Mutual Aid by Peter Kropotkin

Labour-unions grown after the destruction of the guilds by the State -- Their struggles -- Mutual Aid in strikes -- Cooperation -- Free associations for various purposes -- Self-sacrifice -- Countless societies for combined action under all possible aspects -- Mutual Aid in slum-life -- Personal aid.

When we examine the everyday life of the rural populations of Europe, we find that, notwithstanding all that has been done in modern States for the destruction of the village community, the life of the peasants remains honeycombed with habits and customs of mutual aid and support; that important vestiges of the communal possession of the soil are still retained; and that, as soon as the legal obstacles to rural association were lately removed, a network of free unions for all sorts of economical purposes rapidly spread among the peasants -- the tendency of this young movement being to reconstitute some sort of union similar to the village community of old. Such being the conclusions arrived at in the preceding chapter, we have now to consider, what institutions for mutual support can be found at the present time amongst the industrial populations.