# Destruction of Private Property on the Grave explained — Mutual Aid

> Chapter companion for Mutual Aid by Peter Kropotkin.

## What happens

This chapter discusses the historical practice of destroying a deceased person's personal belongings, including chattels, slaves, and even friends and vassals, on their tomb, as evidenced by J. M. de Groot's work on Chinese religious systems. It notes that moralists eventually led a reaction against this custom, and that the practice survived among English gipsies into the modern era, as seen in the destruction of a gipsy queen's property on her grave.

## Key lines

> In a remarkable work, The Religious Systems of China , published in 1892⁠–⁠97 by J. M. de Groot at Leyden, we find the confirmation of this idea.

J. M. de Groot's 1892–97 study 'The Religious Systems of China' supports this concept.

_The author cites de Groot's work as evidence for the destruction of property on graves._

> There was in China (as elsewhere) a time when all personal belongings of a dead person were destroyed on his tomb⁠—his mobiliary goods, his chattels, his slaves, and even friends and vassals, and of course his widow.

In China and other cultures, a deceased person's possessions, including goods, slaves, friends, vassals, and widow, were once destroyed at the tomb.

_Describes the extent of the custom of destroying property and people on the grave._

> It required a strong reaction against this custom on behalf of the moralists to put an end to it.

Moralists had to mount a strong opposition to end this practice.

_Highlights the role of moral reformers in abolishing the custom._

> With the gipsies in England the custom of destroying all chattels on the grave has survived up to the present day.

Among English gipsies, the tradition of destroying all belongings on the grave continues to this day.

_Notes the survival of the custom in a contemporary context._

> All the personal property of the gipsy queen who died a few years ago was destroyed on her grave. Several newspapers mentioned it at that time.

When a gipsy queen died recently, all her personal property was destroyed on her grave, as reported by newspapers.

_Provides a specific modern example of the custom._

## Links

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