Although for the most part we deal with mutualism for convenience as a form of anarchism, mutualism as such is not necessarily anarchist. Mutualist practices and beliefs arose in the labor movement before mutualism was stated as a belief system by Proudhon. Since Proudhon, mutualism has been a segment of the anarchist movement, and most mutualists have also been anarchists. But one can be a mutualist without being an anarchist. Most mutualists, however, whether avowedly anarchist or not, tend to favor a high degree of political decentralization, with many functions of the state being carried out through grass-roots participatory democracy. Proudhon himself considered anarchism to be, not an all-or-nothing system, but a goal to be approached from our present position. Complete anarchy as a social system may never be achieved, but everyone who favors concrete steps toward freedom and decentralism, and against coercion, is an ally.