Exporting Socialism or Searching for the “Third Way”?

Abstract

The article explores the perception of India in socialist-era Polish travel reportage, focusing in particular on the political debates inscribed in the Cold War divisions. Four books of reportage from India, by Jerzy Ros, Wiesław Górnicki, Janusz Gołębiowski, and Jerzy Putrament, serve as primary material for this research. The reporters, visiting India on official assignments, discuss the relations between the so-called Second and Third World and India’s take on socialism. While the analyzed texts do not present a uniform vision, the reporters’ narratives reveal an interesting relation of ambivalence: Indians are seen at times as socialist brothers, but at other times a rather patronizing attitude prevails.

Keywords

• Poland
• India
• Cold War
• Socialism
• Post-colonialism