Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution

Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution

by Peter Kropotkin
Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution

Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution

by Peter Kropotkin

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Overview

A pioneering treatise on embracing cooperation and reciprocity to usher in a greener and more inclusive world, from the major anarchist thinker

A Penguin Classic


Welcome to the anarchist history of the world. In this lively, provocative work, Peter Kropotkin argues that "mutual aid" is a natural instinct in all of us, animal and human. Cooperation, reciprocity, support: these, for Kropotkin, are the overlooked foundations of our history. From the earliest days of evolution through to artisanal guilds, indigenous nomads, and even the Royal National Lifeboat Association, it is a pragmatic, mutually beneficial bond to our fellow humans that has allowed us to survive. In this, Kropotkin challenges all the major orthodoxies of his age, from individualism and social Darwinism to Marxist theories of the savior state. Instead, these essays insist that a better life for all of us—and our planet—begins when we reject competition, and embrace the local, the mutual, and the collective.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781911405443
Publisher: Aziloth Books
Publication date: 09/22/2017
Pages: 196
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.42(d)

About the Author

Peter Kropotkin (1842-1921) came from a major aristocratic Russian family but turned his back on it to embrace a life of imprisonment and exile in pursuit of his beliefs. His major works are The Conquest of Bread and Mutual Aid. His funeral was marked by the last permitted gathering of anarchists in the USSR.

David Priestland (introducer) is a British historian. He teaches modern history at the University of Oxford and is Fellow of St Edmund Hall. Priestland's research focuses on the history of the Soviet Union and the development of communism and neoliberalism. He is an occasional political and cultural commentator for The Guardian and New Statesman.

Table of Contents

Preface to the 1914 Edition
Introduction
I.-II. Mutual Aid Among Animals
III. Mutual Aid Among Savages
IV. Mutual Aid Among the Barbarians
V.-VI. Mutual Aid in the Mediæval City
VII.-VIII. Mutual Aid Amongst Ourselves
Conclusion
Appendix A
I. Swarms of Butterflies, Dragon-flies, etc.
II. The Ants
III. Nesting Associations
IV. Sociability of Animals
V. Checks to Over-Multiplication
VI. Adaptations to Avoid Competition
VII. The Origin of the Family
VIII. Destruction of Private Property on the Grave
IX. The "Undivided Family"
X. The Origin of the Guilds
XI. The Market and the Mediæval City
XII. Mutual-Aid Arrangements in the Villages of Netherlands at the Present Day
Appendix B
The Struggle for Existence in Human Society by Thomas H. Huxley
Index
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