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Since 1989, it has been easy to think of Cold War Europe in strictly Manichean terms. However, the division of Europe in two was far from absolute as can be seen by examining the history of the commitment of the ‘spiritual’ French and Polish avant-gardes. These two milieux negotiated the 'true' face of socialism as well as the limits of Christian commitment to the socialist enterprise for approximately forty years. As for ideas, the men of Esprit were the masters in the eyes of the Polish Catholic intellectual left, especially those associated with the monthly Więź (Link), founded in 1958 with Esprit as its model. Nonetheless, at a practical level, it was the Poles who showed the way for Esprit as of 1956, through the birth and rise of the union Solidarity. The Polish Catholic left reshaped the spirit of the times as well as the events themselves; at each step of the way, their ties with Esprit supported their efforts.