Fundumentals of Anarchism
by sritten@juno.com
WHAT IS MUTUAL AID?
"In The Descent of Man, [Charles Darwin] gave some powerful pages
to illustrate its proper, wide sense. He pointed out how, in numberless
animal societies, the struggle between separate individuals for the means
of existence disappears, how struggle is replaced by co-operation, and
how that substitution results in the development of intellectual and
moral faculties which secure to the species the best conditions for
survival. He intimated that in such cases the fittest are not the
physically strongest, nor the cunningest, but those who learn to combine
so as to mutually support each other, strong and weak alike, for the
welfare of the community. ‘Those communities,' he wrote, ‘which included
the greatest number of the most sympathetic members would flourish best,
and rear the greatest number of offspring" (2nd ed., p. 163)." [Peter
Kropotkin, Mutual Aid: A Factor In Evolution, 1902]
MUTUAL AID is the idea that the evolution of Humanity as a sentient
species and the emergence of Human Civilization were the result of
solidarity for the needs of our fellow community members, cooperation and
mutual support to overcome our mutual obstacles, defend against our
mutual adversaries and create a society in which all who cooperate will
mutually benefit. Mutual Aid is the basis of the village community, the
labor syndicate (Union), cooperative and collective businesses, mutualist
credit unions, mutual insurance and various mutual aid societies where
people volunteer to help others.
Solidarity
The idea that human evolution was shaped by unlimited selfishness and the
desire to dominate and exploit others is a Capitalist lie. Modern
Anthropology has disproved myths like this one and the one that primitive
people were chiefly macho hunters: the truth is that people were
scavengers who mostly gathered plants for food and had to rely on their
wits and each other to survive.
"The small strength and speed of man, his want of natural
weapons, etc. are more than counterbalanced, firstly, by his intellectual
facilities; and secondly, by his social qualities, which led them to give
and receive aid from his fellow man" [Darwin, The Descent of Man, 2nd
ed., pp. 63-64].
Primitive humans were under 5 feet tall at a time when most predatory
animals were trice their current size. To imagine that a single person
could have dominated social groups without the aid of their fellows to
survive is merely the fantasy of 19th Century aristocrats who wanted to
rationalize their ideology of exploitation. Natural human social
behavior is evident in primitive tribal groups where even among cannibals
"weak people are usually supported; sick people are very well attended
to; they are never abandoned or killed" [Kropotkin, Mutual Aid: A Factor
in Evolution, 1902]. Within the tribe, the rule of ‘one for all and all
for one' is the highest value because it is essential to their survival.
This value is reflected in the village society which was the predominant
form of human social organization up through the Middle Ages. Modern
Mutual Aid groups have their origin in the traditional village community
where people with mutual interests grouped together to provide for their
collective needs without imposing on the individual or family and
provided for their mutual defense, support and justice. Villages were
democratically run by what was called the "Folkmøte" in Scandinavia: This
was the early equivalent of the New England Town Meeting where decisions
were made collectively by all the members of the community. The village
dwellers worked together to grow food on land that was used by all but
owned by none. They stood together to defend their village against human
or animal predators and any quarrel among them was considered as a
community affair.
"If a quarrel ended in a fight and wounds, the man who stood by
and did not interpose was treated as if he himself had inflicted the
wounds" [Kropotkin, Mutual Aid: A Factor in Evolution, 1902].
Cooperation
Cooperation, not competition, has been the driving force of human
development and improvements in our quality of life. Most inventions
throughout history have been the product of work by many people who
shared their ideas and not the lone genius of Capitalist mythology. Even
in the Middle Ages when scientists and doctors were burned by the Church
for heresy and witchcraft, secret societies were formed to exchange and
pass along knowledge. A group which is willing to work together on a
project and make the successful completion or operation of the project a
priority over personal differences with other members of the group is
more effective than any bureaucracy provided that it is democratic and
everyone shares the benefits of the work they do.
