Property consumes society through two intertwined mechanisms: the violent, periodic sacrifice of laborers (via unemployment, evictions, and crises) and the obstruction of producers’ own consumption, where famine and usury combine to make labor both more necessary and more scarce.

By Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, from What Is Property?

Key Arguments

  • He explicitly distinguishes "two modes of suicide": "Society devours itself⁠—1. By the violent and periodical sacrifice of laborers: this we have just seen, and shall see again; 2. By the stoppage of the producer’s consumption caused by property."
  • These two dynamics reinforce each other over time: "These two modes of suicide are at first simultaneous; but soon the first is given additional force by the second, famine uniting with usury to render labor at once more necessary and more scarce." indicating a feedback loop where deprivation of consumption exacerbates labor insecurity and vice versa.

Source Quotes

For myself, I avow boldly that in my eyes it would have been the first of rights, and the holiest of duties; and all that I desire today is that my profession of faith be understood. Society devours itself⁠—1. By the violent and periodical sacrifice of laborers: this we have just seen, and shall see again; 2. By the stoppage of the producer’s consumption caused by property. These two modes of suicide are at first simultaneous; but soon the first is given additional force by the second, famine uniting with usury to render labor at once more necessary and more scarce.
By the stoppage of the producer’s consumption caused by property. These two modes of suicide are at first simultaneous; but soon the first is given additional force by the second, famine uniting with usury to render labor at once more necessary and more scarce. By the principles of commerce and political economy, that an industrial enterprise may be successful, its product must furnish⁠—1.

Key Concepts

  • Society devours itself⁠—1. By the violent and periodical sacrifice of laborers: this we have just seen, and shall see again; 2. By the stoppage of the producer’s consumption caused by property.
  • These two modes of suicide are at first simultaneous; but soon the first is given additional force by the second, famine uniting with usury to render labor at once more necessary and more scarce.

Context

Transition passage in the Fifth Proposition where Proudhon summarizes and systematizes his preceding analysis of expulsions and deficits into a dual theory of how property drives social self‑destruction.