Mutual aid

Mutual aid is when people work together to help each other with things they need. This could include:

• sharing food, clothes or medicine
• running breakfast programs
• providing education
• helping during emergencies like natural disasters or health crises

About mutual aid

Mutual aid is different from charity because:

• there are no conditions on who can get help
• everyone involved makes decisions together
• people take responsibility for supporting each other
• the aim is both to help people and to change the situations that created problems

How mutual aid works

Working together

In mutual aid groups:

• everyone can take part
• there are no bosses or leaders
• all members have equal power to make decisions
• decisions are made by reaching agreement as a group

Types of support

Groups work together to:

• identify what people need
• find ways to meet those needs
• share resources and skills
• tackle the root causes of problems

History of mutual aid

The idea of mutual aid became well known through Peter Kropotkin's book 'Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution' in 1902.

Kropotkin showed that working together, not competing, helped humans and animals survive. This challenged ideas that competition was most important for evolution.

Examples of mutual aid

Historical examples

From the 1800s to early 1900s, mutual aid included:

• trade unions
• friendly societies that helped members with healthcare and funeral costs
• craft guilds
• working men's clubs that provided health insurance

Recent examples

More recently, mutual aid has been important in:

• Black communities
• working-class neighbourhoods
• immigrant groups
• LGBT+ communities

During the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in 2020, mutual aid groups:

• delivered food and medicine
• helped people who were isolating
• provided support at neighbourhood and street level
• created connections between people during lockdown

Challenges for mutual aid groups

Groups may struggle with:

• finding people with technical skills
• getting funding
• being taken seriously by official organisations
• avoiding power imbalances between members