American academic J. Salwyn Schapiro claims that Pierre-Joseph Proudhon was a fascist have been repeated by Marxists ever since he made them. This article exposes his bad-faith as well as the many distortions and inventions Schapiro inflicted on Proudhon, showing that he was – for all his faults – an anarchist. It appeared in Black Flag Anarchist Review Vol. 1 No. 2 (Summer 2021)
(more…)Category: Anarchists
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The Poverty of (Marx’s) Philosophy
A review of Marx’s The Poverty of Philosophy which indicates various distortions of Proudhon’s work. It also discusses how Marx in 1867 applied the methodology he had attacked Proudhon for using twenty years earlier. It appeared in Anarcho-Syndicalist Review R No. 70 (Summer 2017)
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Proudhon: Neither Washington nor Richmond
A discussion of Proudhon’s views during the American Civil War which indicates that the common assertion that he supported the South is inaccurate. Rather, he opposed both sides and argued for full political-economic rights for blacks as well as economic reforms to abolish the proletariat. It appeared in Anarcho-Syndicalist Review, No. 60 Summer 2013.
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Proudhon’s constituted value and the myth of labour notes
A debunking of the common notion that Proudhon advocated “labour notes” as suggested by Marx in The Poverty of Philosophy. What Proudhon actually argued is explained and the key ideas of System of Economic Contradictions are discussed. It appeared in Anarchist Studies, Volume 25 No. 1
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Laying the foundations: Proudhon’s contribution to anarchist economics
This is an introduction to Proudhon’s economic ideas and their influence on revolutionary anarchism. It is a chapter from the new book The Accumulation of Freedom: Writings on Anarchist Economics (AK Press, 2012) and its blurb (in part) states: “The only crisis of capitalism is capitalism itself… The Accumulation of Freedom brings together economists, historians, theorists, and activists for a first-of-its-kind study of anarchist economics.” All quotes are from Property is Theft! A Pierre-Joseph Proudhon Anthology (AK Press, 2011) and the chapter covers all of Proudhon’s major works in chronological order.
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