Editing Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution

{{Short description|1902 essay collection by Peter Kropotkin}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2017}}
{{Infobox book|image=Mutual Aid cover.png|caption=The cover of the 1902 edition of ''Mutual Aid''|author=[[Peter Kropotkin]]|published=1902|subject=[[Mutual aid (organization theory)|mutual aid]]|language=English|publisher=McClure Phillips & Co.}}
{{Anarcho-communism sidebar|works}}

'''''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,<ref>{{Citation |title=Mutual aid |date=2014 |work=Evolution of the Social Contract |pages=43–63 |editor-last=Skyrms |editor-first=Brian |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/evolution-of-the-social-contract/mutual-aid/E0DDFEEE2649100A58EEB4F71E5B7644 |access-date=2024-05-06 |edition=2 |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-07728-7}}</ref> explore the role of mutually beneficial [[cooperation]] and [[reciprocal altruism|reciprocity]] (or "[[Mutual aid (organization theory)|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]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kinna |first=Ruth |url=https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/chapter/Peter_Kropotkin_and_communist_anarchism/13312751/1 |title=Peter Kropotkin and communist anarchism |date=2022-11-24 |publisher=Loughborough University |isbn=978-1-108-48134-2 |language=en |access-date=2025-03-16}}</ref> It presents a scientific basis for communism as an alternative to the [[historical materialism]] of the [[Marxism|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 imperial city|free cities]] (especially through the [[guild]]s), and in the late 19th century village, labor movement, and impoverished people. He criticizes the [[State (polity)|State]] for destroying historically important mutual aid institutions, particularly through the imposition of [[private property]].

Many biologists<ref name=Gould>{{cite magazine|last=Gould |first=Stephen Jay |date=June 1988 |title=Kropotkin was no crackpot |magazine=[[Natural History (magazine)|Natural History]] |number=106 |pages=12–21 |url=http://www.marxists.org/subject/science/essays/kropotkin.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250303084502/http://www.marxists.org/subject/science/essays/kropotkin.htm |archive-date=2025-03-03 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Boucher>{{cite book|chapter=The Idea of Mutualism, Past and Future |title=The Biology of Mutualism: Ecology and Evolution |publisher=Croom Helm |year=1985 |editor-first=Douglas H. |editor-last=Boucher |page=17 |isbn=9780709932383}}</ref> (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.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Syson |first=Lydia |date=26 October 2020 |title=The radical aristocrat who put kindness on a scientific footing |magazine=Psyche |url=https://psyche.co/ideas/kropotkin-the-radical-aristocrat-who-put-kindness-on-a-scientific-footing |access-date=2025-03-16}}</ref>

==Reception==
Daniel P. Todes, in his account of Russian naturalism in the 19th century, concludes that Kropotkin's work "cannot be dismissed as the idiosyncratic product of an anarchist dabbling in biology" and that his views "were but one expression of a broad current in Russian evolutionary thought that pre-dated, indeed encouraged, his work on the subject and was by no means confined to leftist thinkers."<ref>{{cite book|first=Daniel P. |last=Todes |title=Darwin Without Malthus: The Struggle for Existence in Russian Evolutionary Thought |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1989 |pages=104, 123}}</ref>

Kropotkin emphasizes the distinction between competitive struggle between individual organisms over limited resources and collective struggle between organisms and the environment. He drew from his firsthand observations of [[Siberia]] and [[Northeast Asia]], where he saw that animal populations were limited not by food sources, which were abundant, but rather by harsh weather. For example, predatory birds may compete by stealing food from one another while [[migratory bird]]s cooperate in order to survive harsh winters by traveling long distances.  He did not deny the competitive form of struggle but argued that the cooperative counterpart has been under-emphasized: "There is an immense amount of warfare and extermination going on amidst various species; there is, at the same time, as much, or perhaps even more, of mutual support, mutual aid, and mutual defense... Sociability is as much a law of nature as mutual struggle."<ref>Kropotkin, Peter (1902). [[s:Mutual Aid a Factor of Evolution/Chapter I|''Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution'', Chapter I]]</ref>

