(1862~1930)German entrepreneur and economist with Protestant father and Wallon mother. Grown under the multilingual circumstance, he did his military service and began his business after two years' stay in Spain, and at 24(in 1886) he set for Argentina where he would publish two pamphlets titled "the essence of the things" and "la nationalization of the currency," followed by the book "The application and the Control of the Currency which respond to Modern Commerce's Demand"(Die Anpassung des Geldes an die Bedüerfnisse des modernen Verkehrs, 1897) and the pamphlet "Argentina's Monetary Question"(La cuestión monetaria argentina, in Spanish) to oppose to the government's deflation policy. Even politicians ignored it, the very economic chaos Gesell had predicted attacked this South-American country. In 1900 he bought a farm in Les Hauts-Genéveys, Switzerland, where he'd spend six years as a farmer. He came back to Argentina after the death of his brother who also had immigrated there, and published "The Monetary Surplus in Argentina" and announced "Positive Money Policy" with Frankfurt. In 1911 he went back to Germany to write "The Natural Economic Order"("Die Natürliche Wirkschaftsordnung", German, English and Spanish(even partly)versions are available on the Web) accomplished in 1916. With this book he got famous as an economist, and did three important conferences: "Money and Peace" in Berlin in 1916, "Freeland: The Element for the Peace" in Zurich in 1917 and "The Simplificación of the Governmental Organization after the Democratization" in 1919 in Berlin. On April 7 1919 he took part in the Landauer regime which would be knocked out only a week after by communists who killed Landauer. Gesell himself was accused too for having participated in the Communist movement after the collapse of the communist coup, but he gained his innocence thanks to his eloquency. After that he was engaged in the books like "The Politic, Economic and Financial Condition to Found the Monetary Bureau of Germany" and "International Volta Association" in 1920, "The Re-Formation of the United League and the Proposal to Alter the Versaille Treaty" and "A Proclamation to the German People" in 1921, "Practice Memorandum for the Labor Unions" and "Dictatorship in Emergency - An Appeal to the German Politicians" in 1922, "Proletarians' Armament" and "The Appearance of the Western World" in 1923 and "The Desolution of the State" in 1927. His theories on interest are highly appreciated by Keynes.
(mig@lime.plala.or.jp)