Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
Part of the Politics series on Anarchism Schools of thought Black Capitalist Christian Collectivist Communist Egoist Existentialist Feminist Green Individualist Infoanarchism Insurrectionary Leftist Left-wing market Magonist Mutualist Nationalist Naturist Pacifist Philosophical Platformist Post-anarchist Post-colonial Post-left Primitivist Queer Social Syndicalist Synthesist Vegan Without adjectives Theory Practice Anarchy Anarchist Black Cross Anationalism Anti-authoritarianism Anti-militarism Affinity group Black bloc Classless society Class struggle Communes Consensus democracy Conscientious objector Counter-economics Decentralization Deep ecology Direct action Direct democracy Dual power Especifismo Expropriative anarchism Free association Free love Free school Freethought Horizontalidad Illegalism Individualism Individual reclamation Isocracy Law Mutual aid Participatory politics Permanent autonomous zone Prefigurative politics Proletarian internationalism Propaganda of the deed Refusal of work Revolution Rewilding Self-ownership Social center Social ecology Social insertion Somatherapy Spontaneous order Squatting Temporary Autonomous Zone Union of egoists People William Godwin Josiah Warren Pierre-Joseph Proudhon Henry David Thoreau Max Stirner Mikhail Bakunin Louise Michel Peter Kropotkin Benjamin Tucker Leo Tolstoy Johann Most Errico Malatesta Lysander Spooner Gustav Landauer Emma Goldman Émile Armand Nestor Makhno Rudolf Rocker Buenaventura Durruti Diego Abad de Santillán Alexander Berkman Ricardo Flores Magón Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia Volin Murray Rothbard Murray Bookchin Colin Ward Noam Chomsky Alfredo M. Bonanno John Zerzan Issues Anarcho-capitalism Crypto-anarchism Animal rights Capitalism Education Criticisms Islam Lifestylism Marxism Nationalism Orthodox Judaism Religion Love and sex Violence History Paris Commune Cantonal Revolution Hague Congress International Conference of Rome Trial of the thirty Haymarket affair May Day Anarchist Exclusion Act Congress of Amsterdam Tragic Week High Treason Incident Manifesto of the Sixteen Individualist anarchism in the United States 1919 United States bombings Biennio rosso German Revolution of 1918–19 Bavarian Soviet Republic Kronstadt rebellion Third Russian Revolution Free Territory Amakasu Incident Escuela Moderna Individualist anarchism in Europe (in France) Spanish Revolution Barcelona May Days Red inverted triangle Labadie Collection May 1968 Provo LIP Kate Sharpley Library Australian Anarchist Centenary Carnival Against Capital 1999 WTO Conference protest Occupy movement Culture Films Anarchist Bookfair Anarcho-punk Arts Culture jamming DIY culture Freeganism Independent Media Center Infoshop The Internationale Jewish anarchism "Land and liberty" Lifestylism "No gods, no masters" Popular education "Property is theft!" Radical cheerleading Radical environmentalism Squatting Symbolism Glossary A las Barricadas Economics Communization Co-operatives Cost the limit of price Economic democracy Economic secession Free store Gift economy Infoanarchism Market abolitionism Mass strike Mutual aid Participatory economics Really Really Free Market Socialization Wage slavery Workers' self-management By region Africa Argentina Australia Azerbaijan Bolivia Brazil Canada China Cuba Ecuador Egypt France French Guiana Germany Greece India Iceland Ireland Israel Italy Japan Jordan Korea Mexico Monaco New Zealand Poland Romania Russia Singapore South Africa Spain Sweden Transnistria Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom United States Venezuela Vietnam Lists Anarcho-punk bands Communities Fictional characters Jewish anarchists Musicians Organizations Periodicals Poets Pornographers Russian anarchists Films Related topics Anti-statism Anti-war Non-aggression principle Libertarianism Classical liberalism Spontaneous order Anti-corporatism Anti-capitalism Anti-consumerism Anti-fascism Anti-globalization Autarchism Autonomism Labour movement Left communism Libertarian socialism Situationist International Anarchism portal Politics portal v t e Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (French: [pjɛʁ ʒɔzɛf pʁudɔ ]; 15 January 1809 – 19 January 1865) was a French politician, the founder of Mutualist philosophy. He was the first person to declare himself an anarchist and is among its most influential theorists. He is considered by many to be the "father of anarchism". He became a member of the French Parliament after the revolution of 1848, whereafter he referred to himself as a federalist. Proudhon, who was born in Besançon, was a printer who taught himself Latin in order to better print books in the language. His best-known assertion is that Property is Theft!, contained in his first major work, What is Property? Or, an Inquiry into the Principle of Right and Government (Qu'est-ce que la propriété? Recherche sur le principe du droit et du gouvernement), published in 1840. The book's publication attracted the attention of the French authorities. It also attracted the scrutiny of Karl Marx, who s