At the crossroads of Marxism and structuralism in modern Polish literary theory (1918–1939): The case of Warsaw and Vilnius student circles

Abstract

In this paper, I aim to determine the place of Marxism in Polish literary studies of the 20th century. The starting point is (1) Czesław Miłosz’s comment on the identity of Marxism and structuralism; (2) the absence of the term ‘Marxism’ in the names of Polish workers’ parties and pro-Marxist academic discourse (except an insignificant short period directly after the Second World War when Marxist rhetoric prevailed). Referring to political history, I suggest an explanation of this state of affairs, revealing the function of Marxism under different names in philosophical texts from the beginning of the 20th century. To support my argument, I draw on documents from the newly discovered archive of Dawid Hopensztand. I use this archive to reconstruct his social biography and justify the main thesis about the permanent presence of Marxism in the works of such thinkers as Leszek Kołakowski, Zygmunt Bauman, and even Czesław Miłosz.