I remember anarcho used to argue all the time that it was a myth that Proudhon advocated labor notes. But in his introduction to his Kropotkin anthology, he writes, 'Proudhon's vision of a free economy was based on workers' self management of production with "the exchange of produce among working men's associations by means of labour-cheques issued by the National Bank."' A little afterwards, it is noted that Kropotkin rejected Proudhon's ideas on payment by labour done. So what's the deal?
Did he not advocate labor notes? Do they function differently in Proudhon's vision than in a collectivist anarchist society?
I guess I could ask is how does Proudhon's market socialism work out? Isn't it basically workers' co-op producing goods to be sold in markets to make money? Where does the labour cheques fit in?
Check the dates of the…
Check the dates of the pieces -- you will discover that I took the time to investigate the issue of Proudhon's "Labour Notes" AFTER I edited the Kropotkin Anthology and wrote its introduction.
In a nutshell, Marx in 1847 lied about Proudhon advocating "Labour Notes" (given the many inventions, invented and doctored quotes, and so on, in "The Poverty of Philosophy" I'm pretty confident that it was a conscious lie -- the aim being to discredit a major rival within socialist circles by mockery). This lie became the "conventional wisdom" in many circles and Kropotkin later repeated this myth.
The details of Proudhon and "Labour Notes" can be found here:
https://anarchism.pageabode.com/proudhons-constituted-value-and-the-myth-of-labour-notes/
I cover Kropotkin's misunderstanding of Proudhon's ideas in my introduction to "Modern Science and Anarchy"
https://anarchism.pageabode.com/introduction-to-modern-science-and-anarchy/
Hope that helps.