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''The Poverty of Philosophy'' (French: ''Misère de la philosophie'') is a book by
Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
published in
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
and
Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
in 1847, where he lived in exile from 1843 until 1849. It was originally written in
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
as a critique of the
economic An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with th ...
and
philosophical Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
arguments of French
anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessar ...
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (, , ; 15 January 1809, Besançon – 19 January 1865, Paris) was a French socialist,Landauer, Carl; Landauer, Hilde Stein; Valkenier, Elizabeth Kridl (1979) 959 "The Three Anticapitalistic Movements". ''European Socia ...
set forth in his 1846 book '' The System of Economic Contradictions, or The Philosophy of Poverty.''


History


The ideas of Proudhon

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (, , ; 15 January 1809, Besançon – 19 January 1865, Paris) was a French socialist,Landauer, Carl; Landauer, Hilde Stein; Valkenier, Elizabeth Kridl (1979) 959 "The Three Anticapitalistic Movements". ''European Socia ...
(1809-1865) was a French anarchist theoretician who wrote extensively on the relationship between the individual and the state. Proudhon believed in an orderly society but argued that the state represented an illegitimate concentration of official violence which effectively undercut any effort to build a just society.Paul Thomas, ''Marx and the Anarchists''. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1980; pg. 176. Proudhon rejected all
political action In sociology, social action, also known as Weberian social action, is an act which takes into account the actions and reactions of individuals (or ' agents'). According to Max Weber, "Action is 'social' insofar as its subjective meaning takes ...
as a form of
class collaboration Class collaboration is a principle of social organization based upon the belief that the division of society into a hierarchy of social classes is a positive and essential aspect of civilization. Fascist support Class collaboration is one of th ...
but argued instead that the
working class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...
could achieve its salvation through economic action alone; abstention from politics was advocated with a view to the ultimate eradication of the existing state and its political apparatus. Proudhon believed that the stateless future was not preordained by iron laws of history, but was rather to be the conscious creation of a population which had been morally awakened.Thomas, ''Marx and the Anarchists,'' pg. 179. This necessary
morality Morality () is the differentiation of intentions, decisions and actions between those that are distinguished as proper (right) and those that are improper (wrong). Morality can be a body of standards or principles derived from a code of co ...
, based upon honesty, decency, self-respect, and individual responsibility, was believed to be an inherent part of the working class—something to be developed and emphasized. By way of contrast, industrialists, businessmen, and those who serve them were held to be incapable of developing this morality due to the nature of their day-to-day economic and political activity. The act of labor itself was believed to be socially ennobling, whereas the act of economic exploitation backed by political force was held to be inherently corrupting. Therefore, Proudhon emphatically declared for a strict separatism between the working class and all others.


Karl Marx in exile

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
left Germany following the repression of the newspaper he edited, the Rheinische Zeitung, by the government of
Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...
early in 1843. He landed in
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
, where he lived from October 1843 until December 1845.Thomas, ''Marx and the Anarchists'', pg. 191. It was there that he first met Proudhon, who was already a well known radical writer, with four books to his credit. Despite an appeal being made as a prospective French collaborator, Proudhon declined to participate in the ill-fated ''Deutsch-französische Jahrbücher'' (German-French Yearbook) project with which Marx was intimately associated.Thomas, ''Marx and the Anarchists'', pg. 192. Although the personal contact between the two was limited, Marx read Proudhon's writings at this time, discussions of which may be found in his work of the period, including the book written against
Bruno Bauer Bruno Bauer (; 6 September 180913 April 1882) was a German philosopher and theologian. As a student of G. W. F. Hegel, Bauer was a radical Rationalist in philosophy, politics and Biblical criticism. Bauer investigated the sources of the New Te ...
, ''The Holy Family'' (1845), and the unpublished ''Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844.'' In the published book Marx lent critical support to some of the ideas of Proudhon against competing ideas of Bauer. Marx was particularly attracted to the comprehensive nature of Proudhon's writings up to 1845 and the latter's willingness to make larger connections from smaller observations.Thomas, ''Marx and the Anarchists'', pp. 197–198. In his book '' What Is Property?'' Proudhon emphasized the social relationships emerging from
private property Private property is a legal designation for the ownership of property by non-governmental legal entities. Private property is distinguishable from public property and personal property, which is owned by a state entity, and from collective or ...
, and the tendency of economic development to produce a propertyless
proletariat The proletariat (; ) is the social class of wage-earners, those members of a society whose only possession of significant economic value is their labour power (their capacity to work). A member of such a class is a proletarian. Marxist philo ...
in ever increasing numbers—ideas which Marx found compelling. Marx's praise of Proudhon was not limitless, however, as he felt Proudhon did not fully grasp the way in which wages and money, for example, were themselves forms of private property. Marx was forced to exit Paris by the French government in 1845, with Brussels, Belgium his next destination.Thomas, ''Marx and the Anarchists'', pg. 205. Despite his departure from France, he continued to see Proudhon as a potential political collaborator, asking him in 1846 to participate in a new international correspondence committee patterned after the London-based
Workers' Educational Association The Workers' Educational Association (WEA), founded in 1903, is the UK's largest voluntary sector provider of adult education and one of Britain's biggest charities. The WEA is a democratic and voluntary adult education movement. It delivers lea ...
, designed to propagate socialist ideas among the working class of continental Europe. Proudhon responded cautiously to Marx's appeal. Perhaps partially in consequence, Marx and his friend and political associate turned their organizing efforts to an established political body, the League of the Just.


