Historical Materialism: Theory, Methodology, Problems

189 Pages·1977·4.19 MB·English

by  "Social Sciences Today" Editorial Board

PROBLEMS OF THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD (55)

- HISTORICAL MATERIALISM:
THEORY, METHODOLOGY, PROBLEMS

"Social Sciences Today" Bditorial Board
USSR Academy of Sciences
Moscow, 1977
W,, Academieian, ~ehatrman -
t., b.fa.Ciet.), Deputy Chairman
aoutive Heoretary
KOMKOV G.D.
D.Sc. (Hist. 3,
KOSTYUSHKO’I.1., -
D.Sc. (Hist. )
UBER Academy of Sciences KOVALCHENKO I.D.,
BROMLEY Yu.v., Corresponding Member,
Academician USSR Academy of Sciences .
KUMANEV Veass
DUDINSKY I. X”
D.Sc. (Econ. ) D.Sc. ( Hist.)
KUZNETSOV D.V:
FROLOY I.T.,
Cand.Sc, (Hist.}
Corresponding. Member,
USSR Academy of Sciences MARKOV D.F.,
' GAFUROV B.G., Corresponding Menber,
Academician . USSR Academyo f Sciences
GAPOCHKA M.P., MCHEDLOV M.P:, ©
Cand.Sc. (Philos. ) D.Sc, (Philos. )
GROMYKO An.A., — -MOMDJAN Kh.N;
D.Sc.(Hist.) . D.Sc. (Philos. 5
__ NAROCHNITSKY ‘A.L.,
GVISHIANI D.M.,
Corresponding Member, Academician
. USSR Academyo f Sciences
OKLADNIKOV A.P. ’
INOZEMTSEV N.N.,. Academician
Academician | PIOTROVSRY B.B.,
KAPUSTIN E.I., Academician
Corresponding Member, SENIN M.V.,
USSR Academy of Sciences D.Sc.( Econ.)
KHACHATUROV 7.5S.,
SOBOLEV A.I.;
Academician .
. D.Sc.(Philos,).
KHRAPCHENKO M.B..,
TIKAVINSEY S.Le,
Academician Corresponding Member, .
USSR Acadeny of Sciences
© Social Science s Today ,1977
Reprints authorised with written permission
from the Biitorial Board
TIMOFEYEV T.T., VOLSEY V.V:;
Corresponding Member, D.Se.(Econ. 3
USSR Academy of Sciences
TRUKHANOVSEY V.G., ZHILIN P.A.,
Corresponding Member,
Corresponding Member,
USSR Academy of Sciences
USSR Academyof Sciences
VINOGRADOV V.A., ZHUKOV EM.
Corresponding Member, Academician
USSR Academy of Sciences

Executive Secretary of the “Problems of the
Contemporary World" series
M.Goncharuk
Editorial Office: 33/12 Arbat,
Moscow 121002, USSR
CONTENTS
FOLCWOLE .eescecsccnscccsceces 5
P.Fedoseyev Marxism-Leninism is the Firm
Foundation of Soviet Social
ScLence..cccerccccsscceserveee 8
B,Ukraintsev Concerning the Main Lines of
Research at the Institute of
Philosophy of the USSR Academy
Of SCLCNCEScccccccceseseccveee 295
D.Gvishiani The Scientific and Technologi~ .
cal Revolution and Progress... 39
V.Afanasyev Scientific Management of
Sockety.ccccccccccccccscencees 80
M.Rutkevich The Social Structure of Deve—
loped Socialist Society....... 79
Kh. Momd jan Phe Dectrine of Socio-Economic
Formations and Its Adversaries
TOdRY.cceccccscccccsecsecescee 99
V.Tolstykh The Way of Life as a Social and
Philosophical Concept..sccosee1i22
L.Buyeva Secial Relations and Communica~
CLONsccccccccccvcesscsscssssse 146
E.Faddeyev What Tsiolkovsky Thought of
Mankind's Immortality.....eee+ 165

