Proudhon Library

P.-J. Proudhon: Chronological Bibliography

Undated / multiple dates Papiers. I Économie. Notes, Extraits et Fragments. at Gallica Papiers. II-V Cahiers de notes de lecture. II Série de cahiers in-4° numérotés de 1 à 6. at Gallica Papiers. VI Cahiers de notes et extraits. at Gallica Papiers. VIII Varia. at Gallica Notes et écrits divers. Manuscript at Besançon Notes sur le libre-échange et sur la révolution. Manuscript at Besançon Notes divers. Manuscript at Besançon 1836 École du mouvement moral. Science positive, ou état d’être mécanique de l’humanité prise sous les trois points de vue et dans ses trois mesures irréductibles ; et, en résultance de son […]
Proudhon Library

P.-J. Proudhon, “Notes et écrits divers (Ms. 2874-2884)

A collection of Proudhon’s manuscript writings, digitized by the Ville de Besançon. manuscripts Ms. 2874 Ebauche d’article sur Mazzini et Garibaldi (cf. Mazzini et l’unité italienne, Garibaldi et l’unité italienne, Bruxelles, Office de publicité. 13-VII et 7-IX-1862) 2 Textes sur la démocratie 22 Texte sur l’Italie 26 Tract “Au Peuple italien” 41 Textes sur Rome et la papauté 42 Notes de géopolitique 56 “Jacobins, journalistes, partis” 64 Brouillon d’article sur le Schleswig-Holstein 67 Notes sur les traités de 1815 et les nationalités 72 Lettre de Darimon à Proudhon et commentaires de cette lettre par ce dernier 73 Notes sur Lincoln […]
Proudhon Library

P.-J. Proudhon, “War and Peace,” Volume I

[two_third padding=”0 10px 0 10px”]   WAR AND PEACE INVESTIGATIONS REGARDING THE PRINCIPLE AND CONSTITUTION OF THE RIGHTS OF NATIONS TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface BOOK ONE: PHENOMENOLOGY OF WAR Chapter One. — Of the phenomenality of war Chap. II. — War is a divine fact Chap. III. — War, religious revelation Chap. IV. — War, revelation of justice Chap. V. — War, revelation of the ideal Chap. Vl. — War, discipline of humanity Chap. VII. — The man of war is greater than nature Chap. VIII. — War and peace, correlative expressions Chap. IX. — Problem of war and peace BOOK […]
Featured articles

P.-J Proudhon, “The Social Revolution Demonstrated by the Coup d’Etat” (1852)

The Social Revolution is a radical book with a strangely reactionary reputation. Having already addressed his ideas to all the most likely audiences, during the period when revolutionary hopes were still widespread in France, he turned, during his prison sentence, to less likely audiences. For example, The General Idea of the Revolution in the Nineteenth Century, which has retained a very radical reputation, was addressed to the bourgeoisie. So it is only through an escalation of his existing strategy that his next work became a call to the newly self-proclaimed Emperor Napoleon III to recognize the inevitability of the Social […]
Contr'un

How does property become anarchist?

If we want a clear indication of the gulf between the possible (resultant) anarchism suggested by Proudhon’s mature work and the historical anarchism that emerged in the late 19th century, we probably don’t have to look beyond the almost universal suspicion that Proudhon’s final works themselves mark a retreat from the anarchist project — and the fact that the resultant anarchy that seems to occupy a central place in that work simply does not seem to register among our theoretical options.

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Working Translations

The Present Institutions of the International from the Point of View of the Future (1869)

In the Archives Bakounine, this text is attributed to César de Paepe. Les institutions actuelles de l’Internationale au point de vue de l’avenir. L’Association internationale des Travailleurs porte dans ses flancs la régénération sociale. Il en est beaucoup qui conviennent que si l’Association vient à réaliser son programme, elle aura effectivement instauré le règne de la justice, mais qui croient que certaines institutions actuelles de l’Internationale ne sont que temporaires, et destinées à disparaître. Nous voulons montrer que l’Internationale offre déjà le type de la société à venir, et que ses diverses institutions, avec les modifications voulues, formeront l’ordre social […]
From the Archives

Henry Seymour, “The Whereabouts of Communist Logic” (1895)

[one_third] Debate on Proudhon and property: [/one_third][two_third_last] THE WHEREABOUTS OF COMMUNIST LOGIC. To the Editor of Liberty. Failing a superfluity of copy, I send you a line or two in conclusion upon L. S. B.’s extraordinary effusion in the June number, such as I have gathered the patience to pen, for I am in no mood to follow her unprofitable pastime of splitting hairs. I defined the word “right” for the purpose of this discussion, as an individual limitation to appropriation, such limitation being set by an equality of opportunity. I furthermore held that this constituted the sole case for […]
From the Archives

L. S. Bevington, “The Whereabouts of Property Ethics” (1895)

[one_third] Debate on Proudhon and property: [/one_third][two_third_last] THE WHEREABOUTS OF PROPERTY ETHICS By L. S. BEVINGTON. In Mr. Seymour’s useful rejoinder (see April No.) to my recent survey of his position, he charges me with “sophistry.” Which may pass: readers will judge. The present article concludes my share in this particular controversy, and before saying farewell to my courteous opponent, it may be well to draw our mutual readers’ attention to the valuable verbal concessions we free communists have obtained from him. The preliminary questions have been answered precisely in the fashion that was to be foreseen. They were awkward […]
poetry

P. E. Tanner, “The Rules” (1914)

[ezcol_2third] THE RULES (With apologies to Edgar Allan Poe) I. Life is now beset with rules— Irksome rules That are framed by different bureaucratic legislative schools. How they mind us and they bind us In this regulative age, How they irritate and grind us Till it’s possible to find us In an unrestricted rage; And we curse, curse, curse, As our wrath grows worse and worse, At the fiendish machinations of the regulative fools, With their rules, rules, rules, rules, Rules, rules, rules— With their overtaxing, unrelaxing rules!   II. Then those “god old-fashioned rules,” Golden rules! How successfully they’ve […]
progress reports

Saverio Merlino, “Dangerous Fallacies” (1896)

[ezcol_2third] Dangerous Fallacies. Anarchists, whether individualistic or communistic, and even some Social Democrats, are fond of speaking of the “absolute sovereignty of the individual,” and they claim for each individual “free access to the means of production.” “Let everybody do whatever he likes,” they say, and the implication is that society will then be organized to perfection, or rather that it will do without organization, individuals will agree or disagree, groups will cooperate spontaneously, without any coercive power, without any settled plan, and without any permanent individual initiative. Every man will go to his work, will choose his own accord […]