Emma Goldman: Mutual Aid as Anarchist Practice

Emma Goldman (1869-1940) was an anarchist who lived her politics. Deported from the U.S. for her activism, she spent her life organizing workers, challenging authority, and advocating for education rooted in freedom rather than obedience. Her framework gives us tools for voluntary cooperation and mutual aid.

Essential reading: “The Child and Its Enemies” in Anarchism and Other Essays (1910)

The Core Framework: Voluntary Cooperation vs. Coercion

Goldman’s central question: Is this happening through voluntary cooperation or coercion?

Coercion in Education

Traditional education prepares people to obey. Children are compelled to attend school, forced to study subjects chosen by authorities, punished for noncompliance, and rewarded for obedience. The goal is to create docile workers and citizens who accept their place in hierarchies.

This coercion appears in many forms: grades (coercion through evaluation), mandatory attendance (coercion through requirement), standardized curriculum (coercion through limitation), punishment and detention (coercion through pain).

The problem isn’t just that coercion feels bad. It’s that coercion kills the very thing education claims to cultivate: curiosity, creativity, autonomous thinking. When you learn because you’re forced to, you learn that learning is something imposed on you, not something you choose.

Voluntary Cooperation

Goldman’s alternative: education based on free growth and development. The child (or adult learner) pursues genuine interests through voluntary participation. No one compels, punishes, or rewards. Learning emerges from natural curiosity and the desire to contribute to community.

This doesn’t mean no structure or guidance. It means the structure serves learning rather than control, and guidance is offered rather than imposed.

The Voluntary Cooperation Test: Ask: Can they say no without punishment? If no equals consequences (shame, removal, harm), it’s coercion. If no equals we find another path, it’s voluntary.

Mutual Aid: The Alternative to Charity

Goldman built on Peter Kropotkin’s Mutual Aid, which argued that cooperation (not competition) is the primary factor in evolution and human society.

The Mutual Aid Framework

Mutual aid is: Voluntary cooperation for mutual benefit. Everyone gives what they can, receives what they need. Help flows in all directions. No one is above or below.

Mutual aid is not:

The Three Principles of Mutual Aid

1. From each according to capacity, to each according to need People contribute what they can (which varies) and receive what they need (which also varies). Sometimes you give more, sometimes you receive more. The flow isn’t equal at any moment, but it balances over time and across the community.

2. Reciprocity without transaction You help because it serves the collective, not because you’re owed something back. When you need help, it’s available—not because you “earned” it, but because mutual aid is how the community functions.

3. No saviors Mutual aid rejects the savior mentality. You’re not rescuing helpless people. Everyone has capacity. You’re supporting each other’s autonomy, not creating dependence.

In practice: When someone needs support, ask “What do you need?” not “Let me fix this for you.” Facilitate their capacity rather than doing it for them. Remember that you may be on the receiving end tomorrow.

See: Mutual Aid Guidelines

Authority Must Justify Itself

In anarchist thought, authority is not inherently legitimate. It must justify itself through accountability.

The Accountable Authority Framework

You may have expertise that students lack. You may have institutional responsibility for certain decisions. You may have access to resources. This gives you authority—but that authority must be accountable and transparent.

Accountable authority means:

1. You name your power openly “I have power here: I can remove someone from the program, I make decisions about X, I have expertise in Y. Let me be transparent about what power I hold and what I don’t.”

2. You justify how you use it You don’t say “Because I said so.” You explain: “I’m making this decision because [reason related to collective wellbeing/learning goals].”

3. You make yourself accountable Students can question you, challenge your decisions, point out when you’ve caused harm. You respond to accountability rather than shutting it down.

4. You work to redistribute power where possible You share decision-making, create space for collective governance, teach skills that transfer power.

What this is NOT:

What this IS:

Free Growth and Development

Goldman insisted education must honor “the free growth and development of the innate forces and tendencies of the child” rather than molding people to fit systems.

The Free Development Framework

Every person has innate capacities, interests, questions. Your role is to create conditions where these can emerge and develop—not to impose what you think they should become.

In practice:

1. Start with their questions, not your curriculum What are they curious about? What problems are they trying to solve? Let content emerge from genuine interests.

2. Offer resources, don’t require them “Here’s something I think might be useful” rather than “You must read this.”

3. Trust their timing and path They may not learn in the sequence you’d choose. They may take longer on some things, skip others. Trust the process.

4. Don’t mistake support for molding Providing structure, guidance, resources = support. Trying to make them into who you think they should be = molding.

The distinction: Support enhances their autonomy. Molding supplants their autonomy with your vision.

Prefigurative Politics: Live Your Values Now

Anarchism is prefigurative: the means must align with the ends. You can’t build a free society through authoritarian methods. You must embody your values now, not wait for “after the revolution.”

The Prefigurative Framework

If you want a learning community based on mutual aid, voluntary cooperation, and horizontal relationships, you must practice these now. You can’t coerce people into learning about freedom. You can’t use hierarchical methods to teach anarchist principles.

How to practice prefigurative politics:

1. Model what you teach If you teach critical thinking, welcome being questioned. If you teach cooperation, practice it. If you teach autonomy, respect theirs.

