The principle, nevertheless, remained the same: the city was a State and-what was perhaps still more remarkable-when the power in the city was usurped by an aristocracy of merchants or even nobles, the inner life of the city and the Democratism of its daily life did not disappear: they depended but little upon what may be called the political form of the State.
"Mutual Aid A Factor of Evolution"
kniaz' Petr Alekseevich Kropotkin