SOURCE: “Proudhon as a Radical Critic of Established Institutions,” in The Political Thought of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Princeton University Press, 1969, pp. 94-117.

In the following essay, Ritter examines Proudhon's critique of hierarchy, government, law, and political rule.

A critic qualifies as radical by carrying his assault on the status quo beyond its surface defects to their hidden sources. He grabs matters by the root, as Marx said, while others are content to prune their leaves and branches. Proudhon wants to grab by the root what he regards as the present world's most potent instruments of oppression: hierarchy and government.¹

The Social Evils: Deference and Inequality

Proudhon's critique is usually examined from an economic angle. Most commentators have placed it in that long line of attacks on exploitation known as socialism. Yet this perspective obscures as much as it clarifies. For though Proudhon was indeed a vigorous opponent of exploitation...