Tadeusz Kowalik: Personality and Living Ideas

In this essay, the author reflects on the personality and enduring ideas of Tadeusz Kowalik—not only as a scholar and a classic of Polish economic thought, but also as a friend and a moral compass. Kowalik belonged to a generation shaped by war and social transformation, and he brought to his work both a working-class background and the intellectual rigor of a committed humanist. While rooted in the tradition of real socialism, his thinking was never doctrinaire. Influenced by Keynes, Polanyi, and the ideals of the welfare state, he consistently rejected neoliberal orthodoxy. He championed a mixed economy, social justice, and democratic pluralism, and believed in the guiding power of real utopias—bold but grounded visions for a better society. Kowalik viewed the post-1989 transformation of Poland with deep concern, criticising it as a turn away from solidarity and egalitarian values. He was attentive to the needs and voices of the underrepresented and saw grassroots democratic movements as legitimate expressions of popular sovereignty—not as mere populism. In recalling Kowalik’s legacy, the author emphasises his unwavering moral integrity, intellectual independence, and social engagement. He argues that today, in a world increasingly shaped by inequality and market fundamentalism, Kowalik’s ideas—of redistribution, pluralism, and the welfare state—remain not only relevant, but urgently necessary.