Folwark

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Folwark (Lithuanian: Palivarkas) is a Polish word for the giant farms (in Latin, "latifundia") that were operated in the Crown of Poland from the 14th century and Grand Duchy of Lithuania since 15th century, from the second half of 16th century in the joint state Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and survived after partitions of Commonwealth in Russian Empire until the early 20th. Purpose of Folwarks was to produce surplus produce for export. The first folwarks were created on church- and monastery-owned grounds; later they were adopted by both nobility (szlachta) and rich peasants (singular: sołtys).

The term "folwark" came into the Polish language in the 14th century from the German "Vorwerk" ("farmhouse before a manor or city").

Creation of the folwarks was boosted by growing demand for grain and the profitability of its export, both to Western Europe and inside Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. This in turn led to the creation of serfdom, when land owners discovered that instead of money-based rent and taxes it was more profitable to force the peasantry to work on folwarks. Folwark-based grain export was an important part of the economy of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

In Poland serfdom was regulated (and increased) by the Act of Piotrków and Act of Toruń. With the fall of agriculture goods prices in the end of 17th century, the folwark economy was in crisis, and szlachta attempts to increase production by increasing folwarks' area (usually by appropriating peasant lands) and labour (usually by increasing work demand for peasants) only compounded the economic crisis and further worsened the fate of the peasants, who had been, until then, no poorer than their average counterparts in Western Europe.

In Lithuania serfdom was fully established during Wallach reform in the middle of 16th century.

Until the end of the 18th century folwarks remained the basis for szlachta economic and political power. After the abolition of serfdom in Poland (1807, by Napoleon), folwarks used paid labor.

Folwarks were abolished by the People's Republic of Poland with the PKWN decree of 6 September 1944 about agricultural reform. After the end of Second World War folwarks were nationalised (resulting in PGRs - state-owned folwarks, Polish Państwowe Gospodarstwo Rolne) or partitioned, usually with no or little compensation to their owners.