During the Middle Ages, cities grew where there was trade and groups of
craftspeople formed labor associations called "Guilds" though which to
trade knowledge, improve their products/skills and train new apprentices
so they could become craftspeople. Guilds were formed around every
skilled profession from metalworking to shipping. At that time, all the
people on a ship had equal status and shared in the benefit of a trading
venture (the era of kidnaped crews being whipped into submission by
tyrannical captains was a product of Capitalism). The guilds traded with
others for food and other necessities and every guild member shared the
benefits of what the guilds produced. Guilds established funds to pay
for the loss of a home by their members, care for the ill or to take care
of the family of a guild member who died. Within the guild, all persons
were equals in their mutual relations who agreed to aid each other and
settle their disputes through "judges' elected by all of them. Guilds in
the same cities cooperated with each other to provide for the mutual
defense of the City and each guild often had its own militia which was a
unit in the City's defense force. The Renaissance and the explosion of
knowledge, invention and creative arts which characterized it was a
product of the guild system where workers owned and managed their own
work places and cooperated with each other.
Capitalists have always tried to prevent working people from cooperating
because they know that it would enable us to get rid of them and create
an equitable society. In the Middle Ages, bands of gangsters were
anointed as "kings" by the Church in exchange for their promising to help
the Church get rich off the people they would "rule." The gangsters
eventually stole the common land farmed by villagers and gave it to their
supporters who became wealthy aristocrats by forcing people to pay rent
to live on what used to be their own land. The aristocrats were jealous
of the wealth and freedom of the guilds and persuaded the kings to make
guilds illegal and let them steal the property of the guilds. They
eventually became so obscenely wealthy that they had money they could
never spend. The Church supported the rich by calling rebellion against
the king a "mortal sin" punishable by death. Kings gave exclusive
trading monopolies to their friends who then shared the profit with other
aristocrats by selling part of the profit (the shares were called "stock"
or "capital") or by renting the money from other aristocrats through a
bank (the rent was called "usury" or "interest"). Later, during the
Industrial "Revolution" these practices were used to build factories.
Since the land and crafts which people had used to support themselves
were stolen by the rich, people were forced to work for the "Capitalists"
for almost nothing or starve. The "Capitalists" created governments
which made it possible for them to kill or imprison anyone who objected
to being exploited or tried to organize their fellow workers. Workers
have been fighting to regain their freedom and the full value of their
own labor ever since they were first stolen.
Equality
Anarchist Morality is the morality found in nature. The original human
ideas about morality were based on watching animals and are simply that
you should "do to others what you would have them do to you in the same
circumstances" [Kropotkin, Anarchist Morality, 1892]. We don't need 10
Commandments to tell us right from wrong. We are bothered when we see
others wronged because it disturbs our natural feelings of empathy:
because we know how it would feel if it happened to us. We have a
natural desire for equality in mutual relations. Therefore, an injury to
one is an injury to all because each time one of us is wronged, we are
all threatened.
The great sources of moral depravity in modern society are Capitalism,
religion and government because they create and maintain a system of
inequality through which people are robbed of their freedom and the
fruits of their labor. Capitalism robs us and government and religion
rationalize it through laws and religious codes which pervert natural
morality by equating it with subservience, obedience and humility. By
ridding ourselves of Capitalism, religion and government we can regain
the natural morality which they try to distort. We have a right to
dispossess our exploiters because we would expect the same to be done to
us if we tried to take advantage of others.
"It is in the ardent revolutionist to whom the joys of art, of
science, even of family life, seem bitter, so long as they cannot be
shared by all, and who works despite misery and persecution for the
regeneration of the world" [Kropotkin, Anarchist Morality, 1892].
Anarchist Morality
Anarchists don't believe that people are naturally good or evil, but that
we are born free to choose. We believe our behavior is not influenced by
supernatural forces, but only by ourselves and, thus, we alone are
responsible for our actions. We do not believe that moral behavior can
be enforced by coercion or religion, but only by the desire of the
individual to respect the freedom of others rather than exploit them for
their personal benefit. This is why coercion doesn't stop violence,
stealing or other exploitation and unfair treatment of people. Social
peace and moral conduct in the community can only be assured by an
agreement among the members of the community that participation in the
community requires a respect for others and that the community will
confront anyone who doesn't voluntarily respect others (e.g. who wrongs
another) in the community and, if necessary, remove them from the
community in order to protect the freedom and safety of everybody else.
Anarchists believe in Free Association which is also the freedom to
disassociate. They believe that the Freedom of the individual should
only be limited by the freedom of others: this means that "Freedom" does
not include the freedom to exploit others. This also means that the
freedom of the individual is maintained by the willingness of others to
defend it by coming to the aid of anyone who is wronged and restoring to
that person what was taken from them. Those who insist on exploiting
others, or whose wrongs cannot be made right, are enemies of freedom and
we chose to disassociate with them by removing them from our society.
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