This is a new translation of one of the classics of the traditions of anarchism and socialism. Pierre-Joseph Proudhon was a contemporary of Marx and one of the most acute, influential, and subversive critics of modern French and European society. What is Property? (1840) has become a classic of political thought through its wide-ranging and deep-reaching critique of private property as at once the essential institution of Western culture and the root cause of greed, corruption, political tyranny, social division, and violation of natural law.

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon was the originator of the phrase 'property is theft' and was a prolific writer and thinker of the 1800s. His political philosophy continues to be influential upon today's libertarian political strands and this collection brings together a definitive selection of his writing.