Proudhon, Pierre-Joseph

(1809–1865)

French founding figure of anarchism . Proudhon came to fame with Qu’est-ce que la propriété? (1840, trs. as What is Property?, 1876). The celebrated definition of property as theft in fact misrepresents the central concern of the work, which is not the abolition of private property but the need for each person to control the means of production that they use. Proudhon saw both unrestricted property rights and communism as devices for controlling people and destroying equality. The right way out relies on a network of free contracts answering the interests of each participant, and rendering coercive government unnecessary. Proudhon's liberal or libertarian socialism was the central counterpoise to the authoritarian version of Marxism . He played a role in the revolution of 1848, and was imprisoned for attacks on Louis Napoleon in his newspaper, Le Représentant du peuple (‘The Representative of the People’). Other works include Les Confessions d’un révolutionnaire (1849, trs. as Confessions of a Revolutionary, 1876).