Proudhon - A Biography

THE PALADIN OF JUSTICE
Deux Decembre, examined in detail the circumstances that led up
to the Bonapartist seizure of power, drew on the record o f the
first Napoleon as a warning to the third, and again elaborated the
Proudhonian doctrine o f anarchy as the true end o f nineteenth-
century social evolution. ‘Anarchy, I tell you, or Caesarism,’
Proudhon told the people o f France. ‘You can no longer get
away from that. You did not want an honest, moderate, con­
servative, progressive parliamentary and free Republic; now you
are caught between the Emperor and the Social Revolution!’
On the eve of publication, La Revolution Sociale was banned by
the Minister of Police. The decision was not unexpected by
Proudhon, and he began to consider how to evade what might
become a general suppression o f his works. He thought that after
all he might leave France for some country, Belgium or Switzer­
land, where he would be among people who spoke his language.
Or he might attempt ‘clandestine publication under cover o f an
industry.’ But he did not intend to accept either alternative
without an effort to regularise his position, and on the 29th
July he submitted an appeal directly to the Prince-President.
His tone was bold; he declared the purpose o f his book quite
openly, and asked that it be allowed to appear ‘as I made it, with
its bitternesses, its boldnesses, its suspicions and its paradoxes.’
Responding to the oblique flattery o f this direct approach, Louis
Napoleon ordered the ban withdrawn. ‘The President agrees!’
Proudhon exulted. ‘A cause won! Censorship defeated!’
La Revolution Sociale appeared at a time o f political crisis when
it could not fail to arouse interest, and within a month 13,000
copies had been distributed, a result which filled Proudhon with
exaggerated optimism; he hoped that the sales would go on rising
until he had earned 30,000 francs, liquidated his debts, and stood
at the head of the ‘revolutionary party.’ But the interest shown by
these initially large sales did not necessarily imply approval. Few
critics were wholly favourable. The conservatives complained
that the book had been allowed to appear. The Jacobins exiled
in London denounced it and all Proudhon’s works. Marx unjustly
dismissed it as ‘a historical apologia for the hero of the coup.’
Lastly, the workers complained of its expensiveness. ‘I regret
this,’ said Proudhon, ‘but I can do absolutely nothing about it ....
Since my imprisonment I have a running account with the
Garniers, and I live by what they advance me on the condition