ADOLF COSTE: REMEDIES AGAINST POVERTY OR SOCYAL HYGIENE [1887].

Description

This is the first Polish edition of the classic work of French economist and sociologist Adolphe Coste (1842-1901) – “Les moyens de combattre la misère” (“Remedies against Misery”), which was published in Paris in 1883. The Polish translation, by Ignacy Świętochowski (brother of the famous publicist Aleksander Świętochowski), was published in 1887 by Gebethner and Wolff in Warsaw.

Coste, a disciple and continuator of Frederic Le Play’s thought, in his work presents a comprehensive analysis of the causes of poverty and a program of socio-economic reforms aimed at its eradication. The author called for the creation of savings banks, mutual insurance companies, low-cost workers’ housing, as well as the reform of the tax system and the development of vocational education. The book was a landmark study in the field of social policy, and its Polish translation was part of the current of positivist reflection on the “workers’ question” and social reforms in the Kingdom of Poland.

The translator, Ignacy Swietochowski (1845-1900), was a physician, publicist and social activist, editor of the Medical Review and member of the Warsaw Medical Society. Coste’s publication, set against the backdrop of rapid industrial development and growing social inequality in 19th-century Europe, remains to this day a valuable document of the history of social thought and testimony to the reception of reformist ideas in Poland under the Partitions.

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