Marxism & Education

Index to the works of Marxists and others on education, cognitive psychology and child development. Vygotsky teaching

Because Marxists have tended to approach the whole range of psychological issues — development, feeling, neurosis, pathology, personality and character — from the point of view of cognitive and linguistic development, much of the material in this subject archive is also found in the more comprehensive Psychology Subject Archive. Likewise, for Marxists, there has never been a sharp line between social and individual development, so social theory penetrates deeply into both psychology and educational theory.

The Marxist approach to education is broadly constructivist, and emphasises activity, collaboration and critique, rather than passive absorption of knowledge, emulation of elders and conformism; it is student-centred rather than teacher centred, but recognises that education cannot transcend the problems and capabilities of the society in which it is located.

This archive lists the works of Marxist and some non-Marxist writers on teaching and learning to be found on the Marxists Internet Archive.

Early ideas on Socialist Education

Theses On Feuerbach #3, Marx 1845
Communist Manifesto, Marx 1848
Juvenile and Child Labour,
International Workingmen's Association 1866
On General Education, Speech by Marx August 1869
Economic Manuscripts of 1861-63, MArx
Section 9 (Factory Acts), Capital, Chapter 15, Marx 1867
Section 9 (Factory Acts), Capital, Chapter 15, Marx 1867
Productive Labour, Capital, Chapter 16, Marx 1867
On Education, Mikhail Bakunin 1869
The Struggle of Woman for Education, Bebel 1879
The Socialist System of Education, Bebel 1879
Socialism and Education, May Wood Simmons 1901
The Material Basis of Education, Lena Morrow Lewis 1912
Self-Education of the Workers, Anatoly Lunacharsky 1918
Independent Working Class Education – Thoughts and Suggestions, Eden and Cedar Paul 1918
Bolshevism v Democracy in Education, Eden and Cedar Paul 1918
Education of the Masses, Sylvia Pankhurst, 1918

Soviet Ideas on Education

Decree on Child Welfare, Alexandre Kollontai 1918
To All Who Teach, Anatoly Lunacharsky 1918
Church and School in the Soviet Republic, Nikolai Bukharin, 1919
Communism and Education,
from The ABC of Communism,
by Bukharin and Preobrazhensky 1920

Lenin on Education

What Can be Done for Public Education?, Lenin 1914
Speech at first All-Russian Congress on Education, Lenin 1918
To People's Commissariat of Education, Lenin 1919
Work of People's Commissariat for Education, Lenin 1921

Reports on Soviet Education

Russian Chilren, from Six Red Months in Russia, Louise Bryant 1918
Soviet Education, from Russia in 1919, Arthur Ransome
Education and Culture, My Disillusionment in Russia, Emma Goldman 1922
Children of Revolution, Anna-Louise Strong 1925
Education in Soviet Russia, The First Time in History, Anna-Louise Strong 1925
The Revolution in Education and Culture, Soviet Russia: a living record and a history, Wm Chamberlin 1929
Family Relations Under the Soviets, Trotsky 1932

Education in Stalinist Russia

On Communist Education. Selected Speeches and Articles, M. I. Kalinin 1926-1945

Learning to Live, (PDF) A. S. Makarenko 1936-1938
The Road to Life (An Epic of Education), Volume 1, A. S. Makarenko 1933-1935
The Road to Life (An Epic of Education), Volume 2.
Lectures to Parents, A. S. Makarenko 1937
Problems of Soviet School Education, (PDF) A. S. Makarenko
Makarenko: His Life and Work, (PDF) A. S. Makarenko

Makarenko (1888-1939) reflects some ideas which were characteristic of Stalin's Soviet Union. Nonetheless, his ideas were very radical and are much admired by progressive educators to this day, especially in the education of disadvantaged children. The psychologists of the Vygotsky School, whose writings predominate in what follows, were a minority current in the Soviet Union; they were not allowed to travel or publish overseas and their influence on the Soviet education system was limited.

Early Childhood and Play

Play and its role in the mental development of the Child, Vygotsky 1933
The Construction of Reality in the Child, Jean Piaget 1955
Piaget's theory of child language and thought, Vygotsky 1934
Comment on Vygotsky, Piaget 1962
The Child and his Behavior, Luria 1930
The Origins of Thought in the Child, Henri Wallon 1947
Genetic Psychology, Henri Wallon 1956
Summerhill - A Radical Approach to Child Rearing, Erich Fromm 1960
The Psychological Development of the Child, Henri Wallon 1965
Stages in the Mental Development of the Child, Elkonin 1971

Adolescence and Ethical Development

Ethical Behavior, from Educational Psychology Vygotsky 1926
Esthetic Behavior, from Educational Psychology Vygotsky 1926
Development of thinking and concept formation in adolescence, Vygotsky 1931
Imagination and creativity of the adolescent, Vygotsky 1931
Vygotsky's tool-and-result methodology, Fred Newman and Lois Holzman

Society and Individual Development

The Psychological and Sociological Study of the Child, Henri Wallon 1947
The Influence of Social Factors in Child Development, Erich Fromm 1958
Human Nature and Social Theory, Erich Fromm 1969
Man in Marxist Theory, Lucian Seve 1974
Cognitive Development: Its Social and Cultural Foundations, Luria 1976

Cognition and Foundations of Learning

The Genetic Roots of Thought and Speech, Vygotsky 1934
Thought and Word, Vygotsky 1934
Activity and Knowledge, Ilyenkov 1974
Activity and Consciousness, Leontyev 1977
Activity, Consciousness, and Personality 1978:
Leontev's Introduction
Marxism and Psychological Science,
Activity and Personality,
Motives, Emotions, and Personality.
Much Learning does Not Teach Understanding, Vasili Davydov
Types of Generalization in Instruction: Logical and Psychological Problems in the Structuring of School Curricula, Vasili Davydov