What is Property?: Property is Theft! (Critical Editions)

One of the most vigorous thinkers of the age ... the prophet of modern society. The New York TimesPierre-Joseph Proudhon was one of the most important and influential political theorists of the 19th century. On publication Proudhons first significant book What Is Property? created a sensation - in its pages he declared I am an anarchist and Property is theft! The latter is Proudhons - and potentially anarchisms - most famous quote but maybe also the most misconstrued.When [Proudhon] says that property is theft hes talking about the constitutional right to exclusive ownership ... In the world everything belongs to everybody in common; you have to invent a principle to justify why I should have more than you. And as soon as you do that Proudhon says you deprive everybody else of ownership. The dispossessed become reliant on the owners for everything to maintain their well-being and subsistence. And although they work and produce they have to give up most of it to somebody else. Thats the theft. - Ruth KinnaThe ultimate goal of Proudhonist doctrine as a political project coincides with that of Marxism the thought of Saint-Simon and anarchism: the end of the state ... A rehabilitation of Proudhon is necessary. - Henri LefebvreProudhon remains an incomparable logician one of the most vigorous thinkers of the age. All his books seem to be inspired by a deep love of humanity ... His disciples regard him as the master of the new politics the prophet of modern society. - The New York TimesThe first self-proclaimed anarchist and the founder of classic anarchist thinking. - The ConversationIn the English-speaking world Proudhon is one of the best known but least well understood anarchists ... engage with his work and appreciate both the positive contribution he has made to anarchist thinking and the enormity of his influence on the anarchist movement. - Ruth Kinna author of Anarchism: A Beginners GuideProudhon was Europes leading socialist thinker in his lifetime ... [Proudhon] defined anarchism both negatively (opposition to state and capitalism) and positively (vision of a bottom-up federated self-managed society and economy created by working class people themselves). - Iain McKayScholarship has largely ignored the insights of the first anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon. Proudhons anarchism was a critique of the projects of national unification universal dominion republican statism and the providentialism at the heart of enlightenment social theory. - Alex Prichard author or Justice Order and Anarchy: The International Political Theory of Pierre-Joseph ProudhonProudhon is important because hes the first person to use the concept that everybody fears anarchy and define it positively. In doing so he establishes the springboard for the anarchist movement. For him anarchy is not as conventional thought would have it the corruption of democracy its something that we should embrace wholeheartedly. Thats a huge statement to make. - Ruth Kinna professor of Political Theory Loughborough UniversityIn 1870-71 Proudhon was acclaimed on all sides ... The ultimate goal of Proudhonist doctrine as a political project coincides with that of Marxism the thought of Saint-Simon and anarchism: the end of the state ... A rehabilitation of Proudhon is necessary. - Henri Lefebvre