Dickstein (Dykstajn), Szymon

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DICKSTEIN (Dykstajn), SZYMON

DICKSTEIN (Dykstajn), SZYMON (pseudonym Jan Mlot ; 1858–1884), Polish naturalist and socialist theoretician. Born in Warsaw, he took special interest in new trends in natural science and was one of the translators of the works of Darwin and Spencer and was active in socialist circles. The growing repression of Polish socialists led him to immigrate in 1878 to Switzerland and later to France. Though at first influenced by anarchist ideas, Dickstein subsequently became a Marxist and joined the "First Proletariat" (the Polish Marxist Party). He maintained close ties with leading Russian revolutionaries including Plekhanov and devoted himself to popularizing Marxist socialism. In 1881 he published one of the first popular versions of Marx's Kapital and in the following year translated several works of Ferdinand Lassalle into Polish. His activities as a popularizer and press columnist had a great influence on the ideology of the first workers' parties in Poland.

[Abraham Wein]