The article links to a few book pages scanned as PDFs and an HTML version of Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution. Also worth mentioning is that there is a very large collection of Kropotkin's writing at the Anarchist Library[1], including an epub version of Mutual Aid[2] and his autobiography, Memoirs of a Revolutionist[3], which was also mentioned in the article.<p>[1] <a href="https://theanarchistlibrary.org/category/author/petr-kropotkin" rel="nofollow">https://theanarchistlibrary.org/category/author/petr-kropotk...</a><p>[2] <a href="https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/petr-kropotkin-mutual-aid-a-factor-of-evolution" rel="nofollow">https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/petr-kropotkin-mutua...</a><p>[3] <a href="https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/petr-kropotkin-memoirs-of-a-revolutionist" rel="nofollow">https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/petr-kropotkin-memoi...</a>
Why hello my hacker anarchist sisters & brothers. If anyone would like to listen to Mutual Aid and many, many other FREE anarchist audio-books as you drive or workout, have got the plug for you!<p><a href="https://librivox.org/conquest-bread-2-by-peter-kropotkin/" rel="nofollow">https://librivox.org/conquest-bread-2-by-peter-kropotkin/</a><p><a href="https://librivox.org/anarchy-by-errico-malatesta/" rel="nofollow">https://librivox.org/anarchy-by-errico-malatesta/</a><p><a href="https://librivox.org/god-and-the-state-by-mikhail-bakunin/" rel="nofollow">https://librivox.org/god-and-the-state-by-mikhail-bakunin/</a><p><a href="https://librivox.org/mutual-aid-a-factor-of-evolution-by-peter-kropotkin/" rel="nofollow">https://librivox.org/mutual-aid-a-factor-of-evolution-by-pet...</a>
Anarchism is an interesting topic, and learning about it has lead me down some interesting paths of learning and thought.<p>At its core, it’s the position of being against hierarchies of power where humans dominate those with less power. In simple terms, it’s being against humans dominating each other.<p>The big question is can we have a functioning society with less human domination and how far can we reduce it? That’s a deep question that involves everything from economics to the study of human nature.<p>In terms of human nature, I think people are far too quick to ascribe certain behaviors to human nature.
Incidentally, I've just been unpacking moving boxes, and put the beautifully illuminated [1] print of Mutual Aid on my "to-read" bookshelf.<p>I wonder how often this particular instance of Baader-Meinhof phenomenon happens on HN, i.e. what's the intersection of regulars here and people familiar with names like Kropotkin, Makhno, etc.<p>[1] PM press edition: <a href="https://www.pmpress.org/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1272" rel="nofollow">https://www.pmpress.org/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1272</a>
Not on the subject of mutual aid per se, but the relation between Anarchism and Communism, late in his life, Kropotkin returned to Russia, and met Lenin. That meeting was documented: <a href="https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/kropotkin-peter/1917/a-meeting.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/kropotkin-peter/1...</a>.<p>A friend of mine described this as "essentially the same as every conversation between anarchists and communists today", which seems largely accurate. In particular, I enjoyed one comment:<p>> “No, no,” Kropotkin replied, “if you and your comrades think in this way, if the power is not going to their heads, and if they feel that they will not be going in the direction of oppression by the state, then they will achieve a lot. Then the revolution is truly in good hands.”<p>Draw your own conclusions.
Kropotkin would weep to what has become Jura's anarchist dream. We may have reached independance from Bern but at the cost of a parlement filled with liberals and conservatives.
It's really weird seeing letter ё in English language title. I'd rather spell his name as "Pyotr Kropotkin" or even "Peter Kropotkin", following a commong convention to spell Russian tzar Pyotr Romanov's as Peter.
I produced a free ebook edition of Mutual Aid for Standard Ebooks last year: <a href="https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/peter-kropotkin/mutual-aid" rel="nofollow">https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/peter-kropotkin/mutual-aid</a><p>It's very readable and quite interesting. It aimed to have a veneer of science, when the science of animals and nature was still fairly undeveloped; and it succeeded in a sense, because its observations are still held in regard, but I think it succeeded much better as a work of philosophy.<p>In any case, it suffers a little for what I think is the naive thesis of "if only mankind could cooperate like the animals do, we would live in a utopia." Of course, mankind has demonstrated through thousands of years of history that tribes of men can't really cooperate in any grand sense, so the point seems rather moot.