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Pierre-Joseph Proudhon: A Biography
The first full-scale English-language biography of the prominent 19th century social thinker and "father of anarchism." "Woodcock makes a very good case for the consistency of [Proudhon's] teaching."-- New York Times ¶"Essential reading for a true appreciation of economic history and thought."-- Small Press
295 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1972
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About the author
George Woodcock
185 books46 followersWoodcock was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, but moved with his parents to England at an early age, attending Sir William Borlase's Grammar School in Marlow and Morley College. Though his family was quite poor, Woodcock had the opportunity to go to Oxford University on a partial scholarship; however, he turned down the chance because he would have had to become a member of the clergy.Instead, he took a job as a clerk at the Great Western Railway and it was there that he first became interested in anarchism (specifically libertarian socialism). He was to remain an anarchist for the rest of his life, writing several books on the subject.
It was during these years that he met several prominent literary figures, including T. S. Eliot and Aldous Huxley and became good friends with George Orwell despite ideological disagreements. Woodcock later wrote The Crystal Spirit (1966), a critical study of Orwell and his work which won a Governor General's Award.
Woodcock spent World War II working on a farm, as a conscientious objector. At Camp Angel in Oregon, a camp for conscientious objectors, he was a founder of the Untide Press, which sought to bring poetry to the public in an inexpensive but attractive format. Following the war, he returned to Canada, eventually settling in Vancouver, British Columbia. In 1955, he took a post in the English department of the University of British Columbia, where he stayed until the 1970s. Around this time he started to write more prolifically, producing several travel books and collections of poetry, as well as the works on anarchism for which he is best known.
Towards the end of his life, Woodcock became increasingly interested in what he saw as the plight of Tibetans. He travelled to India, studied Buddhism, became friends with the Dalai Lama and established the Tibetan Refugee Aid Society. He and his wife Inge also established Canada India Village Aid, which sponsors self-help projects in rural India. Both organizations exemplify Woodcock's ideal of voluntary cooperation between peoples across national boundaries.
George and Inge also established a program to support professional Canadian writers. The Woodcock Fund, which began in 1989, provides financial assistance to writers in mid-book-project who face an unforeseen financial need that threatens the completion of their book. The Fund is available to writers of fiction, creative non-fiction, plays, and poetry. The Woodcocks helped create an endowment for the program in excess of two million dollars. The Woodcock Fund program is administered by the Writers’ Trust of Canada and has distributed $887,273 to 180 Canadian writers, as of March 2012.
It was during these years that he met several prominent literary figures, including T. S. Eliot and Aldous Huxley and became good friends with George Orwell despite ideological disagreements. Woodcock later wrote The Crystal Spirit (1966), a critical study of Orwell and his work which won a Governor General's Award.
Woodcock spent World War II working on a farm, as a conscientious objector. At Camp Angel in Oregon, a camp for conscientious objectors, he was a founder of the Untide Press, which sought to bring poetry to the public in an inexpensive but attractive format. Following the war, he returned to Canada, eventually settling in Vancouver, British Columbia. In 1955, he took a post in the English department of the University of British Columbia, where he stayed until the 1970s. Around this time he started to write more prolifically, producing several travel books and collections of poetry, as well as the works on anarchism for which he is best known.
Towards the end of his life, Woodcock became increasingly interested in what he saw as the plight of Tibetans. He travelled to India, studied Buddhism, became friends with the Dalai Lama and established the Tibetan Refugee Aid Society. He and his wife Inge also established Canada India Village Aid, which sponsors self-help projects in rural India. Both organizations exemplify Woodcock's ideal of voluntary cooperation between peoples across national boundaries.
George and Inge also established a program to support professional Canadian writers. The Woodcock Fund, which began in 1989, provides financial assistance to writers in mid-book-project who face an unforeseen financial need that threatens the completion of their book. The Fund is available to writers of fiction, creative non-fiction, plays, and poetry. The Woodcocks helped create an endowment for the program in excess of two million dollars. The Woodcock Fund program is administered by the Writers’ Trust of Canada and has distributed $887,273 to 180 Canadian writers, as of March 2012.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 8, 2017
A good book for understanding early socialist thought. Proudhon a French revolutionary lived close to poverty and sought to overturn a system that kept poor people poor.
