François Mauriac, Russian revolution and communism

Abstract

The article analyzes the attitude of François Mauriac to the Russian revolution of 1917, communism, and the Soviet experience of building socialism. At the center of the research is Mauriac’s intellectual and political biography between two World Wars. The intellectual path of a famous Catholic writer was first associated with his participation in “Sillon” and his sympathies for “Action Française”, but also with acquaintance with Russian literature, comprehension of events in Russia, communism, participation in meetings with Russian religious emigration (for example, decades in Pontigny). Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, François Mauriac, remaining a convinced Catholic, survived evolution from the position of a tough conservative who rejected any cooperation with communism to a writer and publicist who condemned the terror during the Spanish Civil War, who became a member of the Resistance and advocated for cooperation with the USSR in the fight against fascism. The article is based on the materials of the literary work of François Mauriac, his articles in French newspapers, memoirs.