The central claim of anarchism is that government, being the chief cause of human misery, must be replaced by a stateless society of strongly independent persons who are strongly bound together in a group. In an anarchist social order, individual and communal tendencies, now often contradictory, become mutually reinforcing so as to create a nurturing environment. The main purpose of this 1980 book is to vindicate this argument as presented by leading anarchists: William Godwin, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Michael Bakunin and Peter Kropotkin. Early chapters are devoted to proving the anarchists consistent in seeking to combine the greatest individual development with the greatest communal unity. Later chapters show the plausibility of the various anarchists' models of the good society, of their criticisms of established institutions and of their strategies for creating an anarchist social order. The analysis presented accords the anarchists a leading voice in the debate among political theorists over how to create and organize a just society.

Each piece is fully annotated. Backgrounds includes a sketch of Rousseau s life, selections from his Confessions, and comments on Rousseau s work and character from such illustrious contemporaries and early critics as Voltaire, Hume, Boswell and Johnson, Paine, Kant, and Proudhon. Commentaries includes assessments of Rousseau s political thought by a wide variety of scholars and critics including Judith Shklar, Robert Nisbet, Simone Weil, and Benjamin R. Barber."

Alan Ritter examines the writings of Proudhon concerned with the theme that Proudhon, though a radical, was a realist and moralist, and that the difficulties he faced are those faced by any radical who confronts fact and has a conscience. Originally published in 1969. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Alan Ritter examines the writings of Proudhon concerned with the theme that Proudhon, though a radical, was a realist and moralist, and that the difficulties he faced are those faced by any radical who confronts fact and has a conscience. Originally published in 1969. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.