Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution (Critical Editions)

Make no mistake: the story that started with Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin is far from finished. On the contrary I believe theres a good chance that its only just begun.-Rutger Bregman Utopia for Realists and HumankindRussian social theorist Peter Kropotkin ... argued that voluntary cooperation has been key to the flourishing of human civilization.-The New York TimesThe book is undeniably readable throughout ... Those who disagree with [Kropotkin] may learn much by studying the book.-NatureThe fascinating work of a Russian prince-turned-anarchist Peter Kropotkin (1842-1921). Kropotkin one of the worlds first international celebrities. In England Kropotkin was known as a brilliant scientist famous for his work on animal and human cooperation but Kropotkins fame in continental Europe centered more on his role as a founder and vocal proponent of anarchism. In the United States he pursued both passions. Tens of thousands of people followed ex-Prince Peter during two speaking tours in America.Kropotkins path to fame was unexpected and labyrinthine with asides in prison breathtaking 50000-mile journeys through the wastelands of Siberia and banishment for one reason or another from most respectable Western countries of the day. In his homeland of Russia Peter went from being Czar Alexander IIs favored teenage page to a young man enamored with the theory of evolution to a convicted felon jail-breaker and general agitator eventually being chased halfway around the world by the Russian Secret police for his radical - some might (and did) say enlightened - political views. Both while in jail and while on the run when he was entertaining and enlightening huge crowds Kropotkin found the energy and concentration to write books on a dazzling array of topics: evolution and behavior ethics the geography of Asia anarchism socialism and communism penal systems the coming industrial revolution in the East the French Revolution and the state of Russian literature. Though seemingly disparate topics a common thread - the scientific law of mutual aid which guided the evolution of all life on earth - tied these works together. This law boils down to Kropotkins deep-seated conviction that what we today would call altruism and cooperation - but what the Prince called mutual aid - was the driving evolutionary force behind all social life be it in microbes animals or humans. Today anthropologists political scientists economists and psychologists publish hundreds of studies each year on human cooperation and researchers in these fields are just beginning to realize that so many of the topics they are investigating were first suggested and promulgated by Peter Kropotkin.