ABSTRACT
This chapter describes Kropotkin's mutual aid, in the twentieth century, and Gorbachev's 'earth charter', in the twenty-first century. The Russia naturally and culturally is uniquely positioned 'east–west-wise' straddling Eurasia, and historically as the Soviet Union, it has exerted a major influence on the world over the course of most of the twentieth century. The Swiss-French philosopher Rousseau, in fact, saw nature, love, peace and harmony as the birthright of the 'noble savage'. He thereby committed the error of excluding the beak-and-claw fight from his thoughts. Yet Thomas Huxley for example, as a follower of Darwin, committed the opposite error. Neither Huxley's pessimism nor Rousseau's optimism represent the whole truth. The trade, formally communal, became the privilege of the merchant and artisan 'families' and the next step – that of becoming individual – was unavoidable. The same division took place between the city proper and the surrounding villages.
