Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (, ; ; 1809 – 19 January 1865) was a French
anarchist
Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...
,
socialist
Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
,
philosopher
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
, and
economist
An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics.
The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...
who founded mutualist philosophy and is considered by many to be the "father of anarchism". He was the first person to call himself an ''
anarchist
Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...
'', using that term, and is widely regarded as one of anarchism's most influential theorists. Proudhon became a member of the French Parliament after the Revolution of 1848, whereafter he referred to himself as a '' federalist''. Proudhon described the
liberty
Liberty is the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views. The concept of liberty can vary depending on perspective and context. In the Constitutional ...
he pursued as the synthesis of
community
A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...
and
individualism
Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, and social outlook that emphasizes the intrinsic worth of the individual. Individualists promote realizing one's goals and desires, valuing independence and self-reliance, and a ...
. Some consider his mutualism to be part of individualist anarchism while others regard it to be part of social anarchism.The Anarchist FAQ Collective; McKay, Ian, ed. (2008/2012). ''An Anarchist Faq''. I/II. Oakland/Edinburgh: AK Press. . .
Proudhon, who was born in
Besançon
Besançon (, ; , ; archaic ; ) is the capital of the Departments of France, department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzerland.
Capi ...
, was a printer who taught himself
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
in order to better print books in the language. His best-known assertion is that " property is theft!", contained in his first major work, '' What Is Property? Or, an Inquiry into the Principle of Right and Government'' (''Qu'est-ce que la propriété? Recherche sur le principe du droit et du gouvernement''), published in 1840. The book's publication attracted the attention of the French authorities. It also attracted the scrutiny of
Karl Marx
Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...
, who started a correspondence with its author. The two influenced each other and they met in Paris while Marx was exiled there. Their friendship finally ended when Marx responded to Proudhon's ''The System of Economic Contradictions, or The Philosophy of Poverty'' with the provocatively titled '' The Poverty of Philosophy''. The dispute became one of the sources of the split between the anarchist and
Marxist
Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...
cooperatives
A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democr ...
as well as individual worker/peasant possession over private ownership or the
nationalization
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English)
is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with p ...
of land and workplaces. He considered social revolution to be achievable in a peaceful manner. Proudhon unsuccessfully tried to create a national bank, to be funded by what became an abortive attempt at an
income tax
An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...
shareholder
A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of corporate stock refers to an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the ...
s. Similar in some respects to a
credit union
A credit union is a member-owned nonprofit organization, nonprofit cooperative financial institution. They may offer financial services equivalent to those of commercial banks, such as share accounts (savings accounts), share draft accounts (che ...
, it would have given interest-free loans. After the death of his follower Mikhail Bakunin, Proudhon's
libertarian socialism
Libertarian socialism is an anti-authoritarian and anti-capitalist political current that emphasises self-governance and workers' self-management. It is contrasted from other forms of socialism by its rejection of state ownership and from other ...
anarcho-syndicalism
Anarcho-syndicalism is an anarchism, anarchist organisational model that centres trade unions as a vehicle for class conflict. Drawing from the theory of libertarian socialism and the practice of syndicalism, anarcho-syndicalism sees trade uni ...
Peter Kropotkin
Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist and geographer known as a proponent of anarchist communism.
Born into an aristocratic land-owning family, Kropotkin attended the Page Corps and later s ...
Besançon
Besançon (, ; , ; archaic ; ) is the capital of the Departments of France, department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzerland.
Capi ...
, France, on 15 January 1809 at 23 Rue du Petit Battant in the suburb of Battant. His father Claude-François Proudhon, who worked as a brewer and a cooper, was originally from the village of Chasnans, near the border with Switzerland. His mother Catherine Simonin was from Cordiron. Claude-François and Catherine had five boys together, two of whom died at a very young age. Proudhon's brothers Jean-Etienne and Claude were born in 1811 and 1816 respectively and both maintained a very close relationship with Proudhon.
