New Proudhon Library Archives - The Libertarian Labyrinth

Proudhon’s “Justice:” Texts and Manuscripts

July 15, 2026 Shawn P. Wilbur

First of all, I recognize that have been a bit remiss in my support for would-be readers of the Justice drafts. While a complete translation of the expanded edition exists, it is not uniformly accessible.

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A New Proudhon Library: Next steps

July 8, 2026 Shawn P. Wilbur

After the month-long interruption in April, I’m finally settling down to work on the chronological review of Proudhon’s work that I have mentioned recently — which is also the process that will produce some print-on-demand volumes for A New Proudhon Library. I’ve been working without my usual daily quotas and deadlines, for the first time in over three years, and spending a lot of time thinking — no doubt sometimes over-thinking — about the translation strategies I began to develop a decade ago, while puttering away at Proudhon’s journalism and correspondence.

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Le Représentant du Peuple (February-August 1848)

February 23, 2026 Shawn P. Wilbur

No. 4 (April 4, 1848) Représentant du Peuple no. 4 ( April 4, 1848): 1-2. IDEAS AND FACTS. There are always, and at this moment more than ever, two politics standing face-to-face: the politics of interests and the politics of ideas. The former is just as entitled as the latter to the attention of influential figures; its mission is to reduce the suffering of all members of society to its barest minimum, to temper, as much as possible, the profound upheaval in which almost every life is currently immersed and, finally, to give life to all the principles that have […]

Text and Notes: Justice in the Revolution and in the Church: First Study

September 10, 2024 Shawn P. Wilbur

In the First Study, Proudhon attempts to establish the foundation for his study, presenting some basic definitions and axioms, much as he did at the beginning of The Creation of Order in Humanity. The first chapter, where that foundation-building is most elementary, was subject to very light revision in the revised and expanded edition, and I have, for the most part, simply provided the text from 1860. Subsequent chapters were subject to both considerable revision and considerable expansion — and the differences are instructive enough that I’ll focus on them a bit more than in most studies.

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Text and Notes: Justice in the Revolution and in the Church: Preliminary Address (concluded)

September 6, 2024 Shawn P. Wilbur

This selection concludes the “Preliminary Address.” I have repeated the few paragraphs from the third section that I included at the end of the first installment.

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Text and Notes: Justice in the Revolution and in the Church: Prologue / Preliminary Address

September 5, 2024 Shawn P. Wilbur

As a way to focus my efforts on the fine revision and annotation of my translation of Justice in the Revolution and in the Church, I’m going to post a series of annotated sections documenting the major changes in the work between the two editions, with preliminary notes for the New Proudhon Library Glossary and some thoughts about some of the major interpretive issues.

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Justice in the Revolution and in the Church: Revised Translation Sample

August 10, 2024 Shawn P. Wilbur

I have started to carefully revise my translation of Proudhon’s Justice in the Revolution and in the Church, polishing the completed text of the 1860 expanded edition and simultaneously completing a uniform draft of the 1858 first edition. A first sample, consisting of the Prologue and First Study from the 1858 edition, is available online.

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P.-J. Proudhon, Proposal for a Society of the Perpetual Exhibition (1855)

April 18, 2024 Shawn P. Wilbur

The newest draft translation added to the New Proudhon Library project is the proposal for a Society of the Perpetual Exhibition, in answer to a call by Emperor Napoleon III for uses for the Palais de l’Industrie built in Paris for the 1855 World Fair. The project resembles Proudhon’s mutual credit proposals, as well as the various schemes for association proposed by Bellegarrigue in the 1850s.

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P.-J. Proudhon, “The Creation of Order in Humanity” — Chapter V

February 25, 2024 Shawn P. Wilbur

OF THE CREATION OF ORDER IN HUMANITY OR PRINCIPLES OF POLITICAL ORGANIZATION BY P.-J. PROUDHON Istæ sunt generationes cœli et terræ… Juxtà genus suum et speciem suam. (Gen. i et ii.) NEW EDITION 1873 [originally published 1843, revised 1849] [These draft translations are part of on ongoing effort to translate both editions of Proudhon’s Justice in the Revolution and in the Church into English, together with some related works, as the first step toward establishing an edition of Proudhon’s works in English. They are very much a first step, as there are lots of decisions about […]

P.-J. Proudhon, “The Creation of Order in Humanity” — Chapter IV

February 22, 2024 Shawn P. Wilbur

OF THE CREATION OF ORDER IN HUMANITY OR PRINCIPLES OF POLITICAL ORGANIZATION BY P.-J. PROUDHON Istæ sunt generationes cœli et terræ… Juxtà genus suum et speciem suam. (Gen. i et ii.) NEW EDITION 1873 [originally published 1843, revised 1849] [These draft translations are part of on ongoing effort to translate both editions of Proudhon’s Justice in the Revolution and in the Church into English, together with some related works, as the first step toward establishing an edition of Proudhon’s works in English. They are very much a first step, as there are lots of decisions about […]