Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
1809–1865 · French (Besançon) · 19th Century
Known for: 'Property is theft!' — the father of anarchism who scandalized everyone and influenced everyone
Proudhon was the first person to call himself an anarchist. His What is Property? (1840) declared 'Property is theft!' and argued for a decentralized, mutualist society without the state. He influenced Marx (who later attacked him), Bakunin, and the entire anarchist tradition.
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