Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution

by Peter Kropotkin

Overview

Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution is a 1902 collection of anthropological essays by Russian naturalist and anarchist philosopher Peter Kropotkin. The essays, initially published in the English periodical The Nineteenth Century between 1890 and 1896, explore the role of mutually-beneficial cooperation and reciprocity (or "mutual aid") in the animal kingdom and human societies both past and present. It is an argument against theories of social Darwinism that emphasize competition and survival of the fittest, and against the romantic depictions by writers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who thought that cooperation was motivated by universal love. Instead Kropotkin argues that mutual aid has pragmatic advantages for the survival of human and animal communities and, along with the conscience, has been promoted through natural selection.

Mutual Aid is considered a fundamental text in anarchist communism. It presents a scientific basis for communism as an alternative to the historical materialism of the Marxists. Kropotkin considers the importance of mutual aid for prosperity and survival in the animal kingdom, in indigenous and early European societies, in the medieval free cities (especially through the guilds), and in the late 19th century village, labor movement, and poor folk. He criticizes the State for destroying historically important mutual aid institutions, particularly through the imposition of private property.

Many biologists (including Stephen Jay Gould, one of the most influential evolutionary biologists of his generation) also consider it an important catalyst in the scientific study of cooperation. (wikipedia.org)

BIO:

Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (December 9, 1842 - February 8, 1921) was a Russian activist, revolutionary, scientist, geographer and philosopher who advocated anarcho-communism.

Born into an aristocratic land-owning family, he attended a military school and later served as an officer in Siberia, where he participated in several geological expeditions. He was imprisoned for his activism in 1874 and managed to escape two years later. He spent the next 41 years in exile in Switzerland, France (where he was imprisoned for almost four years) and in England. He returned to Russia after the Russian Revolution in 1917 but was disappointed by the Bolshevik form of state socialism.

Kropotkin was a proponent of a decentralised communist society free from central government and based on voluntary associations of self-governing communities and worker-run enterprises. He wrote many books, pamphlets, and articles, the most prominent being The Conquest of Bread and Fields, Factories and Workshops; and his principal scientific offering, Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution. He also contributed the article on anarchism to the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition and left unfinished a work on anarchist ethical philosophy. (wikipedia.org)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798889420279
Publisher:	Indoeuropeanpublishing.com
Publication date:	01/16/2023
Pages:	214
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.54(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

Editorial Reviews

"Kropotkin was far ahead of his time. He rejected both authoritarian communism and the iron cage of capitalism. He believed in the power of the individual, but equally that we can't survive without each other."-Rutger Bregman, Utopia for Realists and Humankind

"Russian social theorist Peter Kropotkin ... argued that voluntary cooperation has been key to the flourishing of human civilization."-The New York Times

"Kropotkin's ideas on mutual aid played a prominent, critical role in the study of behavior and evolution."-Scientific American

"Make no mistake: the story that started with Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin is far from finished. On the contrary, I believe there's a good chance that it's only just begun."-Rutger Bregman, Utopia for Realists and Humankind

"Today, anthropologists, political scientists, economists and psychologists publish hundreds of studies each year on human cooperation, and researchers in these fields are just beginning to realize that so many of the topics they are investigating were first suggested and promulgated by Peter Kropotkin."-Lee Alan Dugatkin, Scientific American

"The book is undeniably readable throughout. The author has a creed which he preaches with all the fervour of genuine conviction. He is anxious to make converts, but his zeal never leads him to forget fairness and courtesy. Those who disagree with him may learn much by studying the book."-Nature

"Literally hundreds of papers come out each year on animal cooperation - many in preeminent journals such as Nature and Science - and so many of these papers show Kropotkin to be a prophet."-Scientific American

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