Abstract
The thought and action of Polish economist Oskar Lange (1904-1965) are presented based on novel research that contextualizes the historical origin of his methodology of how to interact with mainstream economic theory. By taking into consideration his entire path towards a general theoretical system in association to his political praxis, especially its most critical stage as co-organizer of the Polish Popular Republic at the end of the Second World War, we conclude that Lange initiated the construction of a system of his own. It intends to be the totality of economic science and its main characteristic is the absorption of external unfriendly elements to capture their strengths. We call this approach “Langean Antropophagy”, a strategy of struggle against capitalist ideology in economic science which expresses the contradictory, exploratory and unfinished character of his masterpiece, Political Economy. It is in that context that one must analyze his creative liberty within Marxism, since Lange did not think of himself as a rebel free thinker, but as follower of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Marx, who he considered to be the greatest authority of all times in Political Economy.
Keywords
Oskar Lange; 1904-1965; History of economic thought; Poland