Drogowskazy przyszłości? – wizja ustroju przejściowego Zygmunta Zaremby
Signposts of the future? Zygmunt Zaremba and the image of “transitional economy system”

Summary/Abstract: The Great Depression, which affected Poland stronger than the majority of European countries, made economic issues the most important subject of the Polish public discourse. Almost all of the leaders and commentators of the Polish Socialist Party were convinced (in spite of the differences about causes of the crisis) on structural nature of the depression – they believed that restoration of durable economic stability was impossible under capitalism. The following essay discuss the model of post-capitalist economy designed by Zygmunt Zaremba, known in the 1930s as “economic expert” of the Polish socialist movement. Zaremba was follower of the planned economy – in his model key role in national economy was reserved for the state. His plan provided for a nationalization of the big and medium factories or companies and government’s control over the banking sector. According to Zaremba, state should be main regulator of prices and wages too. To prevent bureaucratization, he proposed workers participation (on large scale) in companies administration. It is worth to note, that complete socialization of the property and means of the production was not assumed in his model of the “transitional economy system”. For instance, Zaremba proposed preservation of the private property in the part of retail trade or agriculture. In spite of the numerous weaknesses, this model became basis for the economic part of the new political program of PPS, which was passed in 1937, during the party congress in Radom.

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