Mutual Aid by Peter Kropotkin

Read "Mutual Aid" by Peter Kropotkin online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.

The great migrations -- New organization rendered necessary -- The village community -- Communal work -- Judicial procedure -- Inter-tribal law -- Illustrations from the life of our contemporaries -- Buryats -- Kabyles -- Caucasian mountaineers -- African stems.

It is not possible to study primitive mankind without being deeply impressed by the sociability it has displayed since its very first steps in life. Traces of human societies are found in the relics of both the oldest and the later stone age; and, when we come to observe the savages whose manners of life are still those of neolithic man, we find them closely bound together by an extremely ancient clan organization which enables them to combine their individually weak forces, to enjoy life in common, and to progress. Man is no exception in nature. He also is subject to the great principle of Mutual Aid which grants the best chances of survival to those who best support each other in the struggle for life. These were the conclusions arrived at in the previous chapters.

Reading navigation