Personality
We are stunned by the extraordinary scope of activities in the
most varied fields of theory and policy. What has kept all
these activities together? The basic inspiration of Kalecki's
work was his socialist conviction: his revulsion against the
iniquities and brutalities of the existing capitalist
society and his wish for a better system. For him this
wish did not contradict work for reforms, such as full
employment, if they improved the daily life of workers
and at the same time strengthened their backbone. Personally
he led a modest life. He did not want to own anything, not
even books. He certainly showed no wish to ingratiate himself
with any of the powers that be.
A very powerful personality behind an unassuming appearance,
he was a very kind and sympathetic man and at the same time
quite uncompromising when his convictions were involved.
Witness to this were the clashes with personalities and
institutions which sometimes marked stations in his life.
In daily life he was most sociable, open to contacts and
interested in people, an indefatigable talker whose brain never
ceased to process the stream of daily events. The results of
his astounding political analyses came across through his
powerful voice like the clutter of a machine gun. His comments
and predictions were often felt to be pessimistic but they