Proudhon's ''The Philosophy of Poverty''


Marx's ''The Poverty of Philosophy''

Marx read Proudhon's book late in 1846 and responded strongly and negatively, writing a lengthy letter to his Russian correspondent P.V. Annenkov on December 28, 1846 with a detailed exposition of his views that became the core of his 1847 book.Vera Morozova, "Introductory Note to The Poverty of Philosophy," ''Marx-Engels Collected Works: Volume 6, Marx and Engels, 1845–1848''. New York: International Publishers, 1976; pg. 672. He began working on a book-length formal reply the following January, completing the work in the spring and going to press in April 1847. The book, formally titled ''The Poverty of Philosophy: Answer to the'' Philosophy of Poverty '' by M. Proudhon,'' saw print in
Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
and Belgium early in July 1847. The book was written in the
French language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in N ...
to strike its target most closely and for the cutting
pun A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...
of a title to be rendered most unmistakably. The book was regarded by the political circle around Marx organized as the
Communist League The Communist League (German: ''Bund der Kommunisten)'' was an international political party established on 1 June 1847 in London, England. The organisation was formed through the merger of the League of the Just, headed by Karl Schapper, and t ...
as a key part of their contemporary program, delineating the views of the League from those espoused by Proudhon and his followers. Somewhat surprisingly, following its initial release in 1847, ''The Poverty of Philosophy'' was never republished in full prior to Marx's death in 1883.Morozova, "Introductory Note," pg. 673. The first German edition of the book was first published in 1885; a Russian language translation by the
Emancipation of Labor Emancipation of Labour (russian: Освобождение труда) was the first Russian Marxist group. It was founded in exile by Georgi Plekhanov, Vasily Ignatov, Vera Zasulich, Leo Deutsch, and Pavel Axelrod, at Geneva (Switzerland) in 1883 ...
group (Russian: Освобождение труда) was released in 1886. A corrected Second French Edition materialized in 1896, initiated by
Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
'' Laura Lafargue Jenny Laura Marx (26 September 1845 – 25 November 1911) was a socialist activist. The second daughter of Karl Marx and Jenny von Westphalen, she married revolutionary writer Paul Lafargue in 1868. The two committed suicide together in 1911. ...
. The first English language edition of ''The Poverty of Philosophy'' was unveiled in London in 1900 by the pioneer
Marxist Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialecti ...
publisher
Twentieth Century Press 20 (twenty; Roman numeral XX) is the natural number following 19 and preceding 21. A group of twenty units may also be referred to as a score. In mathematics *20 is a pronic number. *20 is a tetrahedral number as 1, 4, 10, 20. *20 is the b ...
.Morozova, "Introductory Note," pg. 674. The translation for this edition was made by British socialist Harry Quelch. Quelch's version was reprised in the United States for the first time in 1910 by Charles H. Kerr & Co., a socialist publishing house based in Chicago.


