Mutual Aid Societies: A Short Review of History

Introduction

Steem was born as a result of an analysis of a particular concept called a mutual aid society. This post will discuss some of the history behind that concept, how it was birthed from guilds and fraternities, and how it evolved over the years. Finally I will discuss some of the events which lead to this concept being replaced and the responsibility shifted to the government during the World War 2 New Deal era.

Benefit societies

Originally there were benefit societies. It started out being primarily fraternities which were voluntary organizations which formed to enable their membership to provide mutual aid to each other. The Freemasons is one of the most well known examples of a fraternal order which provided these sorts of benefits to it's members in the era prior to the development of government welfare and social security. One of the services provided by Freemasonry was what today could be recognized as insurance.

A distinct difference between Freemasonry's mutual aid model and the government model is that under the Freemasonry model there was a focus on philosophical and ethical development of the members. There are also many other fraternities that existed such as the Oddfellows, Elks, and others. These fraternities didn't just accept anyone and reputation was important. Ethnicity also a criteria for certain societies.

In fact, Freemasonry was split between Prince Hall Freemasonry and mainstream Freemasonry. It is known that during the times when America was relying on these fraternal organizations it was also during a time when racial tensions were high, racism was a fact of life, and it was under the context of this racial tension that we can make sense of some of the decisions of the government to put in place the New Deal. Fraternal organizations existed before there were unions as are traditional understood, and the precursor to fraternal organizations were guilds.

The purpose of a guild was to provide guidance, mentorship, in an economy where this was necessary because certain jobs could not be taught except from mentor to student. The industrial revolution brought about the birth of public schools, factory jobs, and under this context there was a change which led to a development of worker rights organizations which evolved into what we now think of as unions.

Mutual Aid Societies are the foundation of Welfare

Many people today assume that welfare is how it always has been and always will be. In reality the government welfare we see today is an anomaly. In reality most of the time mutual aid societies provided these functions. When society was smaller, more people knew each other, so to help a neighbor you know was not seen in the same way as helping a foreigner or complete stranger. Government welfare as it exists today works through taxes where neighbors don't necessarily help neighbors and the community element is taken out. As a result there are now politics involved where now people who pay taxes to provide welfare do not know if their tax dollars is going to groups of people who don't share their principles, morals, cultural beliefs, or not. As an example, it may be that today in some countries in Europe the welfare services may in some instances go to people who practice Sharia law, who seek to spread an ideology and culture which is in direct conflict with the more established or traditional principles.

I will not go into too much detail as to the political aspects because I'm not a European but if Europe is anything like the United States then we can learn that in some cases the socialist or welfare policies may help certain individuals who hate the morals, principles, culture, and country, which is providing it. At the same time in many cases there are veterans and people who truly believe in these principles who are perceived to be receiving unfair treatment. This creates animosity which sometimes can express itself as xenophobia, but if we look at history we see this kind of xenophobia always existed. What is different today is that now it is possible to easily link up with people who have compatible principles and help them. Steem at it's core allows people to build a mutual aid community, where people can help each other without regard to nationalism, ethnicity, religion, class, or any of the false divisions, and focus specifically on that common principles.

The purpose of Welfare should be to promote Resilience and Self Sufficiency

Lodge members helped each other relocate when they couldn’t find work, disciplined brothers who were neglectful of their families, and visited sick members at home or in the hospital.

These lodges were elaborate, sometimes very large, self-governing organizations. They taught their often poorly educated manual laborer members how to chair meetings, write minutes, conduct fair discussions, balance books, make presentations, and perform all the other tasks required by a parliament or a large organization. These were men who had little power or respect on their jobs, but as lodge members they had the opportunity to be leaders and take responsibility for the welfare of others.

In the case of a mutual aid society the goal is not merely to promote dependency on others. The purpose is to promote certain ideals, principles, concepts, which can improve the individual and help the individual to become as self sufficient as they need to be for their happiness. If we look at Thomas Jefferson, he described himself as an epicurean.

Epicureans believed in community. They were political insofar as they saw that it was in the best interest of society for people to carry out agreements that promote fellowship. This implied a contractual form of government. But Epicureans and his followers did not advocate group action for social change. Their approach to politics suited those who wished to continue living comfortably under authoritarian rulers. They advocated civic tranquility and a search for peace of mind. They advocated living unnoticed, abstaining from public life and from making enemies.

