Confessions of a Revolutionary

Proudhon's Confessions of a Revolutionary provides an invaluable perspective on an important period in the life of its author and the history of France. After the 1848 Revolution, at 39 years old, Proudhon served as a member of the French Parliament where he provided a uniquely radical perspective. This experience was critical to developing Proudhon's idiosyncratic libertarian socialist ideology which has remained his legacy shaping later ideologies as diverse as anarchism, communism and fascism. Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, later enthroned as Napoleon III, began his presidency in 1848. Proudhon provides substantial commentary on his rise to power. This later culminated in his being declared Emperor of the French in 1852, only a year after this edition was published.