This was written in 2010 after a request from Shift Magazine for a communist-anarchist critique of mutualism. It focuses on Proudhon’s mutualism rather than the American version associated with Tucker (this is better termed Individualist Anarchism, I think). This was the immediate forerunner of revolutionary anarchism, specifically collectivist anarchism which later developed into communist anarchism, and shares much with it. Its title deliberately echoes Daniel Guérin’s Proudhon oui et non.
(more…)Category: Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
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A Few Thoughts on Anarchism
Written to mark the 175th anniversary of Proudhon’s What is Property? this article places anarchism in its intellectual and social context and disputes the notion that anarchism can be best considered as a fusion (or confusion) of liberalism and socialism. It is not. It appeared under a different title in Black Flag No. 237 (2015)
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Markets, Marx and Mutualism
A review of Socialism After Hayek by Theodore A. Burczak, noting the apparent ignorance of libertarian socialism and so failing to discuss mutualism even though he approaches it.
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Black Flag: Anarchist Review Spring 2025 issue now out
The new issue of Black Flag: Anarchist Review is now available:
Following on from our “Kropotkin special” to mark the 180th anniversary of his birth, this issue is a “Proudhon special” to mark the 160th anniversary of his death – and the 185th anniversary of his proclaiming “I am an anarchist” in What is Property? and so anarchism as a named socio-economic theory. His answer to his book’s title (“Property is theft”) is so memorable it even featured in the film Oppenheimer, where it was attributed to Marx (much to the annoyance of various internet Marxists)
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The 1848 Revolutions: An Anarchist Perspective
This is a write-up of a talk I gave at the Sparrow’s Nest Archive in Nottingham on 23 June 2018. The talk was advertised by the following text:
(more…)The Revolutions of 1848 remain the most widespread revolutionary wave in European history. While remembered as essentially liberal in nature, aiming at ending the old monarchical regimes they were also note-worthy for the advent of the industrial working class as a factor in social struggle. So as well as political change, the social question was raised while the events of 1848 shaped the ideas of Marx and Proudhon. So on their 170th anniversary, we look at the 1848 revolutions and their lessons for today.