Miroslav Krleža, one of the most influential literary and intellectual figures of 20th-century Croatia and the broader Yugoslav region, was a committed leftist and a passionate observer of political change. In Journey to Russia (Put u Rusiju), first published in 1926, Krleža offers a vivid and deeply personal account of his six-month journey through the Soviet Union between late 1924 and early 1925.

Driven by his political fervor and admiration for the revolutionary ideals of socialism, Krleža embarked on this journey with great expectations, eager to witness first-hand how a new society was being forged in the wake of the 1917 Revolution. What he found, however, was a country still struggling to define itself, caught between utopian aspirations and harsh realities. Traveling through train stations, cities, and remote villages, he engaged with a wide range of people—from workers and intellectuals to bureaucrats and everyday citizens—seeking to understand how they perceived the colossal transformation unfolding around them.

His impressionistic reportage captures the contradictions of a nation in flux: mass demonstrations alongside religious festivities, fervent revolutionary rhetoric clashing with the weight of historical tradition, and a collective optimism tempered by the hardships of daily life. His reflections are not merely journalistic; they reveal the inner turmoil of a writer grappling with the tension between ideology and reality, between the dream of a just society and the compromises demanded by power.

Nearly a century later, Journey to Russia remains strikingly relevant. As the world once again turns its gaze to Russia in a time of geopolitical upheaval, Krleža’s acute observations on power, propaganda, and the fate of the individual within a vast ideological project feel eerily prescient. This masterfully crafted modernist travelogue, now available in audio format, invites contemporary listeners to experience history through the eyes of a brilliant and restless mind, offering both a portrait of a pivotal era and a meditation on the enduring cycles of political and social transformation.

Miroslav Krleža, Croatian writer, (Zagreb, July 7, 1893 – Zagreb, December 29, 1981). He was the author of the most significant texts in the Croatian literature of the 20th century and the actuator of many cultural initiatives funded on the critical awareness of the Croatian society, which made his opus one of the central determinants in the building up of modern Croatia. Working in conditions of pronounced social division regarding fundamental problems of the community, he succeeded, though not avoiding conflicts, to shape his primary, aesthetic position as indubitable both for supporters and adversaries alike, so that the integrality of his work and thoughts was included in the crucial presumption of the national cultural standard.

Publication of this audiobook was cofunded by the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia.

This audiobook features excerpts from the soundtracks of the films Three Songs for Lenin and Enthusiasm by Dziga Vertov.