Epicurus addressed the ultimate question about life by claiming that life was worth living. He saw life as possibly joyous – if one had an adequate sensitivity to the world of beauty and good friendships, good health and freedom from drudgery. He believed in the pleasures of contemplation, physical beauty and attachments to others.

Epicurus believed that the driving force of life is the avoidance of pain. He believed that the essence of virtue is avoiding inflicting pain upon others. He believed that the avoidance of pain for oneself and others should take precedence over the pursuit of pleasure. He advocated self-control to avoid painful consequences. Pleasure, he said, should be adjusted to the equilibrium in one's body and mind. Excessive devotion to the gratification of appetites, he said, produces misery rather than happiness and therefore should be avoided.

From the quote above we can get an idea of the life philosophy of Thomas Jefferson or at least the intention. It should be noted that intentions don't always play out exactly as intended but the fact is that the intention existed in the first place and it gives us a concept from which to assess and improve by. Mutual aid societies primarily teach concepts such as advanced ethics, so people can live the best and most effective lives they can, and when we know our digital neighbor wants to be free, is trying to embrace certain concepts, then it's just a matter of building the tools to facilitate self actualization.

Resilience, self sufficiency, for most people these concepts could be thought of as out of reach. This is especially true for younger generations who never were taught how to be self sufficient in school or by parents, who live in a society which doesn't have much resilience because everyone was taught to first look to the government for support or to solve the problem, but then what if the government fails? Resilience is having an alternative social structure to provide support when the government fails and it was this motivation which led me to develop the ideas of voluntary basic income, and the decentralized autonomous virtual state concept. When traditional support mechanisms fail due to politics or other reasons, there it necessitates an ability to self organize digital equivalent infrastructure which can serve some of the same purposes but even better due to benefits like big data, AI, etc.

Steemit may be the first successful Digital Mutual Aid Society

Bytemaster:

A blockchain cannot provide insurance as it is traditionally known, but could easily create a community of individuals who help one another when they face difficulties. These difficulties can be a wide range of things.

We live in a society where most good people standby and do nothing to help those who are the victim of state violence. This includes those who are punished for victimless crimes or laws that violate the constitution or other basic human rights. Few people are willing to stand up to the government because the costs are very high on an individual. If we could only stand together then we would all be protected and regain our freedom.

Steemit has set a precedent just as Bitcoin did. Many attempts have been made to do something like this. There have been attempts to provide basic income, attempts to create virtual states or digital nations, all attempting to solve a similar set of problems as Steemit. Steemit is the first truly successful example thus far of a mutual aid society and if reputation becomes something which works well, it could even allow for something which resembles basic income to be layered on top. It's the modernization of the mutual aid society and it can help people.

People who can be helped are more than just bloggers and free speech advocates. Anyone who has a good track record with the community, anyone who provides value to the community, can seek protection from the community. Activists who risk their liberty or lives can be supported. In situations where a corrupt authority or black hat hacker confiscates a member's rightfully earned property there is now a platform where it can be recovered. If someone goes to jail in their country in a political persecution then it might be possible for Steem to allow them to secure their property in such a way that it cannot be confiscated even if they lose their private key and password under duress.

Conclusion

We have an opportunity of a lifetime with Steem if we can recognize what it is and what it can do. Understanding the history of mutual aid societies can help the common person to recognize what Steem was envisioned to be and what sort of problems it can solve. In an environment where people are nervous about the economy and young people understand the old ways of surviving wont work for them, Steem and Steemit provides a valuable alternative.

References
Emery, G., & Emery, H. (1999). Young Man's Benefit: The Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Sickness Insurance in the United States and Canada, 1860-1929 (Vol. 7). McGill-Queen's Press-MQUP.

Web: http://thefederalist.com/2014/08/27/mutual-aid-societies-its-amazing-what-people-can-do-together/
Web 2: https://bitsharestalk.org/index.php?topic=20640.0
Web 3: http://www.heritage.org/research/lecture/from-mutual-aid-to-welfare-state
Web 4: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_age_of_fraternalism