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

Marx

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

Kollontai

Decree on Child Welfare, Alexandra 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

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 Children, 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

Makarenko

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

Learning to Live, 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, A. S. Makarenko
Makarenko: His Life and Work, 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

Luria