MUTUAL AID AND MUTUAL TRUST
In the Introduction to his timeless classic, Mutual Aid: A Factor of
Evolution, Peter Kropotkin wrote, "[A] lecture 'On the Law of Mutual
Aid,' which was delivered at a Russian Congress of Naturalists, in
January 1880, by the well-known zoologist, Professor Kessler, the
then Dean of the St. Petersburg University, struck me as throwing a
new light on the whole subject [of 'survival of the fittest']. Kessler's
idea was, that besides the law of Mutual Struggle [nature red in
tooth and claw] there is in Nature the law of Mutual Aid, which, for
the success of the struggle for life, and especially for the progressive
evolution of the species, is far more important than the law of
mutual contest."
In Mutual Aid, if I remember correctly, Kropotkin does not speak
explicitly of mutual trust. But certainly in a human society where
mutual aid is practiced there must also prevail a high degree of
mutual trust. Those of us committed to building a humane and truly
compassionate world, where all people will be able to live with
dignity, must work to achieve mutual trust. We need to recognize it
as an essential characteristic of our emerging global grassroots
infrastructure. We should also recognize how difficult it will be to


attain. Why is that?