I have been pitiless in my criticism of the economists: for them I confess that, in general, I have no liking. The arrogance and the emptiness of the… - Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

The emancipation of the working class can only be achieved by the working class itself — without the assistance of governments.

Communism is inequality, but not as property is. Property is the exploitation of the weak by the strong. Communism is the exploitation of the strong by the weak. In property, inequality of conditions is the result of force, under whatever name it be disguised: physical and mental force; force of events, chance, fortune; force of accumulated property, &c. In communism, inequality springs from placing mediocrity on a level with excellence. This damaging equation is repellent to the conscience, and causes merit to complain; for, although it may be the duty of the strong to aid the weak, they prefer to do it out of generosity, — they never will endure a comparison. Give them equal opportunities of labor, and equal wages, but never allow their jealousy to be awakened by mutual suspicion of unfaithfulness in the performance of the common task. Communism is oppression and slavery. Man is very willing to obey the law of duty, serve his country, and oblige his friends; but he wishes to labor when he pleases, where he pleases, and as much as he pleases. He wishes to dispose of his own time, to be governed only by necessity, to choose his friendships, his recreation, and his discipline; to act from judgment, not by command; to sacrifice himself through selfishness, not through servile obligation. Communism is essentially opposed to the free exercise of our faculties, to our noblest desires, to our deepest feelings. Any plan which could be devised for reconciling it with the demands of the individual reason and will would end only in changing the thing while preserving the name. Now, if we are honest truth-seekers, we shall avoid disputes about words. Thus, communism violates the sovereignty of the conscience, and equality: the first, by restricting spontaneity of mind and heart, and freedom of thought and action; the second, by placing labor and laziness, skill and stupidity, and even vice and virtue on an equality in point of comfort. For the rest, if property is impossible on account of the desire to accumulate, communism would soon become so through the desire to shirk.

¨La igualdad de condiciones no han existido jamas, merced a nuestras pasiones y nuestra ignorancia, pero nuestra oposición a esta ley demuestra mas y mas su necesidad; La historia es un constante testimonio de ello. La sociedad avanza de ecuación en ecuación; Las revoluciones de los imperios ofrecen a los ojos del observador economista que los números son la providencia de la historia. El Progreso de la humanidad ha contado con un sinnúmero de causas ocultas que conmueven a los pueblos, pero no hay una tan potente, regular, ni mas significativa que las explosiones periódicas del proletariado contra la propiedad, actuando simultáneamente por la eliminación y la ocupación a medida que la población se multiplica. Ha sido el principio generador y la causa determinante de todas las revoluciones. Las guerras de religión y de conquista, cuando no llegaron a la exterminación de las razas, fueron solamente perturbaciones accidentales, cuyo inmediato restablecimiento procuró el progreso natural de la vida de los pueblos. Este es el poder de acumulación de la propiedad, esta es la ley de degradación y muerte de propiedades¨.