2. Create the conditions you want to see Don’t wait for permission to practice mutual aid. Start doing it. Build the community you envision.

3. Acknowledge when you fall short You’ll mess up. You’ll reproduce hierarchies you’re trying to dismantle. Name it, learn from it, adjust.

4. Ask: Do my means align with my ends? If your goal is liberation but your method is control, there’s a contradiction. The method becomes the outcome.

The Modern School Movement

Goldman championed Francisco Ferrer’s Modern School (Escuela Moderna) in Spain, which embodied anarchist education principles.

Key Practices from the Modern School

No rewards or punishments: Learning is its own reward. Grades create competition; punishments teach fear. Neither develops genuine understanding or love of learning.

No compulsory curriculum: Students pursue their interests. You might offer structure, but you don’t mandate what they must study.

Co-education of all classes: Rich and poor learn together. Breaking down class barriers through shared education.

Rational inquiry: Question everything. No dogma, no imposed beliefs. Evidence-based learning.

Connection to life: Learning serves life, not credentials. Education is integrated with living, not separate from it.

In The Multiverse: Project-based learning (students choose projects based on real interests), no grades (feedback instead), voluntary participation, learning connected to actual problems students want to solve.

Applying Goldman’s Framework in The Multiverse

Shift 1: From Coercion to Voluntary Cooperation

Old model: “You must attend class. You must complete assignments. You must comply with rules.”

Goldman’s model: “We’ve agreed to this learning structure. Can you participate in it? If not, let’s find what works for you.”

You still have agreements and structure, but participation is chosen. If someone can’t participate in the agreement, you find another path—not punish them into compliance.

Shift 2: From Charity/Rescue to Mutual Aid

Old model: “This student is struggling. I must save them.”

Goldman’s model: “Someone needs support. What do they need? Who has capacity to offer it? Tomorrow I might be the one needing support.”

You’re building community care, not positioning yourself as savior. See: Mutual Aid Guidelines

Shift 3: From Assumed Authority to Accountable Authority

Old model: “I’m the teacher, so you must obey.”

Goldman’s model: “I hold expertise in X and responsibility for Y. Let me be transparent about my power and accountable for how I use it.”

Shift 4: From Imposed Curriculum to Emergent Learning

Old model: “Here’s what you need to know. Learn it.”

Goldman’s model: “Here’s the domain. What questions do you have? What do you want to build? Let’s investigate together.”

The “No Saviors” Principle

Goldman rejected the savior complex that plagues do-gooders and educators.

Why Saviorism Is Harmful

When you position yourself as savior, you:

The Alternative: Facilitation, Not Rescue

Savior approach: “I see you can’t do this. Let me do it for you / tell you how / manage you.”

Mutual aid approach: “What do you need? What have you tried? How can I support your capacity?”

You facilitate their autonomy rather than replacing it with your intervention. Sometimes this means letting them struggle, fail, learn. Sometimes it means offering resources or guidance. It never means doing it for them or deciding for them.

Anarcha-Feminism: Goldman’s Contributions

Goldman was a pioneering anarcha-feminist who connected women’s liberation to all liberation.

Key Insights for Education

Bodily autonomy is foundational: You don’t control students’ bodies. No forced sitting still, forced eye contact, forced attendance. Respect for bodily autonomy is respect for personhood.

Reproductive freedom connects to all freedom: Goldman championed birth control and abortion rights when both were criminal. Control over one’s body is inseparable from all other freedoms.

Free love = autonomous relationships: Relationships (including teacher-student) based on freedom, not obligation. Connection is genuine, not compelled.

In practice: Honor consent in all interactions. Don’t force physical presence or particular ways of being present. Recognize that control over bodies is control over lives.

Practical Tools

The Voluntary Cooperation Audit: Before any requirement, ask: Can they decline without punishment? If not, it’s coercion. Is coercion necessary here, or can I make this voluntary?

The Savior Check: When you want to help someone, ask: Am I facilitating their autonomy, or am I trying to rescue them? Whose need is being met—theirs or mine?

The Mutual Aid Structure: Create systems where help flows in multiple directions:

The Prefigurative Audit: Do my methods align with my values? If I value freedom, am I using coercion? If I value cooperation, am I competing? Where’s the contradiction?

Key Quotes

“If education should really mean anything at all, it must insist upon the free growth and development of the innate forces and tendencies of the child.”

“I want freedom, the right to self-expression, everybody’s right to beautiful, radiant things.”

“Someone has said that it requires less mental effort to condemn than to think.”

“The most violent element in society is ignorance.”

“If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution.”

Limitations

Goldman’s anarchism was individualist, with less focus on collective organizing structures. She engaged less with race than contemporary work requires. Her vision can feel utopian without practical transition strategies. We integrate Goldman with Freire (collective liberation and critical consciousness), hooks (intersectionality), and Indigenous frameworks (relational accountability) to address these gaps.

Going Deeper

Goldman’s work: Anarchism and Other Essays (1910)—Free online

On mutual aid: Kropotkin’s Mutual Aid (1902)—Free online

Contemporary: Spade, Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity (2020)

Emma Goldman Papers: www.lib.berkeley.edu/goldman

See also: