Pierre-Josephe Proudhon

A French anarchist thinker. Born into a poor farming family near Besançon, near the Swiss border. He had a strong desire to learn, but when he was 16, his father became absorbed in a lawsuit, which put financial strain on the family, so he gave up his studies and worked as a printer. While proofreading the book "The New Industrial and Cooperative World" by socialist thinker Charles Fourier, who was from his hometown, at the printing company where he worked at the time, he was deeply impressed by the ideas of the Fourier. In 1838, he received a scholarship and went to Paris to study while fighting poverty, and in 1840 he wrote "What is Property?", which made him famous. Cooperative labor creates a power ("collective power") that exceeds the sum of the labor of individuals, but since capitalists only pay for individual labor, the difference between the collective power and the wages paid becomes the capitalist's profit. Profit is the exploitation of collective power, i.e. theft, and ownership of the means of production makes this theft possible and justifies it. This was the basis for his conclusion that "ownership is theft." He spent the next few years fulfillingly interacting with revolutionaries and intellectuals such as Marx and Heine who had gathered in Paris, and writing The System of Economic Contradictions (1846). Marx harshly criticized Proudhon's theory in his book The Poverty of Philosophy (1847), and their friendship ended. Proudhon regarded the February Revolution (1848) as a "revolution without ideas," and published The People and pamphlets to fight to give ideas to the revolution.

He argued that the task of modern revolution was to abolish the system of oppression consisting of capital, state and church, and that its basis must be an economic revolution that breaks down the "system of owner-rule" and realizes the organization of industry. However, he strongly opposed communism and the organization of industry by the state, which were advocated at the time, on the grounds that they strengthened the servitude of individuals to communities and the state, and endangered individual freedom and independence, and instead insisted on the realization of mutual solidarity ("reciprocity") based on bilateral contracts between free and equal individuals. This was because he believed that bilateral contracts were what would realize freedom and equality. "General Ideas of Revolution in the Nineteenth Century" (1851) is his summary of the February Revolution.

During his imprisonment and exile under the dictatorship of Louis Napoleon, Proudhon continued to fight against the growing power of the state, using his advocacy of "federalism," which advocated the dismantling of central power through a contract-based alliance of local groups based on their everyday lives. His revolutionary theory, based on a bottom-up perspective that workers could achieve their own liberation without relying on the state or leaders, continues to have a deep influence to this day.

[Takashi Sakagami June 17, 2015]

"The General Ideas of Revolution in the 19th Century" by Proudhon, translated by Rikui Shiro et al. (1971, San-ichi Shobo / included in "World Masterpieces 53 Proudhon and Others" translated by Watanabe Hajime, 1980, Chuokoron-Shinsha)" ▽ "The Principle of Association" by Proudhon, translated by Eguchi Miki (included in "Proudhon 3", 1971, San-ichi Shobo)" ▽ "What is Property?" translated by Hasegawa Susumu (included in "Proudhon 3", 1971, San-ichi Shobo)" ▽ "On the Political Capacity of the Working Class" by Proudhon, translated by Miura Seiichi (1972, San-ichi Shobo)" ▽ "World Thinkers 13 Proudhon" edited by Kono Kenji (1977, Heibonsha)" ▽ "Studies on Proudhon" edited by Kono Kenji (1974, Iwanami Shoten)" ▽ "French Socialism" by Takashi Sakagami (1981, Shinhyoron)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

フランスのアナキズムの思想家。スイス国境に近いブザンソン近郊の貧農の家に生まれた。向学心は旺盛(おうせい)だったが、16歳のころ、父が訴訟に没頭したために家計は逼迫(ひっぱく)し、学業を断念して印刷職人として働いた。当時働いていた印刷所で、同郷の社会主義思想家シャルル・フーリエの著書『産業的・協同的新世界』の校正に従事するうち、その思想に深い感銘を受けた。1838年、奨学金を得てパリに出て貧困と闘いながら勉学に励み、1840年に彼を一躍有名にした『所有とは何か』を著した。協同労働は個人の労働の合計を超える力（「集合力」）を生むが、資本家は個人の労働に対してしか支払わないから、集合力と支払われた賃金との差額が利潤として資本家の手に入る。利潤は集合力の搾取＝盗みであり、生産手段の所有がこの盗みを可能にし正当化する。これが、「所有は盗みである」という彼の結論の論拠である。その後の数年間は、パリに集まるマルクスやハイネなどの革命家や知識人との交流、『経済的諸矛盾の体系』（1846）の執筆など、充実した日々を送る。マルクスは、その著『哲学の貧困』（1847）で、プルードンの所説を激しく論難し、交友はとだえた。プルードンは二月革命（1848）を「理念なき革命」ととらえ、『人民』紙や小冊子を刊行して、この革命に理念を与えるべく闘った。

　現代革命の課題は、資本―国家―教会からなる抑圧の体系の廃絶にあり、その根底は「所有者支配の体系」を打破し、産業の組織化を実現する経済革命に求められねばならない、というのが彼の主張だった。しかし彼は、当時主張された共産主義や国家による産業の組織化には、それらが共同体や国家への個人の隷属を強め、個人の自由と自立を危うくするという理由で強く反対し、自由で平等な個人の双務的契約に基づく相互連帯（「相互主義」）を実現すべきことを主張した。双務的契約こそ自由と平等を実現すると考えたからである。『19世紀における革命の一般理念』（1851）は、彼の二月革命の総括である。

　ルイ・ナポレオンの独裁のもとでの投獄と亡命のなかで、プルードンは、生活に基礎を置く地域集団の契約に基づく連合によって、中央権力を解体するという「連合主義」の主張を武器に、巨大化する権力との闘いを続けた。労働者は、国家や指導者の手によらず、自分で解放を獲得することができるという下からの視点にたつ彼の革命論は、現代に至るまで根強い影響力をもち続けている。

［阪上　孝　2015年6月17日］

『プルードン著、陸井四郎他訳『19世紀における革命の一般理念』（1971・三一書房／渡辺一訳『世界の名著53　プルードン他集』所収・1980・中央公論社）』▽『プルードン著、江口幹訳『連合の原理』（『プルードン3』所収・1971・三一書房）』▽『長谷川進訳『所有とはなにか』（『プルードン3』所収・1971・三一書房）』▽『プルードン著、三浦精一訳『労働者階級の政治的能力について』（1972・三一書房）』▽『河野健二編『世界の思想家13　プルードン』（1977・平凡社）』▽『河野健二編『プルードン研究』（1974・岩波書店）』▽『阪上孝著『フランス社会主義』（1981・新評論）』

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