Proudhon correspondence Archives - The Libertarian Labyrinth

Proudhon Explained by Himself (Letter to Villaumé, 1856)

July 24, 2023 Shawn P. Wilbur

PROUDHON EXPLIQUÉ PAR LUI-MÊME LETTRES INÉDITES DE P.-J. PROUDHON A M. N. VILLIAUMÉ SUR L’ENSEMBLE DE SES PRINCIPES ET NOTAMMENT SUR SA PROPOSITION LA PROPRIÉTÉ, C’EST LE VOL 1866 AVERTISSEMENT DE L’ÉDITEUR Le 21 décembre 1855, M. Villiaumé, qui composait alors son Nouveau Traité d’économie politique, crut devoir interroger Proudhon touchant ses principes, qu’il avait à mentionner en traitant du communisme; car il craignait de se tromper sur le sens de ses livres, dont divers passages semblaient en contredire d’autres. Il lui écrivit à ce sujet. Proudhon répondit par la lettre suivante, qui est une exposition toute nouvelle de ses […]

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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Proudhon, Letter to the editor of the Dictionnaire Larousse (1864)

July 15, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur

Letter to the editor of the Dictionnaire Larousse Passy, August 20, 1864 Sir, I have received from our common friend, M. D…. the seven issues of your gigantic dictionary; I already possessed the first. I cannot wish too much for the success of your publication, and I admire the courage, the devotion to science, of Mr. Larousse, who has not shrunk from such an enterprise. During my convalescence, I have thumbed through some of your articles, and I am more and more astonished at the mass of material that you have gathered in your column. I would learn with true […]

More on Proudhon’s “Theory of Property”

April 9, 2014 Shawn P. Wilbur

I needed a change of pace for a couple of days, and went back to work on the still-daunting task of taking Proudhon’s The Theory of Property from the current draft translation to something well-contextualized and publishable. There’s a lot of work to do, including revisiting Proudhon’s earlier works on property, finishing work on the Appendix, translating more contextual material and consulting Proudhon’s manuscripts. Fortunately, more of the relevant manuscript material has become available, and I’ve been able to take some time away from other tasks to finish translating the “Disagreement Regarding the Posthumous Publication of Unpublished Works by P.-J. […]