Kazimierz Kelles-Krauz was a Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 philosopher and sociologist, member of the Polish Socialist Party

Polish Socialist Party

The Polish Socialist Party was one of the most important Polish left-wing political parties from its inception in 1892 until 1948...

. He was one of the most significant Marxist thinkers at the end of the 19th century.

Kelles-Krauz was born in Szczebrzeszyn

Szczebrzeszyn

Szczebrzeszyn is a city in southeastern Poland in Lublin Voivodeship, in Zamość County, about 20 km west of Zamość. From 1975–1999, it was part of the Zamość Voivodeship administrative district. The town serves as the seat to Gmina Szczebrzeszyn. A 2004 census counted 5,357 inhabitants...

, Russian Empire

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

.

His greatest contribution to sociology

Sociology

Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...

 is the "law of retrospective revolution" according to which "the ideals with which each reform movement

Social movement

Social movements are a type of group action. They are large informal groupings of individuals or organizations focused on specific political or social issues, in other words, on carrying out, resisting or undoing a social change....

 tries to replace existing social norms are always similar to the norms of a more or less distant past".

Further reading

• Timothy D. Snyder, Nationalism, Marxism, and Modern Central Europe: A Biography of Kazimierz Kelles-Krauz (Harvard University Press, 1998);

External links

• Polish Philosophy Page: Kazimierz Kelles-Krauz, at the Internet Archive
  Internet Archive
  The Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...