Capitalism and Mutual Aid

One of the most insidious lies capitalism tells us is that we must help ourselves before we can effectively help others or else we risk our own survival. It's become pervasive, the core philosophy in basically every Hollywood action / thriller / apocalypse / sci-fi narrative, and it's also what keeps us apart and diminishes efforts toward mutual aid.

What I mean by this is as follows: one of capitalism's central narratives is, "You have sole responsibility for taking care of yourself and your success". Especially in times of hardship, this ends up translating to, "You have to focus on your own stuff first or you will starve". This isn't so much the truth as it is the capitalist ideal; it's what they want the truth to be, and they work hard to build a system that makes it true.

Aiding others, then, is an act directly in defiance of this narrative, and mutual aid is the antithesis of capitalist philosophies. Essentially, burnout is part of the "plan". It feeds the narrative. I think that when we experience burnout, it's because capitalist systems (particularly in the U.S.) inherently give us back less than what we put in. Burnout is the system's way of profiting off our emotional / social labour.

If you help someone to the point of burnout, two things happen:

1. In the short term, you provide aid that the state now no longer needs to address. Despite the fact that helping others before yourself is "against the rules," the system will gladly take advantage of it.
2. In the long term, you work yourself so raw that you can no longer help other people. You can't provide aid, basically rendering you "tamed," unable to effectively fight against the system. And you become evidence that the philosophy is true, you have to put yourself first.

This, in addition to the barrage of other stresses we face constantly, this makes it near impossible to establish, let alone maintain, a robust system of mutual aid.

But in a robust system of mutual aid, putting others first is putting yourself first in so many ways. In such a system, the investment of emotional / social labour is the inverse ─ you get out as much as you put in or more. And in a robust system of mutual aid, if you need to withdraw, you generally have the support to do so, because aid is pervasive and communal. One of the reasons we experience burnout so severely and so frequently under capitalism is because it's impossible for aid to be pervasive. Aid without herd mutuality is not sustainable. Essentially, aid is draining and degenerative. Mutual aid is empowering and generative.

Like I said, capitalism and mutual aid are antithetical. So with mutual aid, two things are true: you need to put yourself before all others much less frequently because your community is already prioritizing you (and the rest of the community) directly; and you can withdraw from this system when you need to because those around you are supporting it. When you need to put yourself first, you can, without causing harm. The opposite is true under capitalism: you frequently need to put yourself first to stay healthy and safe, to not burn out; and when you withdraw from systems of aid (especially on local scales), they tend to suffer because many people must frequently withdraw for similar reasons. This is a feedback loop, and it is so by design.

I'm not saying that if we all self-sacrifice indiscriminately, then the world will become a better place. The way the world is, and the way human brains and bodies work, we need to withdraw, and that's okay. Given the circumstances, that is what's most healthy individually. And yes, you must take care of yourself! I guess what I ultimately want to say is: it doesn't have to be this way. For most of the last 300,000 years, it has not been this way. We don't have to believe that helping others comes at the expense of helping ourselves. We don't have to be solely responsible for caring for ourselves. Capitalism is a story of isolation. Mutual aid is a story of connection.

_{Disability and neuroatypicality are two things I am less versed in, so the article may reflect this. This is written from my experience and thoughts as a neurotypical, able white person in the U.S.. Not everything here will apply equally for other people, and none of it should be taken as the bottom line. And as great as theorising about mutual aid is, I encourage everyone to do it, build it, be it, and figure out what works and what doesn't.}