Marx-Proudhon: Their Exchange of Letters in 1846—On an Episode of World-historical Importance

Abstract

In 1846, Marx and Engels, in the framework of a short exchange of letters, made an attempt to establish a co-operation with Proudhon. The object of this article is to show that an analysis of this correspondence reveals the first signs of a bifurcation of socialism, giving birth, on the one hand, to a (Marxian) statist and authoritarian variant and, on the other, to a (Proudhonian) libertarian variant. The beginning of this development is characterised by the clear intention of Marx, Engels and their followers to create a type of socialism with clearly identifiable programmatic contents and power-centred organisational structures. Proudhon, on the contrary, pleaded in favour of a continual public debate as an unavoidable prerequisite for the organisation of an enlightened egalitarian type of society. In connection with this outcome, the question is raised whether the collapse of European communist states might ultimately be traced back to this development.