Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

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Proudhon, The Theory of Property — Chapter III (part 1 of 2)

June 16, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur
[Here is a particular rough working translation of a particularly interesting section of The Theory of Property. Because it never underwent the careful final editing that Proudhon gave his published works, the text poses a few extra problems for the translator. I think the handful of places where a little more work will be needed to clarify things will be fairly obvious to most readers.] THE THEORY OF PROPERTY CHAPTER III Different ways of possessing the land: in community, under the feudal system, sovereignty or property. — Examination of the first two modes: rebuttal. The earth can be possessed in […]
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Proudhon, The various meanings of the word property

June 12, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur
[Here’s the first section of Proudhon’s The Theory of Property, in rough English translation.] THEORY OF PROPERTY CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION § I. — The various meanings of the word property. In 1840, I promised to give a solution of the problem of property, and I renewed my promise in 1846. Today I keep my word. It is my turn to defend property, not against the phalansterians, the communists and the agrarians, who are no more, but against those who saved it in June 1848, in June 1849, in May 1830, in December 1851, and who have since brought it low. […]
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God, Women and Proudhon — Eugène Stourm

March 20, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur
Slowly, but surely, I’m assembling the various feminist responses to Proudhon. The pages of L’Opinion des Femmes is rich with that sort of thing, since it was Jeanne Deroin’s primary forum at the time she proposed herself for political office, and drew fire from Proudhon and others. In the May, 1849 issue, the following essay, by Eugène Stourm, appeared. I think it’s an interesting mix of fairly accurate critique and misunderstanding. Certainly, the more details emerge, the more interesting the conflict looks. I think this project is going to be a lot of fun. God, Women, and Proudhon. The enemies […]
translations

Proudhon’s “Toast to the Revolution” (revised translation)

March 19, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur
Proudhon’s “Toast to the Revolution” was the first major translation I posted on the blog, back in July of 2007. Little did I know at the time how much translating I would end up doing, and I certainly didn’t dream that it would become my primary activity as a radical scholar. But here we are. I’ve winced more than once as I’ve been revising these early translations, but I was pleased to find that there wasn’t much in this one to make me cringe. I’ve clarified a couple of key sections, which were hard to make sense of, either grammatically […]
Proudhon Library

Alfred Darimon, “Notice on the Journals of Proudhon” (1884)

March 16, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur
Related links: A New Proudhon Library [project page] Le Représentant du Peuple: specimen issues Le Représentant du Peuple: misc. writings These journals are now available online at Gallica.  From Alfred Darimon, A Travers une Révolution (1884) NOTICE ON THE JOURNALS OF PROUDHON I. — le Représentant du Peuple. The true founder of the Représentant du Peuple was Mr. Jules Viard, a humorous writer who died very young. Mr. Jules Viard published under this title, in 1847, a financial prospectus and two sample issues, one dated October 4, 1847, and the second dated November 13, 1847. It was also M. Jules […]
Critiques and Caricatures

The Feuding Brothers (1850)

February 22, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur
I ran across this one-act parody of French socialism in the January 5, 1850 issue of La Mode, a popular magazine, and was nearly finished with this (rough) translation before I realized that most of the dialogue was lifted straight from the debates between Proudhon, Blanc and Leroux. Indeed, most of the details may have come from a single source, a pamphlet, Actes de la Révolution: Résistance, which reprinted Proudhon’s essays “What is Government? What is God?” and “Resistance to the Revolution.” The second installment of the latter essay is, of course, the source of two partial translations, by William […]
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From my notebooks

February 17, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur
[This may, or may not, end up being part of “Owning Up,” the next issue of The Mutualist, but it seems useful enough to share at this point.] I certainly never anticipated spending years wrestling with property theory, let alone the sort of detailed work that I’ve ended up doing on Proudhon’s property writings, but it has ultimately been a lot of fun, as well as a lot of preconception-stretching, difficult work. My hope, however, is that, thanks to a couple of fortuitous turns in the research recently, pretty much all of the pieces of the puzzle—the elements of a […]
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Proudhon and intellectual property

January 28, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur
Apparently I missed a post on the C4SIF site last March, claiming that Proudhon was an advocate of intellectual property. Now, as I am a notorious softy on that question (or self-serving reactionary, depending on who you ask), I’m less inclined to “pistols at dawn” than some might be, but it doesn’t sound much like the Proudhon I know. You can check the comments for some discussion with Stephan Kinsella about the question, which is rendered more difficult because the text at issue is from the half-translated and notoriously difficult System of Economic Contradictions.
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Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, “Explanations Presented to the Public Prosecutor” (1842)

January 23, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur
  Explanations Presented to the Public Prosecutor on the Right of Property — COURT OF ASSIZE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF DOUBS (Session of February 3, 1842.) Last February 3, there appeared before the jury of Besançon, the author of a brochure entitled Warning to the Proprietors, or Letter to M. Considerant, editor of la Phalange, on a defense of property, on the charge: 1) of attacking property; 2) of provoking various classes of citizens to hatred; 3) of inciting hatred and contempt of the government and king; 4) of offense against the catholic religion. It is not our intention to […]
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Proudhonian consistency—II

January 22, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur
One of the stumbling blocks to accepting Proudhon’s post-1861 “New Theory” of property seems to be the fact that it is hard to image that “monopoly,” “absolutism,” even “despotism” (all words Proudhon used to describe the allodial property that never stopped being “theft” for him) could be a key ingredient in the creation of society, association, etc. Even when we become accustomed to the “economic contradictions,” this particular move may seem like a bit of a stretch. The isolation of interests that goes with exclusive domain seems to work against the more social elements in Proudhon’s thought.  But if we […]