Pobeda na istoričeskom fronte [26-08-1937] - [D033]

Concise description of the directive:

In the field of literary theory and literary criticism, we must follow the same line as the new textbook on the history of the USSR. Until recently, vernacular sociology and various scholastic methods were unabashedly endorsed; one need only recall the harmful activity of a whole group of vernacular sociologists who collaborated with the Literaturnaya Entsiklopediya (Encyclopaedia of Literature) and Bolshaya Sovetskaya Entsiklopediya (Great Soviet Encyclopaedia), including Stefan Mokulsky and Dmitry Blagoy. They altered the true history of literature by considering it from Bogdanov’s anti-Leninist point of view. In fighting against Lenin’s reflex theory, they promoted Bogdanovian subjectivism by replacing the analysis of historical facts in literature and the works of individual writers with standardised sociological models. By measuring the works of the most important authors of all times and peoples by these sociological standards, vulgar sociologists impoverish the content of their texts and falsify their ideological positions. According to vulgar sociologists, the entire culture of the past, without exception, was created by exploiters in order to exploit the people. In analysing literary works, they completely ignore the real class struggle and the power of the people as a real creative force. The writings of vulgar sociologists are examples of a reactionary, anti-Marxist approach to cultural heritage and literary history. As can be seen from their essays, the best part of world literature belongs to various strata of the nobility and bourgeoisie. From this perspective, the great writers of the past appear to be faithful servants of these classes. Therefore, the creation of a true Marxist history of literature is an extremely important task for us.