Kropotkin's Siberian Observations 75 



the sake of argument that the struggle between 

 individuals within the animal kingdom has re- 

 sulted in the survival of the fittest and the perfec- 

 tion of the species. In this case war is the cause 

 and perfection the effect. But in the human race 

 the sequence has been diametrically opposite. Here 

 intellectual perfection has rendered war possible 

 between men. Here it is perfection which has 

 been the cause and war the effect. Again we see 

 that it is anti-scientific to compare, as Spencer 

 does, phenomena which are completely different. 

 The struggle for existence and war between 

 members of the same species cannot be considered 

 as identical terms. To a certain extent they may 

 even be said to be contrary and opposed. The 

 real struggle is that against the physical environ- 

 ment, and this is true of animals as of men. This 

 fact is apparent wherever we come into contact 

 with the touchstone of real life and direct observa- 

 tion. Here is the evidence of Kropotkin,' a keen 

 observer and careful student of the Darwinian 

 theory : 



Two aspects of animal life impressed me most 

 during the journeys which I made in my youth in 

 Eastern Siberia and Northern Manchuria. One of 

 them was the extreme severity of the struggle for 

 existence which most species of animals have to carry 

 on against an inclement Nature. . . . And the other 

 was, that even in those spots where animal life teemed 

 in abundance, I failed to find — although I was eagerly 



* Mutual Aid a Factor of Evolution, p. vii. 



