Helping each other

Mutual help is an ethical principle of behavior, on which a certain solidarity among people is based. This principle played a role in the early socialist labor movement in France and, according to the Russian naturalist and anarchist Pyotr Alexejewitsch Kropotkin, is also effective in the animal world as a behavior that has proven itself in evolution. The principle of mutual help is currently valued in discussions about an economy based on solidarity .

Mutualism

The mutualism as a principle of reciprocity plays in biology ( biological mutualism ) and (in the economy economic mutualism ) a role.

In France in the early 19th century, the home weavers formed solidarity organizations of mutual help in Lyon, which called themselves mutualists and formed the basis for early socialist uprisings. Following on from the Lyon tradition, which Pierre-Joseph Proudhon got to know personally in 1843 - and probably also inspired by his own experiences at the Ecole mutuelle , a private school where the children taught each other, i.e. the older ones the younger ones - Proudhon adopted the principle of mutualism as the theoretical basis of its conception of socialism .

Mutual aid according to Kropotkin

Pyotr Kropotkin

→ Main article : Mutual aid in the animal and human world

The Russian naturalist and anarchist Pyotr Alexejewitsch Kropotkin saw the principle of mutual help as the basis of existence in both the animal and human world. To this end, he published the corresponding book Mutual Help in the Animal and Human World in 1902 .

In the animal world, common hunting strategies, the rearing of young animals, mutual protection in gatherings, herds and packs, the concern for sick conspecifics and the ritual avoidance of conflict within a species all pointed to sociability and not to the struggle for existence as a drive for evolution. The main aspect is the natural law of mutual help as a result of sociability and individualism and not the secondary aspect of the struggle for existence under the pressure of short-term emergency times. Likewise, the history of mankind has always been shaped by the principle of mutual help. In his opinion, it can best be achieved in small social units that are decentralized and networked on an equal footing. Their functionality is driven by free contractual relationships, which can be terminated at any time, without superordinate authorities, because voluntariness strengthens social initiative and the desire to create freely.

Mutual help as a practical criticism of gainful employment

This is (beyond the colloquial meaning) a concept to develop a project community that is effective in everyday life from people's ideas for activity.

The reciprocity of economic activity for one another, i.e. without direct accounting ( equivalence ), is differentiated from charitable aid : everyone can contribute something for the others in a project community based on the division of labor. Mutual help consciously takes as a basis what can hardly be found in a value-oriented society: those who are active there help each other. According to this approach, residues or germs of it are still present everywhere in society: in families, clubs, friends and acquaintances. The concept tries to build on this and to create a systematic framework for it. Selective mutual assistance is to be further intensified. The participants ask themselves: "Who would like to do something voluntarily but binding for the other active members in the respective community?"

Mutual help is understood as “practical criticism of employment ” and “practical criticism of goods and money ”. She tries to translate highly abstract social conditions, which are handled through goods and money, into more concrete interpersonal agreements for collaborative work . One goal of mutual help is to develop a joint, agreed division of labor beyond solidarity between individuals by working together on individual projects . The quality of mutual help in the direction of community work is to be increased through lively sub-groups, who consciously contribute something for the whole group with part of their strength. Another goal of mutual help is long-term, voluntary activation in a project community, which at the same time releases the creative powers of the individual and the skills to move there fulfillingly and effectively.

Mutual help as a criticism of individualism

In other discussions, mutual help based on the Kropotkin's principle is discussed as an alternative to the historical concept of the autonomous individual. The small group model is contrasted with individualism. Mutual help is explained as an open model of “voluntary” cooperation between small groups, as opposed to “dependent” cooperation.

See also

• altruism
• Neighborhood help
• cooperation
• reciprocity
• solidarity
• Gift economy

literature

• Peter A. Kropotkin : Mutual help in the animal and human world . Nevertheless publishing house , Grafenau 1993, ISBN 3-922209-32-7 .
• Arthur Engelbert: Mutual help. A vision with instructions for small groups . Tectum Verlag , Marburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-8288-2148-4 .
• Arthur Engelbert: HELP! To hinder or help each other. A political sketch for perception today . Königshausen & Neumann , Würzburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-8260-5017-6 ( description ).
• Arthur Engelbert, Anna Maria Maier, Achim Trautvetter: Notes on urban Kibbutz, mutual aid and social erotism (eds.) . Tectum Verlag , Marburg 2016, ISBN 978-3-8288-3719-5 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Arthur Engelbert: HELP! To hinder or help each other. A political sketch for perception today . Königshausen & Neumann , Würzburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-8260-5017-6 , p. 318 .