Author of The Law of Accumulation and Breakdown, who derived a breakdown tendency of capitalism from the falling rate of profit
Grossman was born in Kraków, Austria-Hungary, into an assimilated Jewish family. Before the First World War he led the Jewish Social Democratic Party of Galicia, and in 1919 he prepared Poland's first population census at the Central Statistical Office. In 1920 he joined the Communist Workers' Party of Poland, but after repeated imprisonment he moved in 1925 to the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt. In The Law of Accumulation and Breakdown of the Capitalist System (1929) he argued for a breakdown tendency through absolute overaccumulation as the rate of profit falls. Fleeing the Nazis, he lived in exile in Paris, London and New York; in 1949 he became professor of political economy at Leipzig University in East Germany, joined the Socialist Unity Party that year, and died there in 1950.
Also known as: Henryk Grossmann
Activities and affiliations
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1920–
Communist Party of Poland (KPP)
Scholarship and theory -
1922–1950
Scholarship and theory
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1949–1950
Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED)
Scholarship and theory -
1949–1950
East Germany state institutionsProfessor of Political Economy, Leipzig University
Scholarship and theory
Career Timeline
- 1919–1921.06Polish Central Statistical Office
- 1925.11–1933Institute for Social Research, Frankfurt
- 1929The Law of Accumulation and Breakdown of the Capitalist System
- 1949–1950Professor at Leipzig University