Home > Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

Proudhon also claimed that "Property is impossible." Although he was against capitalism, he rejected communism and believed that individual possession — which he distinguished from private property — was necessary both for liberty and for an efficient economy. Another one of his famous statements is that "anarchy is order". This statement is believed by some to be the source of the circled-A.

He adopted the term Mutualism for his brand of anarchism, which involved control of the means of production by the workers. In his vision self-employed artisans, peasants and cooperatives would trade their products on the market. He advocated non-capitalist markets, markets without wage labor or private property. Factories and other large workplaces would be run by 'labor associations' operating on directly democratic principles. The state would be abolished, instead society would be organized by a federation of 'free communes' (community assemblies). In 1863 Proudhon said, "All my economic ideas as developed over twenty-five years can be summed up in the words: agricultural-industrial federation. All my political ideas boil down to a similar formula: political federation or decentralization." Proudhon rejected violent revolution, favoring a gradual evolution of society into anarchy.

He made few public criticisms of MarxKarl Heinrich Marx ( May 5, 1818 March 14, 1883) was an influential German economist, philosopher, social and political theorist. Although Marx addressed many issues in his career as a journalist and philosopher, he is most famous for his analysis of hist or MarxismMarxism is the political practice and social theory based on the works of Karl Marx, a 19th century philosopher, economist, journalist, and revolutionary, along with Friedrich Engels. Marx drew on Hegel's philosophy, the political economy of Adam Smith, R because in his lifetime Marx was a relatively minor thinker; it was only after Proudhon's death that Marxism became a large movement. He did, however, criticize other authoritarian socialists of his time period. This included the state socialist Louis Blanc, of which Proudhon said, "let me say to M. Blanc: you desire neither Catholicism nor monarchy nor nobility, but you must have a God, a religion, a dictatorship, a censorship, a hierarchy, distinctions, and ranks. For my part, I deny your God, your authority, your sovereignty, your judicial State, and all your representative mystifications." It was Proudhon's book What is Property? which convinced a young Karl Marx that private property should be abolished. In one of his first works, the Holy Family, Marx said, "Not only does Proudhon write in the interest of the proletarians [working class], he is himself a proletarian, an ouvrier. His work is a scientific manifesto of the French proletariat." Marx, however, disagreed with Proudhon's anarchism and later published vicious criticisms of Proudhon. Marx wrote The Poverty of Philosophy as a refutation of Proudhon's The Philosophy of Poverty. In his libertarian socialismLibertarian socialism is a political philosophy dedicated to opposing coercive forms of authority and social hierarchy, most famously the institutions of capitalism and the state. It has gone by various names: libertarian communism anarcho-communism left-, Proudhon was followed by Mikhail BakuninMikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin ( Russian ), ( May 30, 1814 June 13, 1876) was a well-known Russian anarchist contemporaneous to Karl Marx. He was best known as one of the first generation of anarchist philosophers, and has been called one of the "fathers o, in contrast to the authoritarian socialism that followed from Marx.

His works were first translated into English by Benjamin TuckerBenjamin Tucker ( April 17, 1854 1939) was America's leading proponent of individualist anarchism in the 19th century. Summary Benjamin Ricketson Tucker's contribution to American anarchism was as much through his publishing as his own writing. In editing, an advocate of individualist anarchismIn politics, individualist anarchism is a variety of anarchism that emphasises the importance of the individual. Several classical anarchist thinkers, such as Benjamin Tucker, Lysander Spooner, Max Stirner, Dora Marsden and Albert Jay Nock, are known as i, who promoted Proudhon's ideas in the United States.

His essay on what is government is also quite well known.

"To be GOVERNED is to be watched, inspected, spied upon, directed, law-driven, numbered, regulated, enrolled, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, checked, estimated, valued, censured, commanded, by creatures who have neither the right nor the wisdom nor the virtue to do so. To be GOVERNED is to be at every operation, at every transaction noted, registered, counted, taxed, stamped, measured, numbered, assessed, licensed, authorized, admonished, prevented, forbidden, reformed, corrected, punished. It is, under pretext of public utility, and in the name of the general interest, to be place[d] under contribution, drilled, fleeced, exploited, monopolized, extorted from, squeezed, hoaxed, robbed; then, at the slightest resistance, the first word of complaint, to be repressed, fined, vilified, harassed, hunted down, abused, clubbed, disarmed, bound, choked, imprisoned, judged, condemned, shot, deported, sacrificed, sold, betrayed; and to crown all, mocked, ridiculed, derided, outraged, dishonored. That is government; that is its justice; that is its morality." (P.-J. Proudhon, General Idea of the Revolution in the Nineteenth Century, translated by John Beverly Robinson (London: Freedom Press, 1923), pp. 293-294.)

Another famous quote was his 'dialogue with a philistine' in What is Property?:

"You are a republican."
"Republican, yes; but that means nothing. Res publica is 'the State.' Kings, too, are republicans."
"Ah well! You are a democrat?"
"No."
"What! Perhaps you are a monarchist?"
"No."
"Constitutionalist then?"
"God forbid."
"Then you are an aristocrat?"
"Not at all!"
"You want a mixed form of government?"
"Even less."
"Then what are you?"
"An anarchist."