April 13, 2020
Not the most exciting biography in the world, but an enjoyable read if you know nothing about the father of anarchism.
Proudhon was equal parts impressive and exasperating. On the one hand, he came from a very poor background and rose up to be a feared dissident - espousing a new way of thinking that was pacifist and would go on to influence great thinkers (Victor Hugo and Tolstoy) as well as create great enemies (Marx). Some of Proudhon's ideas only took traction much longer after he was dead, namely the notion of banks for the people and that war is evil. Others, like the idea that property should be done away with, are still out of fashion... Also, he was a deeply spiritual person and saw within anarchism what sounded to me like Taoism - without knowing of it (a century later Ursula K. Le Guin would bring these two philosophies beautifully together.)
On the other hand, Proudhon was a sexist - like all other male French revolutionaries - and apparently a huge antisemite (not mentioned in this biography.) His family have never released his private diaries, which might be because of this.
Proudhon loved to walk, was good to his close friends, loved his three daughters and his wife (who bossed him around by the end of his life - good!) and was self-taught. He also had a dodgy fashion sense and stuck out like a sore thumb in fashionable Paris. He viewed himself as a journalist - everything he published at the time was quickly sold out and often confiscated by the government, for inciting hatred against the church/government/the rich - but he's now more remembered for anarchism.
To him, anything fixed and unchanging was bad - any political theory should reflect the truth that life is in a constant flux of change. That's why he constantly changed and updated his political views, often building on what was happening in Europe or what he'd written before. I've never read any of his work but it sounds like they are full of paradoxes.
The most intriguing surprise in this biography was to learn that Tolstoy - who only visited France a few times and met Proudhon - was also an anarch-pacifist.
Proudhon was equal parts impressive and exasperating. On the one hand, he came from a very poor background and rose up to be a feared dissident - espousing a new way of thinking that was pacifist and would go on to influence great thinkers (Victor Hugo and Tolstoy) as well as create great enemies (Marx). Some of Proudhon's ideas only took traction much longer after he was dead, namely the notion of banks for the people and that war is evil. Others, like the idea that property should be done away with, are still out of fashion... Also, he was a deeply spiritual person and saw within anarchism what sounded to me like Taoism - without knowing of it (a century later Ursula K. Le Guin would bring these two philosophies beautifully together.)
On the other hand, Proudhon was a sexist - like all other male French revolutionaries - and apparently a huge antisemite (not mentioned in this biography.) His family have never released his private diaries, which might be because of this.
Proudhon loved to walk, was good to his close friends, loved his three daughters and his wife (who bossed him around by the end of his life - good!) and was self-taught. He also had a dodgy fashion sense and stuck out like a sore thumb in fashionable Paris. He viewed himself as a journalist - everything he published at the time was quickly sold out and often confiscated by the government, for inciting hatred against the church/government/the rich - but he's now more remembered for anarchism.
To him, anything fixed and unchanging was bad - any political theory should reflect the truth that life is in a constant flux of change. That's why he constantly changed and updated his political views, often building on what was happening in Europe or what he'd written before. I've never read any of his work but it sounds like they are full of paradoxes.
The most intriguing surprise in this biography was to learn that Tolstoy - who only visited France a few times and met Proudhon - was also an anarch-pacifist.
April 30, 2022
This is not the easiest book to read. Proudhon’s many books are dense and not always easy to grasp. The author does an excellent job of making his ideas accessible to the more casual reader.
Those ideas resonated with me. More than once I thought of Bellamy’s Looking Backward which I recently read. The tragedy of the history of the last 200 years is a stark contrast to Proudhon’s vision. One blemish on Proudhon is his views on women.
Those ideas resonated with me. More than once I thought of Bellamy’s Looking Backward which I recently read. The tragedy of the history of the last 200 years is a stark contrast to Proudhon’s vision. One blemish on Proudhon is his views on women.
September 23, 2010
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon: A Biography by George Woodcock (1996)
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews