Great Anarchists - Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

By Ruth Kinna and Clifford Harper. Read by Barbara Graham and Jim Donaghey.

Proudhon is famous for two reasons. First, he is responsible for the immortal phrase ‘property is theft!’ Second, he has emerged as the ‘first’ anarchist. This accolade is explained in part by his provocative reclamation of ‘anarchy’. Until Proudhon published his critique of property in 1840 the term had only been applied pejoratively. Proudhon’s greatness is linked to his political economy and his advocacy of decentralized federation, namely, organizing ‘from the bottom up’ and on the basis of free agreement or voluntary association. During the mid 1800s, Proudhon was one of the best known social philosophers of the age, often compared to Kant and Hegel.