Ludwik Krzywicki

Born Aug. 21, 1859, in Plock; died June 6, 1941, in Warsaw. Polish scholar and publicist; one of the first exponents of scientific socialism.

Between 1878 and 1884, Krzywicki studied medicine and mathematics at the University of Warsaw and was active in the revolutionary student movement. During his last two years at the university he was the principal translator of the first volume of K. Marx’ Das Kapital into Polish. Krzywicki spent several years abroad, mostly in the USA and in France, where in 1884–85 he edited Przedświt and Walka Klas, publications of the Polish party Proletariat I. After returning to his homeland in the mid-1890’s, he worked at the Main Statistical Office. He became a professor at the University of Warsaw in 1918 and head of the Institute of National Economy from 1921 to 1939.

In his work The Agrarian Question (1903), based on K. Marx’ theory of ground rent and a great deal of factual data, Krzywicki presented a comparative analysis of agriculture in the USA and Europe. His conclusions, however, were inconsistent: he believed that the agrarian problems of capitalism would be solved through reforms carried out by the bourgeois state. Krzywicki also did research in sociology, history, archaeology, and ethnography.