Stanisław Grabski (1871–1949) combined his roles of politician, scientist and publicist. He was the brother of Władysław Grabski, the author of the 1924 currency reform. In his youth he was active in the socialist movement, but gradually approached the National Democracy camp. For many years he lectured economics at Lvov’s John Casimir University. During World War I he became a member of the Polish National Committee in Paris, in which he dealt with the issue of the future borders of Poland. He substantially contributed to the strengthening of the national independence movement at the dawn of the Second Republic. After the end of the Polish-Soviet war he was one of the main negotiators during the peace talks in Minsk and Riga. Grabski twice held the post of Minister of Religious Denominations and Public Education. He co-created the framework of the Concordat signed with the Holy See in 1925. After the May Coup he almost completely withdrew from political activity. In September 1939 he was arrested by the NKVD and sentenced to time in a hard labour camp. He was freed in 1941 as a result of the Sikorski- Mayski Agreement and spent the following years of World War II in London, holding the post of Chairman of the National Council of Poland. After the end of the war he returned to Poland. As a result of the activities of the communist authorities, who created the appearances of preparations for free elections, Stanisław Grabski became one of the deputy chairmen of the enlarged façade State National Council. After the falsification of the elections by the communists in January 1947 and the liquidation of the State National Council, he devoted his time exclusively to academic work. He died in 1949.

As an economist and thinker, Stanisław Grabski perceived economic life as an organic national commonwealth connecting individuals with society. Thus he created his own socio-economic programme. He was a supporter of the historical school of economics. He criticised both liberalism and Marxism, seeing in them directions falsely describing reality. Although he was in favour of an economy based on the existence of a large number of small and mediumsized enterprises, he assigned an important role to the state as a factor regulating important social and economic issues. His life’s work was the ten-volume “Social Economy”. Other works of Grabski worth mentioning are the books “Nation and State”, “Nation State”, and “The Crisis in State Thought”.

The obverse of the coin features a stylised image of a bar chart created from a floral ornament (axes) and ears of wheat (bars), as well as the title of Stanisław Grabski’s most important work: “Ekonomia społeczna” (Social Economy). The reverse features an image of Stanisław Grabski and the dates of his birth and death.

Grzegorz Jeż

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