Koncepcja państwa społecznego Wacława Makowskiego
The Concept of Social State by Wacław Makowski

Summary/Abstract: This article presents the concept of Social State (Państwo Społeczne) forged by Wacław Makowski one of the contributors of The April Constitution of 1935. Makowski was a critic of both liberal and socialist type of state. He claimed that the former type is based on selfishness of the individuals that causes social conflicts, while the latter results in loss of a human individuality. As an alternative the concept of Social State was designed to incorporate advantages of these both systems while avoiding their drawbacks. Makowski believed activity of individuals conferred with certain degree of freedoms underpins the social development. The personal freedom of an individual as per this concept should be limited by freedom of another individual and the common good. In the event of a conflict of interest between the one of individual and the community the latter would supersede the former. The state whose form depends of the current demands of society had not only to settle disputes and to harmonize the activities of individuals and various associations but also actively pursue the goal of common good. However state activities should not replace the individual activity but rather support it. According to Makowski Social State would allow to reach the third goal of a French Revolution slogan – fraternity. He believed that liberal state sought to bring into life the principles of equality and freedom, bypassing the requirement of human cooperation, which contemporarily were regarded as obsolete and not fitting to reality

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