The First Anarchist: Who was Pierre-Joseph Proudhon?
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon is generally considered to be one of the founding fathers of anarchism. In fact, he was the first person to describe themselves as an anarchist, arguing for a society of free and equal citizens, in which power and property are decentralized, and people are free from the power of the nation-state. But who was Pierre-Joseph Proudhon? In this article, we will cover the biography of Proudhon and provide an outline of his main ideas, paying particular attention to his book What is Property?
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
The son of a cooper and tavern keeper, Proudhon’s early life was marked by poverty. Although his family’s poverty forced him to leave education and work as a cattle herd, his intellectual brilliance did not go unnoticed, winning him a scholarship to the prestigious college in Besançon. Proudhon’s time at the college ignited a lifelong passion for learning, although he was forced to leave early to help support his family by training as a printer. While training as an apprentice printer, the autodidact Proudhon taught himself Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, all of which helped him succeed in hi
Proudhon, Pierre Joseph
WORKS BY PROUDHON
Pierre Joseph Proudhon (–), French socialist, was born in the city of Besangon. He belongs, with Fourier, Considérant, and Cabet, to that group of social reformers of the first half of the nineteenth century who came from Burgundy and Franche-Comté.
Proudhon’s father was a local brewer, and his family fits into a social category that was then widespread—artisans who owned a few patches of land and rose to the level of shopkeeping when their fortunes improved. But Proudhon’s father was too honest to succeed; he sold his beer for no more than the malt, the hops, and his subsistence cost him, and after a very little time he went bankrupt. Crushed by burdensome mortgages, the family was destitute. Proudhon, a brilliant student, would come home from the lycée to find his parents having bread and water for supper. He was able to continue his studies only by becoming a printer’s foreman and proofreader, and he absorbed all the material he handled. The knowledge he acquired in this fashion was extremely broad, but ill-organized. He was 29 before he passed the baccalaureate examination and received a scholarship from the Suard fund, awarded
Proudhon's Biographical Information
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