1848

New Proudhon Library

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 […]
Black and Red Feminism

Jeanne Marie, “What the Socialists Want” (1848)

February 8, 2024 Shawn P. Wilbur
It is to this celestial banquet that, for a long time, the socialists have been inviting you! It is therefore no longer a question of fighting them, but of aiding them. The great human family is marching toward the goal to which God leads it. Forward then, you who aspire to the honor of leading it. Support our efforts, but do not hinder them: you will be crushed!

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Anarchist Beginnings

The Three Eras (May 22, 1848)

April 15, 2023 Shawn P. Wilbur
What does anarchy mean in the streets, if not the absence of informers and armed police? But if, without armed police, without informers, without gendarmes, order reigns in the streets; if no one is robbed there, if no one is murdered there, if no one is insulted there, will the population not have proven that it can do without this power called gendarmes, police and municipal guards? Will it not have proven that it knows how to guard, protect and govern itself?

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The Sex Question

Jeanne Deroin, “A ceux qui nous méconnaissent / To Those Who Misunderstand Us” (1848)

September 16, 2022 Shawn P. Wilbur
A ceux qui nous méconnaissent. On nous nuit par excès de zèle, on nous accuse parce qu’on nous méconnaît, et de tous parts ce ne sont que clameurs comme si nous voulions renverser le monde et détruire tout ce qui est. Nous l’avons dit pourtant et nos intentions sont assez généreuses pour que nous n’ayons point à les cacher, nous voulons l’égalité sans désordre, la justice sans récriminations, et ce n’est pas, comme l’affirme un bulletin de la République, le privilège de l’intelligence que nous réclamons, nous que les premières avons eu le courage d’élever la voix. Ce que nous […]
Proudhon Library

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 […]
Working Translations

Joseph Déjacque, et al, to the machine-breakers (1848)

July 14, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”]   [/one_third][two_third_last padding=”0 0px 0 10px”] TO THE WORKERS. Brothers! We learn that in the midst of the joy and triumph, some of our own, misled by dangerous advice, want to tarnish the glory of our revolution by excesses that we condemn with all our energies. They want to break the machinery. Brothers, that is wrong! We suffer like them from the disturbances that have been led to by the introduction of machines into industry; but, instead of taking it our on the inventions that shorten labor by multiplying production, let us accuse of the […]
The Sex Question

Jeanne Deroin, “Prospectus” of l’Opinion des Femmes (1848)

October 14, 2012
L’OPINION DES FEMMES Prospectus The women who understand the greatness of their mission, in the present and in the future, feel deeply that it is for them not only a right, but a duty, to take part in all the acts of social life, and to express their opinion on all the questions that relate to the organization of society. Until now, men alone have ruled the destinies of the human race. Women have been excluded from all the religious and political assemblies, where the great principles on which societies are founded are discussed; and human intelligence, split by the […]
Proudhon Library

Society for the Mutual Education of Women, “Response to Satan on the Subject of Mr. Proudhon”

July 4, 2012
[When George Dairnvaell attacked Pierre-Joseph Proudhon in 1848, an anonymous member of the Society for the Mutual Education of Women, an organization founded by Jeanne Deroin and Désirée Gay Gay, came to his defense] [Note: In l’Opinion des Femmes, the author of this pamphlet is identified as Jeanne Deroin.] Society for the Mutual Education of Women. RESPONSE TO SATAN ON THE SUBJECT OF MR. PROUDHON BY THE ARCHANGEL SAINT-MICHEL How long, O Satan, do you hope to persecute with impunity the children of the true God? You have assumed every form in order to establish your empire on the earth; […]