Content

The tone of Marx's polemic against Proudhon is set from the outset, with a witty cut in lieu of a foreword:
"M. Proudhon has the misfortune of being particularly misunderstood in Europe. In France, he has the right to be a bad economist, because he is reputed to be a good German philosopher. In Germany, he has the right to be a bad philosopher, because he is reputed to be one of the ablest of French economists. Being both a German and an economist at the same time, we desire to protest against this double error.... —''Karl Marx,'' Brussels, June 15, 1847."
Although prominently featuring the word "
philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...
" in its title, ''The Poverty of Philosophy'' is essentially a book dealing with the subject of
critique of political economy Critique of political economy or critique of economy is a form of social critique that rejects the various social categories and structures that constitute the mainstream discourse concerning the forms and modalities of resource allocation and ...
—first English-language translator Harry Quelch claimed that the work contained "the groundwork of the theories so fully elaborated in ''
Capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used fo ...
'', apart from its exhaustive analysis of the capitalist system of production and distribution" as well as
law of value The law of the value of commodities (German: ''Wertgesetz der Waren''), known simply as the law of value, is a central concept in Karl Marx's critique of political economy first expounded in his polemic '' The Poverty of Philosophy'' (1847) again ...
. To argue the method to apply the dialectics to political economy, he cites the ''
Science of Logic ''Science of Logic'' (''SL''; german: Wissenschaft der Logik, ''WdL''), first published between 1812 and 1816, is the work in which Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel outlined his vision of logic. Hegel's logic is a system of '' dialectics'', i.e., ...
'' of
Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends a ...
. And Marx rejects idea of Proudhon on
consumption tax A consumption tax is a tax levied on consumption spending on goods and services. The tax base of such a tax is the money spent on consumption. Consumption taxes are usually indirect, such as a sales tax or a value-added tax. However, a consumpti ...
and denial of
strike action Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became common during the ...
. At the end of the book, he cites the words of
George Sand Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil (; 1 July 1804 – 8 June 1876), best known by her pen name George Sand (), was a French novelist, memoirist and journalist. One of the most popular writers in Europe in her lifetime, bein ...
: "Combat or Death: bloody struggle or extinction. It is thus that the question is inexorably put." He also cites the theory of John Gray. Indeed, the book has been called by one Soviet scholar "one of the first works of mature Marxism."


Legacy

In 1956 economist
Joan Robinson Joan Violet Robinson (''née'' Maurice; 31 October 1903 – 5 August 1983) was a British economist well known for her wide-ranging contributions to economic theory. She was a central figure in what became known as post-Keynesian economics. ...
proclaimed in a review of a new British edition of ''The Poverty of Philosophy'' that from the standpoint of modern economics Marx's polemic with Proudhon was "a dead horse" of only "highly specialised interest."Joan Robinson, ''"The Poverty of Philosophy'', by Karl Marx," eview''Economic Journal,'' vol. 66, no. 262 (June 1956), pp. 334–335
IN JSTOR
She wrote:
"The entertainment value...is not great. There is no wit in ''The Poverty of Philosophy'' apart from its title; Proudhon's ideas were confused enough to begin with, and Marx's presentation of them makes them totally unseizable, so that there is little sport to be got out of following the argument. All the same for anyone interested in 'What Marx Really Meant' some passages in this book are very valuable. In some ways they bear the same relation to ''Capital'' that Marshall's ''Pure Theory'' does to his ''Principles''. Ideas that are clear in the early and short version were later elaborated into obscurity."
Although a widely recognized and periodically reissued title, ''The Poverty of Philosophy'' is not regarded as one of the fundamental works of Marxist thought, exemplified by its omission from the two volume ''Karl Marx: Selected Works'' published simultaneously in several countries in the 1930s under the auspices of the Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute of Moscow. A new translation of the work appeared in conjunction with the publication of Volume 6 of the joint Soviet-British-American publication of '' Marx-Engels Collected Works'' in 1975.Karl Marx, ''The Poverty of Philosophy,'' in ''Marx-Engels Collected Works: Volume 6: Marx and Engels, 1845–1848''. New York: International Publishers, 1976; pp. 105–212.


Footnotes


External links

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' French text {{DEFAULTSORT:Poverty of Philosophy, The 1847 non-fiction books Books by Karl Marx Marxism Communist books Philosophy books 1847 in economics