Kandyd w potrzasku. Juliana Bruna długa podróż z Brukseli do Moskwy (1937–1941)

Abstract

Julian Brun (1886–1942) was one of the most recognizable activists of the Communist Party of Poland in the interwar period. His journalism beyond the narrow confines of party debates was highly regarded. An example is his studies of the works of Stefan Żeromski and the national question, which can be seen as an attempt to get closer to the Polish intelligentsia and to take a new look at topics that had been treated uniformly and without subtlety in the KPP until then. Entering the party leadership in the mid-1930s, Brun clearly exposed himself to Stalinist repression, which was to lead to the liquidation of the organization and the murder of its leaders. This, however, did not happen. The text is a study of the situation in which Julian Brun found himself between 1937 and 1941, staying abroad – in Belgium and France – without a party assignment, in constant anxiety about his own future. In addition to reflecting on the biographical situation, the article, written on the basis of documents from Polish and Russian archives, also brings knowledge about the functioning of the mechanisms of the Comintern apparatus.