Consulting Editor Yu.Pletnikov,D.Sc.(Hist.)
Edited by Yu.Eremin, Cand.Sc. (Philos. )and
V.Lorentson, Cand.Sc. (Pedagog. )
Published in English,French,German and Spanish
FOREWORD"
This volume of papers by Soviet philosophers is intend=
ed to describe the main directions of study in historical
materialisem-and the extent to which some of the present~day
problens of the social sciences have been elaborated in the
USSR.
As a result of a creative application of materialist
dialectics to the study of society, -historical materialisn
gives a genuinely scientific understanding of the essence
and content of the historical process. By examining all
historical events from a consistently materialist view-
point, Marxist social scientists shed light on the inner
link of these events with the basic laws of social develop-
ment, and show the main orientations and conditions of so-
cial progress today. The significance of Marxism-Leninism
as the immutable methodological basis of Soviet social sci-~
ence and the main direction of study by Soviet philosophers
are considered in the papers of P.Fedoseyev, Vice-President
of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and G.Ukraintsev, Director
of the Institute of Philosophy of the USSR Academy of Sci-
ences.
Today it is of the utmost importance to have a correct
understanding of the significance of the scientific and
technological revolution, of the qualitative reshaping of
the material and technical basis of production and of sci-~
ence's conversion into a direct productive force of social
a5 a
progress. Under socialism scientific and technological
achievements serve the interests of the whole of society,
ensuring the steady rise of the people's living standard
and helping to promote their creative initiatives. The de-
pendence of the social effects of the scientific and tech-
nological revolution on the economic system and the essen-
tial distinction between the socialist and capitalist econ-
omic systems are shown in the papers of D.Gvishiani and
V.Afanasyev. ,
fo a large extent the scientific and. technological
revolution intensifies the objective tendency towards the
internationalisation of social life. As a result of machine
industry and comprehensive mechanisation and automation,
some features of similarity are observed in socialist and
capitalist countriesin the production of consumer goods
and in the forms of the organisational and technical mana~
gement of the economy. Western philosophers and sociologists
use these similarities to draw far-reaching conclusions .
about socialism ana capitalism allegedly converging into a
Single social system. Proceeding from the Marxist-Leninist
teaching on socio-economic formations and on the decisive
vole of the mode of production in the shaping of a definite
system of social relations, Soviet scientists characterise
socialism as a new social system that differs fundamentally
from the capitalist system. The methodological importance
of the Marxist-Leninist teaching of socio-economic systems:
for a scientific analysis of the fundamental distinction
between the socialist and capitalist systems is show in
the paper by Kh.Momdjan and also in other papers in this
volume.
Socialism is the first phase of the communist socio-
economic formation. Quite naturally, therefore, Soviet phi-
losophers and sociologists concentrate on studying new phen~
omena in the development of social relations wonder social-
ism. Mature socialist society is a natural stageo f the for-
mation of the communist system. It signifies the maturity
-~6 =
level of socialist relations at which these relations gra~
dually évolve into communist relations. M.Rutkevich,
¥.Tolstykh and L.Buyeva- analyse different aspects of social
relationsin a mature socialist society, showing their most
essential featureasnd trendso f further development.
In its development Marxist-Leninist philosophy. has al-
ways drawn upon the achievements of the natural sciences
in gaining a knowledge of the laws of nature, of the entire
material world. In tum, leading natural scientists, who
spontaneously adopted materialistic positions, frequently
arrived at general philosophical conclusions that are con~'
sonant with the Marxist explanationof the laws of the
development of nature and society, In a paper on K.Taiolkov-
sky, the founder of the science of space flights, E. Paddeyev
shows that his ideas on mankind's immortality tie in with
the propositions of dialectical materialism. on society as
a social form of the movement and developnent of matter.
This volume has been prepared by the "Social Sciences
Today" Editorial Board jointly with the Institute of Philos~
ophy of the USSR Academy of Sciences and is being published

in the series "Problems of the Contemporary World".
MARXISM-LENINISM IS THE FIRM FOUNDATION
. OF SOVIET SOCIAL SCIENCE

(The inaugural address given at the Jubilee Session
of the Social Sciences Section of the Presidium of
the USSR Academy of Sciences, October 1975)
Academician Pyotr FEDOSEYEV
_ This session is part of the nation-wide celebration
of an outstanding event—the 250th anniversary of the foun=
dation in Russia of the Academy of Sciences, our leading
scientific institutioannd the headquarters of scientific
thought in our country.
The stream of greetings addressed to the Academy from

all parts of our country and coming from Party and govern-
ment bodies, mass organisations of working people, from
factories and state and collective farms have once more
confirmed the unbreakable union between science and the
people in a socialist state. The full assembly of the Acad-
emy of Sciences held in the Palace of Congresses of the’
Moscow Kremlin bore eloquent testimony to that unity.
The speech delivered there by Leonid Brezhnev, Gener-
al Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee”, and the pre=
sentation of the Order of Lenin to the USSR Academy of Sci~
ences were an outstanding event in the latter's life and
in the history of science in our country.
These tokensof attention to the Academy are not only
recognition of the services it has rendered ‘but also em-
phasise its responsibility to the country.
* See Social Sciences, Moscow, No.2, 1976.

-~ Bm
Soviet scientists see in Leonid Brezhnev's speech the
principled propositions of the strategy of scientific search.
‘The Academy's prime task consists in basic research for the .
creation of the technologya.nd industrial processes of the
future and, at the same time, in research into the social
processes of the emergence of the society of the future and
the moulding of a new type of man.
The glowing and inspiring words spoken by Leonid
Brezhnev have enhanced Soviet scientists’ profound consci-
ousness of. their duties to the people.
-The Academy's 250th birthday has becomean extensive
reviewo f our country's scientific achievements.
- Since its inception, our Academy has been the nerve
centre for the organisationof basic research in the main
‘branches of natural scienceT.h e Academy's scientists have
played an active part in the study and utilisation of the
country's natural wealth, and have conducted important re-
search also in the area of the social sciences, in parti-
cular in our country's history, Russian language, the lit-
erature and culture of the Russian people and the other
peoples of Russia.
The Academy of. Sciences has put into the forefront of
sclentific progress throughout the world a number of out-
standing men of science, who have brought fame to our coun~
try not only by their outstanding discoveries and theories
but also by the establishment of fundamentally new trends
in. science. These achievements have been intimately linked
with the progressive traditions of theoretical thought in
our country. The materialist traditions in natural science,
as embodied in the works of Lomonosov, Mendeleyev, Sechenov,
Pavlov and other illustrious scientists, have enabled Rus—~
sian science to stand in the van of many trends in the
theoretical subjugation of nature.