Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809–1865) was the first proclaimed anarchist of the 19th century. Born in Besançon, Doubs, France, he was a workingman, a printer, who taught himself to read Latin so as to print books in that language as well. He is most famous for asserting "Property is theft", in his missive What is Property? Or, an Inquiry into the Principle of Right of Government (original title: Qu'est-ce que la propriété? Recherche sur le principe du droit et du gouvernement), first published in 1840.

Proudhon also claimed that "Property is impossible." Although he was against capitalism, he rejected communism and believed that individual possession — which he distinguished from private property — was necessary both for liberty and for an efficient economy. Another one of his famous statements is that "anarchy is order". This statement is believed by some to be the source of the circled-A.

He adopted the term Mutualism for his brand of anarchism, which involved control of the means of production by the workers. In his vision, self-employed artisans, peasants, and cooperatives would trade their products on the market. He advocated non-capitalist markets, markets without wage labor or private property. Factories and other large workplaces would be run by 'labor associations' operating on directly democratic principles. The state would be abolished; instead, society would be organized by a federation of 'free communes' (community assemblies). In 1863 Proudhon said, "All my economic ideas as developed over twenty-five years can be summed up in the words: agricultural-industrial federation. All my political ideas boil down to a similar formula: political federation or decentralization." Proudhon rejected violent revolution, favoring a gradual evolution of society into anarchy. (information from Wikipedia.com)

His other publications include System of Economical Contradictions: or, the Philosophy of Misery (written in 1846) and General Idea of the Revolution in the Nineteenth Century (written in 1851).