# VII explained — The Conquest of Bread > Chapter companion for The Conquest of Bread by Peter Kropotkin. ## What happens Kropotkin argues that a social revolution will initially cause food shortages in cities due to the liberation of oppressed peasants abroad and a likely drop in agricultural production. He proposes that cities must integrate agriculture with industry, using local land, modern technology, and collective effort to become self-sufficient, turning farming into a joyful, healthy activity rather than drudgery. ## Themes in this chapter ### Integration of Agriculture and Industry Central theme: cities must combine farming with industrial work to overcome food shortages, using modern technology and collective labor. ### Anarchist Communism Kropotkin outlines how anarchist communes would organize production, expropriate land, and rely on voluntary association and local self-sufficiency. ### Revolution and Expropriation The chapter discusses the need for expropriation of land and capital, and the initial disruptions a revolution would cause. ### Historical Lessons of Revolutions Uses the example of 1792 peasant cultivation and warns against timidity and half-measures based on past revolutionary experiences. ## Character check-ins ### Kropotkin Author and narrator, presenting the argument for agricultural self-sufficiency and integration of functions. ### Danton Quoted at the end: 'De l’audace, de l’audace, et encore de l’audace' as a call for boldness in revolution. ## Key lines > In Russia for instance, the peasant works sixteen hours a day, and half starves from three to six months every year, in order to export the grain with which he pays the landlord and the State. Russian peasants labor excessively and endure seasonal hunger to produce grain for export, which goes to pay taxes and rent. _Illustrates exploitation of peasants under capitalism and feudalism._ > But as soon as the Revolution comes, the Russian peasant will keep bread enough for himself and his children; the Italian and Hungarian peasants will do the same; the Hindu, let us hope, will profit by these good examples; and the farmers of America will hardly be able to cover all the deficit in grain which Europe will experience. After revolution, oppressed peasants will consume their own produce, causing a global grain shortage that America cannot fully compensate. _Predicts a key consequence of liberation for food supply in Western cities._ > The large towns, as well as the villages, must undertake to till the soil. We must return to what biology calls 'the integration of functions'—after the division of labour, the taking up of it as a whole—this is the course followed throughout Nature. Cities must also farm, reversing extreme specialization and adopting a holistic, nature-inspired integration of tasks. _Introduces the core solution of combining agriculture and industry._ > There are no barren lands; the earth is worth what man is worth—that is the last word of modern agriculture. Land fertility depends on human skill and effort; with proper knowledge, any land can be productive. _Emphasizes human agency and optimism in agricultural potential._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_conquest_of_bread_se/chapters/vii - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_conquest_of_bread_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_conquest_of_bread_se/chapters