As a description of biology, Kropotkin's perspective is consistent with contemporary understanding. [[Stephen Jay Gould]] admired Kropotkin's observations, noting that cooperation, if it increases individual survival, is not ruled out by [[natural selection]], and is in fact encouraged.<ref name=Gould />  Kropotkin's ideas anticipate the now recognized importance of [[Mutualism (biology)|mutualism]] (a beneficial relationship between two different species) and [[Altruism in animals|altruism]] (when one member of a species aids another) in biology. Examples of altruism in animals include [[kin selection]] and [[reciprocal altruism]]. Douglas H. Boucher places Kropotkin's book as a precursor to the development of the biological theory of altruism.<ref name=Boucher />

==Editions==
{{Refbegin}}
*{{cite book
|title     = Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution
|publisher = Extending Horizons Books, Porter Sargent Publishers
|location  = [[Boston]]
|edition   = 1955 paperback (reprinted 2005)
|isbn        = 0-87558-024-6
}} Includes Kropotkin's 1914 preface, Foreword and Bibliography by [[Ashley Montagu]], and The Struggle for Existence, by [[Thomas H. Huxley]]

*{{cite book
|title     = Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution
|date = 14 April 2011
|publisher = [[Freedom Press]]
|location  = London
|edition   = 2009 paperback
|isbn        = 978-1-90449-110-1
}}

*{{cite book
|title     = Mutual Aid: An Illuminated Factor of Evolution
|date = 14 September 2021
|publisher = [[PM Press]]
|location  = California
|edition   = 2021 paperback/hardcover
|isbn        = 978-1-62963-874-4
}} Includes Introduction by David Graeber and Andrej Grubaac, Foreword by Ruth Kinna, Postscript by GATS, Afterword by Allan Antliff, and illustrations by N.O.Bonzo

{{Refend}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Anarchism|Evolutionary biology|History of science|Books}}

* ''[[A Darwinian Left|A Darwinian Left: Politics, Evolution and Cooperation]]''
* [[Ethology]]
* [[Evolutionary anthropology]]
* [[List of books about anarchism]]
* [[Psychological egoism]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wikisource| Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution}}
* [https://archive.org/details/mutualaidfactoro00krop_1/page/n3/mode/2up ''Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution''], the original edition at [[archive.org]]
* [https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/petr-kropotkin-mutual-aid-a-factor-of-evolution ''Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution''] at The Anarchist Library
* [https://libcom.org/library/mutual-aid-peter-kropotkin ''Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution''] at [[Libcom.org]]
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/peter-kropotkin/mutual-aid}}{{Gutenberg|no=4341|name=Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution}}
* [http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/kropotkin/mutaidcontents.html Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution] – HTML version at the [[Anarchy Archives]]
* [http://www.revoltlib.com/anarchism/mutual-aid-factor-of-evolution-mutual-kropotkin-peter-1902/ Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution] – Plain PDF version at the [http://www.revoltlib.com RevoltLib]
* {{librivox book | title=Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution | author=Peter Kropotkin}}
* [[Paul Mattick]], [https://www.marxists.org/archive/mattick-paul/1956/kropotkin.htm ''Kropotkin on Mutual Aid — Review''], 1956.
* Iain McKay, [https://anarchism.pageabode.com/mutual-aid-an-introduction-and-evaluation/ Mutual Aid: An Introduction and Evaluation], AK Press, Edinburgh, 2010.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution}}
[[Category:1902 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:Books about anarchism]]
[[Category:Books about evolution]]
[[Category:Heinemann (publisher) books]]
[[Category:Mutualism (biology)]]
[[Category:Works by Peter Kropotkin]]
[[Category:Works originally published in Nineteenth Century (periodical)]]