Communism as religious phenomenon: Phenomenology and catholic socialism in Yugoslav Slovenia, 1927-42

Abstract

Between the years 1927 and 1942 the Slovene Catholic socialist, Edvard Kocbek, developed a political philosophy that drew on biocentric and phenomenological concepts to promote a project of social revolution and spiritual renewal. This philosophy underpinned his eventual involvement in the anti-fascist partisan struggle of WWII. Through an excavation of Kocbek’s interwar thought, this article highlights the breadth of phenomenology’s political applications and the plurality of political visions within interwar Catholic thought.