gu\u00e9rin, 1904\u20131988<\/i> is nearing completion.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Author: Peter Kropotkin \u2022 Introduction: David Berry
\nSeries: PM Press
\nISBN: 9781629638768
\nPublished: 12\/28\/2021
\nFormat: Paperback
\nSize: 6×9
\nPages: 592
\nSubjects: History: Europe\/Anarchism<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":2505,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[127,30],"product_tag":[176,54,231,232],"class_list":{"0":"post-2504","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-books-en","7":"product_cat-books1312","8":"product_tag-pm-press","9":"product_tag-istoriya","10":"product_tag-petr-kropotkin","11":"product_tag-frantsiya","12":"desktop-align-center","13":"tablet-align-center","14":"mobile-align-center","16":"first","17":"instock","18":"sale","19":"shipping-taxable","20":"purchasable","21":"product-type-simple"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sabotage.ninja\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/2504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sabotage.ninja\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sabotage.ninja\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sabotage.ninja\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2504"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sabotage.ninja\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sabotage.ninja\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sabotage.ninja\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=2504"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sabotage.ninja\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=2504"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sabotage.ninja\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=2504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}