KROPOTKIN collisions, w~rs between tribes, during which we see the paternal family spring up here and there-the kernel formed by men. appropriating women they had conquered or kidnapped from neighbouring tribes? Ancient ties were rent asunder, and under the threat of a general preakup (that took place, in fact, for many tribes which disappeared from history) it was essential that new ties should spring up. They were found in the communal possession of land, on which such an agglomeration settled down. ·The possession in common of a certain territory, of certain valleys, plains or mountains, became the basis of a new agreement. Ancient gods had Jost all meaning; and the local gods of valley, river 1md forest gave the religious consecration to the new agglomeration, ~ubstituting themselves for the gods of the primitive tribe. Later on, Christianity, alway~ ready to accommodate itself to pagan survivals, jllade local saints of them. Henceforth, the village community, composed partly or entirely of separate families-all united, nevertheless, ·by. the possession in common of the land-became the necessary bond of union for centuries to come. On the immense stretches of land in Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa, it still exists to-day. The barbarians who· destroyed the ;Roman empire-Scandinavians, Germans, Celts, Slavs, etc.-lived tinder this kind of organization. And, in studying the ancient barbarian codes, as well as the laws and customs of the confederations of village communes among the Kabyles, Mongols, Hindus, Africans, etc., which still exist, it became possible to reconstruct that form of society, which was the starting point of our present civilization. Let us therefore, examine that institution. III. The village community was composed, as it still is, of separate families; but the .families of a village possessed the land in common. They looked upon it as their common patrimony. and allotted it according to the size of the families. Hundreds of millions of men still live under this_system in Eastern Europe, India, Java, etc. It is the same system as Russian peasants have established nowadays, when the State left them free to occupy the immense Siberian territory as they thought best.* At first the cultivation also was done in common, and this custom still obtains partially. in many places. As to deforestation and clearings made in the woods, construction of bridges, building of fortlets •Kropotkin is referring to the Tsarist state and not to the more highly organised Bolshevik state, under which such action would be more unlikely. .-ED. 14 Biblioteca Gino Bianco
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTExMDY2NQ==