My experience with Proudhon began and ended with his "Stock Exchange Speculator’s Manual". I couldn't get through it.
note—looking at la bourse through the eyes of the proto-Anarchist: not as fun as one might imagine.
From Reason Magazine,
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon's most controversial book has finally been fully translated into English.
War and Peace: On the Principle and Constitution of the Right of Peoples, by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, edited by Alex Prichard and translated by Paul Sharkey, AK Press, 625 pages, $30
While Pierre-Joseph Proudhon produced dozens of books on a wide range of topics from 1839 until his death in 1865, the French autodidact is generally remembered as the first public figure to seriously declare "I am an anarchist" and for his equally provocative declaration that "property is theft." (He also wrote that "property is liberty," launching debates about his views that would long outlive him.) Proudhon was seldom far from conflict and controversy, at times paying a considerable price for his bold assertions. After he joined the provisional government following the French Revolution of 1848, his conflicts with soon-to-be emperor Louis Napoleon led to years of prison and exile.
Writing before an anarchist movement existed, Proudhon spent years addressing any audience he thought might listen and any subject that seemed to offer opportunities to develop his ideas. In 1861—a year after issuing the second edition of his masterwork, Justice in the Revolution and in the Church—he gave us War and Peace.
Much of the response, even from previously friendly quarters, was negative, and Proudhon felt deeply misunderstood. The work did find its champions, including the anarchist Bartolomeo Vanzetti (of Sacco and Vanzetti fame), who while awaiting execution produced a partial translation in order to practice his English. According to some accounts, Leo Tolstoy borrowed the title for his famous novel. But others had little patience for Proudhon's provocations. What Proudhon presented as a critique of militarism would be treated by ungenerous and impatient readers as a celebration of brutality and, by later critics, even as an anticipation of fascism.
The publication of a complete English translation of War and Peace allows us to move beyond the rumors that have accumulated around it and decide on our own what sort of book it is. Very little about that task is simple. Editor Alex Prichard describes the book as "a rich, profound, and captivating text" but also "an uncomfortable read," noting that "its full significance for contemporary thinkers, as well as for students of Proudhon's thought, is only slowly coming into view."
Given the text's complexity, its potential relevance to a number of scholarly communities, and the very small number of Proudhon's works in English translation, the editorial challenge was to give the work an adequate introduction without closing in advance any of the varied paths that further exploration might follow. Prichard chose to frame the work with a brief introduction and extensive textual notes, guiding readers with a gentle hand....
....MUCH MORE
If interested, here are some snippets from the "...Speculator's Manual" in English.
