Author
Józef Milewski 1859-1916

Born in Poznań on the 20th of March, 1859, into an impoverished aristocratic family. He completed Saint Mary Magdalene Secondary School in his hometown before taking up legal studies at the Jagiellonian University which he then continued in Berlin and Leipzig. He received the degree of Doctor of Laws in Leipzig in 1883 and qualified himself as assistant professor at the Jagiellonian University in 1886. Two years later he became an associate professor of economy and finances at the Department of Law of the latter institution, and was promoted to full professor in 1892. In 1896, Milewski was chosen to be a member of Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences. In his scientific work, he focused upon the matters of monetary system and fiscal policy and was the first Polish academician in the field of economy who took up the ‘social question’ and demonstrated that the system of laissez-faire was not enough to overcome social conflicts; hence he declared for social reform. That current in his output was represented by, among others, the following works: Obecny stan kwestii monetarnej (1886), W sprawie waluty (1887), Bankructwo monometalizmu (1889), W sprawie reformy waluty w Austro-Węgrzech (1892), Stosunki monetarne w drugiej połowie XIX wieku (1894), Cła opiekuńcze (1888), Budżet i kredyt publiczny (1898), Polityka ekonomiczna (1905; co-authored by Włodzimierz Czerkawski). In 1894-1900 Milewski was a deputy to the Imperial Council of the Austrian Empire; then in 1901-1914 he held a seat on the Diet of Galicia and Lodomeria in Lviv on behalf of Kraków Conservative circles; as an opponent of Michał Bobrzyński’s policies, he entered into friendly relations with the environment of Eastern Galician Conservatives (the so-called ‘Podolacy’). During the First World War and the Russian occupation of Eastern Galicia, Milewski stayed in Lviv. In June 1915 he was taken hostage by the Russian authorities and deported deep into Russia. He died in exile in Kyiv on the 18th of January 1916. His most comprehensive political treatise was Zagadnienie polityki narodowej (1909; reprinted in 1913). In 1905, together with Michał Bobrzyński and Władysław Leopold Jaworski, he published a book entitled Z dziejów odrodzenia politycznego Galicji 1859-1873 – a selection of sources illustrating the beginnings of Galician Autonomy. His pamphlets W sprawie utrzymania ziemi w naszem ręku (1884), Zdobycze i iluzje postępu w XIX wieku (1901), or Wykład o kulturze politycznej (1912) were also very important publications.

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