The Conquest of Bread- Chapter 4.3 audio and study questions

Audio for Chapter 4, Section 3

Is there any way to half ass revolution? 

We have to do what all at the same time - make all housing property common, take away ownership of tools and machines, eliminate money, give all healthcare, food and education, get rid of the courts - what else? 

Are we over exerting ourselves and accomplishing very little in the end because we’re not focusing on the whole picture?

Does having no private property make you uncomfortable? 

Doesn’t it seem like for revolution to be a success that the most marginalized have to be prioritized?

The Conquest of Bread- Chapter 4.2 audio and study questions

Audio from Chapter 4, Section 2

Are landlords of old and capitalists of today mostly using the same tricks with different levels of technology? 

What else is a good businessman but the best exploiter? 

Big businesses exploit everyone they can but what about smaller ones?

Isn’t it still exploitative to pay poor people less than whatever they made sold for and supplies? 

Does the distance between the exploiter and who they exploit labor from make it harder for others to see how connected we are to this chain?

Is being a soldier different now? 

If we distribute goods and access and help out others is there any way that being exploited will seem appealing?

The Conquest of Bread- Chapter 4.1 audio and study questions

Audio for Chapter 4, Section 1

Is it hard to envision this new world minus money?

Do you understand how eliminating money and private property would change everything we’re acquainted with?

Is there another way for everyone to have the right to well being?

 Does ending poverty seem like a good way to end extreme wealth?

Who will capitalists exploit if the majority work together and take back the means?

Has it changed for us since the middle ages or the 19th century?

Is it better or worse that we don’t feel as much like peasants?

The Conquest of Bread- Chapter 3.2 audio and study questions

Audio for Chapter 3, Section 2

In european history revolution leads to advancements in arts and sciences. What could decolonization lead to? How does decolonization differ to you from anarchistic communism - is there a difference? Can one happen without the other? 

What is the main difference between anarchists and other people who want no government/interference?

Could you meet the needs of your neighborhood by getting with your neighbors and going out and fixing it? What is the benefit of having to go through channels like government? 

Do you agree that the state is the personification of injustice oppression and monopoly? 

Did you ever consider a life without government? 

What would it look like to have been taught accurate history? 

Where have you learned history not from the perspective of the state? 

Are we all conditioned - for what? Are we learning anything or just being given crumbs of information about the happenings of the government? 

Why are we expected to pay money to a state that won’t tell us the whole story? 

Would people treat each other even better one on one if we weren’t taught to screw others to gain funds? 

Is the fact that some retain their moral code even under capitalism proof that people are good?

The Conquest of Bread- Chapter 3.1 audio and study questions

Audio for Chapter 3, Section 1

What do the words anarchy and communism mean to you?
Do you think that one can’t happen without the other, why/why not?

Compared to 500 years ago how dependent are we all on each other?
Do you think we’re more or less interconnected now than in the past?
Do our coping skills for capitalism like hobbies mostly end up requiring more production and exploitation for goods?
Does that harm people nameless to us?

How much labor went into you reading this - can you trace all the steps that exploited labor to produce the circumstances that led to both us using devices to connect right this second?

Since everyone has a part in the world tracking hours worked is flawed, right?
Because if your love inspires someone to create art that inspires someone to be kind that may have only taken a glance but you could improve conditions for millions realistically if the art is spread. How could that glance be weighed less than company time spent building goods you would be fired for using?

Does abolishing wages and time clocks seem reasonable? Who does working benefit now?

Are there potential benefits to reforming aspects of our current situation?
Can communal resource sharing and filling in a time card work together?
What are the benefits to using money and tracking how much work people do in comparison to each other?

Are we all just hoping for communism in absolutely twisted ways by bonding in bigotry?

Aren’t cliques taking the concept of community but requiring the opposite of “to each according to their needs”? A specific example would be a grouping of people who bond over their profession and the tools needed to work in a brand specific group. Isn’t the camaraderie in those spaces us clinging to the concept of being more than individuals? But is it also problematic considering that the bond is materialism? Couldn’t that be prevented if there were no brands but people just connecting over being alive?

How would your life change if you could take what you needed? Are any other fields as welcome as the sciences in regards to sharing goods with the public?

How would your life change if you were allowed access to tools and knowledge of the skills that need those tools just because you’re human?

Why is the easiest example of communism in our current lives disaster relief efforts and how communities look right after one of them? Is it instinctual to be part of a community?

Does it seem necessary from following history to assume that going to full stateless communism is the best option?

Why would we destroy a state just to replace it with one with the same potential for human corruption?

The Conquest of Bread- Chapter 2.3 audio and study questions

Audio for Chapter 2, Section 3

The first solution is sharing resources and proclaiming it. Tell the people directly that their well being is important. That we realize the goods and foods and services exist to make us all healthier and that the issue of the society that crumbled around them is not sharing and that we can share with each other.

Is there a need for paperwork for that?

Could we help each other easier than that by going into all the stores and giving those things to people who need them?

What is the difference to you between the right to work and the right to well being? Which would you prefer and why?

The Conquest of Bread- Chapter 2.2 audio and study questions

Audio for Chapter 2, Section 2

What is a better option than sharing resources?

Do you have examples of legislators doing right by us as people?

Do you think poor people are more aware of the potential for communism to be great than richer people? Why or why not?

If in the late 1800s people were almost ready why aren’t we done with money and states by now?

What does revolution mean to you? What’s it look like?

Does Kropotkin's reasoning that revolution really begins during the rebuilding stage resonate with you?

So the monarchs or whatever government is controlling the masses are first ousted, following them are the most wealthy residents of a city, then the heads of the military. After them the police and soldiers choose individually to go or stay. At that point the people literally fill the streets and start to address their needs amongst each other. Then those who considered themselves revolutionaries at the time of upheaval begin to enact their plans by taking over offices and courts, making statements to the people and writing up new decrees, fighting each other along the way since their ultimate goal is to bring their sect to power.
All that leads to nothing more than a new state replacing the old one, right? What about the people?

The ones who were the working poor at the time of upheaval, the wards of the state, the ones dependent on social services - what do they do in the transitional periods to survive?

What do those sitting in the offices do? Are they just the same state run by different people?

What do people need for revolution, isn’t security top of the list?

What do you need to acquire to have time to fight full time?