# I explained — Essays > Chapter companion for Essays by Errico Malatesta. ## What happens Kropotkin argues that solidarity and mutual aid are natural laws of human life, arising from the instinct for preservation and the advantages of cooperation. He traces how private property and government have corrupted this instinct by imposing domination and exploitation, but asserts that the oppressed masses are increasingly conscious of their need to unite internationally, abolish private property, and replace coercive government with free, voluntary association—this society of friends being Anarchy. ## Themes in this chapter ### Solidarity and Mutual Aid Central theme: Kropotkin argues that solidarity is the natural law of human life, essential for progress and well-being, and that cooperation is the basis of all human achievement. ### Critique of Private Property and Capitalism Kropotkin critiques private property as the foundation of exploitation and oppression, arguing that its abolition is necessary for emancipation. ### Critique of Government and Authority Government is portrayed as the defender of private property and a tool of domination; its abolition is required for a free society. ## Character check-ins ### Kropotkin Author and primary voice; presents the philosophical and historical argument for solidarity, mutual aid, and the abolition of private property and government. ### Anarchists Implied as the proponents of the free, voluntary society described; the chapter outlines the anarchist vision of a society without government or private property. ### the masters Referenced as the privileged few who exploit the labor of the many through private property and government. ### Socialists Mentioned indirectly in the context of the oppressed masses seeking emancipation; the chapter critiques parliamentary socialism by advocating direct action and revolution. ## Key lines > Solidarity, then, is the condition in which man can attain the highest degree of security and of well-being. Solidarity is the state where people achieve the greatest safety and happiness. _Kropotkin defines solidarity as the foundation of human security and well-being._ > Thus it has come about that the establishment of the utility of cooperation, which ought to lead to the triumph of solidarity in all human concerns, has turned to the advantage of private property and of government; in other words, to the exploitation of the labor of the many, for the sake of the privileged few. The benefits of cooperation, which should have fostered universal solidarity, have instead been hijacked by private property and government to exploit the many for the benefit of a few. _Kropotkin explains how cooperation was perverted into a tool of oppression._ > Private property abolished, government—which is its defender—must disappear. If private property is abolished, government, which protects it, will also have to vanish. _Kropotkin links the abolition of private property directly to the end of government._ > This society of free men, this society of friends would be Anarchy. A society of free individuals bound by friendship and voluntary cooperation is what Anarchy truly means. _Kropotkin's positive definition of anarchy as a society of friends._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/essays_se/chapters/i - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/essays_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/essays_se/chapters