Intellectual Sources of Parisian “Kultura”: Adolf Bocheński’s Wartime Political Thought

Abstract

A significant aspect of the study of political thought is the recognition of its creativity, expressed in the ability to evaluate the past critically and to formulate groundbreaking ideas at moments of radical social and political changes. Undoubtedly, Adolf Bocheński’s political thought in the texts published during World War II had this attribute. The ideas that Bocheński produced were a vital source of inspiration for the program of the magazine called Parisian “Kultura”, which was the most influential center of Polish political emigration after 1945. The forerunning political thought of Bocheński inspired the critical approach of Jerzy Giedroyc’s magazine to the social system of the Second Republic and a willingness to support transformations aimed at making social groups hitherto excluded from active participation in the life of the national community more aware of their rights as citizens. Bocheński’s neo-federalist concepts were even more inspiring. He was undoubtedly a precursor of the concepts of eastern policy of Parisian “Kultura”. When designing the post-war policy of Polish emigration, he postulated linking the Polish cause with the fight for national independence of nations subjugated by the Soviet Union, in particular with the idea of Ukraine’s independence.