Mutual aid and competition as driving forces of economic development

The theory of competition is one of the main theories of modern economic science and is an important component of its methodological and theoretical apparatus. In the classical and neoclassical paradigm of economic science, competition is objective, independent of individual economic entities, the basis of the market mechanism, an “invisible hand” that coordinates the activities of producers and consumers, the distribution of limited resources, the creation, distribution and use of economic benefits. Over the past 250 years, the theory of competition has gone through the path of formation and development and currently has a developed methodology that has made it possible to distinguish and study various types of competition and various types of market structures: pure competition, oligopoly, pure monopoly, monopolistic competition. The developed economic and mathematical apparatus of the microeconomic theory of competition makes it possible to realize its cognitive, practical and ideological functions. But throughout the entire period of formation and development of the theory of competition, there has been criticism of it. The object of criticism are both theoretical and practical aspects of the theory of competition. The most prominent opponents of the supporters of the theory of competition are Russian scientists: P. Kropotkin, A. Chayanov, N. Kondratiev, M. Tugan-Baranovsky, S. Kirdina-Chandler, G. Kleiner and others. They contrast the theory of competition with the theory of mutual aid, according to which mutual aid, not competition, is the driving force behind economic development. The authors of the article reconstructed the process of formation and development of the theory of competition and the theory of mutual assistance, revealed the relative heuristic significance of both theories, clarified the concept of “mutual assistance” in relation to the concept of “cooperation”, substantiated the existence of the dichotomy “mutual assistance – ​competition” and proved that it is driving force of economic development.