Charles A. Dana (1819–1897)

There are a lot of layers to this little book. It is a 1984 facsimile reprint (with an added introduction) of a 1896 edition by Benjamin R. Tucker, collecting a series of articles written by Charles A. Dana in 1849, when Proudhon was still alive. Anarchist Tucker was interested in raising public awareness of Proudhon's ideas, but even more intent to show up the hypocrisy of Dana, who had written on Proudhon in his Fourierist youth, before taking a more conservative political turn.

The basic economical and philosophical problems involved in the problem of financial credit are certainly as salient as ever, so the discussion that forms the precedent for all of this (in Proudhon's own work) is worth attention in the 21st century. For the 19th-century political elements, I was as impressed by the two pages of Tucker's publishing advertisements after the title page as much as anything else in the book!… (altro)