Tresy wrote:
> Thanks, b, Kropotkin is on my list of books to read (but not near
> the top of it). Perhaps with your recommendation it will move higher. I do
have
> Rocker's book (with preface by Chomsky) on my bedside stand, but so far it
> hasn't grabbed me.

Nor me, but Kropotkin is someone who it is difficult not to warm to - among
his contemporaries even his detractors seem to have considered that, those
unfortunate politics aside, he was a 'fine man'. For me, this feeling comes
through most powerfully in some of his pamphlets - say, 'An Appeal to the
Young' or 'Anarchist Morality'. (Don't hesitate to ask should you ever want
me to email you copies... ;-))

> At any rate, I mentioned libertarian socialism in passing because of its
> relevance to a number of people on this list, such as yourself--also
because
> Bill Bartlett and I had a spirited argument about its feasibility some
years
> ago. I thought the evolutionary argument might spark his interest.

Libertarian Socialism... me?... guilty as charged.

> On the merits, the extract from Kropotkin makes sense. If I understand him
> correctly, he's saying what's good for the whole IS good for the
individual,
> so there's really no conflict between individual self-interest and the
good
> of the collective. One task of mutual aid societies is to reshape man's
> consciousness to understand that fact. Have I got that right?

With my interpretation on your words... something like covering my butt, I
would say 'yes', you've got that right. But I'd add to this one condition, a
specifically 'anarchist condition'. In the main, and from our present social
condition, the anarchist consciousness is a pre-condition of any 'mutual aid
society'. Anarchists are not in the business of forcing people to think in
particular ways, nor do they support a coup by some sort of anarchist
vanguard that would then reassemble society along anarchist lines. We desire
no power beyond that which we naturally have as individuals. So 're-shaping
man's consciousness' is not the line of business an anarchist society would
wish to be in, specifically if this extended beyond frank and free
discussion to include any coercive element.

Regards

b

bruce sandford
Hamilton 2001
Aotearoa - New Zealand

ICQ: 20816964