eloped gradually
and logically that which Proudhon himself has called Anarchy
(_An-arche_, without government). The Socialists have made the
statement that the political revolution is the means of which the
social revolution is the end. Proudhon has inverted this statement
and regards the social revolution as the means and a political
revolution as the end. It is therefore a great mistake to consider
him, as is always done, as a political economist, for he was first and
foremost a social politician. The Socialists place as the ultimate
object of revolution, the welfare of all, enjoyment; but for Proudhon
the principle of revolution is freedom, that is:

(1) Political freedom by the organisation of universal suffrage, by
the independent centralisation of social functions, and by the
continual and unceasing revision of the constitution.

(2) Industrial freedom through the mutual guarantee of credit and
sale. In other words "no government by men by means of the
accumulation of power, no exploitation of men by means of the
accumulation of capital."

* * * * *

Proudhon thought that the fault of every political or social
constitution, whether it was the work of political or social
Radicalism, that which produces conflicts, and sets up antagonism in
society, lies in the fact that on the one hand the division of powers,
or rather of functions, is badly and incompletely performed, while on
the other hand centralisation is insufficient. The necessary
consequence of this is that the chief power is inactive and the
"thought of the people," or universal suffrage, is not exercised.
Division of functions then must be completed, and centralisation must
increase; universal suffrage must regain its prerogative and therewith
give back to the people the energy and activity which is lacking to
them.

The manner in which Proudhon proposed this constitution of society by
the initiative of the masses and the organisation of universal
suffrage cannot be better or more simply explained than in the words
and examples which he himself has used in the _Confessions_ in order
to interpret his views. He says:

"For many centuries the spiritual power, according to the traditional
conception of it, has been separated from the temporal power. I
remark, by the way, that the political principle of the division of
powers, or functions, is the same as the principle of the division of
the departments of industry or of