Mutual Aid

FROM EACH ACCORDING TO ABILITY,
 TO EACH ACCORDING TO NEED 

It is a fact that man is a social animal whose existence depends on the physical and psychological bonds between human beings.  Another fact is that human life is not possible without the labour of others, and that there are only two ways in which this can be done: either through a fraternal, egalitarian and libertarian association, in which solidarity, consciously and freely expressed unites all humanity or the struggle of each against the other in which the victors rule, oppress and exploit the rest.

Mutual aid is a fundamental law of nature that causes animals to band together for self-protection. Socialism is the highest expression of mutual aid, because it embodies the idea of mutual protection and advancement for the greatest number of human beings. Mutual aid prompts a person to give and receive help from fellow workers and as such even the secret society of Freemasonry is an expression of mutual aid. It is not the love for a fellow being that causes man to aid one in distress, but the instinct of mutual aid. In winter, animals will huddle together to keep warm. It is not the love of the flock that causes a sheep to run with it, but the instinct of mutual aid.  Wolves band together in packs for mutual aid. A puppy does not cuddle close to the other puppies to keep them warm, but to keep itself warm. It is mutual aid. Workers do not organise unions because they love each other, but because through organisation they are enabled to get more of the good things of life. Acts that are in the interest of the community as much as of the individual, and of the individual as much as of the community, cannot be described either as selfish or as unselfish. They are both and neither.

Socialists want to bring about a society in which men will consider each other as brothers and by mutual support will achieve the greatest well-being and freedom as well as physical and intellectual development for all.  The class-conscious worker full of the class-war spirit could hardly be described as an unselfish since he sees himself reflected in his class, but neither is be selfish in the ordinary sense, since he sees his class reflected in himself.  In a word, he identifies his own interest with that of his class.  While workers try to defend themselves from fatal or crippling health and safety hazards on the shop-floor, while labour takes steps to deal with all aspects of  discrimination,  while workers strike and sacrifice in a thousand ways to defend their standard of living, the capitalist media argues that they are being greedy and selfish and workers’ organisations are all too often viewed as greedy self-interest group concerned  about only a small minority.

The needs, tastes, aspirations and interests of people are neither similar nor naturally harmonious; often they are diametrically opposed and antagonistic. On the other hand, the life of each individual is so conditioned by the life of others that it would be impossible, even assuming it were convenient to do so, to isolate oneself and live one’s own life. Social solidarity is a fact from which no one can escape. The strongest is the one who is the least isolated; the most independent is the one who has most contacts and friendships and thereby a wider field for choosing close collaborators; the most developed is the one who best can, and knows how to, utilise Mankind’s common inheritance as well as the achievements of  contemporaries.

History teaches us, daily observation of life around us teaches, that where violence has no place in human relations everything is settled in the best possible way, in the best interests of all concerned. But where violence intervenes, injustice, oppression and exploitation invariably triumph. In spite of the rivers of human blood; in spite of the indescribable sufferings and humiliations inflicted; in spite of exploitation and tyranny at the expense of the weakest human society represents progressive characteristics, feelings of sympathy, affinity and altruism, the sense of a common humanity. The workers’ environment is basically collective. When workers aim for betterment at work they act together. Benefits gained are for all, not one. Mutual aid is a powerful feature of every-day living. The neighborhood and community, the street gang and football fans are so much part of working class life where experience is shared experience.

Some historians may present the fruits of  their research as sensational events, large-scale conflicts between nations, wars, revolutions, the intrigues of diplomacy and conspiracies; but what is really much more significant are the innumerable daily contacts between individuals and between groups which are the true substance of social life. In the intimate daily lives of the people, one finds that as well as the thirst for domination, rivalry, envy and all the unhealthy passions which set man against man, is also valuable struggle for better working conditions , mutual aid, unceasing and voluntary exchange of services, affection, love, friendship and all that which draws people closer together in brotherhood and solidarity. Since co-operative work and reliance on mutual aid renders organisation necessary, the best possible form of organisation must be chosen: the test of its worth is its efficiency and the scope for freedom and initiative it allows to each. Organisation is, after all, only the practice of cooperation and is a natural and necessary condition of social life.

We deny that socialism presupposes any radical change in individual character at all. We do not anticipate any increase of the saints.  What we contend is that socialism, as primarily an economic transformation, brought about by the class struggle between the worker and the capitalist, will change the character of all who come under the influence of the new conditions  just as the advent of modern capitalism transformed the human character developed under feudal conditions. The transformation into the co-operative commonwealth, involving the greatest change known at least to history, must necessarily result in a corresponding change in the content of mankind’s behaviour.

For the transformation of society we want seek enlightened selfishness not unselfishness. The right to be lazy and the right to be greedy are true revolutionary slogans. The concept good of the people or general well-being require such basics as sufficient food, clothing, and shelter for all, healthy and beautiful surroundings, facilities for education leisure, and culture in the widest sense of the word  If political parties profess to aim at the common good then it is the fulfillment of these bedrock conditions of human happiness that must be their demand.