Proudhon - A Biography

THE MAN OF AFFAIRS
when Proudhon was replying to his friend’s criticism o f the pro­
posed title: ‘This title was imposed on me; it is by way of a tradi­
tion, or, if you like it better, a resurrection. It was hoped to
recommend it to all the readers and subscribers to the former
paper called Le Peuple.' A t the same time he remarked that the
actual business control was not in his hands, but added: ‘I am the
only one who can give life and success to the enterprise.’
Since Le Peuple, and variants thereon, became the title with
which Proudhon’s entire journalistic career was to be associated,
it is worth recording that, while he did not defend to Bergmann
the actual reasons for which the title was chosen, he declared, in
words reminding one of Michelet, that he had already taken his
stand upon it. ‘The People will become the subject of my first
numbers; the People, a collective being; the People, an infallible
and divine being— here is what is dominant in my work, but
developed, o f course, from a completely different viewpoint and
in a different manner from The Social Contract. Just as the old
theories on the sovereignty of the people are empty and vague
and completely false, so I hope you will find my ideas clear, posi­
tive, immediate and easy to realise.’
As the year ended and the publication date for Le Peuple was
pushed constantly forward, Proudhon’s ideas on its potential
importance grew steadily more elevated. In October he noted in
his diary: ‘Yes, the publication o f Le Peuple will be the inaugura­
tion o f the social revolution. The doctrine o f equal exchange...
a doctrine intelligible to the masses, will cause panic among the
bourgeois classes and consternation among the barons o f finance
and agriculture.’ And shortly afterwards he indulged in one of
those lapses into vanity which he reserved for the private pages
o f his journal: ‘The representative of the people, it is I. For I alone
am right.’
This curious spurt o f arrogance seems to have been provoked by
the appearance during October, 1847, o f an independent socialist
paper called Le Representant du Peuple (The People's Representative),
under the motto: ‘Every man has the duty to work, so that all
shall have the right to the products o f work.’ Its editors, Charles
Fauvety and Jules Viard, if not then actual Mutualists, were
certainly in close sympathy with Proudhon’s ideas. This paper,
which lapsed after two specimen numbers, clearly seems to have
aroused Proudhon’s interest and to have piqued his pride that