As a boy, he mostly worked in the family tavern, helped with basic agricultural work and spent time playing outdoors in the countryside. Although Proudhon received no formal education as a child, he was taught to read by his mother, who had him spelling words by age three. The only books that Proudhon was exposed to until he was 10 were the
Gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...
almanacs
An almanac (also spelled almanack and almanach) is a regularly published listing of a set of current information about one or multiple subjects. It includes information like weather forecasting, weather forecasts, farmers' sowing, planting dates ...
. In 1820, Proudhon's mother began trying to get him admitted into the city college in Besançon. The family was far too poor to afford the tuition, but with the help of one of Claude-François' former employers, she managed to gain a bursary which deducted 120 francs a year from the cost. Proudhon was unable to afford basic things like books or shoes to attend school which caused him great difficulties and often made him the object of scorn by his wealthier classmates. Despite this, Proudhon showed a strong will to learn and spent much time in the school library with a pile of books, exploring a variety of subjects in his free time outside of class.
Entrance into the printing trade
In 1827, Proudhon began an apprenticeship at a printing press in the house of Bellevaux in Battant. On Easter of the following year, he transferred to a press in Besançon owned by the family of one of his schoolmates, Antoine Gauthier. Besançon was an important center of religious thought at the time and most of the works published at Gauthier were
ecclesiastical
{{Short pages monitor
* ''Qu'est ce que la propriété?'' ('' What Is Property?'', 1840)
* Avertissement aux Propriétaires ' (''Warning to Proprietors'', 1842)
* ''De la création de l'ordre dans l'humanité ou principes d'organisation politique '' 1843'')''
* ''Système des contradictions économiques ou Philosophie de la misère'' ( The System of Economic Contradictions, or The Philosophy of Poverty ', 1846)
* ''Solution du problème social Solution of the Social Problem ', 1849)
* ''Idée générale de la révolution au XIXe siècle'' ( General Idea of the Revolution in the Nineteenth Century ', 1851)
* ''Le manuel du spéculateur à la bourse'' (''The Manual of the Stock Exchange Speculator'', 1853)
* ''Philosophie du progrès'' ( '' 1853)
* ''De la justice dans la révolution et dans l'Eglise'' ( Of Justice in the Revolution and the Church ', 1858)
* ''La Guerre et la Paix'' (''War and Peace'', 1861)
* ''Du principe Fédératif'' ( Principle of Federation ', 1863)
* ''De la capacité politique des classes ouvrières'' ( Of the Political Capacity of the Working Class ', 1865)
* ''Théorie de la propriété'' (''Theory of Property'', 1866)
* ''Théorie du mouvement constitutionnel'' (''Theory of the Constitutionalist Movement'', 1870)
* ''Du principe de l'art'' (''The Principle of Art'', 1875)
* ''Correspondence'' (''Correspondences'', 1875)
* ''La Pornocratie ou les femmes dans les temps modernes'' (''The Pornocracy or the women in modern times'', 1875, posthumously)
Workers' self-management
Workers' self-management, also referred to as labor management and organizational self-management, is a form of organizational management based on self-directed work processes on the part of an organization's workforce. Self-managed economy, ...
References
Bibliography
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Further reading
*Allen, Mary B. “P. J. Proudhon in the Revolution of 1848.” The Journal of Modern History 24, no. 1 (1952): 1–14. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1871978.
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*George, William H. “Proudhon and Economic Federalism.” Journal of Political Economy 30, no. 4 (1922): 531–42. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1822922.
*Hoffman, Robert. “Marx and Proudhon: A Reappraisal of Their Relationship.” The Historian 29, no. 3 (1967): 409–30. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24442608.
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*Noland, Aaron. “Proudhon’s Sociology of War.” The American Journal of Economics and Sociology 29, no. 3 (1970): 289–304. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3485658.
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*Reichert, William O. “Proudhon and Kropotkin on Church and State.” Journal of Church and State 9, no. 1 (1967): 87–100. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23913385.
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