Proudhon, Pierre-Joseph (1809–1865)

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon was a French writer and an anarchist. Proudhon is widely considered to be the first author to describe himself as an anarchist, although many before him had considered both the possibility and desirability of structuring a society without the state. Proudhon's most important contribution to modern libertarianism is arguably his influence on Benjamin R. Tucker, the founder of the [Page 402]individualist anarchist journal Liberty. Tucker noted that Liberty was “brought into existence almost as a direct consequence of the teachings of Proudhon” and “lives principally to emphasize and spread them.” Tucker translated and published a number of Proudhon's writings, including What Is Property? arguably his best-known book, although Tucker considered Proudhon's greatest work to be The General Idea of the Revolution in the ...