In our civilized societies we are rich. Why then are the many poor? Why this painful drudgery for the masses? Why, even to the best-paid workman, this uncertainty for the morrow, in the midst of all the wealth inherited from the past, and in spite of the powerful means of production, which could ensure comfort to all, in return for a few hours daily toil? - Peter Kropotkin (1892)
Right to Well Being for All!
"We must recognize, and loudly proclaim, that everyone, whatever his grade in the old society, whether strong or weak, capable of incapable, has, before everything, THE RIGHT TO LIVE, and society is bound to share amongst all, without exception, the means of existence it has at its disposal. We must acknowledge this, proclaim it loudly and act up to it.
Affairs must be managed in such a way that from the first day of the revolution the worker shall know that a new era is opening before him; that henceforth none need crouch under the bridges while places are hard by; none need fast in the midst of plenty; none need perish with cold near shops full of fur; that all is for all, in practice as well as in theory, and that at last, for the first time in history, that a revolution has been accomplished which considers the NEEDS of people before schooling them in their DUTIES.
This cannot be brought about by Acts of Parliament but only by taking immediate and effective possession of all that is necessary to ensure the well-being of all…"
— Kropotkin, Conquest of Bread,