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Introduction
Paradoxically,despitehavingonlytwenty-oddyearsofexperiencewith
amarketeconomy,Polisheconomicthoughtoftheinterwarperiodisstill
verylittleknown,evenamongPolisheconomists.Thisisquitesurprising
giventhatbothofthediscussedperiodsweremarkedbyheateddebatesover
thestate’seconomicmodelandtheroleofstateproperty.Overall,these
debatesreflecteddifferencesbetweenthreeeconomicdoctrines:liberalism,
interventionism,andnationalism.Twoofthem,liberalismandintervention-
ism,generatedsignificantcontroversies.Liberalismfellvictimtonumer-
ousaccusations(especiallyintheaftermathoftheGreatDepression),for
instanceofbeinganachronistic,whileinterventionismwascriticisedforits
strongbeliefintheactiveroleofthestateintheeconomy.InPolandits
opponentsincludedtwomaingroups-liberalsandprivateenterprise.
Thefirstgroupbecameknownasthe“KrakówSchool”.Itwasledbypro-
fessorAdamKrzyżanowskioftheFacultyofLawattheJagiellonianUniver-
sity,whichcametoberecognisedasthemainacademiccentreofliberalism
inPolandandpropagatedvaluessuchaseconomicfreedom,alimitedrole
ofthestateintermsofownership,andanoverallneutraleconomicpolicy
ofgovernment.Thesecondgroup,knownasLewiatan,wasmadeupofdif-
ferentfactionsconnectedwithprivatecapital.Lewiatanmemberspointed
tothepoorperformanceofstate-ownedindustrialenterprisesandtheeffect
ofstateinvestments“pushingout”capitalfromprivatemarkets.
ThemostprominentrepresentativesofstateinterventionismduringPo-
land’sinterwarperiodweretheFirstEconomicBrigade(PierwszaBrygada
Gospodarcza)andtheNationalEconomyClub(KlubGospodarkiNaro-
dowej)ledbyStefanStarzyńskiandEugeniuszKwiatkowski.Theirbeliefs
were,however,heavilycriticisedfromananti-liberalperspectivebythe
right-wingnationalistmovement.ThemovementknownastheNational
Democracy(NarodowaDemokracja)wasundoubtedlythestrongestpolitical
playeroftheinterwarperiod,espousingananti-interventionistwhilealso
astronglyanti-liberalprogramme.Thismovementwasalsodiverse;itwas
madeupofdifferentsub-groups,includingthe“old”andthe“young”,aswell
asgroupsrepresentingtheChristiandemocraticthinkingoftheCatholic
Church,who,despitetheirsupportfortheideaofsocialsolidarism,were
againststateownership.Inturn,therewerealsogroupswithverydifferent
ideas,whichcouldbebroadlydefinedasleft-wingandwhichbecameim-
plementedinpost-warcommunistPoland,startingin1948.
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