Proudhon Library Archives - Page 7 of 20 - The Libertarian Labyrinth

Notes on “What is Property?” (2019)

April 20, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur

Commentary on What is Property? These notes are from a group reading of the book on Reddit. While fragmentary, they do raise a number of questions that I haven’t had a chance to raise elsewhere. If nothing else, I’m archiving them to use in a future revision of Tucker’s translation. CHAPTER ONE: Think of this work specifically as a product of the French June Monarchy and as a prize essay, written as a kind of “open letter” to a panel of judges at the academy where he had been studying. It actually became a regular feature of many of Proudhon’s […]

P.-J. Proudhon, “Le droit au travail et le droit de propriété” (1848)

April 16, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur

[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”][/one_third][two_third_last padding=”0 0px 0 10px”] LE DROIT AU TRAVAIL ET LE DR0IT DE PROPRIÉTÉ PAR P. J. PROUDHON REPRÉSENTANT DU PEUPLE PARIS 1848 —- PROLOGUE Il est deux points sur lesquels j’ai besoin d’édifier mes lecteurs, et qui motivent cette publication. 1° Je n’ai pas pris la parole sur le droit au travail, lors de la discussion du préambule de la Constitution, d’abord parce que le droit au travail, tel qu’il m’est donné de le comprendre, étant repoussé par tout le monde, par la gauche révolutionnaire comme par la droite conservatrice, je n’avais rien de mieux […]

Commentary on Proudhon’s “What is Property?”

February 11, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur

I have, over the years, scattered a great deal of commentary on Proudhon’s various works across the various collections in the archive. I’ll be trying to collect some of the more useful bits here, starting with some remarks on What is Property? 1838: Property is theft (Jules Leroux) (August 30, 2012) 1839: Proudhon on property and theft (December 23, 2011) What Is Property? Chapter One notes (July 13, 2008) What Is Property? Chapter Two notes, part 1 (July 15, 2008) What Is Property? Chapter Two notes, part 2 (July 24, 2008) What Is Property? Chapter Two notes, part 3 (July […]

“Labor destroys Property” (Notes on “What is Property?”)

February 11, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur

[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] This is another bit extracted from a social media exchange elsewhere, dealing with the progression of Proudhon’s argument against both property in materials and property in product in “What is Property?” Even if it is a bit out-of-context, it should help emphasize how important getting through all of Chapter III is to understanding Proudhon’s point. And once you’ve done that, you can start your collection of weird conclusions drawn by people who didn’t get all the way through. [/one_third][two_third_last padding=”0 0px 0 10px”] I don’t think it’s unreasonable, particularly when dealing with a book that […]

P.-J. Proudhon, “Avertissement aux propriétaires” (1842)

January 11, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur

[This is a workpage for an in-progress translation project.] [one_half padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] AVERTISSEMENT AUX PROPRIÉTAIRES LETTRE A M. VICTOR CONSIDÉRANT Rédacteur de la Phalange SUR UNE DÉFENSE DE LA PROPRIÉTÉ Monsieur le Rédacteur, J’ai lu la brochure intitulée : Défense du fouriérisme, Réponse à MM. Proudhon, Lamennais, Reybaud, Louis Blanc, etc., et je me suis félicité de cette publication, l’auteur, malgré les aberrations de sa logique et l’injustice de ses reproches, se montrant presque toujours ami du progrès et plein de zèle pour la science et la vérité. Aussi vous le dis-je en toute confiance, monsieur le rédacteur, […]

Frederick R. Burton, “Spencer and Proudhon” (1892)

December 22, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur

[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”][/one_third][two_third_last padding=”0 0px 0 10px”] Spencer and Proudhon. To the Editor of Liberty: About a year ago I enjoyed the highly esteemed privilege of a conversation with Mr. Herbert Spencer. That the distinguished philosopher did the lion’s share of the talking was natural and satisfactory. It was evident that he had prepared himself in some measure for the meeting, for he discoursed fluently on three or four topics without so much as a pause for questions. I was pleased to discover from this slight personal contact what I had gathered from so much study of his […]

P.-J. Proudhon, The General Idea of the Revolution in the Nineteenth Century (1851)

December 10, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur

This is the text of John Beverly Robinson’s 1923 translation of The General Idea of the Revolution in the Nineteenth Century, which remains the only published translation. I am in the midst of retranslating the work, in part to deal with some fairly serious problems with the treatment of anarchie, which can be examined in the partial revision linked below. As partial revision becomes complete, I’ll be providing the old and new versions in parallel here. General Idea OF THE REVOLUTION in the Nineteenth Century (Selected studies on revolutionary and industrial practice) CONTENTS To the Bourgeoisie. . . […]

System of Economic Contraditions, Chapter 10: Seventh Epoch — Credit

December 10, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur

This is a comparison of the original French text with the partial translation in Proudhon’s Solution of the Social Problem. [one_half padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] CHAPITRE X. SEPTIÈME ÉPOQUE. — LE CRÉDIT. [/one_half][one_half_last padding=”0 0px 0 10px”] CHAPTER X. SEVENTH EPOCH. — CREDIT. [/one_half_last] [one_half padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] Il a été donné à un homme, notre contemporain, d’exprimer tour à tour les idées les plus opposées, les tendances les plus disparates, sans que personne osât jamais suspecter son intelligence et sa probité, sans même que l’on répondît à ses contradictions autrement qu’en les lui reprochant, ce qui n’était pas […]

Proudhon to Villiaumé, July 13, 1857

April 17, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur

My dear Villiaumé, it is too warm for me to venture, with my sick head, all the way to Rue Marsollier. I am thinking instead of fleeing for ten or twelve days to some hole in Franche-Comté, where the devil may perhaps not come to torment me with his pomps and work. But you, who are spry, come some evening after your dinner and we will have a mug at the local cabaret, which will do you as much good as an ample banquet. Friendship, and understanding as well, is surely found in a modest “to your health.”

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P.-J. Proudhon, Selections from the “Carnets”

April 13, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur

[two_third] Selections from the Carnets Pierre-Joseph Proudhon ————— Carnets, Vol. 1 (Carnet No. 1, 17): 27. Serial law. Everything in nature is simple and complex. What we call a simple idea or element is nothing but the term with which we ended our analysis. Each day I experience the truth of that observation, […] Carnets, Vol. 1 (Carnet 2, 38): 133. In order to organize society, to reestablish order, we must not wish to escape antinomic principles; we must seek one that coordinates with them. This principle exists, simpler and more common than anything the laws have ever prescribed: return […]