Silvio Gesell, Belgian merchant and economist (d. 1930)
Johann Silvio Gesell (German: [ɡəˈzɛl]; 17 March 1862 – 11 March 1930) was a German-Argentine merchant, theoretical economist, social activist, Georgist, anarchist, libertarian socialist, and founder of Freiwirtschaft. His economic prescriptions fit within the anti-capitalist free market framework of Liberal socialism. In 1900 he founded the magazine Geld-und Bodenreform (Monetary and Land Reform), but it soon closed for financial reasons. During one of his stays in Argentina, where he lived in a vegetarian commune, Gesell started the magazine Der Physiokrat together with Georg Blumenthal. In 1914, it closed due to censorship.

The Bavarian Soviet Republic, in which he participated, had a violent end and Gesell was detained for several months on a charge of treason, but was acquitted by a Munich court after a speech he gave in his own defence.